tips from business owners!

[WorcsWuss]

 

I never got round to using it as I took up golf aswell lol.

 

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Ha ! Fatal! I did that, although I went into a golf shop the other day and got taken apart completely by the bloke who ran it [some south african or something] that I'm not sure I can ever play again.

[skyhuck]

 

contentment is the secret of life imo.

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You have never spoken a truer word Stevie

[Stephen Blair]

Look up entrepreneurial myth guys, I bet it makes a lot of sense to most.

Living the dreams not the same as the dream.

[Mesterh]

In regards to the OP and not just the last few pages(I wouldnt want to offend anyone posting there, I would prefer to offend a wider audience.)

I would say my tip is to not take it as gospel what others say when they talk about the huge back log of work they have and how they get top dollar on their prices.

 

If work is so plentiful at top money why do they only run one gang and not 10 with a couple of PM's a contracts manager and a full time secretory?!! They could then arrive at work in the Bell 222.

 

Surely there must be a reason they dont do it, I mean who wouldnt?

 

It would be stupid of me to not run more men if there was a glutten of good paying customers in my area.

 

 

I think Scot Spine said it right when he said...

 

 

"I do agree in general that we should all charge more - but we're all to a greater or lesser degree controlled by the economic situation of the area in which we operate. "

[Tom D]

I'm not urging anyone to expand, just charge a decent rate for the team that they have got. The reason people don't go out and start 10 squads is they you then get 10 squads worth of hassle. I know a few members on here who have run multiple teams and gone back to just one owner operated team.

[Stephen Blair]

 

 

"I do agree in general that we should all charge more - but we're all to a greater or lesser degree controlled by the economic situation of the area in which we operate. "

 

Now I can argue that point, because I know the area where Scotspine operates:001_rolleyes:

 

I also know him:biggrin:

 

And I know for a fact he is more of a tree man than I will ever be:001_cool:

[Mesterh]

I should have except Scotland from my above post as you guys do seem to know how to charge.

 

No seriously though I do think it is quite different from England.

 

A good mate of mine who has worked on decent sized contracts in England moved over to a Scottish power sub company. He was telling me that contracts worked very differently up north, he said to me

 

"You know how they say all Scottish people are tight, well thats bollox, they used to pay all their jobs up front when the contract was signed not like it is down here where you argue the toss and have a big bun fight at the end of the job".

 

They tried to implement it down here but it didnt go down to well even with the bad economic crisis when no one wanted to be shafted at the end of a few millions quids worth of work.

[Tom D]

I have never been paid up front, I do think the scots being tight is bollocks though..

 

My experience has been that I used to charge 350 for a 2 man team and was usually busy, i then started charging 550 for a 2 man team and was even more busy, Now I have 3 men but don't really have a day rate anymore. I am averaging 3-4k a week constantly now but I have bought bigger kit so can now do bigger jobs much faster, I am using subbys quite a lot too at the mo so its hard to even get to grips with my weekly target right now. Once things calm down again though I will go back to aiming for 3-4k a week again.

[Mesterh]

I'm not urging anyone to expand, just charge a decent rate for the team that they have got. The reason people don't go out and start 10 squads is they you then get 10 squads worth of hassle. I know a few members on here who have run multiple teams and gone back to just one owner operated team.

 

Thats the job of the PM;s, tut, tut, tut, tut, tut.

 

I would be too busy getting chaffered about in my Maybach drinking only the best Innis and Gunn had to offer to even care about that hassle.

[tomtrees]

Tom were you doing £80K with a transit and 6"chipper??

 

I do well over £80K with just me and one man, we certainly don't work full time, we do 3 or 4 days per week, BUT I have a much better setup than most and thats what makes me my money.

 

But I'm still competing against guys with minimum kit and on some jobs my kit won't give me much advantage, on others it will, I make my money by do the job quicker.

 

I have been trying to charge more for 10+years, when I push the prices a little I invariably don't win the work.

 

Need any help with your client base