[Dave Willis]

Mine seem to have settled around the 6-7K mark most years now - one man sole trader.
Nothing particularly outstanding, no van payments, all paid for. Quite surprised how it all mounts up over the year (no new Extreme poles either  ) Then there's the tax.

What's your costs like?

[SeanK]

Around the £2500 mark, might be a little cheaper this year as haven't really bought or replaced anything.
 

[DaveG]

About 23k inc wages

[kempy]

Fuel be £2500
I'd imagine expenses from £3k to £10k would be the norm

[dazmond]

around 5k a year.(evened out over 5 years)

fuel costs £500-£600 A YEAR due to very little mileage.

[chris turner]

Around the £2500 mark, might be a little cheaper this year as haven't really bought or replaced anything.

That's not surprising. You've probably been wearing the same boxers for the last 5 years as well

[SeanK]

Around the £2500 mark, might be a little cheaper this year as haven't really bought or replaced anything.

That's not surprising. You've probably been wearing the same boxers for the last 5 years as well

Maybe you need to learn how to work out business costs, you do realize just because you pay £10000 for a van it doesn't
cost £10000 a year.
Yes there will be exceptions high mileage more so with commercial work than domestic and if your on metered water but
at the end of the day all we are doing is filtering a few litres of water and rubbing it on glass.
I wouldn't like to live in a country that purifies its drinking water going the what it costs some on here to make a few thousand litres a year.

[SeanK]

Fuel be £2500
I'd imagine expenses from £3k to £10k would be the norm

I would say I'm fairly lucky as I don't pay any extra for my water and its fairly easy to purify plus like Dazmond I don't
do much in the way of mileage, a couple of miles a day.
I paid 10k for my van but hope to get 15 years of use from it as its already done 8 years and is as good as the day I bought it
so you can see its not a massive yearly cost but even the guys who pay top money would have to be wasting a lot to be up to the 10k mark as a sole trader.

[SeanK]

There are also certain things that are hard to work out as a yearly business cost advertising is one example,
lets say it costs you £5 per customer in advertising then the true expense of that will be the cost divided by the number of
years you have that customer.
Even then this expense will depend on where you are taking your business I haven't advertised other than what's on my van since I started 8 years ago but there will be guys looking to expand year on year so they will have a yearly advertising charge which could cost more than my total yearly charges.
You do have to laugh at some of the replies on here though, Kempy had to  disagree with my expenses claim for the difference
of £500 a year.

[Walter Mitty]

Mine are currently close to £10k, but a lot of that is a van loan.  Also, I pay rent for a place where I filter metered water as I can't do it from home.   Without those two big items I would be well under £5k.  If I calculated the van for the time I keep it beyong paying for it, obviously that woulddrop a fair bit.

[sunshine windows]

I reckon some on here spend £10k a year on new brushes alone

[Smurf]

I reckon some on here spend £10k a year on new brushes alone

Well apparently they don't last very long 

[SeanK]

Mine are currently close to £10k, but a lot of that is a van loan.  Also, I pay rent for a place where I filter metered water as I can't do it from home.   Without those two big items I would be well under £5k.  If I calculated the van for the time I keep it beyong paying for it, obviously that woulddrop a fair bit.

That's the thing it can be hard to see how somebody is paying a lot more or a lot less than yourself, I stated that a sole trader
would be wasting a lot of money to be forking out £10k a year on expenses but didn't take into account the type of expenses
you have.

[Dave Willis]

This is my accountants break down.

Motoring expenses           2502
Small tool replacement      775
Telephone                                 192
Use of home as an office   156
PL insurance                             130
Stationary                                    66
Protective clothing               457
Depreciation                           2097
Fees                                                301

Plus the accountants fees, no advertising other than website hosting.

[kempy]

I was going to put £2500 as well
Dam it

Fuel and repairs to van £1-3k
Public liability £100
Equipment £1k
Water £ 1k
Clothing , gloves, shoes  etc £250
Advertising

It soon adds up .

But all these are vary diverse between us all .

[kempy]

Dave you forgot replacement keyboard of £2k for the amount of time you spend posting on here .

I struggle to do my expenses , like web-hosting just printing of that invoice etc .
But getting better

[SeanK]

This is my accountants break down.

Motoring expenses           2502
Small tool replacement      775
Telephone                                 192
Use of home as an office   156
PL insurance                             130
Stationary                                    66
Protective clothing               457
Depreciation                           2097
Fees                                                301

Plus the accountants fees, no advertising other than website hosting.

That's tax returns Dave totally different to actual yearly expenses and where a lot of people go wrong
your true yearly spend would be about half that.

[Dave Willis]

It is tax returns but based on my software - please explain why it would be a different figure - I don't understand 
Obviously depreciation isn't money actually spent.

[SeanK]

I was going to put £2500 as well
Dam it

Fuel and repairs to van £1-3k
Public liability £100
Equipment £1k
Water £ 1k
Clothing , gloves, shoes  etc £250
Advertising

It soon adds up .

But all these are vary diverse between us all .

£2500 are my expenses I never said they where yours or anybody else's It was just the fact you put the range between
3 and 10k that I found funny you just couldn't bring yourself to make between 2.5 and 10k 

[Dave Willis]

Net expenses come out at 5917 plus accountants fees so still over 6k for last year.