Bit of advice please! (career related)

[smallblueplanet]

Sounds great, shame it's not more local heh.. Just looking into signing up for the courses now!

Wasn't sure how near Bristol was to your part of South Wales. But I guess if you look at the full job descriptions it may give you more info on what's needed for certain stuff?

[Two_Sheds]

Going rate is around £10 per hour here, but remember to factor in petrol and other costs......

.... plus there's no work at all from Oct-Mar

[Glutton4...]

.... plus there's no work at all from Oct-Mar

Oh yes there is!

[Potstubsdustbins]

Buzzing I am sorry but it just does not work like that. Would you pay someone to employ you, because that is what you are doing by lending them the tools of your trade.

When you become a pro your tools are special to you, without them you cannot earn a living. They will no doubt be better quality than a DIYers (you can't afford breakages) and they become an extension of yourself when you work with them every day. For instance I can pick out my favorite hammer blindfold, I know its feel, its balance etc.

Work insurance when you need it? Sorry but you need this everyday, all day, no one will ever work at my house without first producing a public liability insurance certificate.

A couple of for instance's, there you are with your hover mower out comes a stone and it takes out the home owners car windscreen. Your responsible you will have to pay, the home owner is a friend so he approaches his insurance company. They find out you were working there as a pro they will not pay as you are supposed to carry insurance, so its back to your wallet. Now imagine if it took out his eye thats bye bye to your own home if you own it.

It can get worse if the stone harms a passerbyand you have no insurance. The passerby's first move is to sue the home owner as he was employing you, the home owner must then sue you to recover his losses.

This may seem extreme but I know a plumber who set fire to a newly thatched roof, it cost him his business, his home and eventually his marriage.

My advise to anyone thinking of going self employed is please take good professional advise first and talk to lots of people in the game you are thinking of joining. It can be very, very rewarding in lots of ways not just money, but beware of the pit falls and fully understand the responsibilities it places on you.

Colin

[buzzingtalk]

I said the 'insurance if you need it' as i really didn't know anything about work insurance and liability - its thankfully not something i've ever had to think about!

[chris]

Wasn't sure how near Bristol was to your part of South Wales. But I guess if you look at the full job descriptions it may give you more info on what's needed for certain stuff?

It's about an hour away, so not too bad! But yes it's helpful to know what people look for- thanks for taking the time to post it

[bronwen]

Hi chrismarks, good on you for thinking about a change as you are not happy where you are! I wish you well and
Good luck with the courses

[Potstubsdustbins]

Buzzing I was not having a go at anyone just trying to explain some of the pitfalls.

I admire anyone who wants to have a go at working for themselves but know that some people, not necessarily anyone here, look through rose tinted glasses aned see all the pro's and none of the con's.

Working for yourself is great most of the time but in this day and age unless you are prepared it can be a nightmare.

I have run my own business for nearly 20 years and during that time have had a tax investigation (they sent me a cheque for £176-00p.) Another engineer made a complaint to CORGI (he was sent for retraining), and numerous fraudulent claims against my insurance company (thankfully no one got away with it). I even go so far now days as to carry a camera to take evidential photo's just in case.

Yes go for it but be prepared, talk to your peers and above all get a good accountant, he will earn his fee many times over.

Colin

[Ouya Mellsa]

I've tried to reply to your PM ChrisMarks, but it says your inbox is full!

[buzzingtalk]

Wow! That is horrendous. I live with someone who is self employed and he has to spend a lot of time filling in his tax returns, it seems like an awful lot of work.

I guess if you were getting the right money to start with, it would be worth it. its a leap of faith to go from working on a normal contract and having everything done to you, to being self employed and in full control but having to do the paperwork.

[Potstubsdustbins]

I have to be honest and say yes the financial rewards are better than being employed by others but its not just the money for me.
Its the ability to make your own decisions about your future and about how you want to spend your time that are the best things about working this way. Its also about being able to choose who you work for, I work for a couple of estate agencies and I then have my private customers.
I am very lucky the gas industry is very much in demand and very short of skilled engineers and our pay scale reflects this, it also means that we do not have to work for people who are aggravating as there are lots more people out there who appreciate good reliable service and who it is a pleasure to work for.

I am within a few months of 65 and only work part time but I cannot see me retiring as I really enjoy going to work. I have a group I call my little old ladies (don't know how I dare at my time of life). I have known them for years so I know their problems, what makes them tick, and so on. Some of them sit in the house all day on their own and when I arrive I have to allow and extra 1/2 hour to listen to their problems or more often their joys when talking of their grand children etc.

I can recommend working for yourself to anyone but as I have said before your have to beware of the pitfalls.

Colin

[chris]

I've tried to reply to your PM ChrisMarks, but it says your inbox is full!

I've emptied it out now - sorry!

[chris]

I have to be honest and say yes the financial rewards are better than being employed by others but its not just the money for me.
Its the ability to make your own decisions about your future and about how you want to spend your time that are the best things about working this way. Its also about being able to choose who you work for, I work for a couple of estate agencies and I then have my private customers.
I am very lucky the gas industry is very much in demand and very short of skilled engineers and our pay scale reflects this, it also means that we do not have to work for people who are aggravating as there are lots more people out there who appreciate good reliable service and who it is a pleasure to work for.

I am within a few months of 65 and only work part time but I cannot see me retiring as I really enjoy going to work. I have a group I call my little old ladies (don't know how I dare at my time of life). I have known them for years so I know their problems, what makes them tick, and so on. Some of them sit in the house all day on their own and when I arrive I have to allow and extra 1/2 hour to listen to their problems or more often their joys when talking of their grand children etc.

I can recommend working for yourself to anyone but as I have said before your have to beware of the pitfalls.

Colin

I've found a similar plumber, local to me here ("semi" retired). I've had others, but we tend to give all our work to this chap now. He's not the cheapest, but is honest, does a good job and if I need advice(i.e. needed to know how to drain my system - it's an odd bodge job of a system) - he was all to happy to chat to me for an hour about it on the phone... for this reason, we're getting him to replace our heating system/rads etc.

I'd do the rads myself, but I'm so short of time - we're happy to give him the extra business though. Swings in roundabouts.

I never advertised when I ran a couple of busineses, but had a lot of business. I think each industry is very short of proper honest businesses. We got 100% of our clients by word of mouth.. it's a shame the niche I saw back in 2002 has now been saturated by money-hungry organisations buying up small providers (or else I'd still be doing it now!)

[Hilary B]

A few days ago I was chatting with someone who happens to be an electrician. He is less than entirely impressed with the people coming into the business. They've had the training, so they know what the electrical system of a home should be like, but because they have little practical experience in the real world, they don't know much about how to work on systems installed some time ago, or those improved by DIYers. It's all very well making all electrical work the responsibility of qualified folk, but life isn't always going to be that simple!
I imagine there is a similar situation in plumbing and other 'household service' situations?

[Potstubsdustbins]

Hilary, you are so right.

Plumbing well anyone can call themselves a plumber, we find an awful lot of people who have had no formal training what so ever carrying out plumbing work in folks homes usually very badly and its not just in your homes that the damage is done. Water companies claim that a lot of pollution in water course's is caused by cowboy plumbers connecting foul water to top water drains.

Gas, well I hate to disappoint people but the man/woman who is Gas Safe registered is just that `gas safe`. It does not mean they know how to plumb or correctly design central heating systems etc.

In my personal view the rot started when companies were forced to pay apprentice's a wage that was uneconomic to the one man band and so true 5 year apprenticeship's became a thing of the past.

Colin