Clean It Up

UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: m.gabi2007 on January 23, 2013, 09:58:19 am

Title: How is the work?
Post by: m.gabi2007 on January 23, 2013, 09:58:19 am
How is the work for you guys? Busy times? Last year on this period been very busy...now not that much...
Title: Re: How is the work?
Post by: Phil @ Extreme Clean on January 23, 2013, 12:59:09 pm
DEAD  :(
Title: Re: How is the work?
Post by: davep on January 23, 2013, 01:09:50 pm
Not bad for snow-jan average 12 jobs a week

All carpets no suites

Few commercials.
Title: Re: How is the work?
Post by: Phil @ Extreme Clean on January 23, 2013, 01:33:36 pm
12 jobs a week i'd be happy with 5 had 2 jobs all month and nothing booked in at all  :'(
Title: Re: How is the work?
Post by: Steve Barnett (Carpet Care Plus) on January 23, 2013, 01:46:00 pm
I haven't worked this week other than cleaning a few rugs at home. Hoping to get out Friday but it's snowing again today.

It's not worth the risk to smash my van up just for a few quid, by next week the snow will be a memory.


* A word of warning - my equipment has been in the house since the weekend and the machine was in a large understairs cupboard off of the lounge, the lounge has been nice and toasty all week. I started the machine up today and the pump had froze !! Fortunately I managed to thaw it out and no damage has been done.
Title: Re: How is the work?
Post by: feldon on January 23, 2013, 01:47:03 pm
Been fairly booked for first 2 weeks but been snowed in since last Friday had to cancel a job and re-schedule it twice now, hopefully 3rd time lucky for tomorrow. Took another booking today from my google adwords which is ticking over quite nicely now and has so far brought in around £600 this month not bad for £20 expense :)  Only got one carpet cleaning job next week so far but have a two day wood sand and finish job booked for end of week which should be a nice little earner to top up a modest month for me,  being only me third Jan I am pretty please at the amount of work I have had this month compared to previous years.
Title: Re: How is the work?
Post by: feldon on January 23, 2013, 01:49:50 pm



* A word of warning - my equipment has been in the house since the weekend and the machine was in a large understairs cupboard off of the lounge, the lounge has been nice and toasty all week. I started the machine up today and the pump had froze !! Fortunately I managed to thaw it out and no damage has been done.

How did it manage to freeze in the house, have you not heard of central heating Steve :)  glad you managed to get it thawed out though.  Mines in the back of the van with an oil heater for company, not dropped below 5 degrees's, not looking forward to electric bill though :o
Title: Re: How is the work?
Post by: carpet_care on January 23, 2013, 03:33:14 pm
How did it get below freezing in the house :o My transit van goes in our garage every night without a heater and its never got below freezing in the garage ???
Title: Re: How is the work?
Post by: wynne jones on January 23, 2013, 03:43:11 pm
It can freeze quickly on the way to your first job in the back.
Title: Re: How is the work?
Post by: Doug Holloway on January 23, 2013, 03:56:12 pm
Hi Guys

Until this time last week I was on schedule for a really good Jan, unfortunately predicted and and then actual snow have slowed things down, but no point in worrying about things you can't do anything about.

Cheers

Doug
Title: Re: How is the work?
Post by: gwrightson on January 23, 2013, 04:07:10 pm
been working every day since new year, including the days between xmas and new year

Just booked in 1,000 sq yard carpet , so cant complain !!

to be fair it is the best January o had since starting c/c/

Geoff
Title: Re: How is the work?
Post by: M.Acorn on January 23, 2013, 04:48:17 pm
Plenty of enquiry, not many bookings, thankfully have a large com job booked sat,end of this month and beginning of next looking ok .
Not worked out what I am telling the inland rev yet, they want over 5 grand from me and I have nothing for them, just keeping my head above water,and used what i had put by for them to survive.Oh dear
Title: Re: How is the work?
Post by: wynne jones on January 23, 2013, 05:03:12 pm
Plenty of enquiry, not many bookings, thankfully have a large com job booked sat,end of this month and beginning of next looking ok .
Not worked out what I am telling the inland rev yet, they want over 5 grand from me and I have nothing for them, just keeping my head above water,and used what i had put by for them to survive.Oh dear

Doesn't matter what you tell 'em Mark they will still want their money on time. Penalties and interest for you, but at least they don't break your arms.
Title: Re: How is the work?
Post by: andy east sussex on January 23, 2013, 05:17:50 pm
for last few years beging of jan was dead but this year start was fantastic now 2nd half dead so annoying but just means more time to do more advitising as i think its just people spent out on xmasetc so once pay day has come should pickup again
Title: Re: How is the work?
Post by: Carpet2Clean on January 23, 2013, 05:18:49 pm
January been better this year for use...Last January was died.

Getting about 2/3 calls a day.


Going to have a better Birthday (end of the month) this year...



Richard
Title: Re: How is the work?
Post by: Deep Cleaning Solutions on January 23, 2013, 05:21:50 pm
Load of sheite here, but it's always like this when it snows, glad i had an amazing December, make hay and all that.
Title: Re: How is the work?
Post by: carpet_care on January 23, 2013, 05:41:02 pm
Mark i was in the same predicament a couple of years ago i had an unexpected one in Jan of 6K and i didnt have anywhere near that in my account but i explained this to them and they let me pay about 600 a month in arrears until i caught up.

when i did get back in credit i set up a direct debit and now always pay a monthly set amount so i dont get another nasty surprise.


Hope this helps Andy Locke.
.
Title: Re: How is the work?
Post by: The Great One on January 24, 2013, 10:08:32 am
Plenty of enquiry, not many bookings, thankfully have a large com job booked sat,end of this month and beginning of next looking ok .
Not worked out what I am telling the inland rev yet, they want over 5 grand from me and I have nothing for them, just keeping my head above water,and used what i had put by for them to survive.Oh dear

Hi Mark

This has happened a few times and they don't like it, they see it as them loaning you money, last time I had someone from the tax office on the phone I had a rant that it actually in their favour to be owed the money as they charge interest and if they were owed just £200 interest per person and they had a million self employed people owing that on average then they'd make £200 million just in interest charges!

Their advice was to take a bank loan to pay them, to which my reply was great but what happens next year if I owe you again and I'll be paying back the bank for the next three years!

Most of them have no concept of self employment and what happens if things do go quiet and you need to pay those stupid things like mortgage, food and other bills just to survive

Rant over

Martin 8)
Title: Re: How is the work?
Post by: M.Acorn on January 24, 2013, 10:43:32 am
Yeah have been in this position a few years back and they spoke to me like I owed the person on the phone the money personally, put the phone down on them and called back once I had calmed down.
They made me pay them £500 a month to clear it off.
Had over a grand rebate last year, but I live on my own in this house now,so all my living expenses have doubled.
Going to call them next week, will have to go into my o/d and pay them a grand at least and will do all I can to clear it quickly.
But I am not stressing too much about it, sure there are many others in my position this Jan 31st
Title: Re: How is the work?
Post by: Phil @ Extreme Clean on January 24, 2013, 11:02:46 am
thats the only good thing with not earning enough lol no tax man banging on the door  ;D
Title: Re: How is the work?
Post by: Helen on January 24, 2013, 12:49:57 pm
Plenty of enquiry, not many bookings, thankfully have a large com job booked sat,end of this month and beginning of next looking ok .
Not worked out what I am telling the inland rev yet, they want over 5 grand from me and I have nothing for them, just keeping my head above water,and used what i had put by for them to survive.Oh dear

is the 5K what you owe and the first up front one?
Why 5K? you must be earning it to pay it!
It does seem extreme for a one man set up? get a better accountant Mark who can reduce this for you....... :) 2 of us £2500 each for all of last year's tax = good accountant :)

answering the original question, could be better, could be worse, but January is a long month, roll on February
Title: Re: How is the work?
Post by: Kinver_Clean on January 24, 2013, 02:09:04 pm
Having been in the same state many years ago I pay 20% of my takings into a separate account.
That is too much but it covers the accountant as well.
Title: Re: How is the work?
Post by: M.Acorn on January 24, 2013, 02:19:34 pm
I had a very good year 2011/2012, have a very good accountant,he has done all he can, it's what I owe then another lump in a few months time,so going to be playing catch up for most of the year now.
Was paying in between 5 and 6 grand a month on quite a few occasions last year.
Been the best year since I started up, nigh on 40 grand.   ;D
Title: Re: How is the work?
Post by: Helen on January 24, 2013, 04:01:35 pm
40k less tax allowance of 7475 = 32525 less overheads of ???? think your accountant is not working hard enough for you or you are not claiming all that you could :) would have a re-look at how you operate. :)
Title: Re: How is the work?
Post by: wayne zabel on January 24, 2013, 04:07:50 pm
40k less tax allowance of 7475 = 32525 less overheads of ???? think your accountant is not working hard enough for you or you are not claiming all that you could :) would have a re-look at how you operate. :)

It could be that he has 40k profit after all his overeads??

If only I had that :'(
Title: Re: How is the work?
Post by: M.Acorn on January 24, 2013, 04:40:29 pm
Balancing payment for tax year to 5th April 2012 £3.416, first payment on account for tax year 5th April 2013 £1.708 and another £1.700 July
Title: Re: How is the work?
Post by: Steve Barnett (Carpet Care Plus) on January 24, 2013, 05:00:12 pm
You could have invested in all new equipment Mark, instead of carrying on with your old gear that keeps going pop !!

All tax deductible  ;)
Title: Re: How is the work?
Post by: M.Acorn on January 24, 2013, 05:08:15 pm
Been fault free most of last year Steve, bought new solution hose and a new vac motor, that is currently a spare as changed brushes in old motor and was fine,also have a spare pump, just in case.
Could have bought new gear, but happy with how the old stuff is performing as are my customers.
I did invest in a rather large pro pa system though around 6kw rms ,sure my neighbours would rather I spent it on machinery though
Title: Re: How is the work?
Post by: davep on January 24, 2013, 05:21:21 pm
You can claim for that. Put it down as advertising. Say it's strapped to roof of your van to announce special offers  ;D
Title: Re: How is the work?
Post by: The Great One on January 24, 2013, 05:24:21 pm
You might be able to reduce your tax liability if this year is less profitable.

So if 11/12 was £40k but 12/13 is say £29k then you will get a sizeable reduction in the tax you owe now, you can estimate up until april to give an overall figure, if you are out you will just have to pay a little extra interest next year, I did this last year and reduced from almost £7k to under £3k and i've done it again this year and it's dropped from £3k to £1300 as my earning did actually drop last year and again this year to being out of the country for 2 months, it's a totally legal way to reduce your tax if you've taken less gross income.

Martin 8)
Title: Re: How is the work?
Post by: M.Acorn on January 24, 2013, 05:24:40 pm
(http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/1359048165_2012-09-08-345.jpg)

(http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/1359048193_2012-09-18-369.jpg)


Did mull over setting up some sort of hire company and running it at a loss  ;D
Title: Re: How is the work?
Post by: M.Acorn on January 24, 2013, 05:27:39 pm
Yes I will be taking this years paperwork to my accountant,see if it is possible to reduce the payment on account.
Have only just paid him £350 though, so going to wait for that until next month when work is a bit better.
Title: Re: How is the work?
Post by: Helen on January 24, 2013, 05:30:33 pm
Yes I will be taking this years paperwork to my accountant,see if it is possible to reduce the payment on account.
Have only just paid him £350 though, so going to wait for that until next month when work is a bit better.

You should be able to work that out for yourself.

Rules in self employment
1) Pay mortgage/rent
2) Buy food
3) Put away for tax man
4) Overheads for business
5) personal use
 :)
Title: Re: How is the work?
Post by: M.Acorn on January 24, 2013, 05:34:12 pm
I suffer from number dyslexia Helen, have tried in the past to sit and work it out, but it just ends up doing my head in.
My accountant gets a big box file at the end of each tax year,all my paperwork,which he goes through after I have a meeting with him.
Much less stressful and tax deductible  ;D
Title: Re: How is the work?
Post by: wynne jones on January 24, 2013, 05:34:52 pm
Worse case scenario, they fine you, you pay interest no more than a bank will charge you and you have to work harder to pay it off. After all it is based on previous profits. The main thing is at least you are declaring profits and can hold your head up high.
Title: Re: How is the work?
Post by: M.Acorn on January 24, 2013, 05:54:09 pm
Yes I am proud of where I have got to in 9 years,many people have gone under,so I must be doing something right at least,and yeah only about 1% interest so no biggy really
Title: Re: How is the work?
Post by: The Great One on January 24, 2013, 05:57:46 pm
Yes I will be taking this years paperwork to my accountant,see if it is possible to reduce the payment on account.
Have only just paid him £350 though, so going to wait for that until next month when work is a bit better.

You have to get the readjustment in by the 31st so he can do it, doesn't matter if you've paid him
Title: Re: How is the work?
Post by: jasonl on January 24, 2013, 06:21:10 pm
Mark , you ought to be putting it into a pension , thus reducing your tax liability , you can even go back several years with this.

Once you have a decent pension pot , invest it in commercial property , I know several carpet cleaning millionaires who followed this method .

Be a business man , not a tradesman.
Title: Re: How is the work?
Post by: M.Acorn on January 24, 2013, 06:23:08 pm
Good advice, I really should start paying into a pension.
With the life I was living 10 or so years ago,I really didn't think I was going to make 40  ;D
Title: Re: How is the work?
Post by: jasonl on January 24, 2013, 06:25:50 pm
See a  financial adviser NOW , you will definately be better off.
Title: Re: How is the work?
Post by: Neil Williams on January 24, 2013, 06:59:44 pm
Been the best year since I started up, nigh on 40 grand.   ;D

WHY ARE YOU SMILING ABOUT IT???
You earn't all that and didn't think to put just 20% of it away per week/month.
That would have left you £32k by your accounts, more than enough to live on even if you bought a new van and equipment.
FFS get a grip Marc, it's not rocket science, you've been in the game long enough to know that you pay tax and how they calculate it.
Title: Re: How is the work?
Post by: M.Acorn on January 24, 2013, 07:18:48 pm
I did have a fair whack put away,around 3.5k but used it to survive as business had died down 4 months without much work and it went, on paying bills living etc,soon goes costs me around !.3k a month just to keep afloat , that is without food or diesel
Title: Re: How is the work?
Post by: Andrew Briscoe on January 24, 2013, 07:19:20 pm
I called hmrc regarding my payments on account for jan and july, they wanted £8.5k each payment, Said i needed it reduced to £4.5k each payment and they said if thats what u think you owe then thats ok, got confirmation letter 2 days later.
year 11-12 was our best ever, however contract work is down since April a bit.

Pay them late, its a better interest rate than the bank  ;D
Title: Re: How is the work?
Post by: Neil Williams on January 24, 2013, 07:33:03 pm
I did have a fair whack put away,around 3.5k but used it to survive as business had died down 4 months without much work and it went, on paying bills living etc,soon goes costs me around !.3k a month just to keep afloat , that is without food or diesel

Marc, stop digging, the hole is getting bigger.
Re-read all your posts, get a pen and paper and look at the evidence. You'll feel better for getting a grip of your own life not me or others telling you how to do it, afterall you've been in the business 10 years.
Here's a few starters
Income £40,000 over 8 months..... exceptional
Virtually zero on business expenditure..... brilliant
£3k just to live..... start looking here