[wcs.]

.

[poleman]

I did, but would waste my money again

[simon knight]

If I were 25 years younger then I'd go for this hammer and tongs, employ people and have a small office somewhere.

For me window cleaning "came to the rescue" and I get as much as I need to on me Jack Jones.

I work from home, overheads are tiny and because I'm trad apart from petrol most of the take is profit....small is beautiful!

[windowwashers]

Trying to find them for the right price and for what I need seems to be an issue, I turned down a lease on an ideal place a few years back and have kicked myself ever since the time was just not right , and  2 weeks later my house sold and place had gone  

Same thing happening now, have found the ideal place with land freehold waiting for house to sell can be home with business premises on the land.

[Clive McDonald]

I thought you were asking something else.... so i'll go with what I thought you were asking.
As you know i have lots of big ideas, i'm full of them and mostly they work out pretty well. Expansion is the one thing I struggle with.

I live on an estate but have a parking area off the road in front of my house and a double garage. I also have a large swiss chalet style shed as big as the double garage in the back garden.My IBC is tucked behind and to the side of this shed with a decorative screen hiding it so that the garden still looks like a garden and not an industrial premises. It takes the full thirty metres of transfer hose to run it to my van. I use the wooden reel I posted a day or so ago to keep this tidy when not in use.

In the front of my house is my sign written scudo. I also have a plain ducato that i use for my other business.The family car is a fiat brava.

On my estate and many others there are covenants to stop you parking trade vehicles such as sign written vans (there are similar about caravans too). Before moving in I knocked on someones door who has a chemdry van and asked him. He didn't know what i was talking about and said he had never had any problems.

These covenants are usually enforcable by the orginal developer (biulder), so if you upset or angered a neighbour enough they would have to contact the developer who's legal dept would then either act or not as the case maybe.

Anyway, so I've already got two white vans. How many more could I have before someone objects or takes it upon themselves to do something about it? I think one more might be okay (so i'm saying three) and then I might have to think about parking one elsewhere.

As regards running a businesss from home (i mean stock in the gargage comings and goings) the council can stop you doing this so don't ever admitt it or tell neighbours this is what you do.

I'll post about my big ideas later in the thread.

[Clive McDonald]

I could have three vans at my house (not too big), and three where employees take them home. Thats six which would all fit on my drive without having to park any on the road or use the garage.

I can't see the neighbours being too impressed with this but many have five cars to a house and park like slobs.

But these weren't my big ideas.

[Clive McDonald]

I thought the key difference was money. As a sole trader the ceiling is supposed to be 65k ish. The ish being an intangible.

The ltd bit is where you pay a lower rate tax on higher achieved earnings(paid as dividend).

As yet I have not seen an expansion model I am happy with. Window washers says he max's his work out then takes someone on, max's out again and repeats. This seems the best so far.

So I am on the maxing out phase. You will note though that my max is higher because of mechanisation, and to that degree I have already expanded. I do however, find the work hard and often wish I could just pay someone ten pounds an hour to do it.

[Clive McDonald]

Yes and this is what I struggle with. I've got about ten years left to make a lot of money, but the first two years into expansion I am likely to be earning less, and then if I had a big breakaway such as an employee leaving with half of my customers i could be back to square one.

[kris martin]

when i get back from wedding this month im going to canvass enough work each week to pay somebody a weekly wage (easily done if you put your mind too it),  meaning i wont have to take a pay cut myself then continue picking up and carry on doing the same until i have 496 vans 2 men too each and i have more money than bill gates...

no joking aside... canvass, employ, canvass, emply and so on...

[Clive McDonald]

Agree with both of you but....

many are in the same position that they clear 50k a year with a bit of effort, but the downside is that a day off to canvass costs money, as does anything else that requires time.

I have to devote three hours a day to another business anyway.

To have a couple of employees would mean me hardly working (earning) at all and push the ex's up but not raise the gross income greatly.It might be when I got to four or five employees that this balance would shift, but then I would also have to be vat registered which would be a minimum of 10% off total gross earnings.

Whilst ewan is correct the idea of having to turnover £500 just to cover ex's is scarry.

[kris martin]

i only do 3 days normally, well 4 at the moment because im doing some guys shops for him whilst he is away for a few months.... loads of time to canvass

[Jon-scwindows]

im looking and think i have found a small premises, small warehouse type thing to keep equipment and run ro system and keep several ibcs. Also might fit it with a few couches sink and tv for lunchtime!
It would be handy having somewhere.

[Rob_Mac]

We have moved away from offering residential services and are now targeting mulitiple outlet and refubishment programmes to facilities management and other high level clients.

In my opinion I believe that to target larger commercial clients and to instill confidence in them that you are not a fly by night then a business premises is as important a marketing tool as the website, sign written vehicles and company uniform.

We have a large business premises that I rent for £300.00 per month - I can get our four vehicles on the ground floor and have a mezzanine floor for everything else.

I employ and appreciate the responsibility of providing a healthy wage to my employees - giving them a better wage than they could get elsewhere.

They provide me with more hands to do the work - it would be impossible to do what we do as a sole operator but there are many head aches to employing - is it worth it - everytime those cheques come in I know I made the right choice

Rob