Dave the Sparky Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 Been self-employed for 7 years now and things are pretty good if on a short term basis, lots of private/domestic and light industrial/commercial stuff going on, nothing big but ticking over.. Speaking to others in the buisiness lately people are struggling in general, prices are right down and getting paid is a nightmare! Im lucky enough to have a lot of regulars who know my rates and are happy to pay but wondered how others are getting on out there? Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Jones Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 Second hand, but not so well for a close friend. He was into extensions/house renovations moving on to small project management. Had to cut back to minimum staff of 2 and is still complaining about firms from outside the area under pricing below cost hoping to recover some profit with extras. He mostly gets by I think with some quiet times but would probably be in a better place if he hadn't been so in love with the property boom developers although he made well when times were good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plucky Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 Im a self employed plumber and things are up and down, generally everything works out. This time last week I had no work booked in but a few things in the pipeline. Now I have 4 boilers booked into to be changed and 3 bathrooms in and pricing up few more jobs tomorrow. When it rains it pours and all that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark (smokey mow) Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 It seems to depend on where you are. Here in East Anglia it's very busy at the mo, although it had been a bit quieter than usual for the first couple of months after Christmas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
][\/][ajor1 Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 In Hull it's as cut throat as you can get it. People constantly selling jobs way below the market value and getting paid is the worst it's ever been. Been taken by 3 companies going under in the last financial year and it's a constant minefield as to who's going next. But on the bright side, still have plenty of jobs to price and are getting by. It could still be worse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
housebeautician Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 We are all in the same boat really. I was used to a waiting list of a year for my services, now its only 1 or 2 months if i'm lucky and thats with the regulars. Undercutting is ridiculous, i lost one recently to one fella who priced it at less than the cost of my materials, and another that was £5 less than mine (Yes i did say £5). If you are doing the job properly to the regs with insurance and quality materials it is certainly a lot harder than it was. I am also amazed at the amount of s/employed that have ceased to trade and i wonder with all the aggro that goes with it whether it is worth it anymore. Got to say i dont have problems with payments as i insist on payment on day of completion. I also no longer work for councils or big firms and generally stick with the domestic market which helps with the above. Just thankful that i only have about eight years left at it, but i really dont want to do this work anymore tbh. Anyway back to the books and paperwork. (Us rich builders we have it made ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Redpath - WSCC Membership Secretary Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 Pretty well agree with most of the above, Im a joiner/kitchen fitter and the first couple of months after xmas were extreamly grim, the phone didn't ring for a whole month, even tried to get a real job..... I alway use quality materials and have to pass these on at cost most of the time just to keep the cost of the down. my biggest problem is the office upstart that wakes up one morning and decides he/she can pay out his 2-3k go on a two week course and call him/herself a qualified joiner, plumber, electrician, etc etc. increasingly more of my work is putting work right that these numptys have had a go at, and as previously stated have only won the work by only a few pounds, some would say shut up you,ve got work, but these guys are giving us reputable ones a bad name....I have plenty of work at the moment but im just surviving, certainly not making a big profit....NOW TIME TO STEP DOWN OFF MY SOAP BOX... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KugaWestie Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 I work for a major nationwide contractor - top 5 in the UK Over the past 12 months we have reduced staff by 25% - thats enough of a story to tell you how bad the construction economy is. There might be a fair bit of work about, but there are going to be a lot more casualties/companies going under to come over the next 12-18 months IMO, due to the competitive nature of securing work at suicidal prices This is the worst I have ever seen it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Crafty Carpenter Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 Well i've been fitting kitchens & bathrooms through two recessions now and have never suffered from lack of work, us self-employed people (the good ones anyway) tend to go the extra mile as we are only as good as our last job, the fact there are still so many cowboys out there actually helps me, i, like most work on reputation and find people are willing to pay a decent rate to make sure the job gets done right first time. Though i have friends in the trade who are suffering especially the ones who are more site orientated, some have left the trade altogether to find work i suppose it's a case of having to! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave the Sparky Posted May 18, 2012 Author Share Posted May 18, 2012 Agree with bits of all of the above, I know moaners who had no work 7 years ago when it was easy to get that really just cant be arsed, I also know chancers who are basically rubbish and shouldnt be in the game, plus theres those who expect to turn up and just talk, smoke, text, choose a horse and drink tea! All of the above when things get tight will get pushed to one side pretty quick! As has been said people will always need things fixing and making good and if you do a good honest reliable job I see no reason why a good/motivated tradesman shouldn't get work, even if its not at top prices... I only had 3 days booked in for this year at Christmas and once Jan came I did start to wonder what was coming for the first time in a year or 2, BUT things picked up pretty quickly (thankfully as I found my car in Jan!) Im fairly happy again now, plenty on, even if its bity, I had a mega year last year and had just forgotten about working week to week but Ive done it plenty before and it doesnt worry me anymore. Im lucky enough to have not advertised for 6 years or more, as someone wisely said, your as good as your last job, so do it well. I find Im doing 2-4 jobs a day to make it pay now rather than making a killing anywhere... I know genuine employed guys who are or have struggled and I feel for them all, I also know genuine small businesses struggling to pay wages! Getting paid seems to be more of a struggle than ever for most, I know a builder who walked away from £2.5k last week because the contractor just didnt have it to give him! I spoke to a painter yesterday whos been self employed for 25 years who said hed wrap it up tomorrow for a £350 a week job! I wish I could walk into Tesco fill my trolley and say Ill pay you in 90 days! Fuel, material costs and depressive media talk pushing prices down are a huge problem too but all we can do is a good job for a fair price and wait for things to swing back in our favour while we enjoy our little plastic cars! Dave 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plucky Posted May 19, 2012 Share Posted May 19, 2012 I find even if I get undercut on quotes people don't necessarily go for the cheapest. It's all about how you come accross to the customer and you reputation Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norman Verona Posted May 19, 2012 Share Posted May 19, 2012 Isn't that called "salesmanship" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norman Verona Posted May 19, 2012 Share Posted May 19, 2012 I'm not a builder but did manage a renovation of a large Victorian house for a friend. The practice I can't understand is the way builders buy all the materials, employ the labour, spend their own time and then, having finished the job have problems getting paid. Why can't the builder agree to weekly payments? My computer business charges the customers by direct debit 3 months in advance. When I was in the motor trade we kept the car until the invoice was paid in full (other than account customers who had been vetted) So, why do builders always seem to have problems getting paid? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
housebeautician Posted May 19, 2012 Share Posted May 19, 2012 After reading the above posts, it just confirms what i always thought. Daves comments are what has happened to most of us and it looks like the ones who do it properly are still getting by, whilst the rest go down. Hopefully if and when it picks up i can possibly get my wages back to where they were two years ago. I have just priced a kitchen and given it to the customer at cost and they virtually laughed at the price,which really shows that the thinking out there is that they can do better if they haggle. Well i've been doing this for nearly thirty years and i am not giving my experience away for peanuts and i cannot bring myself to slash it in just to try and earn a couple of quid. Anyway the minute you do that your reputation goes down the swanny, so it seems like we are all stuck between a rock and a hard place for the moment. There is an old saying that is quite true and something i've always believed in and its "when one door closes another opens". (Well it always worked for me anyway ). So i dont panic about work too often. I would like to add that i dont advertise and its always been on recommendation as with a lot of you. Keep at it fella's its got to get better sometime Tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveH Posted May 19, 2012 Share Posted May 19, 2012 Stage payments are the way to go for sure. I'm sure there are self-employed in every trade that struggle to get paid and plenty that don't, some of it will be down to luck but most of it is making sure you are very clear from the start what the terms are. I've done some self-building using guys on day rate etc and I'm sticking up a new garage at the moment, got to say that availability and pricing on materials seems pretty keen right now. Even with more VAT, quarry tax and inflation I am still paying about 10-15% less for ready mixed than I was five years ago. Good for me but maybe not so good for the industry......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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