How much should an owner of a tree business be on per year?

[Clutchy]

Ok, I appreciate this is going to be somewhat regional, but caveat it if you feel necessary. 

 

I'll start first, given high end climbers in the south east are on crica £240 a day (£57k ish per year accounting for 4 weeks off )

 

I think £90k per annum for an owner... based on 2 gangs and I feel it should increase accordingly based on the number of gangs you run. Especially as an owner is almost certainly doing more than 40hrs per week.

 

Thoughts? 

[Steve Bullman]

I think 90k per year based on 2 gangs is quite ambitious

[Clutchy]

3 minutes ago, Steve Bullman said:

I think 90k per year based on 2 gangs is quite ambitious

What do you reckon? 

 

Seems hardley worth it for much less, baring in mind you are responsible for 5-6 other salaries. Not just as a manger, literally their salaries 

[GarethM]

50-60k sounds more realistic, plus that's excluding the financial perks of being the owner for own vehicles, laptop, iPad, phone etc etc.

 

Is your Mrs also on the books as an accountant?

Edited April 20, 2023 by GarethM

[Steve Bullman]

12 minutes ago, Clutchy said:

What do you reckon? 

 

Seems hardley worth it for much less, baring in mind you are responsible for 5-6 other salaries. Not just as a manger, literally their salaries 

Well I’m not saying i disagree that it should be the 90k mark, I just doubt very much it is for 99% of the companies out there, nor even close 

[Clutchy]

20 minutes ago, GarethM said:

50-60k sounds more realistic, plus that's excluding the financial perks of being the owner for own vehicles, laptop, iPad, phone etc etc.

 

Is your Mrs also on the books as an accountant?

Na she has her own proper job 

 

I do appreciate the perks are worth quite a bit of money though.

 

Especially as you pay a lot less tax on dividends compared to full PAYE... for now. 

 

That's slowly being erroded however 

[Muddy42]

This question doesn't really make sense.  If by the "owner" you mean someone owns 100% of the business, they have the choice to either keep cash in the business, take it as dividends or pay out as salary.  Its also currently very efficient to grow and sell a business via entrepreneurs relief. It all depends on the best tax treatment.

[Clutchy]

6 minutes ago, Muddy42 said:

This question doesn't really make sense.  If by the "owner" you mean someone owns 100% of the business, they have the choice to either keep cash in the business, take it as dividends or pay out as salary.  Its also currently very efficient to grow and sell a business via entrepreneurs relief. It all depends on the best tax treatment.

True, but its very rare anyone in this industry is actually selling their arb business, unless they have decent contracts with most don't. 

 

Most sell for the assets and small token for their phone number 

 

Ok, If you don't want to state a minimum take home, maybe state you minimum net profit or EBITDA for X gangs 

 

I feel the more we talk the better it is for all as there are a lot not running it as a business and it could be very helpful for them 

[GarethM]

Probably best speaking to your accountant, I'd personally take a smaller salary with the benefits.

 

Then see what you can do with a percentage dividend or something similar, encourages the turnover to increase and makes it look like you're not taking the Mick with the staff 🙂

[treevolution]

 Really good question. 

 

I think £80000 to £90000 company profit can be made with a team of 2 with one member being the owner/main climber. 

 

So if owner comes of the tools to run the business then  probably one team of two should be making a profit of £40000 to £50000 and then times that by how many teams you have. 

 

So I would think that you would really need at least 3 teams to start making more money then if you just went out on your own.