Starting Up

[mountianrider]

Good day people, wish to get advice from people in the know.

First up, im a fully qualifed security engineer with a BTEC in security systems. I've got 8 years expreince in dealing with mostly commercial CCTV solutions.

 

However I wish to branch out on my own and become a independent installer.

 

Can I get advice from you for good public liability companies (how much should it cost?) and ways to advertise?

Also do I need to be accredited by SSAIB or Nacoss?

 

Thanks in advance!!

[matthew.brough]

Welcome to tsi.

 

My first suggestion is don't set up on your own. What benefit will it give you? Are you prepared to possible go heavily into debt and to live a lower standard of living  that you do today for a number of years before you *might* make some money out of it suplimented by the increase in work hours for no extra pay. If not, this is definatly not a venture for you. As a company we are busy aquiring failing approved companies and there seems to be an ever increasing amount of them around suggesting it isn't maybe the sector to start up in.

 

If you want approval, public liability is just 1 of a few insurances you will need, and that on it's own is costly.

You don't need accreditation, but without it, for the time being the work you have been used to doing for your employer might be off limits and that on it's own can cost £2-3k to get it you factor in all the things you will need to buy and time to spend getting it with not a single guarantee of any work. Without approval you could only compete with stan the sparky who will do full comp maintenance for £30 a year and you need a lot of £30 per years to pay your overheads. The other issue is how are you going to recruit customers from stan the sparky? It is a saturated market and unless you have a USP then why would someone move over to you than the guy that they have trusted for a few years as they do now?

 

I don't mean to be negative but these are serious questions you need to have answers for before considering if self employment is for you.

 

What is it that makes you want to leave the comfort of paid employment?

[mountianrider]

Thanks for the reply James, the thought process behind going self employed is the lust for being my own boss.

Could you guide me towards the best way to get council work?

 

I see what your saying, it's tough everywhere though? There must be ways for people to survive as self employed, what I mean is there's lots of plumbers who are 1 man bands but compete with the 'big boys' as such.

 

Thanks for your info.

[Cubit]

Have there been posts deleted here?

[matthew.brough]

James?

 

Anyway. Being ones own boss can be very exciting but equally the most depressing thing. It is a lonely place to be, especially if you have staff and shareholders to keep happy. The buck stops with you.

 

Council work, forget it. The time and things you will need such as CHAS or Safe contractor and the likes is just a ton of money that you haven't got to get the health and safety manuals written and all the associated fees. You also have no track record with selling to that customer type and chance of you getting any really successful tenders is a low one. A lot also look at your accounts, there is no way the council will trust a start up without cash reserves over an established player with a good net worth.

 

This industry isn't plumbing, it's nothing like it and funny enough I thought of you earlier today. I asked our M&A firm how they had got along with an email broadcast to some insolvency practitioners and administrators for us taking over some alarm companies. In a week we have had interest from over 40 companies who have traded for a few years and are on the verge of being bust.

 

Established players who are switched on will outwit you at practically every corner. I know gold’s that will bang an alarm in for £60/£100 and subsidise the installation to win the contract and wait for the £15-£25 a months to catch up 12/18 months down the line. Do you have the cash to compete with this? If not, why on earth would a customer choose you at £499 + VAT and an unknown when they could have a big brand name at bargain bucket price without the worry or capex. Unlikely ADT will go bust but you are  a risk to a prospect.

 

Like I said I aren't trying to be negative but I think you are potentially stepping into the lion’s den and heading for a beating and being eaten alive, heavily in debt and genuinely not something I'd like to happen.

Have there been posts deleted here?

He's confusing me with another fat *******

[whistle]

I started on my own 8 yeas ago with nothing. If your going to make a go of it get ready for years of 80 + hour weeks.

Tbh it's getting harder as the other muppets are working for peanuts these days.

[matthew.brough]

Imagine starting that 8 year journey today

Just to give you an idea we are 6 years into a venture that we have thrown over 1 million pounds at and it is going to take another 2/3 million of cash and probably 4 years to break even let alone make a profit. I'm not suggesting you would need anywhere near that amount but you could burn £50-100k very fast, assuming you could raise the capital now in what would be hard for a startup.

 

We use quite a few subcontractors who have their own little alarm companies and the fact they are spending 3/4 weeks working for us tells me they either aint got the work of their own or working for me makes them more money.

Edited May 6, 2014 by matthew.brough

[PeterJames]

I started on my own 8 yeas ago with nothing. If your going to make a go of it get ready for years of 80 + hour weeks.

Tbh it's getting harder as the other muppets are working for peanuts these days.

QFA muppets are only getting the crappy jobs nowadays.

 

Best way to go it alone is to subcontract. If you have some cash behind you you could look around for a small co to buy. Its not as simple as it seems I came from engineer engineering manager and then operations manager, I thought I was running the business as an operations manager. But little did I know, it was a big learning curve when I purchased my own business, with as Andrew says lots of 80 hour weeks, and lots of nightmares along the way. If I could start all over again I would think long and hard and then go get a job in Spain hiring deck chairs and getting laid every night by a different girl

[whistle]

QFA muppets are only getting the crappy jobs nowadays.

 

Best way to go it alone is to subcontract. If you have some cash behind you you could look around for a small co to buy. Its not as simple as it seems I came from engineer engineering manager and then operations manager, I thought I was running the business as an operations manager. But little did I know, it was a big learning curve when I purchased my own business, with as Andrew says lots of 80 hour weeks, and lots of nightmares along the way. If I could start all over again I would think long and hard and then go get a job in Spain hiring deck chairs and getting laid every night by a different girl

Now your talking Pete, where do I sign up ?

[matthew.brough]

Me too, can I join?