TAKING ON AN EMPLOYEE?

[jordan]

I am doing good with work and have a big round but my friend has asked to work for me for £60 a day so basically £300 a week.

i am thinking of trying it all getting him to do window cleaning +painting +anything to make money.

so i am thinking of buying him a van advertise it and get him canvassing for a month and learn it all in a month and leaflet droppping,so probably about £6000 to buy van and kit and advertise.

whats the best way of taking him on? is the best way for him to be self employed and get all the customers to pay me and he can invoice me every week for his wages?

or is it best for him to charge all the customers and send me the extra after his wages?

also would i need any different insurance or would he have to do that himself?i have public liability for myself!

also best way for him to be insured for his van? would you expect him to pay his van insurance himself?

He will only be making £15 an hour to start off with

He has to do his own accounts and national insurance !

does he need to claim start a new business or can i just do it through my business and just buy a van and out graphics on it and off we go?

Have i missed Thankyou i know it will be stressful to start off with but if he stays it could be good /emoticons/smile.png

 

[Green Pro Clean Ltd]

Employers liability insurance.

Is that £60 per day net or gross?

You are responsible for paying his taxes

You are responsible for paying his NI

You are responsible for paying his Pension

You will need additional insurance for the new van.

You will need to pay daily fuel for the new van.

You will need to pay MOT on the van

You will need to pay 'Road fund licence' on the new van.

You will need to pay ongoing maintanance on the new van.

You will need him to understand why he only gets £60 a day when he does £200 - £300 of revenue for you.

MOST importantly..... you will need to be good enough to cover all his work as well as yours as soon as he gets bored and quits.

I have walked this path. Never again. Utmost respsct to those that make it work.

 

[peter rogers]

This is difficult.t U can't have him self emploŷed if it ur van an tools.

So ur getting him to build a business in a month to learn it in and out and work flat out ? I've a guy working and been here a month and still learning. He is slowly picking up speed etc

I think it be best to bring him with u for a few months then get him out in a van employed by u To serif it is goin work first

 

[boarcity]

he needs to "earn his stripes" first. one way might be to set him out leafletting 1st, with the promise of work on the windows IF he does it well

then set him going with a patch to cover that you can check that hes doing it. a family member might follow him from a distance. after a few hours you can phone him up, tell him youv got an errand to drive to quite a distance it is-but dont worry youll be back in 3 hours

if hes a lazy shirker he will sit down immediately after your call and remain there for ages

 

[Fönster putsning Bergdahl]

I did start as subcontract. I feel that was easy start for me.

I was payed by the job not by hour. At start did not have own tools but got better money when had my own tools [emoji4] 50/50 is a good start

70/30 with own tools

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[jordan]

i didn't realise i had to pay his taxes and NI? and pension if hes self employed and not employed?

with tools can i not just buy him all the tools and van and put it in my year accounts?

Is it really that difficult ? if he earns me £120 a day and i pay him £60 surely its worth it?

 

[boarcity]

its worth it ,but better to employ him and do his taxes ,pay the dues etc. why? because if you ask him to go self employed ,he might agree but then soon after get into a right muddle and ,as youre his main employer itll be YOU the taxman comes after . iv known several men lose their small businesses over unpaid taxes in this sort of situation

 

[Duncs]

jordan been reading these threads with interest, canny see him going out in your van knocking his pan in collecting, working on his own to be happy taking £60 home.

This has been on my mind long time now trying to work this out i,ve got loads of work got mate with me just training him up and in the ideal world when trained send him out and make duncs loads of cash happy days.

I just think its alot of risk

van & system ( your hard earned cash )

if you dont give hime gd rate and look after him he wont be happy and leave

 

[Taxlossloz]

Employers liability insurance.
Is that £60 per day net or gross?

You are responsible for paying his taxes

You are responsible for paying his NI

You are responsible for paying his Pension

You will need additional insurance for the new van.

You will need to pay daily fuel for the new van.

You will need to pay MOT on the van

You will need to pay 'Road fund licence' on the new van.

You will need to pay ongoing maintanance on the new van.

You will need him to understand why he only gets £60 a day when he does £200 - £300 of revenue for you.

MOST importantly..... you will need to be good enough to cover all his work as well as yours as soon as he gets bored and quits.

I have walked this path. Never again. Utmost respsct to those that make it work.

Me too Green I really cannot be arsed with the hassle

 

[adamangler]

No expert but what your proposing is trying to get round employment laws/taxes etc by registering him as self employed.

If he is self employed then he would subcontract from you, however since youll be his only source of income when the tax man comes knocking you will be in the **** as they will soon suss what you are up to.

Also if he goes elf employed, what the chances of him sticking with you when he realises he can earn all the money doing it himself.

Just bite the bullet and do it properly, do your calculations and if you think it can work go for it..if it doesnt work it doesnt work, trying to cut corners usually ends up in tears.

 

[windowsurfer]

I ve been thinking of taking someone else on, but it seems to be a carry on. If someone is working for you, you are responsible. If he is subcontracting, he needs all his own stuff to do the job and he has to have income from his own work. My wife went on the hrmc website and done a questionaire http://tools.hmrc.gov.uk/esi/screen/ESI/en-GB/summary?user=guest right at bottom there is the link to the questionaire.

 

[adamangler]

I think it's a hurdle that either you pish through or you don't. Seems to me you don't really make much profit from employing 2-3 people every thing considered.

If however you employed 20-30 people you would be making serious coin.

Are you prepared to go through all the **** required to get to that level?

 

[boarcity]

I think it's a hurdle that either you pish through or you don't. Seems to me you don't really make much profit from employing 2-3 people every thing considered.
If however you employed 20-30 people you would be making serious coin.

Are you prepared to go through all the **** required to get to that level?

i make reasonable money employing 2 lads . i employed 3 for several yrs but it was suprisingly hard to make good money from number 3 employee . so im not sure if employing 20,or even 30 would work for me . youd certainly have high infrastructure costs, office workers,a manager ,premises to rent or buy . All it would need is one worker to be a bad egg,fiddling the round,stealing fuel from the company diesel tank perhaps and youd make sod all.

over the years iv known business owners who are at that stage and while it is true they dont normally start work in the office till say 10a.m. each day they are often sitting in said office late on in the eves with not a friend in the place and the workers spend much time trying to get an easier ride over each other

a lot depends on where you are in life when it comes to employing. i started window cleaning when i was 42 so i knew my body wouldnt take a full load of daily slog forever - i employed at the end of my 2nd year parttimers at 1st. im now at year 8 and i can honestly say i love the job. i still do window cleaning every work day but i only do fronts and never do weekend working. im happy where im at right now. iv no plans to go the big hog and employ 10 blokes,i dont think iv got it in me. The next guy might feel he has got it in him to employ ten,all power to him if he has - but i know the work is out there IF i suddenly felt the urge to get it. You never know unless you try it .

 

[PJ Bullard]

I'd be worried that the new employee got good and then said 'see ya' and in doing so started his own round as well as taking some of your customers with him.

For me I think window cleaning is ideal for a 'one man band' offering freedom, a lucrative income and power of your days. Taking on employees would be a headache and would ruin most of the benefits of being a window cleaner - in my opinion.

 

[Markyboy 50]

I used to employ 2 people. 1 left and then I sold some work to the other lad to much hassle employing someone. And they get 20plus days holiday paid by you. Now work on me own. Only do 2 or 3 days a week. Earn plenty enough for me. I'm chilled and relaxed and can't remember the last time I worried about anything. Wait!! Yes I can. It was 9 years ago. Just before I sold the work to that lad!!

 

[steele]

some great advice here, i employ one guy as a subcontctor. he has his own round and does 4-5 days a month for me. i tried employing once before and it was a nightmare. Go p/t subcontrct route

 

[Leeds]

From what I've gotten from myself and some window cleaning employers, you can't pay them more than 35% of what they earn if you want to sustainably employ, cover expenses and make a nice profit on them. Ideally 30%

I.e. If (in Leeds) when they're up to speed, they churn out a minimum of £250, they take home £75 I.e. £10 an hour and you take £185 from him.

£100 (a day!) is going on tax/ni and all the things Green mentioned. So you (should) be left with a £85 in your pocket.

Is it worth it? Well theoretically that's anywhere between 20k in your pocket from one worker (theoretically being the word because you don't get perfect working days year round, people get sick, etc etc). Get yourself 3 employees and you can be making 60k a year without scrubbing a single window :rofl: (you'd need a nearly 14k monthly round, but that's a different issue)

And before anyone starts saying this is wrong or that is incorrect, I'm just explaining a model that works for some window cleaning employers. If you don't think it works, that doesn't mean it doesn't. Wages and earnings will vary dependent on area.

The only question you have to ask is: does my round have the daily earning capacity where paying an employee 30% would equate to him getting (whatever you decide is fair) at least £10 an hour or at the very least minimum wage. If so, I believe you're on to a winner.

alternatively employ someone who is happy with working 2 or three days a week, earning just up to the threshold of taxable income, saves a few bob, just means you have to employ more people.