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Starting a new round

Liverbird

New member
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1
Location
Liverpool
Hi all,

just got a few questions about starting a new round. these questions might seem common sense but please go easy on me ?. 
 

my first question is, can you clean windows in - freezing conditions. Are there weeks in which you cannot go out and do your houses because of weather ?. 
 

How long do terrace sized three bedroom houses take to complete, I’ve been told 20 minutes ?‍♂️?

Am actually only looking at 12 houses per week and do it on a monthly basis, so 48 to 50 houses, I have a early morning job that’s done by 8am so am only looking at wanting to work around about 5/6 hours per week on windows, my main question really is, is 5/6 hours enough to complete 12 houses per week and will I need to do 24 houses one week and none another if it’s say raining everyday one week ? And does that happen a lot ?. 
 

sorry for the bad questions

thanks in advance for any feedback. 

 
Depends how cold, you'll probably lose more days to wind and rain then freezing.

You'd easily do 12 terraced houses in 5 hours if they were in 1 street, not if they were in 10.

Very rarely lose a week due to bad weather, only happened once to me in 10 years.

The hardest part of the job is getting the houses in an area where you can do them without moving.

 
Hi all,

just got a few questions about starting a new round. these questions might seem common sense but please go easy on me ?. 
 

my first question is, can you clean windows in - freezing conditions. Are there weeks in which you cannot go out and do your houses because of weather ?. 
 

How long do terrace sized three bedroom houses take to complete, I’ve been told 20 minutes ?‍♂️?

Am actually only looking at 12 houses per week and do it on a monthly basis, so 48 to 50 houses, I have a early morning job that’s done by 8am so am only looking at wanting to work around about 5/6 hours per week on windows, my main question really is, is 5/6 hours enough to complete 12 houses per week and will I need to do 24 houses one week and none another if it’s say raining everyday one week ? And does that happen a lot ?. 
 

sorry for the bad questions

thanks in advance for any feedback. 
From my point of view if you never cleaned windows professionally. I high doubt you'll be able to do one in 20mins without enough on the job training the quality of your work will be sub par and you'll lose customers not gain them.

Getting that many customers is easy, but they wont be all localized. It takes time to build a tight solid round.

Do you have equipment?

Do you have all your license in place?

Do you have your marketing peice put together?

Do you know how many leafet it will take to get the customer base you want?

These are some of the dozen of things that need to be addressed. 

I wish you the best.

 
From my point of view if you never cleaned windows professionally. I high doubt you'll be able to do one in 20mins without enough on the job training the quality of your work will be sub par and you'll lose customers not gain them.

Getting that many customers is easy, but they wont be all localized. It takes time to build a tight solid round.

Do you have equipment?

Do you have all your license in place?

Do you have your marketing peice put together?

Do you know how many leafet it will take to get the customer base you want?

These are some of the dozen of things that need to be addressed. 

I wish you the best.
We don’t need licences in the uk only Scotland , di you have to have one in the USA???

 
We don’t need licences in the uk only Scotland , di you have to have one in the USA???
Every city and state has different rules about needing a license or not. Here where I'm located city license, insurance, have to get permits to canvassing, permits to post signs there's permits galore ?

 
That's interesting, do you have to register your business with your local government 
We have to be registered with HMRC for paying of tax ,and if you earn more than 85k per year have also to be VAT registered this is  another kind of tax , and if a limited company registered with companies house , if you employ you have to have employers liability insurance , but if a sole trader ( work on your own) it’s not law that you have to have insurance but it’s strongly recommended , we can canvass nothing is required , licences are required to clean windows in Scotland Ime not 100% sure how it works but think it depends which areas you are in the councils issue the licence , I think you have to prove who you are ,have insurance , and pay the appropriate fee this can be quite expensive in certain areas , I think it’s quite a good idear actually but as far as I know it’s not enforced orcheaked up on by anyone so some might have a licence and others not ?. not sure what else is required 

 
We have to be registered with HMRC for paying of tax ,and if you earn more than 85k per year have also to be VAT registered this is  another kind of tax , and if a limited company registered with companies house , if you employ you have to have employers liability insurance , but if a sole trader ( work on your own) it’s not law that you have to have insurance but it’s strongly recommended , we can canvass nothing is required , licences are required to clean windows in Scotland Ime not 100% sure how it works but think it depends which areas you are in the councils issue the licence , I think you have to prove who you are ,have insurance , and pay the appropriate fee this can be quite expensive in certain areas , I think it’s quite a good idear actually but as far as I know it’s not enforced orcheaked up on by anyone so some might have a licence and others not ?. not sure what else is required 
@Pjjthanks for Sharing the information.

What is the VAT % at 85k and above?

 
That's interesting, do you have to register your business with your local government 
As a one man sole trader you only have to notify our government of self assessment, no licence for mainland UK and most newbies don't even bother with public liability insurance.

That's why we are swamped with lots of new starters 

 
As a one man sole trader you only have to notify our government of self assessment, no licence for mainland UK and most newbies don't even bother with public liability insurance.

That's why we are swamped with lots of new starters 
That interesting. I've never understood why a business owner would not have at least a basic insurance policy to protect themselves in case something does happen. 

Insurance is cheap as chips, even a few dollars a month for the security is soooo worth it, things can go sideways on a jobsite so quickly. 

 
@Pjjthanks for Sharing the information.

What is the VAT % at 85k and above?
It's basically a sales tax. If your turnover is over £85K then you have to register for Vat, although you can chose to register under £85K if most of your work is to other Vat registered businesses. You then have to add Vat rate (currently 20%) on to a customers bill. Then you deduct any Vat your business has paid for example on equipment from your Vat collection and pass on the difference to the Gov on a monthly or quarterly basis.

 
Once you hit the £85k threshold you have to start charging VAT, 20%, on everything not just the amount over it. 
Thanks @Part Timer @ched999uk  so once your floating around 75-80 you have to chose to stay right where you are. The other choice you have is you have to jump to about 150k a year to cover vat and expenses and stay on a upward climb.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thanks @Part Timer @ched999uk  so once your floating around 75-80 you have to chose to stay right where you are. The other choice you have is you have to jump to about 150k a year to cover vat and expenses and stay on a upward climb.
Not quite that much and it very much depends how much work you do with other VAT rated customers. I will be going VAT registered May / June of this year as a new contract will jump me up from circa £65k to £100k+ Most of my work is with people that can't claim the VAT back so I will have to stand most of it. However the VAT I can claim back in the 1st year, from purchases over £3k from the previous 3 years, covers a lot of this and will allow me to stagger price rises to cover the VAT.

 
Seems like a giant disincentive to me, either your prices will become very uncompetitive or you will end up working more for the Government than for yourself.

 
Seems like a giant disincentive to me, either your prices will become very uncompetitive or you will end up working more for the Government than for yourself.
Sometimes you don't have an option though. 2 people working full time should be over the VAT threshold, if everything above board. Now I appreciate in some areas residential only work is very competitive and these areas you can stay under.

We have some well paid work, some not so well paid as well, so if we are to get to the stage where we are "full" then avoiding VAT isn't an option for us.

 
Not quite that much and it very much depends how much work you do with other VAT rated customers. I will be going VAT registered May / June of this year as a new contract will jump me up from circa £65k to £100k+ Most of my work is with people that can't claim the VAT back so I will have to stand most of it. However the VAT I can claim back in the 1st year, from purchases over £3k from the previous 3 years, covers a lot of this and will allow me to stagger price rises to cover the VAT.
So how does this work for your domestic customers?  Will you be having to include VAT on their payments and therefore, have to increase their prices by 20%?

Or will you absorb the VAT in their current amount?

I presume you cannot establish another company and treat the commercial side as a separate business with separation taxation.

 
I presume you cannot establish another company and treat the commercial side as a separate business with separation taxation.
NO in a big way as that is tax avoidance!!! Any additional business must be completely separate. You can't use same van, tools, you need separate insurance etc.   

 
So how does this work for your domestic customers?  Will you be having to include VAT on their payments and therefore, have to increase their prices by 20%?

Or will you absorb the VAT in their current amount?

I presume you cannot establish another company and treat the commercial side as a separate business with separation taxation.
I will be doing both, the lower range will be charged the extra, the mid range will be tweaked and the good jobs I'll stand it. Most of my commercial work is VAT sensitive as it's with PM companies and they can't claim the VAT back.

I would have to set up a separate business and split the business. Now I know some will say it's not legal, VAT avoidance, but I have spoken to 2 Chartered Accountants and as long as the new business is a separate entity, we are currently a partnership and we could set up a Ltd Company with my Wife as a shareholder then it is legally allowed. I would however have to have 2 Van's, websites, bank accounts etc etc and that's  too much faffing around. There is also a very good chance this would be investigated and you'd have the cost of this.

 

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