Turnover...

[woodland dweller]

Wow i can only dream of these figures, been a 1 man band furniture maker / carpenter and joiner for 25 years just done my accounts for 2011-2012 turnover just under £22,000 running costs and materials just under £10,000 so a miserable profit of £12k. own my house, partner doesn't work 2 kids,£18 per hour 5 days a week no holidays, top it up with savings, stressed up to my eye balls. Perhaps i should get a proper job as the other half keeps suggesting.

[woodland dweller]

Wow i can only dream of these figures, been a 1 man band furniture maker / carpenter and joiner for 25 years just done my accounts for 2011-2012 turnover just under £22,000 running costs and materials just under £10,000 so a miserable profit of £12k. own my house, partner doesn't work 2 kids,£18 per hour 5 days a week no holidays, top it up with savings, stressed up to my eye balls. Perhaps i should get a proper job as the other half keeps suggesting.

[Tom D]

There is more than one way to skin a cat, when I had moved into our current house I spent a lot of time working on the house and only went out to work when the money ran low. It worked really well and saved us a fortune in tradesmen. Do what works for you but I'll bet that you would be a lot better off if you just charged more. If you think you can't charge more, try it, you might be surprised. If you are making furniture perhaps you could change the way you sell or market your stuff. Two tables that took the same amount of time and skill to make could be selling at wildly different prices, why? Because one maker has found a way in to a market where people are prepared to pay good money and the other sells his stuff for less than it cost hime to make.

 

I'm noo expert but If I have one piece of advice it is this: know your weaknesses and be honest about them, that way you can either train and improve your performance or hire someone else to do that for you.

 

Go pick the brains of posh furniture sellers and ask for their advice on what sells best and how to sell it. I often ring up people out of the blue and just chat, they are normally more than happy to help...

[Tom D]

There is more than one way to skin a cat, when I had moved into our current house I spent a lot of time working on the house and only went out to work when the money ran low. It worked really well and saved us a fortune in tradesmen. Do what works for you but I'll bet that you would be a lot better off if you just charged more. If you think you can't charge more, try it, you might be surprised. If you are making furniture perhaps you could change the way you sell or market your stuff. Two tables that took the same amount of time and skill to make could be selling at wildly different prices, why? Because one maker has found a way in to a market where people are prepared to pay good money and the other sells his stuff for less than it cost hime to make.

 

I'm noo expert but If I have one piece of advice it is this: know your weaknesses and be honest about them, that way you can either train and improve your performance or hire someone else to do that for you.

 

Go pick the brains of posh furniture sellers and ask for their advice on what sells best and how to sell it. I often ring up people out of the blue and just chat, they are normally more than happy to help...

[Johny Walker]

Wow i can only dream of these figures, been a 1 man band furniture maker / carpenter and joiner for 25 years just done my accounts for 2011-2012 turnover just under £22,000 running costs and materials just under £10,000 so a miserable profit of £12k. own my house, partner doesn't work 2 kids,£18 per hour 5 days a week no holidays, top it up with savings, stressed up to my eye balls. Perhaps i should get a proper job as the other half keeps suggesting.

 

tell the other half to get a job

[Johny Walker]

Wow i can only dream of these figures, been a 1 man band furniture maker / carpenter and joiner for 25 years just done my accounts for 2011-2012 turnover just under £22,000 running costs and materials just under £10,000 so a miserable profit of £12k. own my house, partner doesn't work 2 kids,£18 per hour 5 days a week no holidays, top it up with savings, stressed up to my eye balls. Perhaps i should get a proper job as the other half keeps suggesting.

 

tell the other half to get a job

[Ty Korrigan]

I understand about turnover/profit equation.

I'm not asking about profit here.

I'm asking about turnover, just typical turnover.

I'm also recording jobs and giving them a simple profit rating so I can better justify why we should or not do certain works.

Other questions I want to ask are how many working days per year?

How much time spent commuting from yard to client?

Here, we have no minimum vat level if you wish to be able to offset expenses.

One thing is for sure, grinding is a goldmine so I take Mr Blairs comments lightly (previous thread somewhere...hhhh:biggrin:)

 

Ty

[Ty Korrigan]

I understand about turnover/profit equation.

I'm not asking about profit here.

I'm asking about turnover, just typical turnover.

I'm also recording jobs and giving them a simple profit rating so I can better justify why we should or not do certain works.

Other questions I want to ask are how many working days per year?

How much time spent commuting from yard to client?

Here, we have no minimum vat level if you wish to be able to offset expenses.

One thing is for sure, grinding is a goldmine so I take Mr Blairs comments lightly (previous thread somewhere...hhhh:biggrin:)

 

Ty

[likeitorlumpit]

I understand about turnover/profit equation.

I'm not asking about profit here.

I'm asking about turnover, just typical turnover.

I'm also recording jobs and giving them a simple profit rating so I can better justify why we should or not do certain works.

Other questions I want to ask are how many working days per year?

How much time spent commuting from yard to client?

Here, we have no minimum vat level if you wish to be able to offset expenses.

One thing is for sure, grinding is a goldmine so I take Mr Blairs comments lightly (previous thread somewhere...hhhh:biggrin:)

 

Ty

 

Ty- I think you're getting too complicated.

Concentrate on what you do best and what is most profitable and you can't go wrong really.

Asking about turnover to UK based business is 2 questions.

Do you want to get VAT registered - if not then I guess turnover(declared ) will be below the VAT threshold. Dooable if you don't need a good profit on your books.

If you have to get registered because you run 2 teams or due to the customers you have (mainly commercial) then I guess it's over £100K.

I think the way you are trying to tie down prices doesn't work too well- well not for me. There's an element of business that requires seat of your pants decisions and these can sometimes be the most profitable.

I guess in France the case is entirely different.

BTW 260 working days per year in UK

Usually get about 220 with bad weather and holidays.

Holidays including bank holidays means for every 8.5 days worked the typical Brit gets a day off. Scary ain't it if you have to allow for that in your costs. Working overtime at 1.5x wage doesn't make up for it.

Theres loads more but I hope this helps.

[likeitorlumpit]

I understand about turnover/profit equation.

I'm not asking about profit here.

I'm asking about turnover, just typical turnover.

I'm also recording jobs and giving them a simple profit rating so I can better justify why we should or not do certain works.

Other questions I want to ask are how many working days per year?

How much time spent commuting from yard to client?

Here, we have no minimum vat level if you wish to be able to offset expenses.

One thing is for sure, grinding is a goldmine so I take Mr Blairs comments lightly (previous thread somewhere...hhhh:biggrin:)

 

Ty

 

Ty- I think you're getting too complicated.

Concentrate on what you do best and what is most profitable and you can't go wrong really.

Asking about turnover to UK based business is 2 questions.

Do you want to get VAT registered - if not then I guess turnover(declared ) will be below the VAT threshold. Dooable if you don't need a good profit on your books.

If you have to get registered because you run 2 teams or due to the customers you have (mainly commercial) then I guess it's over £100K.

I think the way you are trying to tie down prices doesn't work too well- well not for me. There's an element of business that requires seat of your pants decisions and these can sometimes be the most profitable.

I guess in France the case is entirely different.

BTW 260 working days per year in UK

Usually get about 220 with bad weather and holidays.

Holidays including bank holidays means for every 8.5 days worked the typical Brit gets a day off. Scary ain't it if you have to allow for that in your costs. Working overtime at 1.5x wage doesn't make up for it.

Theres loads more but I hope this helps.