How did you finance your business start up?

[Dazh09]

Hi, I'm thinking a little ahead of myself here but I will be going through college to become a qualified plumber, once I have achieved this I will be looking at starting on my own and wondered what funding if any is available for starting a new business I.e government grants/ loans etc as I know it will cost roughly £10k

 

[plumbdoctor]

Not that easy pal would not advise you to go straight out on your own from college you won't make any money in the first few years, get yourself some experience with a company and build it up slow

 

[buckley plumb]

start with a company and start doing a day a wk for your self until you get busy enough to swap

 

[hammers4spanner]

Do a tiling course

 

[Dazh09]

Thanks for your advise, was thinking that going self employed would be the better route as I have read a lot on here of how hard it is for newly qualified plumbers to find an employer as most want at least 5 years experience

 

[tomplumb83]

I paid for it myself! You don't need anything to start do you? I bought stuff as and when I needed it.
It cost nothing to set a plumbing business up.

 

[mfgs]

I paid for it myself! You don't need anything to start do you? I bought stuff as and when I needed it.
It cost nothing to set a plumbing business up.

Tools, van , advertising, basic vanstock etc etc. It soon adds up. 10k is about what you will need in reality.

 

[Aquablu]

I financed with savings but would not advise you to go self employed straight away. Working for someone not only gives you a steady income but gives you time to build up contacts for when you are ready to take the plunge. Good luck whatever you decide to do!

 

[townfanjon]

Your first sentence says it all my friend, you are miles ahead of yourself, you have to become a plumber first, and you will encounter lots of problems , you might not even like it.
Learning in college and transferring it to working in somebody's house is completely different, they don't show you how to deal with the types you will encounter.

 

[stevetheplumber]

robbing banks

 

[townfanjon]

robbing banks

Is that easier than plumbing Steve ?

 

[kay-jay]

Is that easier than plumbing Steve ?

No but the pay is better [emoji386][emoji386][emoji386][emoji386][emoji386][emoji386][emoji386][emoji386][emoji386][emoji386][emoji386][emoji386][emoji386]

 

[Deleted member 32524]

I would be one to encourage you to go self employed. 10k is the start of it. Would be enough to get you going. My advice is do not buy a van at first. It will take a huge chunk of your 10k and running costs are high, servicing, tyres parts etc. Get a good set of hand tools, impact driver, sds, rip snorter, lsx, ptfe gas tape, leak detector n the likes. Borrow a core gun when you need it or hire from Brandon for about £40 a go.
Spend your most of your money an advertising, web presence, leaflets. Basically spend majority of it getting business in. Cash flow is KING.

 

[Millsy 82]

Is that easier than plumbing Steve ?

Yeah and if it goes wrong you don't have to worry about finding money to feed yourself! Lol

 

[Aquablu]

I spent nothing on advertising, except a website and a Facebook page. All my work comes from word of mouth recommendations. That's why I think it's important to build up contacts before going self employed.

 

[Millsy 82]

Start building all your tools and van stock up now don't leave it until you are set up as the profit off 1 job could go to buy a particular tool needed for it. When you start you could go weeks without any decent job coming in so you may need that money to tide you over. Don't necessarily buy the best kit straight away as you could spend thousands of pounds.

DuncanM said it really CASH FLOW is king which is what I'm finding out now I had £4500 in savings and that soon goes on advertising etc and I do quite a bit of work for a letting agents who pay upto 30 days after the job has been completed so at the moment the jobs I am earning from are being ploughed onto their jobs (they have always paid within 30 days they are just using me a lot more) so be prepared to have no money. If my partner and family were not behind me I would be royally ducked.

Don't go self employed to early after completing your apprenticeship/ course you will have a very very steep learning curve and you WILL lose money on some jobs and you are alone so nobody to help you. I went self employed at the age of 22 (forced into it by being made redundant) it was the worst mistake I ever made had I of listened to everybody and gone bankrupt at the time I wouldn't have the problem of cash flow as much now.

 

[Dazh09]

Thanks for all the advice, it's all being taken on board.

I will try and gets some work experience when qualified but if employers are reluctant to take on newbies then I don't see what other options i would have other than going self employed.

Apprenticeships are out of the question as I am 32 years old and have 3 kids under the age of 5.

In the mean time I will save up towards initial start up costs while I do my courses

 

[lame plumber]

do anything to get work inc paintinh n decorating or gardening to get contacts and build up the plumbing as you go.

 

[stevetheplumber]

Is that easier than plumbing Steve ?

better paid but the holiday arrangements are crap

 

[Masood]

robbing banks

I can just picture you as Big Vern from Viz, Steve...

 

[southcoastboile]

I think you need at least 7 years experience before you can go it alone and make a success of it otherwise you will get to breakdowns and look stupid or loose money by ordering the wrong parts.

if you are just doing boiler installs and general plumbing then you don't need as much experience but that limits your customer base and you will loose a lot of work.

theres no way you can go it alone from college. Don't run before you can walk or you WILL regret it. Not trying to sound ignorant but that's the truth of it.

 

[brum]

Tried putting the wife on the streets first night she came back with £20.50.What miserable git gave you the 50p I said,All of them she replied.
Seriously though My first job was financed by the bank,Although they never actually knew.
materials bought with a rubber cheque on thurs before easter gave us fri,sat,sun and mon.
Job done paid in cash straight into bank tues morning.That was the start to a turnover of £128,000 in financial year 1988-89 no bull,Wish I could earn a fraction of that now..brum

 

[Ray Stafford]

Rule of thumb for all businesses: "Only try to do one difficult thing at a time"

If you are already a skilled and experienced businessman, with a good understanding of sales and marketing, stock control, accounting, personnel issues etc etc, then starting a business as a plumber is a "maybe"

If you are already a skilled plumber, with a good understanding, not just of what works in the classroom, but what actually works on site, then you have a chance of becoming a business man in the plumbing field.

Trying to gain experience in a trade, and run a business for the first time? In my experience, thats a recipe for disaster. My credit account default files are full of them.

Good luck anyway.

Ray

 

[Deleted member 32524]

Word of mouth is fantastic and is as close as you will get to a guaranteed job. However, they are not filling my diary to bursting point each week. Most customers phone when it breaks and that is it. You need to get busy finding business or you sit at home waiting for someone else to recommend you.

I for one have bills to pay and simply cant afford to sit on my arse to wait for the phone to go with another recommendation that may never come.

Loyalty is also a thing of the past for most. Some customers will wait for you if you are busy but, most pick up the paper/go online and phone someone else if they feel they simply cant wait 24hrs.

I absolutely see where everyone is coming from with experience. I thought I knew it all when I finished my apprenticeship but the real learning started after that, when you are expected to get round this many jobs per day and figure them out yourself. BTW I still do not know it all!!

Start with bathrooms as most are pretty easy. Get a good joiner in on the work and you will learn from him about sheeting walls, floors, getting stuff level etc. Once you are good with that stuff you are good to go. Always use a good spark though on bathroom electrics. Also get your hand in to tiling and master it.

 

[JCplumb]

I did a 2 year college course then an NVQ(working for free for someone in my spare time) over about a year many moons ago. While I was learning I used to price jobs for tools, first rad swap I did paid for a bender, first outside tap paid for the 18mm / 300mm masonry bit, first tap change paid for the tap spanners etc...
By the time I was going it alone I had most of the stuff I needed, year 1 and 2 were dire, I barely made a penny, it has been very slowly picking up from there to a point where it is finally paying my bills and I have a little left over at the end of the week.
My advice is to do similar and keep the 10k in the bank because you will need it to put food on the table for your young uns, getting a part time job and working round that while you're building trade up would also be advisable.
Too many people think that all they have to do is get a level 2 certificate and then they have a license to print money, even though the papers tell you that is the case, it is not.
You'll have days where you go to change a TRV and think it will take minutes only to find you're there all day and didn't even quote the customer enough to buy your supper on the way home without making a loss, with time you'll get better at quoting and faster at plumbing but it won't come fast enough if you're banking on instant success.
You will have bad knees and a bad back in 10 years time, your hands will be unrecognisable after the first year, you will go off sweetcorn after your first drains job, you will on occasion get splattered with poop and moving other peoples pubes so you can work will become common place, but it might, just might work out for you, and if you get good enough and busy enough to do it you might make a decent living from plumbing.
I have seen 4 people out of the 20 or so guys who did the plumbing course at the same time as me, none of them are currently plumbers except me and to be honest I sometimes wish I'd chosen the plasteres course, or the sparkys course all those years ago.
Good luck pal, you will probably need it.

 

[newcastle phill]

I often wonder how any businesses ever start listening to some of you lot lol

 

[newcastle phill]

I think you need at least 7 years experience before you can go it alone and make a success of it otherwise you will get to breakdowns and look stupid or loose money by ordering the wrong parts.

if you are just doing boiler installs and general plumbing then you don't need as much experience but that limits your customer base and you will loose a lot of work.

theres no way you can go it alone from college. Don't run before you can walk or you WILL regret it. Not trying to sound ignorant but that's the truth of it.

7 years seems a bit of an arbitrary number - please explain

 

[Centralheatking]

become a decorater and leave us alone - its much cheaper to start up
nick some brushes from B Q get some old ladies to buy the paint up front
off you go - sorry CHKing

Honestly do not go straight from theory to self employed in Plumbing or C/h
go work for someonelike my outfit for 2/3 years and do a day or so for yourself
saturdays is best or just go sick if your weekend contract over-runs to Monday

Yours CHK this is how In started 35 years ago

Do a tiling course

 

[Centralheatking]

Because there are loads of wanna bees who wil never ever start up on their own
cause of lack of ......... lots of things........some dream and some do ......

No self employed man sleeps every night thro without gettintg the 5 ams
money /next job / bank/ bad payers - employed sleep well - maybe CHKing:24:

 

[julesverne]

do anything to get work inc paintinh n decorating or gardening to get contacts and build up the plumbing as you go.

Plus one to this. If I Hadn't I would'nt be where I am . I did anything from plastering tiling painting fencing demolition gardening, anything that paid still do odd jobs now for my regular custs every now and again.

 

[Dazh09]

On completing the plumbing I aim to do the Bpec gas foundation course and go on to get my ACS gas certificate, I would like to do a renewables course at some point too.

This should give me a broader range of jobs that I can perform thus keeping me in work.

I'm lucky enough to have an uncle who is already a gas engineer, he has been in the trade 30+ years and has made a very good living from it running his own business, he doesn't touch water though and says that he never will as there is much more money in gas.

I personally want to be able to do both.

I will do my onsite gas assessments with him and maybe work with him for a while to learn from him and gain experience.