small welding enterprise

[Joe777]

Hi all, in a few months I'll be moving away to live with my girlfriend , I plan to have a small welding setup in the garage. I've already started getting things together such as workbench tools, I've just purchased an ac/dc tig (some of you may know I'm trying to figure out the garage power supply) . I figure that the stainless/ aluminium capability will give me a bit of an edge, also ideally I'd rather have small jobs in rather than gates etc. wanting to be somewhat discreet and there isn't the space for storing long lengths of material. I'm thinking of contacting motorbike shops, yacht clubs, marinas, possibly very small machine shops ...any other ideas would be appreciated. I'm also a bit stuck on how to charge and minimum price i'm thinking £20, at least to get the ball rolling any views? I'm doing it to fund my interest but also with a view to testing the water as regards possibility of working for myself full time in the future , ANY views or help appreciated. to sum up
who should I look to for potential custom
how / how much should I charge , min price etc.
Business card, I won't be legit for a while at least so I was thinking just a simple card stating welding services and my name and contact details etc????

 

[Iain Westland]

I dont want to be funny, and good luck with the venture. BUT, I have to compete with some of the non-legit business around here. Sometimes its the small jobs that pay the rent and overheads.... the sort of jobs you might be looking toward.

A lot of businesses will want receipts as well.

find out what the legit guys are charging and go around the same price, beat them on quality not price, then when you do go the final step you will already have a reputation to boast about

iain

 

[michael1703]

i'm guessing joe will become legit, you have to try before you jump in, there are many businesses run from home until they can expand, you start small, get the customer base and then get the bigger premises

 

[peterd51]

Hi,

a couple of us did something similar 20-odd years ago, with burglar alarms.

The first couple of jobs we did were for family members. They both had quotes from a couple of local firms to give us an idea of what we would charge and we did the work for cost of parts only as it was good practice for us and they were 'family'.

As they showed off what we'd done for them and quoted a price around 10% lower than the two competitors we got some business from those two jobs.

I know a lot of guys here say don't undercut your competition, but it worked for us in the early days.

Regards
Peter

 

[Robotstar5]

You can still do reciepts, just put "not registered for VAT" on the bottom as your initial turnover will not justify it. Although it's a good idea to keep a record of income / expenditure for the taxman if it takes off.

 

[Iain Westland]

10% not an undercut, its competition. That keeps the value of the job yet gives you a price advantage over their established 'credibility'. I see some guys near me working at rates that are not viable.

Remember that your also going to want repeat custom, so don't start the business as a 'cheap' alternative but rather as the 'least expensive'. that way as you expand and go permanent, and your overheads rocket, you will already have an established pay scale rather than reflective price rises.

Good luck

iain

 

[Joe777]

I'm planning to come down here and get employment, hopefully get to know some people and also meet a few more through the small welding jobs idea, when I get my myself settled somewhat then I'm hoping to have a better idea of what's possible. I started my own little fab business in wales when I was 20 but lacked the knowledge and experience I now have, but then I had the benefit of extremely small overheads and I knew a lot more people. So now I'll have impossible overheads and know knowone, but when the time is right I would really like to work for myself and on the level (obviously giving the taxman as little as possible). I also don't want to work for peanuts for the reasons you've all mentioned. I can price general steel work reasonably well , but was looking to you guys for some input as regards tig work and small repairs , for example scooter frame split weld on tube ......I guess minimum hr charge how much? Also need try try different avenues as regards sourcing the work I'm down nr the coast lots of marinas, of which I've no experience with boat work etc. . I know a lot of this I won't know without trying but if anyone has an idea of suitable work sources or have tried for this work and can't get enough of it without bread and butter full scale production then let me know. I'm open to all ideas, brazing , ali , stainless . going mobile, although don't have the funds for large genny's etc. well you get the idea. cheers Joe.

 

[Iain Westland]

cant really comment on the costs, you have to gauge the local prices for that, a £20 weld here might be twice as much if not more there.

iain

 

[brightspark]

if u have full time employment test the waters .nights weekends ect part time. do other things as well if u can

 

[Joe777]

cheers for the replies. I should be testing the waters may/june I'll let you know how it goes, Joe.

 

[Iain Westland]

fingers crossed mate!!

 

[English Steve]

A lot of us started up in a similar way. I decided to keep mine strictly part-time as I can earn more per hour in my day-job, but either way you do it you really need to be legit as there is always someone who will drop you in it - probably the competition you are undercutting.

Setting up properly is not difficult and is free, and keeping a record of your accounts while you are small and have the time will get you in to the habit for later. You don't need an accountant and you don't need to have your books audited if your turnover is below a certain figure. You shouldn't need to pay any tax if you do your books right and you can apply for an exemption from class 2 (?) Nat Ins because your predicted turnover will be low.
Then you can bash on and advertise properly without having to keep looking over your shoulder.

For more info check out the HMRC website, and the Business Link website for your area. I have found both to be very helpful.

As another possible welding avenue - there are a lot of posh restaurants and hotels around the Poole and Bournemouth areas. They are forever breaking their stainless cooking utensils (knocking handles off pans etc) and the pro stuff is expensive. If you can weld stainless to a good standard, there are a lot of small jobs like that to be had that the bigger guys can't be bothered with. Good luck

 

[MaxRPM]

Being based in Poole there is also potential business from the boat owning fraternity, particularly stainless fittings, rails etc.
Get a few cards printed and hand them out around the Marinas.

 

[Joe777]

Great info cheers both, I'll look into the 'going legit tax info', at present I'm also concerned with frightening my landlord to be, although my girlfriend is tenant of the year I also want to put a shed up (to free the garage of bikes/lamps etc. ) and sort the power supply out, though fitting lighting should cheer him up!
The restaurants and Hotels is a good one I'd not thought of and yes definately have a look down the marinas like you say. I would love to make it legit just for peace of mind like you say there is always someone looking to drop you in it, and it would allow me to advertise it a little better!thanks Joe.

 

[brightspark]

as i said if u are fully employed your ni stamp will be payed by employer so any part time work can be done legit . just keep records of earnings eg cash cheques .also keep records of expenses eg fuel materials tools ect just submit them at the end of the tax year and thats it .inland revenue dont just drop on u if sumone suposedly grassed u up they would wait till after the tax year end if they wernt to busy catching bigger fish then pay u a visit then ask to see your acounts if they found cash u havent been putting through books yer in deep sh ,.,././,./but if alls acounted for no probs hypertheticaly not that i know anything about this. some people get cash from friends not buisnesses and back pocket it