Business angel or Business devil

[JIMBOB187]

I have alot of friends who are self employed and some of them have great stories of only having a ton in their pocket to start up with, (mainly the plasterers). and they are all telling me not to take a loan to start with. I was just wondering what your start up circumstances where financially. I am aware of the Goverments SFLG scheme that backs up 75% of the loan and I can defer the capital for a short period so sounds good, or I could pul the cash from the equity in my property, undecided. Also what are your thoughts on the very brief set up costs below.

Vehicle, used Mitsubishi L200 - £10,000
Tools, PPE £5000
Cash flow £2000
Marketing, Insurances £2000

If any of this looks ridiculous then feel free to tell me please, I'll only cry for a few hours.

 

[DHTiling]

Vehicle, used Mitsubishi L200 - £10,000....

You will get a new van for that.....3 to 4 grand on a good van will do to get you set up.....

 

[JIMBOB187]

Wow you just saved me 7k, I owe you one cheers fella, you are my favourite poster.:hurray:

 

[Fekin]

Vehicle, used Mitsubishi L200 - £10,000
Tools, PPE £5000
Cash flow £2000
Marketing, Insurances £2000

What the hell are you starting up ?

An educated guess says you are starting up as a tiler ???

If so, then £3000 will get a good enough van to start with.... well a £1000 van would still be good enough.

Tools and PPE for £5000.. what tools are you thinking about buying.
You really don't need the full DE-WALT kit to start with.

Very good 600mm dry cutter, say £260... and thats still expensive.

Very good rail wet cutter £500... and thats still an expensive one.

A good smaller dry cutter £150, for smaller domestic work.

A good smaller wet cutter £100, for smaller domestic work.

Throw in another £500 and that will cover for near enough everything else you would need, drill, mixer and all the odds and sods you end up needing.

Just my opinion though, but I don't see the point in spending large amounts for the top of the range gear and getting into more debt than needed.

 

[JIMBOB187]

What the hell are you starting up ?


Damn am I glad I found this site, I'm not kidding Fekin you have just made my day/night, I genuinelly mean that mate really I do.

 

[CJ]

5k is wot I started with.............

 

[Holohana]

5k got me going inlcuding course fees and all accom costs etc that went with it.

Swapped old motor for small fiesta van and hey presto. Did blow up in the end!

£19k, id put that into a tile shop!

 

[devonmark]

Auction or ebay for a van...Mark.

 

[IvegotsTILE]

Started off with 2 grand of savings and that was enough to do training and all my equipment costs.Used the estate car I already had and its done the job great.
Don't start off with a huge debt.Paul from Dream Home Tiling shelled out a fair bit on tools and bought a brand new van,he couldn't get the work in and had to sell all his tools and van at a hefty loss.
All new guys should take this into account,you should have a good few grand set aside to make sure you can pay all the bills for a few months because it takes a while to get any regular money in.As many people fail as succeed.

 

[DHTiling]

If you have a look at these ..you will get a complete tiling kit from neil....

http://www.buybrandtools.com/acatalog/Rubi_Tiling_Tools_Kits.html

 

[Perry]

only loan i have ever had is a mortgage if you need money to start save it first then start no overdrafts buy tools as you need them if you start part time its all extra money Pete

 

[Tilestiles]

I just bought a Peugeot 206 van off ebay for 1400 quid. Y reg, 1.9 diesel with only 51k on clock and full service history. Does me fine as a tiler. Cant believe you were thinking of spending 10k on a van!! Shop around and you can save loads on what you are quoting. As the other guys say, you dont need to release equity. Just get stuff as you need it but one bit of advice is dont skimp on the cutters you buy. Worth their weight in gold a decent cutter!!

 

[White Room]

First van a nissan urvan £1000 had it six years recently paid £7000 for an a transit, ( I was lucky to be in the position to do so) to carry my bits not just tiling though wheel barrows plaster or carrying plaster and tiling tools together

 

[davy_G]

I agree with all the posts, definitely no need for the big investment at the start, get only what you need, and shop around. I still work out of my family car. (Back seats removed and its a mess but I didnt want to buy a van till I got cashflow going). I had 2K of course fees and another 2K for tools and cash in bank got me going.
On the wet cutter front, I bought a 30 quid one from ebay to start, needed a good marcrist blade and I was away. It quit on me last week after copious amounts of porcelain so i invested £400 in a decent rubi one. A poor quality one can do the job to get you started as with a few other tools but when things start to get busy invest in good tools and equipment after doing your research.

Good luck

 

[grumpygrouter]

The SINGLE most important thing when starting in business is controlling costs. In business, cash is king. Don't spend it unless you have to!

Grumpy

 

[Holohana]

if you did spend that lot on all your start up gear the only blessing is you'd have a low tax bill!! I managed without a mixer for ages and made do by hand. Then only paid £40 for one 18 months ago. Buy as you need after the key stuff.

 

[White Room]

The SINGLE most important thing when starting in business is controlling costs. In business, cash is king. Don't spend it unless you have to!

Grumpy

And watch the credit cards they can creep up and bite you badly

 

[billy123]

listen to what the guys are saying mate,u should be upand running for around £5k save the rest for cashflow.new van doesnt mean ur a good tiler

 

[Holohana]

watch out for trade accounts too. Make sure when you get paid you pay them n all. Easy to let them build up! My 1st van cost £750, sold car for £800 to fund it, and 2nd van which is tonnes better and bigger cost £500 after 1st blew up.

 

[Saltire69]

Just buy enough to get u up and running m8 and then buy things like mixer,3mm trowel ect as you get jobs and offset them against tools. Didn't get a mixer for 1st month as had no floors to do.

 

[Perry]

didnt get a mixer for 18 years only when i started to slow down they took to long to mix :yes:

 

[JIMBOB187]

I'd just like to say a huge thank you to all posters in this thread, I have been having sleepless nights worrying about starting up and the costs and now I am just very excited and that people is thank's to you lot. Thank's for turning a frown upsidedown Group hug everyone, come on Grumpy you know you wanna:grouphug:

 

[grumpygrouter]

I'm only Grumpy by name Jim.:grouphug:

Grumpy

 

[plumbersmate]

i think buying a pricy van might be a guy thing, the plumber's on the lookout for a 'new' vw van, looked at the mercs and weren't that impressed. i'm still using my vw golf, obviously there's a lot of cleaning when we want to use her for socialising - doesn't spilt grout get everywhere!!!!

 

[abskiing]

You have already made the biggest contribution, not money but time spent doing research. This site will save you £££s if you need advice or guidance. It holds a wealth of knowledge on tiling and other related trades. And it is free.....

abskiing

 

[quick draw macgraw]

You could even but something like a xsara picasso as the seats come out the back in a jiffy and you can easily get ply in then if you need to pop seats back in. Whats PPE is it personal protective eqipment? only really need glasses i think. £2000 on marketing seems a lot as well.

 

[versatilene]

I think most of us started with around £3000 to £5000, You can get a good clean second hand deisel van for that, a good set of quality basic tools (good cutters essential) and have some left for advertising. Remember your'e going into this for a better quality of life not sleepless nights and stress. Listen to all the lads on here giving sound advice.

 

[brummie tiler]

I think most of us started with around £3000 to £5000, You can get a good clean second hand deisel van for that, a good set of quality basic tools (good cutters essential) and have some left for advertising. Remember your'e going into this for a better quality of life not sleepless nights and stress. Listen to all the lads on here giving sound advice.

better quility of life:whatchutalkingabout does that include a bad back and dodgy knees:lol:

 

[diamondtiling]

Just found this thread and thought it was interesting. My first vehicle was a Ford Cortina estate, ran it into the ground and then a VW transporter before moving on to the VW lt range. Tools wise, my first cutter was from the dark ages but it worked, cant remember its name now, it would be interesting to know how the original guy got on with his £20k budget.

:20:

 

[Perry]

i always say spend it when you have to not before or else it will be sitting in tools you thought you needed

 

[mikethetile]

it would be interesting to find out how jimbob got on

i started twenty years ago with 1700 quid and a morris ital van