Setting a business up

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Ashley milson

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Orite chaps

Just wondered what would be the best advice/ tips on setting out a business plastering.

Worked on books for 10 years I'm getting 500 avg a week with a van and holiday pay etc.

I'm nice n contempt with the idea plodding on with that amount for the work I actually do. But can't help think that I could earn 1000s maybe going on site. Or picking up my own jobs locally. What would your first initial steps be and why?
 
Hi Ashley I was out on my own for about 3 years and to be honest I really enjoyed it but I was on my own so was doing everything myself I took couple of people out now and then to help out but work dried up and with a young family I was stressed over it and pissed of some weeks good and some pure shite. Then you have your books to do as well and your tax ect . Now I'm working for a housing association . On decent money 28days holiday sick pay van . And I pick and choose my buckies ie . Foreigners as people on here call them so for me I love been in this situation because maybe 2 weekends out the month I'll work on my own jobs and it soon add up .if I was you I would stay as you are just now
 
If your taking home £500 with van paid and hols I'd stay put, I'm assuming you do your own little private on the odd weekend ,that must top your income up nicely. Grass isn't always greener my friend. That said, if you are adamant on setting up then look through the archives on here. Lots of good advice has been given. Best of luck
 
Maybe you could increase the number of job leads you get so that you get more profitable weekend jobs, or find other decent plasterers and take bigger jobs
 
Work out your holiday pay, sick pay, van, tax, insurance, diesel, and work out how much you actually 'earn'.
Now you need to earn more than that to pay for accountants, days or weeks with no work?
I'd say the figure your at now has surprised you.
 
I worked for a small firm for around 20 years kitchens,bathrooms bedrooms all work inside good times bad times in the end online shopping took over showrooms crashed and i ad f.a with a family its took a few years from rated people leads and then got a good number of refurbing houses for the past year as well as other contacts stay where u r unless u got sum cash behind you n contacts good luck
 
hstoke said:
I worked for a small firm for around 20 years kitchens,bathrooms bedrooms all work inside good times bad times in the end online shopping took over showrooms crashed and i ad f.a with a family its took a few years from rated people leads and then got a good number of refurbing houses for the past year as well as other contacts stay where u r unless u got sum cash behind you n contacts good luck
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Which firm did u work for mate? Where about in stoke are you?
 
Haha more money that way mate! Lol! Im in longton, originally burslem, working fir sa platt at the min, not the best but itl do til me weddings out the way!
 
Best thing I ever did was start my own business ......I am a builder
My only regret Is I did not do it sooner
Sometime it is not just the regular wage keeping you there ... if you not happy time to move on !!!
I Was making the hippo a fortune ... .the c u next Tuesday promised me
More money ..... Price work .... too little too late ...... for me it was not about the money ..
Good luck
 
you could start getting work in and subbing it out to other spreads and make your money that way while you sit pretty on your wages :-)

I worked for local housing for a while and made a fortune out of passing work on to one of the guys and I got a lot of materials free as well :-)
 
Danny said:
you could start getting work in and subbing it out to other spreads and make your money that way while you sit pretty on your wages :)

I worked for local housing for a while and made a fortune out of passing work on to one of the guys and I got a lot of materials free as well :)
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Free materials hell yeh
 
I did it, but it was very hard work and needed a big cash injection to get it off the ground.

If you do internals only you might struggle as a lot of skimming jobs get chased by property maintenance guys and handymen now, who will work for less than you.

Lots of messing about picking materials up, paying out for them, pricing work which all take time and money, plus all the paperwork side of things which takes time again.

Probably cost me in the region of £30k to get set up, but we do externals as well, website, van, machine, tools all adds up over a few years.

My breaker broke on Thursday, so the labourer was stood for 2 hours while I had to go and buy another at £410.00, little things like that, that annoy me.

The last 10 jobs i priced, spent a good 45 mins to an hour with customers only to get 1, most don't even have the decency to get back to you.

Took a lad on Friday as another labourer, he text me at 01:28 this morning saying he can't do the job.

It's easy to turn over £1000+ per week but it soon gets gobbled up in wages, tool renewal, materials and fuel.

It's also very hard to switch off, I get phone calls every day most time wasters, had calls at 06:30 on a sat morning and 7am on a Sunday.

Good luck with whatever you choose
 
Are you not working now? Ie on the tools. A lot of hardwork I understand but don't want to get too big just wanted to work for myself getting lads in as when I needed them kinda thing. Glad things are going well. Do you regret it?
 
Danny said:
you could start getting work in and subbing it out to other spreads and make your money that way while you sit pretty on your wages :)

I worked for local housing for a while and made a fortune out of passing work on to one of the guys and I got a lot of materials free as well :)
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Wish its was as easy as that.i rarely sub work out as most spreads down here are s**t and let you down
 
personally do not do it Ashley,better off where you are, for anybody setting up now in any trade you need a min 5,000 in the bank just to get up and running
 
bobby said:
Wish its was as easy as that.i rarely sub work out as most spreads down here are s**t and let you down
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yup... I was lucky I found a few good ones when I was on it :-)

When you find a good one you then need to try and keep them :-\
 
Ashley milson said:
Are you not working now? Ie on the tools. A lot of hardwork I understand but don't want to get too big just wanted to work for myself getting lads in as when I needed them kinda thing. Glad things are going well. Do you regret it?
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I went out on my own september last year.
When its good its very good and when the work is quite its hard
I have 2 young kids and so on
Other plasterers I know all said do it we will give you work when we can .
I am now starting to get my own work a bit more regularly but sometimes its still stressful and long hours
Working all day then going to look at jobs ...then get home late sit and type up quotes....
That said I am happy would just like to have a more regular flow of work
It seems to be feast or famine.
Good luck what ever you decide.
 
Ashley milson said:
Are you not working now? Ie on the tools. A lot of hardwork I understand but don't want to get too big just wanted to work for myself getting lads in as when I needed them kinda thing. Glad things are going well. Do you regret it?
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I don't regret it, it's all I know to be honest mate, always something new to learn and the rendering side has kept me very interested and challenged, I was getting bored and frustrated with just the plastering.

Yes I'm still on the tools, work is ok, but it's harder graft and more mentally draining than just clocking in at 7:30 and out at 4, I was in magaluf and Prague this year and was on the iPad and phone for about an hour a day arranging scaffolding to be taken down, put up, getting colours, keeping in touch with customers via email and phone, it's like 24/7 sometimes and it can be hard to switch off.

After I've done rendering this year in about October I'm turning my phone off for a couple of weeks and going away, just for the break.

Sometimes it's the best jobs in the world, other times it's a nightmare.

With the extra money comes the extra responsibility, which at times is horrible.
 
mac_plastering said:
, I was in magaluf and Prague this year and was on the iPad and phone for about an hour a day arranging scaffolding to be taken down, put up, getting colours, keeping in touch with customers via email and phone, it's like 24/7 sometimes and it can be hard to switch off.
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One thing I miss is holidays without tech.... have to take laptop and check online at least twice day
 
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