Start up Money

Bigtone

Bigtone

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 14, 2010
Messages
113
Reaction score
0
Location
East Sussex
Looking to go it alone or to ask a small company to add some gear too at some stage this year or early next. Just fishing around for Ideas of how much Money do you think would be needed to start on a small basis. (dont need transit).

Know its bloody hard out there but want to have a crack at it.

Thanks
 
Last edited:
Public liability is a must and price of cover will depend on ur turnover and how many people u employ..if any?? Get a few quotes tho...
 
JPLEWIS said:
Public liability is a must and price of cover will depend on ur turnover and how many people u employ..if any?? Get a few quotes tho...
Click to expand...

Cheers JP. plan this year is to ask my mate who I currently work for is to input some money in to his small firm with good customer base. If he declines then will give it a try going alone but just by starting off working evenings/weekends.(obviously wont be able to just start and expect a ready made client list) and continue working until the time is right to do it full time.

Had a tough few years and basically had enough earning money for others and working with ******* who just have no idea what they are doing .
 
When i started i borrowed £10k. 5 for van and 5 for gear i thought that would be enough. It lasted a week before i had to hire more gear, you go through alot more than you think.

But hiring gear is dead money and i hate the fact that we have paid as much as 40k a year. Buy what you can when you can its a big investment. Eventually you will own all your own gear and thats when it gets good.

Another bad point is that steel prices have rocketed and finding good deals is next to impossible. Find yourself a good company to deal with selling and hiring you gear.

Insurance is a must, i remember my first public liability was around £8k paid over 10 months. Looking back i'd of like to of started with around £50k but where does the everyday scaffolder get that kinda money from?

Banks did help us with loans especially when they saw us paying 4-5k a month dead money to hire companies and if i have heard right they are meant to be giving out more loans at the mo.

Its hard and i reckon it will take you 5-10 years to make it good but in the end it is worth it

Good Luck
 
Altho its obvious...try and get as many cash jobs u can..i kno a few people who started wiv as little as 500 quid..but doin front n backs for cash and then buyin more gear now have profitable small firms just explain 2ur boss now ur not after his customers tho
 
Bigtone street work is a lot easier to start on then sites due to all the different types of kit you have to have on a site these days .
What you need is a few small house fronts for painters and roofers normal house 3 lifts high 20 foot long sort of stuff.
It will take about 3 jobs before any kit you buy makes you money.
Like the lads are saying Insurance is really important , but if your only doing the odd job at a weekend then the the cost of the insurance alone will cripple you.
I would dip my toes in the water by getting say £3k saved and then win a job erect that get paid and see if you can find another job to put that kit on , if it works then look at the insurance.
Keep your eye on ebay as there re often small parcels of kit on there perfect for someone starting up .

Best of luck with it Fella.

---------- Post added at 07:22 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:21 PM ----------
JPLEWIS said:
Altho its obvious...try and get as many cash jobs u can..i kno a few people who started wiv as little as 500 quid..but doin front n backs for cash and then buyin more gear now have profitable small firms just explain 2ur boss now ur not after his customers tho
Click to expand...


Tell your boss feek all or he might get rid of you ;)
 
Bad idea telling your boss anything, if i found out one of my lads was trying to start up i would have to get rid, aint no boss i know would want the possibility of losing any contracts.

Only way i can see that working is if the company you work for is a big company that does not want street work in which case they can pass it to you but i find that highly unlikely
 
Proscaff said:
When i started i borrowed £10k. 5 for van and 5 for gear i thought that would be enough. It lasted a week before i had to hire more gear, you go through alot more than you think.

But hiring gear is dead money and i hate the fact that we have paid as much as 40k a year. Buy what you can when you can its a big investment. Eventually you will own all your own gear and thats when it gets good.

Another bad point is that steel prices have rocketed and finding good deals is next to impossible. Find yourself a good company to deal with selling and hiring you gear.

Insurance is a must, i remember my first public liability was around £8k paid over 10 months. Looking back i'd of like to of started with around £50k but where does the everyday scaffolder get that kinda money from?

Banks did help us with loans especially when they saw us paying 4-5k a month dead money to hire companies and if i have heard right they are meant to be giving out more loans at the mo.

Its hard and i reckon it will take you 5-10 years to make it good but in the end it is worth it

Good Luck
Click to expand...

Cheers Proscaff looked around seen a price list from a company not bad prices either. fittings at a decent price tube at 66p per ft.
I worked out a list of roughly what would be a good start up amount just under 10000ft of tube 200 13ft boards 100 8ft boards a varied selection of short boards 1000DBLS 1000CLPS 400joiners 300SW 100BP. and a few ladders

total worked out just over £10000. but looking at it might not be able to muster that much up by the end of the year would hope could start up or buy in with half of that. obviously nearly all would be pumped straight back in to buy more gear. A bank loan is out of the question down to poor credit score so would be my hard earned cash used.

---------- Post added at 07:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:29 PM ----------
philliosmaximus said:
Tell your boss feek all or he might get rid of you ;)
Click to expand...

Cheers na my boss is alright we have been friends and worked with each other quite a bit over the years. got sacked when told his boss he was starting up alone years ago. he went on to have quite a large firm. got closed down by the vat man. started up again got **** on and stiched up by his nephew. he started them up together got in work for them, his nephew and wife took over the loan then sacked him leaving him with nothing. he just started up again 2 years ago. Thanks for the warning though
 
what area are you from if you don't mind me asking
 
I've just started off there with a mate bought 14k of scaffold and 2k on a pick up, hit lucky with a roofer he got over 900 houses to do
 
Hi Bigtone

Have you thought to advertise locally for a backer,something on the lines of "Investment required for small local Company,start up" there is a lot of money tied up in saver accounts that is earning little or no interest at the present time.

Put together a good business plan,of what you expect to turnover in the first year, your set up cost's and overheads.Keep it realistic.

You will of course loose some % of your business,but if your new partner/backer understands the financial side of running a business you will find it a great asset in your mutual success

Good luck in your venture

best regards
 
Now, don't take this the wrong way but you must be buttoned up the back if you take on a non producing backer, another mouth to feed is the last thing a new venture needs. Don't get me wrong rigger, you are the man I would go to if I wanted an inspection but for a start up, you need an understanding Mrs and another form of income. I did it when I was on the rigs, 2 weeks earning and 2 weeks grafting till eventually I could not manage the rigs any longer. The Mrs was not happy as I was grafting all the time and the house keeping wasn't seeing the benefit, but you have to be disciplined and the whole family whatever that may be, be prepared to make sacrifices or be prepared to be just another flash in the pan. Good luck though, nice to see another have a go at it.
 
Tried it your way aom the first legit company I set up,all work and no play,running myself ragard for peanuts. Eventually had to wind up owing to the old cash flow problems.

Second time money behind the firm, professional help with finance, sold business as a going concern and made a tidy profit on my enterprise

There are many ways to set up and run a business,I put in my two pen'orth to try and open another avenue for Bigtone as he mentioned raising finance

To be brutally honest I would not advise anyone to start up a scaffold company in this day and age.
 
Listen Rigger, that is all we can do mate, give our opinion and let them make their own decision. A boring old world if we all felt the same.



That been said, mine is best.:laugh:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom