How to start picking up odd jobs from a private customers?

[EvgenijL]

Hi all,

I am new to this forum and as such, would like to apologise in advance if I'm making any kind of mistakes here.

I work for a company during a week, but would like to top up my earnings with some private jobs. I am in a good position in this situation, as I can use company's workshop after working hours/weekends, for doing my own work. So as such I do not want to loose a chance to make some money without building my own workshop, and the buying all the machines.

Any ideas are welcome.

Many thanks

EV

 

[devonwoody]

Welcome to the forum from me.

Although you state you can use the workshop you work for in the evenings I cannot see how your employer would be pleased if you obtained work that might have gone through his business.

If I was your employer you would be on a weeks notice in a blink of an eye.

So I would think that one out again.

Naturally you might already have an arrangement that has his approval.

 

[BradNaylor]

If your arrangement with your boss is as cosy as you suggest, I'm sure that he would be delighted to pass some small jobs onto you. All businesses receive enquiries that are not worth pursuing as the profit potential is minimal, but which they don't want to decline outright as it looks bad.

This could be a mutually advantageous opportunity.

 

[awkwood]

Hi welcome to the forum

This is a great arrangment for you, as brad says your boss may be able to pass on some of his unwanted enquiries to you
If your boss is happy and you can rent some time in his workshop, go for it, its a good arangement
All i would ask is that you price your work at a reasonable commercial rate and then your not under cutting other full time tradesmen with higher overheads

 

[9fingers]

In addition to the above points, I'd add "start as you mean to go on"

ie Decide what type of work you want to do
Such as bespoke solid wood or MDF fitted cupboards and possible something different from the work you do by day.
Make some sample pieces to show to people and aim to get a photographic portfolio as soon as you can to show the range you can do. Maybe with your bosses permission you can photo stuff YOU have made at work.

Also don't price too cheaply to begin with as it is very difficult to up the price later when repeat business comes along. The next worse thing you can do is to drop the price if a customer baulks at it. Stick to the price for that design and maybe offer cheaper options for less time consuming construction ie less work/lower price = same rate per hour.

Good luck and enjoy your work

Bob

 

[EvgenijL]

Hi all again,

I would like to thank you all for some good suggestions.

Yes it is difficult to believe, but such are my arrangements with the boss, and he is happy for us (employees) to do our private work after hours, providing we are doing at least one hour overtime before that.

I actually haven't thought about asking my boss, if he could possibly pass some of the non cost effective but time consuming jobs on to me. That is a good suggestion Brad. Thank you.

However, I do not really want to rely on my boss. Although it might be easiest solution, he already providing me with workspace and equipment I can use. Asking him for some work might be a step to far. On a positive note though, I might just give it a go.

Now back to my, shall I say original question.

The question was:
How do I find my own customers? Do I advertise in a local newspaper or online (are there such papers or web sites that offer a free service)? Please don't get me wrong, I am not being tight with money, I just do know how much advertising costs and as such it might not be cost effective to start this thing all together.

Now my second question is:
What is a reasonable commercial rate to charge a customer and get a job yet be competitive in this field?
Taking in to consideration that I do not have to pay any electrical bills or rent for my workspace. All I have to pay is a bill for materials i will use (these would be ordered through company at a trade/bulk price and I will have to pay VAT on top of the cost of materials). As well as that, would you suggest I add, say 10%-15% to the total bill I would charge my customers (as a profit)? Or is this a bad idea?

Well, that is all for now and I am looking forward to hearing from you all again soon.

Many thanks.

EV

 

[chill]

Hi Ev, if you search all of Richard Jones posts - forum name Sgian Dubh,
you will find some interesting articles on and around this subject, some good advice already given by Brad and Awkwood, particularly on overheads, even though you have none at the moment you must charge some in your price, as in the future when you set up your own `shop,
you will either have to make a big price increase or take a drop in profit.
I would save this money separatly at the moment, so as you don`t come to relie on it, and use it to buy machinery/tools pay rent etc when you do go it alone. HTH goodluck, Chris

 

[Doctor]

Are you going to inform the taxman of your new business or wait for some busy body to do it !!!!

 

[Karl]

Are you going to inform the taxman of your new business or wait for some busy body to do it !!!!

Surely if they pay cash he doesn't need to.

 

[awkwood]

It only becomes a problem when you find the customer your working for, works for the inland revenue

 

[t8hants]

If you are using your bosses works and equipment I should check the insurance cover very carefully

What are your liabilities if a fire occurs on your watch, do you have your own accident cover, etc,etc. Insurance companies are there to make profit for their share holders, not to payout on claims.

Gareth

 

[awkwood]

That should be covered by public and product liability insurance, which you should be take out as soon as you start
This one of the overheads i mentioned earlier

I get breakages on a regular basis, what happens to them? you will have to pay for repairs, but there could be down time for your boss as well

Its a great oppertunity but its not with out its problems

 

[chill]

It only becomes a problem when you find the customer your working for, works for the inland revenue

most can`t do the maths correctly so shouldn`t be a problem

 

[woodguy7]

I think you are on dodgy ground here. It sounds to me that you are looking for "cash" jobs as to avoid paying Tax ? Although i would never report anyone myself, there is always someone willing to do it. Although your employer is busy, not everyone is in the same boat & are struggling to make a living & support their families. You are getting a full time wage which is something to be grateful for but if you are looking for cash jobs you are effectively taking the work from someone who needs it.

I am self employed & have loads of work but had i not & i new someone was taking little jobs for cash..... well i don't know what i would do. I have a family to support after all !

Again, i don't know if you are planning on informing the Inland Revenue or not but an open forum is probably not the best place to discuss this.

Woodguy.

 

[BradNaylor]

Now back to my, shall I say original question.

The question was:
How do I find my own customers? Do I advertise in a local newspaper or online (are there such papers or web sites that offer a free service)? Please don't get me wrong, I am not being tight with money, I just do know how much advertising costs and as such it might not be cost effective to start this thing all together.

Most guys starting out in this business have to earn a full wage from day one, as well as cover the overheads of a workshop. Consequently they need to attract a lot of quick work.

You are in a very fortunate position. You have the luxury of being able to allow your business develop organically without having to spend money on advertising at all.

I would suggest a simple website which you can do yourself. Register it on Google Maps and almost immediately you will start to get a few local enquiries. Do a really good job on any commissions you get and this will lead to referrals or further business.

It really is that simple and very nearly free!

Now my second question is:
What is a reasonable commercial rate to charge a customer and get a job yet be competitive in this field?
Taking in to consideration that I do not have to pay any electrical bills or rent for my workspace. All I have to pay is a bill for materials i will use (these would be ordered through company at a trade/bulk price and I will have to pay VAT on top of the cost of materials). As well as that, would you suggest I add, say 10%-15% to the total bill I would charge my customers (as a profit)? Or is this a bad idea?

Well, that is all for now and I am looking forward to hearing from you all again soon.

Many thanks.

EV

I have very low overheads and charge £30 per hour. I would suggest that with no overheads you should charge at least £20 per hour.

However, never tell a client that this is what you charge. Just give them a price for the finished job.

If you quote £600 for a chest of drawers they might think that is a good price. If however, you tell them that there is £80 worth of timber in the chest of drawers and that it will take you 20 hours to make it at £26 per hour they will think that you are ripping them off.

First rule of cabinetmaking!

I didn't read anywhere in your posts about you looking to avoid tax - I'm sure this is not your intention.

You will need to register as self-employed with HMRC within 3 months of starting your business, even though you also have a full-time job. VAT registration will not be an issue, as you need to be turning over £70k pa before you need to register.

Cheers
Brad

 

[awkwood]

The pricing and hourly rate are very hard to work out at he moment, I would take brads advise on chargings as he seems to be doing well when things are quite.
There are a lot of tradesmen out there who have been layed off or the firm they work for are very quite and they are doing jobs to earn extra money.
I have come accros very good joiners doing good work from as little as £9.00 per hour. I was talking to a man who has had a very nice house built over in lincolnshire and he's only payed any of the trades ( other than the electrican) up to £15.00 per hour
I find it very hard to get work locally charing any more than £20 per hour at the moment, but its very hard to make anything charing less than £15.00
Its very hard to keep up with repair and replacment and upgrading equpment, if your running on slim margins

 

[tom owens]

I started off pretty similar to how your intending but was already cis registered so i payed tax on my work. i started offering home improvements which soon booked most of my weekends up.

I used the money from my weekend work to set up my workshop and now im busy on both manufacturing and home improvements. I get most of my enquierys from local rag. We have a book that comes out every 8 weeks which is just full of local news and advertising which was a good starting point. Infact one costs me £6 a month which goes to one village only and iv had alot of work from that.

At the minute £20p/h is a good rate here but things could change in the future.
Good luck!!!

 

[Graeme]

I agree with most of what has been written. Rates are very variable, but £20/hour seems to be fair may be less if you want to build up a body of work, references and customer base, whilst having no/low overheads. I add 15% onto materials for consumables i.e. glue, screws etc. I would try and give a firm estimate, but not advertise your daily/hourly rate unless you have a good relationship with your client. Be careful, especially when you get busy to keep your turnover below VAT thresholds i.e. labour and materials combined is your turnover.

As for advertising. Nothing is better than word of mouth, but its slow to get around, which may suit you. If you live in an area with a good parish or town magazine I would go with that, its been the best for me. Web site would be an advantage, but mostly just to point people at to see your portfolio. Take pictures of everything you do!

Have an area or specific field and try and stick to it or as close to it as you can. Jack of all trades and all that. Have a look at some of the Busiess Link advise on the web about starting a company. It may seem daunting but for the sort of thing you have described its a lot simpler. Think about public liability insuarnce as well.

Lastly, I am sure you know this, but building a clinet list means, not only doing the work, it means doing the designs, doing quotes (in a timley fashion) orderinig the materials, doing the work, sorting out the snags and of course collecting the money! You may be suprised about how much time is not doing the work.

Anyway I am supposed to be doing some design/quotes that have been taking to long, what a pitty I cant follow my own advise!!!!!!

 

[CNC Paul]

If your arrangement with your boss is as cosy as you suggest, I'm sure that he would be delighted to pass some small jobs onto you. All businesses receive enquiries that are not worth pursuing as the profit potential is minimal, but which they don't want to decline outright as it looks bad.

This could be a mutually advantageous opportunity.

EV,

This could also be a recipe for disaster, what happens when said client comes to you for a large order because you are cheaper than your boss, the boss finds out, you could be out the door. If you boss is wiiling to let you use his workshop for private work, don't tread on his toes find your own clients..

 

[BradNaylor]

If your arrangement with your boss is as cosy as you suggest, I'm sure that he would be delighted to pass some small jobs onto you. All businesses receive enquiries that are not worth pursuing as the profit potential is minimal, but which they don't want to decline outright as it looks bad.

This could be a mutually advantageous opportunity.

EV,

This could also be a recipe for disaster, what happens when said client comes to you for a large order because you are cheaper than your boss, the boss finds out, you could be out the door. If you boss is wiiling to let you use his workshop for private work, don't tread on his toes find your own clients..

I didn't feel the need to state the bleedin' obvious Paul, but clearly any arrangement along the lines I suggested would have to work both ways.

That's what I meant be a 'mutually advantageous opportunity'. Only a fool sh1ts on his own doorstep.