Clean It Up

UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: sparklebright on February 07, 2009, 08:15:45 pm

Title: My running costs what are yours?
Post by: sparklebright on February 07, 2009, 08:15:45 pm
How about listing our running costs or some of them?

Accountancy £675 a year
Van (v cheap crap van) £2500 a year
Water costs (cheap system) £450 a year minimum
Poles £250 a year
Insurance £125 a year
Subby costs never you mind
Tax £4000 last year.

And I do things cheaply...

How about you lot?
Title: Re: My running costs what are yours?
Post by: Nathanael Jones on February 07, 2009, 10:11:51 pm
Between VAT, TAX and expenses, over 40% of my income is gone straight away. The majority of that is VAT, Tax and vehicle costs (My van is old and crappy too, but insurance, fuel, repairs etc soon add up!
Title: Re: My running costs what are yours?
Post by: mikethechamois on February 07, 2009, 10:25:18 pm
my costs are similar, i think most business' are

it pays to have a regular review of your costs which is what im doing now

i do my own books so just had to make a return to customs and revenue

my fuel and insurance costs were way higher last year than i had estimated for on pricing so im doing a review now as i may have to inrease my rates slightly to cover the extra costs

and yes i drive a 10yr old transit which i bought cash and maintain my self but my vehicle costs still averaged out at £150 a week
Title: Re: My running costs what are yours?
Post by: East coast window cleaning Services on February 08, 2009, 10:13:43 am
How about listing our running costs or some of them?

Accountancy £675 a year
Van (v cheap crap van) £2500 a year
Water costs (cheap system) £450 a year minimum
Poles £250 a year
Insurance £125 a year
Subby costs never you mind
Tax £4000 last year.

And I do things cheaply...

How about you lot?

Wish mine were only that
Title: Re: My running costs what are yours?
Post by: Rob.Hall on February 08, 2009, 11:49:01 am
When I did a topic on over pricing I had comments about running costs and why some w/c charge more.

I did a review on all expences of mine and was quite shocked.

I now put 50% of all income away. Makes sence.
Plus prices will have to go up this year as some are to under priced.



 
Title: Re: My running costs what are yours?
Post by: mikethechamois on February 08, 2009, 01:11:46 pm
this is music to my ears

i learnt the same way...............i was shocked at my costs

if you can put 50% away and still live and pay your costs then you are definatlely in the zone

and people will gladly pay  to have a good jobdone by a reliable professional tradesman

im doing the same as you and reviewing my rates as my fuel bill was high last year and i swallowed the extra, fuel is starting to creep up again so we could have a repeat

plus insurance is up again this year
Title: Re: My running costs what are yours?
Post by: tompoole on February 08, 2009, 01:18:27 pm
4k tax! ??? :o. IS THAT VAT OR PERSONAL. if you are paying an accountant £700 a year you must b doing well. I would imagine most window cleaners are only payiny 2k tops in tax, sounds like your in a differnt league to most average oneman windowcleaners
Title: Re: My running costs what are yours?
Post by: Gordon Saunders on February 08, 2009, 03:13:18 pm
My expenses are almost always about 10% of turnover (working alone).  dont see why they should ever be much higher than this unless buying a new vehicle.
  G
Title: Re: My running costs what are yours?
Post by: Chameleon on February 08, 2009, 03:38:25 pm
 ;) Get a New Accountant... £700 a year and you still pay £4000 wow!

You don't own all the empty holiday cottages around here do you? ;D
Title: Re: My running costs what are yours?
Post by: glen parva on February 08, 2009, 04:38:13 pm
;) Get a New Accountant... £700 a year and you still pay £4000 wow!

i only pay £200 for my accountant
and she i worth  every penny
and do not pay noway near that ammount she claims for every thing

Title: Re: My running costs what are yours?
Post by: sparklebright on February 08, 2009, 08:56:33 pm
4k tax! ??? :o. IS THAT VAT OR PERSONAL. if you are paying an accountant £700 a year you must b doing well. I would imagine most window cleaners are only payiny 2k tops in tax, sounds like your in a differnt league to most average oneman windowcleaners
The £4k is corporation tax, as I'm Limited (very limited, ask the wife, boom boom!) my personal tax wasn't a 10th of that. But cos I am limited my books are a bit more complex.
Plus I have lots of work subbed out. Not doing that well though, I'm not Vat registered

Actually that's a topic I'd like to know who's limited and not and why....

Really the point of the post was to show how much newbies can expect things to cost
Title: Re: My running costs what are yours?
Post by: NWH on February 08, 2009, 09:01:02 pm
4k tax! ??? :o. IS THAT VAT OR PERSONAL. if you are paying an accountant £700 a year you must b doing well. I would imagine most window cleaners are only payiny 2k tops in tax, sounds like your in a differnt league to most average oneman windowcleaners
If your only paying 2k a year in tax you must be earning peanuts and must be 1 of the 1`s moaning about last weeks weather,no offense but 2k a year is nothing.Not being funny but my July bill is no where near that.
Title: Re: My running costs what are yours?
Post by: Bobs Window Cleaning on February 08, 2009, 09:01:36 pm
£700 for an accountant :o

I pay around the £200 mark
Title: Re: My running costs what are yours?
Post by: sparklebright on February 08, 2009, 09:05:08 pm
£700 for an accountant :o

I pay around the £200 mark
Hope you don't mind my asking, but are you a Limited Co?
You have to provide more info/reports when you are...
Title: Re: My running costs what are yours?
Post by: paulscotney on February 08, 2009, 09:36:15 pm
I am LTD and accountant charges £350

Title: Re: My running costs what are yours?
Post by: tompoole on February 09, 2009, 07:19:27 am
[HWH,
Me I never moan,  have had too much fun sledging to moan about anything. and as for peanuts, I earn enough to pay me bills. Just finished my first year so have had the luxury of claiming for my set up costs . even so I don't plan on paying much more than 2k / 2.5k next year. Like I said most one man bands won't pay much more than this if they have a good accountant and claim for everything they are entitled to.
tom
Title: Re: My running costs what are yours?
Post by: Londoner on February 09, 2009, 07:30:12 am
You ought to budget for time off eg holidays, sickness and of course very topically snow as an expense and set money aside to cover it.
Title: Re: My running costs what are yours?
Post by: East coast window cleaning Services on February 09, 2009, 03:23:28 pm
I am LTD and accountant charges £350



Thats cheap! im limited with a registered Address somewhere in New Bond St London. cost me int he region of £980 a year
Title: Re: My running costs what are yours?
Post by: Ian Lancaster on February 09, 2009, 03:58:54 pm
Between VAT, TAX and expenses, over 40% of my income is gone straight away. The majority of that is VAT, Tax and vehicle costs (My van is old and crappy too, but insurance, fuel, repairs etc soon add up!

You should never include VAT as part of your turnover ("income").  Look on it the same way as HMRC do:

"It was never your money in the first place, it was ours, you were just collecting it on our behalf"

Calculate your gross turnover as gross takings less the VAT element, that will give you the true picture of how your business is doing.  Including the VAT makes you seem to be doing much better than you really are.
Title: Re: My running costs what are yours?
Post by: Helen on February 09, 2009, 10:26:19 pm
Between VAT, TAX and expenses, over 40% of my income is gone straight away. The majority of that is VAT, Tax and vehicle costs (My van is old and crappy too, but insurance, fuel, repairs etc soon add up!

You should never include VAT as part of your turnover ("income").  Look on it the same way as HMRC do:

"It was never your money in the first place, it was ours, you were just collecting it on our behalf"

Calculate your gross turnover as gross takings less the VAT element, that will give you the true picture of how your business is doing.  Including the VAT makes you seem to be doing much better than you really are.

Unfortunately a lot of people including customers do not understand the vat element.
This is why some business people have trouble in paying their vat bill.  As Ian says work on nett of vat figure as your gross turnover and as soon as monies in clear, put vat element away in separate account. Do not spend what is not yours and defo do not include it in you turnover figures. :)
Title: Re: My running costs what are yours?
Post by: Nathanael Jones on February 09, 2009, 10:29:41 pm

 and defo do not include it in you turnover figures. :)

Unless you're applying for a mortgage,....

:)
Title: Re: My running costs what are yours?
Post by: Tosh on February 09, 2009, 10:34:52 pm

 and defo do not include it in you turnover figures. :)

Unless you're applying for a mortgage,....

:)

I'm not sure about now with the credit crunch and the banks not wanting to lend, but we got a mortgage with a big deposit and we didn't have to show any books or prove our turnover at all.
Title: Re: My running costs what are yours?
Post by: Tosh on February 10, 2009, 08:23:14 am
How much did you spend on fuel?

I'm surprised at how little I have used - so far - with a diesel estate, my total (including private use) was under £700, which I think is very good; though most of my work is very local to me.

Oh, I bet most of you haven't worked it out yet!

I'm just too organised these days.

Title: Re: My running costs what are yours?
Post by: Nathanael Jones on February 10, 2009, 08:53:33 am
I spent €1900 on Diesel last year :(
Title: Re: My running costs what are yours?
Post by: Klean07 on February 10, 2009, 09:40:12 am
My total running costs for my van was £3,500 which included deisel, insurance, tax, service, mot and capital outlay.
Title: Re: My running costs what are yours?
Post by: Sir Squeaky on February 10, 2009, 04:04:48 pm
How about listing our running costs or some of them?

Accountancy £675 a year           £0...I do my own
Van (v cheap crap van) £2500 a year       £3500 and it was brand new
Water costs (cheap system) £450 a year minimum     £250
Poles £250 a year      £150 (none at all last year)
Insurance £125 a year       £80
Subby costs never you mind
Tax £4000 last year.       £waaaayyy less!

And I do things cheaply...

How about you lot?
Doesn't sound cheap to me. ???
Title: Re: My running costs what are yours?
Post by: sparklebright on February 10, 2009, 04:20:34 pm
How about listing our running costs or some of them?

Accountancy £675 a year           £0...I do my own
Van (v cheap crap van) £2500 a year       £3500 and it was brand new
Water costs (cheap system) £450 a year minimum     £250
Poles £250 a year      £150 (none at all last year)
Insurance £125 a year       £80
Subby costs never you mind
Tax £4000 last year.       £waaaayyy less!

And I do things cheaply...

How about you lot?
Doesn't sound cheap to me. ???
Yeah thanks for that, but I suppose I did ask...Think I might change accountants

But as to van, did you allow for depreciation. If you bought a NEW van last year this year it's worth at least £2000 less I'd imagine...As to the pole, broke it :(
Title: Re: My running costs what are yours?
Post by: Sir Squeaky on February 10, 2009, 05:16:52 pm
But as to van, did you allow for depreciation. If you bought a NEW van last year this year it's worth at least £2000 less I'd imagine...As to the pole, broke it :(
No I didn't buy it outright!

£3100 a year payments for van.
£275 insurance
£175 tax.
Title: Re: My running costs what are yours?
Post by: Tosh on February 10, 2009, 05:20:49 pm
Sparkle,

£675 for an accountant sounds extortionate!  Are you a sole trader?
Title: Re: My running costs what are yours?
Post by: mikethechamois on February 10, 2009, 05:29:06 pm
i was wondering where you got a new van £3500

£3500 a year is more like it..................is that a lease van
Title: Re: My running costs what are yours?
Post by: NWH on February 10, 2009, 05:38:27 pm

 and defo do not include it in you turnover figures. :)

Unless you're applying for a mortgage,....

:)
Turnover figures mean nothing when it comes to mortgages,all they care about is NET PROFIT or what`s left at the end of the month.The turnover they will ignore when it comes to decieding whether your suitable for 1 of there mortgages.
Title: Re: My running costs what are yours?
Post by: Sir Squeaky on February 10, 2009, 08:08:02 pm
i was wondering where you got a new van £3500

£3500 a year is more like it..................is that a lease van
Well it's mine to do what I want with and I'm paying for it, so I no it's not.
Some people might call it leased, but if you lease something you're borrowing something or renting it.
It's mine to keep.
Title: Re: My running costs what are yours?
Post by: sparklebright on February 11, 2009, 06:46:44 am
But as to van, did you allow for depreciation. If you bought a NEW van last year this year it's worth at least £2000 less I'd imagine...As to the pole, broke it :(
No I didn't buy it outright!

£3100 a year payments for van.
£275 insurance
£175 tax.
Genuine questions what van have you got?
Have you drilled any holes in it?
Will you have to pay an additional charge for wear and tear when you take it back?
Where from please...
That might work for me, is what I'm thinking...
Title: Re: My running costs what are yours?
Post by: Sir Squeaky on February 11, 2009, 09:07:00 am
Genuine questions what van have you got?  Renault Trafic dci115
Have you drilled any holes in it?  No!
Will you have to pay an additional charge for wear and tear when you take it back? Can't see why. I can sell it where I want, it doesn't have to be to the people I bought it from.
Where from please... ArrowHire, Cardiff. They're basically a van hire centre, but they get deals on vans for sale too.
That might work for me, is what I'm thinking...
It's also knocked a massive amount off my tax bill.
I'd recommend a company vehicle to anybody.

Who would you rather give your money to? Renault or Mr.Taxman...?
Title: Re: My running costs what are yours?
Post by: sparklebright on February 11, 2009, 07:55:39 pm
Genuine questions what van have you got?  Renault Trafic dci115
Have you drilled any holes in it?  No!
Will you have to pay an additional charge for wear and tear when you take it back? Can't see why. I can sell it where I want, it doesn't have to be to the people I bought it from.
Where from please... ArrowHire, Cardiff. They're basically a van hire centre, but they get deals on vans for sale too.
That might work for me, is what I'm thinking...
It's also knocked a massive amount off my tax bill.
I'd recommend a company vehicle to anybody.

Who would you rather give your money to? Renault or Mr.Taxman...?
Thanks for that, very interesting and might be useful