Start ups

Members online

Total: 351 (members: 7, guests: 344)

Share this page

R

ribbo21

New Member
Hi,

A few of you may remember me posting a few weeks back seeing if anyone in merseyside area had any vacancies. well as you may be able to guess nothing come of it unfortunately and now after continuing in my day job and doing a few plastering jobs for family and colleagues ive decided im gnna risk taking the plunge of going self employed. im fairly confident of my ability plastering (obviously not to the level of you experienced lads) and have done some good work for a few people i know but just after some advice on starting up and any tips/hints other people used when in my shoes. any help would be great.
 
I been set up 6 months now and my best find was mybuilder.com. work was a bit patchy the first 3 months then I signed up and have been able to keep my schedule full since. Starting to get more recommends now so hopefully only using it temporary but its been a god send
 
Poor cash flow will be your biggest problem initially. If you can have a month or two wages in the bank before you take the plunge that'll really help

Sent from my D6503 using Tapatalk
 
My builder is OK
I use it if I have the odd afternoon or day to fill due to a cancellation or something.

But it does tend to be all shite jobs nobody wants to do.

Having said that I picked up a nice little contract deal from there for ongoing repairs in a building which is used to house naughty kids. Which is a good earner and I'm generally only there an hour or so.

Everything you do through the site must be 100% A1 and never fail to show for any reason as the customer is king on that site!

I once have a big argument with them a few years ago as my feedback rating was and still is 100% and I got hired for a job and negative feedback left and Ithe wasn't even me that looked at it and actually did it.
It was nothing to do with me yet they were adamant they couldn't remove feedback.
Needless to say after a few carefully and sternly worded emails and actually a phone call from them they removed it.

My biggest advice would be don't try to run before you can walk.
It's hard very very hard when you startup and if you dont have any fallback cash in the bank you can quickly fail!.
Be prepared to put the long days/nights in scouring for work.

Always take the extra time at the end of the day and jobs to clean up, hoover up and clean all Woodford down.
You don't want to give anyone an excuse not to hire you again.
9 tenths of the law in this game is repeat work is king and key to long term survival.

Don't ever price too cheap to get work which can easily be done in this trade and often is.

In the event I go and price a job for a new customer and I don't get it for whatever reason 99% it's someone will do it cheaper.
I always always let them know that I am only a phone call away should they need to query something the actual guy doing the job is doing or if they don't think it's being done correctly!
Thie amount of times that gets you either a call back to rectify a problem or to do new work is invaluable.

Never be late!

There is another important thing for a startup as well which I don't do anymore because I purely haven't got the time to take more workload without getting a stubby in (a whole different story) is networking!!!
It's overlooked and under rated. It works.
Get yourself known and in with other trades.
Don't be tempted by Bob the builder though who has you working for peanuts and wants the earth! You have gone it alone to be your own boss don't let people dictate your job to you!

Kitchen fitters are good trades to get in with.
Get a good one and you price against nobody and get the rates you want!

I'm in a good mood today which is why you have gotten so much good information out of me and some of the reasons why I managed to establish myself those years ago!

You don't sound like you've been doing it too long though and have only done a few jobs for friends and family.
All the advice above is no good unless your finish is 100%
 
thanks for all advice much appreciated and yeah like i say i would ideally of liked to gain that bit more experience with someone first before taking the plunge but unfortunately never quite worked out that way so gonna chance me arm this way.
 
No mixy has just got a problem with him just ignore it
 
No was meant to go on holiday today but cat got sick....costing £500 for an operation and have had to cancel the holiday
 
Lodan said:
No was meant to go on holiday today but cat got sick....costing £500 for an operation and have had to cancel the holiday
Click to expand...
What's happened to the cat? Can you not go a day later on holiday?

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
 
zolco said:
What's happened to the cat? Can you not go a day later on holiday?

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
He's all blocked up inside male cystitis cos he's castrated, crystals blocked his piss hole and it gives them kidney failure after a few days....3rd time he's had it, catheter doesnt come out till monday then you need to watch them that they dont re-block.....was going to put him to sleep but when it came to the crunch didnt have the follow through
 
They bought the euthanasia needles out and started shaving his leg and it broke me.....obviously a big soft b*****d really
 
theclemo said:
500 on a cat f**k that take it out the back and shot it. A dog I'd pay it no problem.
Click to expand...
Me and my wife got two cats (brother and sister) a few weeks after we got our first house together....we had our dog put to sleep about a month ago and just dont think i could face it again so soon, had that cat 11 years
 
zolco said:
What's happened to the cat? Can you not go a day later on holiday?

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
No lol. I didn't even finish cutting the grass i need help. When cleaning out the van I noticed it was 2 months out of tax and no teat on the van. So I got the van in for the test today I got lucky to get a place today. €111 for the test. It failed I have to spend about €500 on the van now to get it pass the test. And it's €55 for a retest. €666 all this just so I can tax my van. The tax is €333 u need a tast on the van b4 u can tax it. How f**k**g stupid is that. That's me down a €1000 today. I should have went to work lol
 
theclemo said:
No lol. I didn't even finish cutting the grass i need help. When cleaning out the van I noticed it was 2 months out of tax and no teat on the van. So I got the van in for the test today I got lucky to get a place today. €111 for the test. It failed I have to spend about €500 on the van now to get it pass the test. And it's €55 for a retest. €666 all this just so I can tax my van. The tax is €333 u need a tast on the van b4 u can tax it. How f**k**g stupid is that. That's me down a €1000 today. I should have went to work lol
Click to expand...
Holiday was 1k...cat £500....is that about €2000.... I win in s**t day top trumps
 
Lodan said:
Holiday was 1k...cat £500....is that about €2000.... I win in s**t day top trumps
Click to expand...
You definitely win you even work for your money I don't lol I get lads to make my money lol well some weeks I like to do the small jobs as that is where the money is.(y)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top