How can this be right...

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moanalot

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Up until 3 years ago me and my mate ran a fairly big firm.We employed on average about 30 men we had crane lorries,yard staff,manager,office staff,safety consultants a business manager from the bank advising us and were prefered contractors to all the big house builders and a good few players in construction.On average we had about 25 housing sites on that we worked hard(never gave a bung...ever) to get plus at least 1 big construction site plus a bit of street work.
The problem was we never made a profit. We were always behind with the tax and vat and always begging the bank for extensions on the overdraft to pay the wages.
Now there is only 3 of us,we are both back on the kit and I got my boy coming through. We stripped our firm back to its bare bones and only take on work that is gonna make a profit and we have never had it so good.
Sometimes we price against firms that are in the position we were in and they knock us for six on price just to get the turnover like we used to...
Never goin back there again...And f*ck the step...
 
Turnover is vanity and profit is sanity!
 
moanalot said:
Up until 3 years ago me and my mate ran a fairly big firm.We employed on average about 30 men we had crane lorries,yard staff,manager,office staff,safety consultants a business manager from the bank advising us and were prefered contractors to all the big house builders and a good few players in construction.On average we had about 25 housing sites on that we worked hard(never gave a bung...ever) to get plus at least 1 big construction site plus a bit of street work.
The problem was we never made a profit. We were always behind with the tax and vat and always begging the bank for extensions on the overdraft to pay the wages.
Now there is only 3 of us,we are both back on the kit and I got my boy coming through. We stripped our firm back to its bare bones and only take on work that is gonna make a profit and we have never had it so good.
Sometimes we price against firms that are in the position we were in and they knock us for six on price just to get the turnover like we used to...
Never goin back there again...And f*ck the step...
Click to expand...

Good scaffolder crap business man ?
 
RedViking said:
Good scaffolder crap business man ?
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You know what viking after a bit of thought I dont know what else we could have done to make it work.perhaps if we had got the brown envelope out stuffed full of cash we could have prolonged the misery a bit longer but apart from that not a clue...You can't beat the Bung...not at this level anyway...
 
Moanalot, You can't be that bad bud, your still in business, trading with profit, and not scared to get your hands dirty and get back on the tools, Many a big firm have gone down the pan in the past 3 yrs, maybe if they would have had someone who had the backbone to make the tough decisions like you did, a few may have still been running,
Keep it up mon!
 
Dandaps said:
Moanalot, You can't be that bad bud, your still in business, trading with profit, and not scared to get your hands dirty and get back on the tools, Many a big firm have gone down the pan in the past 3 yrs, maybe if they would have had someone who had the backbone to make the tough decisions like you did, a few may have still been running,
Keep it up mon!
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Thanks brother...Never say Die...
 
think you made the right chioce mate was thinking about that my self less hassle save about 80% on your insurance no office staff, do not have to worry about being let down on a monday morning then sorting out who you can send to this or that site good one mate
 
b-safe1 said:
think you made the right chioce mate was thinking about that my self less hassle save about 80% on your insurance no office staff, do not have to worry about being let down on a monday morning then sorting out who you can send to this or that site good one mate
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It took a bit of jigging but we have never been better off,We owe the bank nothin or the tax and vat and we got money in the bank and in our pockets and absolutely no hassle on the phones...none...first time since we went on our own...Public liability down from £44,000 to less than £1200 fleet £22,000 down to £3,000...its a no brainer realy...
 
moanalot said:
Up until 3 years ago me and my mate ran a fairly big firm.We employed on average about 30 men we had crane lorries,yard staff,manager,office staff,safety consultants a business manager from the bank advising us and were prefered contractors to all the big house builders and a good few players in construction.On average we had about 25 housing sites on that we worked hard(never gave a bung...ever) to get plus at least 1 big construction site plus a bit of street work.
The problem was we never made a profit. We were always behind with the tax and vat and always begging the bank for extensions on the overdraft to pay the wages.
Now there is only 3 of us,we are both back on the kit and I got my boy coming through. We stripped our firm back to its bare bones and only take on work that is gonna make a profit and we have never had it so good.
Sometimes we price against firms that are in the position we were in and they knock us for six on price just to get the turnover like we used to...
Never goin back there again...And f*ck the step...
Click to expand...
what a honnest man!! i have a mate who has a car show room i no its not scaffolding but he has bmw mercs the lot on a big plot he told me some weeks he dont make hes morgage but other people will look and think hey that blokes loaded sometimes big ante best control of your overheads are:laugh:
 
know where you are coming from moanalot , i have just downscaled over last 6 months from 30 blokes to ten , laid off 3 office staff , gave 2 yards up , picking and choosing now mate , likewise back in 03 i had 60 blokes and im sure i never earnt anymore than i did with ten
(also had crane artic with 4 trailers and 3 trucks - sold the lot) , just running 4 x 3.5 ton vans now !!!
 
scaffy said:
know where you are coming from moanalot , i have just downscaled over last 6 months from 30 blokes to ten , laid off 3 office staff , gave 2 yards up , picking and choosing now mate , likewise back in 03 i had 60 blokes and im sure i never earnt anymore than i did with ten
(also had crane artic with 4 trailers and 3 trucks - sold the lot) , just running 4 x 3.5 ton vans now !!!
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If you weigh it up there is no point in getting big unless you are part of a big group that can be used as a loss makiing tax right off...nobody I know who has got more than 10 men on is making any money and paying their bills...sad but true...
 
likewise ive been back on the tools too and i have had more money week in week out

Did make a lot over the years but also spent a lot
 
scaffy said:
know where you are coming from moanalot , i have just downscaled over last 6 months from 30 blokes to ten , laid off 3 office staff , gave 2 yards up , picking and choosing now mate , likewise back in 03 i had 60 blokes and im sure i never earnt anymore than i did with ten
(also had crane artic with 4 trailers and 3 trucks - sold the lot) , just running 4 x 3.5 ton vans now !!!
Click to expand...

VLLB keeps you going mate, saves on kit and lifts, 4m 1st lift, then fecks off to Tenerife, glad you bumped him for that Sunday morning job.:D:D
 
scaffy said:
likewise ive been back on the tools too and i have had more money week in week out

Did make a lot over the years but also spent a lot
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our turnover was a lot but the profit was minus...Hard lesson learnt...being stubborn in business is a big mistake...
 
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