generating work

[kristhejoiner]

Hi,
All i really do on here is ask for advice haha, hope this doesn't do peoples heads in!! but then again its the only way of finding out new things i suppose.
I have been a joiner for ten years now three of them serving my time going to collage one day a week, the rest of the week being on site. My qualification is Carpentry/joinery nvq level 3. For the last two and a half years i have been getting my own work.
I get work by word of mouth or by using ratedpeople.com. In the past i have tried advertising with yellow pages/ yell.com, I have posted leaflets and advertised in shop windows etc. These i found did not generate much work if any.
The yellow pages and yell.com was a complete waste of money for me.

My question is does anyone have and tips of how to generate more work, i'm particularly interested in furniture making and trying to get a method of selling furniture i make.

Any advise or response is really apprieciated.

Cheers

Kris

 

[rspsteve]

What about making a website to show case you`re work?

Think they can be set up at reasonable costs now days .

Steve

 

[nev]

Make a standalone piece, take it into the poshest furniture shop (that sells bespoke) you can find and place it in front of the owner/ buyer/ manager.

 

[marcros]

Keep in mind that the money is made, generally, from commissions, rather than making an item and trying to sell it. There are exceptions, of course, and one obvious one is if you can batch produce an item and it sells.

Commissions are all well and good, when you are established, which is exactly the advice that you are looking for. The fact that you get work through word of mouth is very encouraging.

A couple of things that I would suggest...

* Contact the local/regional building firms. Make sure that you get the correct person- probably a combination of a Quantity Surveyor and a Construction Director. I worked within a few housebuilders for a number of years. When we were looking for new subcontrcators, we sometimes struggled to find people, because we were blind to what was out there. Knowing that there is somebody interested, and on file for the next enquiry was often as much as was needed to at least spark off a meeting etc. If you can get in at the above, you may well get the opportunity to do upgrades before/after a customer has bought the property and moved in- hardwood flooring, skirtings, potentially fitted furniture etc. That will give you an opportunity for more work, and for the customers to see the quality of what you have done, and talk to their friends about it.

I would think long and hard before making any furniture and trying to sell it. Not to say that it wont work, but make sure that it has a healthy margin before making it. I think that I would rather make myself some nice furniture, get some good photographs and blog about it- seems to be the way things work now!

My website isnt great, but I made it myself (non woodworking shop) over the evenings of a week or so. The software wasn't hugely expensive (there are probably similar free programs now), the domain name was a fiver a year give or take, and hosting the equivalent of a couple of pints a month. So for less than the cost of some flyers being printed, you could get set up.

 

[Mar_mite]

A year ago I decided to go I alone, first thing I did was get a website, then leaflets. I spent weeks leafleting my local area and after a couple of weeks the phone started to ring. What I noticed was that when I went to look at a job, the punter nearly always had their iPad ready with my website loaded up and would say "I want something just like this".

Get yourself a website mate.

 

[riclepp]

Also worth considering, is Facebook. I have a FB page and I get people emailing me, not gonna make a fortune but it is work and gets you noticed. Best of all it is free, but you can buy bolt on's if you so wish. A few months back there was a thread on websites, i'll see if I can find the link and post it a bit later.

HTH

 

[riclepp]

getting-a-website-t52238.html

Not the one that was on recently, but nevertheless good reading.

 

[steve248]

Yellow pages is finished really. There are a few people left who use it to find trades but they are getting fewer and fewer. Yell is second tier online advertising, which is pointless when it is so easy to do it yourself. A website and use adwords. You can use adwords geographically which makes it very cost effective.

I really did not intend to use this post as an advert, sorry... However, I do design websites and specialise in generating business for small local companies so if you want some help then PM me.

Cheers

Steve

 

[doctor Bob]

Make a standalone piece, take it into the poshest furniture shop (that sells bespoke) you can find and place it in front of the owner/ buyer/ manager.

This may also be a reality check!!

"i've never seen anything like it" can be meant in a couple of ways :lol:

 

[MIGNAL]

Get a website. If you do it yourself and pay for hosting/domain it is pretty cheap. The weebly software is really easy to use. Plenty of others.
Photo's, plenty of them and of a very good quality. You don't need an expensive camera but you do know how to get the best out of a limited point and shoot.
Having said all that my website hasn't done me a blind bit of good! :roll: Well, perhaps a little.

 

[xy mosian]

Make yourself known to local estate agents for anyone, buyer or seller, needing a joiner. The same goes for letting agents. Leave at least a card detailing your areas of expertise.
xy

 

[mailee]

I will second the website idea. I made my own after getting a rubbish professional one done. Been on my own for almost four years now and get a lot of work from the website and word of mouth. First jobs I got were from a local parish magazine but got much more work from the website. :wink:

 

[Lons]

Hi Kris
Your question looks as if it has 2 parts to it: i.e. general carpentry / joinery and then the furniture making side.

I would say that you're on the right track regarding the day to day work which is presumably your bread and butter. Just intensify your efforts and follow the advice offered. Make yourself known to as many relevant people as possible. They will be very happy to pass on your name as they will see it as helping their customers.
A website wouldn't help me as I have only ever accepted work when recommended and I fiercely protect my reputation to ensure that it continues.

The furniture side you will need to treat seperately IMO until you establish a reputation and client base and would need considrable initial effort and marketing but on line is a must. I doubt you'll pick up many furniture commissions without some examples to show potential buyers.

Bob

 

[kristhejoiner]

Thank you all for your replies, was made up to read them all and will take all advise. Especially the website idea which seems to be agreed by everyone.
cheers all, will no doubt be picking your brains again in the next few days haha.

kris

 

[Matt@]

a website is a absoulute must - invaluable. Doesnt have to cost the earth... get someone to download you a nice wordpress theme and then you can add your own content ie text and images. Cost to pay someone to do this can be around £150. Take advantage of the fact that most trades either have no sites or naff sites or sites that look too proffessional.

Get the site onto googlemaps so when people click your trade, your site is up there at the top of page one. carpentry will be difficult - too much competition but the making side should be easier in this respect.

Another thing which is really important and many people miss - the quality of enquiries is much much better from people that have a need and go searching as opposed to enquiries from those who happen to have glanced at your ad somewhere. I have an ad in a parish type mag and the enquiries are mostly from old people and timewasting. My website thats near top of page one local google gets targeted enquiries and gets me loads of work from motivated people who have already decided they need something done with the only thing left - choosing who!

Dont write off yell.com either. Invariably the yell site is , again, toward top of page one google for a local area and depending on your competition carpentry (alot) making furniture ( little) you may be able to get top three of your Yell classification and be targetting people that have that need. I get lots of enquiries from Yell.com and always smile when everyone says it a waste of time. I only have to look at my click throughs from yell.com to know its worth subscribing. Yellow pages are ok for doorstops