How will the Vat increase affect your business.

[DHTiling]

Hi Arms members..

How do you think the Vat rise will affect you as a tiling business next year.?

Will the cost of materials make it harder to compete or if you do not supply materials do you think the vat rise will affect you or not..?

 

[doug boardley]

I don't think it'll affect me much Dave, but I guess it's a case of wait and see.

 

[White Room]

I don't think on the size of jobs I do it going to make difference, not that I've heard from any customers worrying about the vat increase

 

[DHTiling]

I don't think it'll affect me much Dave, but I guess it's a case of wait and see.

I don't think on the size of jobs I do it going to make difference, not that I've heard from any customers worrying about the vat increase

Do you 2 think it will create a down turn as joe public might tighten their belts..? or is this yet another media scare..

 

[mikethetile]

I dont think the increase is going to be enough to worry about, but materials are up about 6% before vat for next year, the sharp increase in fuel expected next year will have more of an effect, im increasing my rates to cover the rise in costs

 

[DHTiling]

These other increases we suffer each year are a killer as it is.. like adhesive manufactures who up their prices by 6 to 10% year in year out.. no matter what the industry is like.. and as mike says fuel is a mayor headache..

tax tax tax..???

 

[pete f]

dont forget lads this increase is 10% in real terms not 2.5% when you add all the 2.5%s together ie materials to manufacturer manufacturer to supplier supplier to tiler tiler to customers thats 2.5% four ways

 

[doug boardley]

Do you 2 think it will create a down turn as joe public might tighten their belts..? or is this yet another media scare..

I don't think it will Dave, not significantly anyway. They may just pick a cheaper tile to suit their budget and to offset the vat rise.

 

[SandyFloor]

As I've said before a rise of 2.5% on vat is less than 2% on the final price of materials. I'm not vat registered but I supply a lot of material so I've calculated my overall prices on supply and fit would only go up about 1% and I'm happy to absorb that to keep busy. To that end I've put on my home page my prices will remain constant into 2011. Since I've done that I've landed two good size jobs for the new year. You could say I've tried to take advantage of the paranoia and it's so far so good.

 

[White Room]

It might hit the contractor who is vat rgistered..

But they get round that by getting the customer to buy bathroom etc to keep below the vat limit themselves

On a £1'000 it's an extra £25

 

[Stewart]

I'm booked up solid now till end of March, so no ill effect as yet. I have had a few customers, when quoting, wanting to pay cash, but they're the one's that usually can't afford me anyway.

To tie into the vat increase, my addy supplier is putting there usual price increase on at the same time. So to combat this, I've already pre-ordered my addy up till march with a bit to spare, to take the sting out of it.

I have noticed that the customers that would have had all the bells and whistles on their installs have cut back on some accessories, but in general, it's full steam ahead as usual.

 

[Ian]

I didn't seem to earn anymore money when the vat went down to 15% so I don't think I'll lose anything noticeable when it goes up, I'm not vat registered either and tend to get alot of my work by passing my discounts onto customers, on the basis that I get the fitting. Make a bit on addy as I buy in bulk, but happy to pass tile discount on, so increases won't come out of my pocket.

 

[SandyFloor]

dont forget lads this increase is 10% in real terms not 2.5% when you add all the 2.5%s together ie materials to manufacturer manufacturer to supplier supplier to tiler tiler to customers thats 2.5% four ways

Vat doesn't work that way. It is claimed back by vat registered traders all down the line. It only sticks with the final purchaser.

 

[pete f]

yes sandy 10% in real terms to joe public

 

[Daz]

All tile suppliers will have a "no VAT increase" sale during Jan so no initial pain predicted, and my pricing will reflect the manufacturers and VAT increases so, personally, my rates will not suffer.

As far as the market is concerned, I think the slow down will be more prolonged than in previous years so could be end of Feb before "Joe Public" get used to spending out on home improvements again.