Lee Reynolds

What do you do about registering your buisness etc? Also public liability, what does this cost?

Seriously considering setting up on my own now..well, me and my mate. The amount of skill we have between us we are daft not to its just taking the plunge...

Stu.H

DONT DO IT!!!!

Lee, think about it, you have no rationality!

You got rid of ur escos!

Only joking mate, takes guts, and I hope u succeed in whatever you decide to do!

neilm

What are you planning on doing in business ?

clayton Borg

Lee,

You only have to register your company if you are going Ltd.

You may need to be VAT registered if your turn over is over..... i think about 55,000.

Public liability varies in what job you do. If you work with heat like plumbers/welders it can be quite a lot, but otherwise it aint that expensive.

My public liability is around 140.00

Clayton

SteveH

Same here, my public liability is 155, not too much, but it should be free cos i've no work at the minute so i'm doing fuck all to anyone
Good luck with it sir, it can work out amazing. So i hear.
I'm off back into the office jobs, 16-18k easy for now

Paddy

First and best thing to do mate, is just register yourself with the Revenues and Customs for N.I contributions [£2.10/week at the moment]. They'll contact the Inland Revenue for you and you'll get a form next April for your income tax

No point going Ltd yet IMO due to the extra hassle and expense of producing accounts.

All the best in whatever you do

MWF

What you do really depends on how you want your business to operate and how you want it to grow.

TrickyDicky

if your planning on turning over more than 12k form a limited company from the off-the tax is a hell of a lot cheaper rather than sole trader or partnership.

you have to register for VAT at 58k, but when you hit the level you get a months grace.

hth

Tricky

Mike Rainbird

iTrader: (3)

Regarding insurance, it depends entirely what you're doing and what the risk is, so you need to speak to people doing comparable work.

Anything from a few hundred pounds up to (I hope you're sitting down ), £20,000 . It's based on turnover, wages and all kinds of shite .

Obviously we're in a high risk arena (heavy plant and industrial pipework installation for the petrochemical and food industry). This also means that only certain insurers (Lloyds) will touch us (even though we have never made a claim in 15 years ).

Lee Reynolds

thanks for the advice chaps! Like a fool a didnt put what buisness

Builder..

Will go for VAT register as we will be looking to turn over more than 80k to make it worth doing...

Just had an online quote for insurance...277...so not too bad but thats limited to working 2 storeys

Mike Rainbird

iTrader: (3)

Good luck .

TrickyDicky

get yourself a proper accountant ie a chartered accountant-not some 50 year old bod whos stuck in his ways. a good accountant will save at LEAST his bill in tax every year.

Lee Reynolds

My sister in law is an accountant im hoping i get a discount

shane

My boss didnt go limited straight away and it cost him an extra 7k in tax so if u plan on earning that much it might be worth considering it...cus he aint moaned bout anything else since he got the news!

Lee Reynolds

shane


all bosses moan... bastards Thats why i wanna be my own and moan at meself

markk

iTrader: (2)

whatever you 'think' its gonna cost you, double it

the vat threshold is £60k this year, if you can avoid it do so at all costs, as its right out of your pocket. you will need to register with hmrc, i went ltd straight away - its not as useful as it was for tax purposes due to a law change this year, but for the extra couple hundred quid to set it up, its defo worth wile.
self employment is not easy pal, but good luck. oh and my PLI is just short of £400pa

Lee Reynolds

markk


what are you in Mark?

TBH i am not wanting this to make loads... I love the building trade and learn as much as possibe when i can. Im multi skilled in many areas and enjoy working...BUT not for someone else. Every day i hate it more and more, and with the skills i have i sit thinking im daft and should be working for myself. If i make a good wage id be happy...anything more is a bonus... But as i say, it would have to be worth it to have the extra hassle and stresss

neilm

Lee there is a lot to be said to sitting on site earning money and going home at the end of it without any worries, just how you are going to spend your wages.


I would always use a Limited company, as it minimises your risk, ie you dont loose your house when it all goes to ratshit.

HOWEVER... I remember a good friend of mine saying to me that the Construction industry is very wary of limited companies.

Because of the 'fook off factor'... you order a load of materials, you build a house for someone, you get paid, you fook off without paying for the materials, the Limited company has no assests really, so the supplier cant get his money.

This may have changed now but there is always the risk.


The other thing to note is the building trade, like the motor trade is one of the few areas in the country where there is always loads of cash floating about..... and as such there is always the risk of VAT & Tax inspections so it is wise to play a straight bat... but that means lots of book keeping and making sure you are on top of things.


Working for yourself certainly has its advantages and I would find it very hard to go back to working for someone else.. but sometimes its a very lonely place to be.

Good luck with it !

Lee Reynolds

Cheers Neil. Really wanting to go for it. Im really unhappy where i work now, but i dont want to go back on the sites self employed going from firm to firm etc crashing bricks down..i like variety...... ive been with one company now 5 years on the books earning a decent wage but ive seriously had enough and really wanna work for myself

Lee Reynolds

started the ball rolling today,,,,sorting some advertising etc. Almost just walked off the job today but decided to stay till we get some work penciled in

bigwelshlad

mate good luck with your venture

as you probably know from my posts i am a builder too nothing fancy only general work stuff and started my own business about three months ago as people were turning me away for being 'big' not gonna mention that issue now but it all depends on your income. as i am not expecting a huge influx of jobs then i guess i will be below the limit for what you have top register for a vat company and on the accountants advise this is what he said. get yourself a good accountant/finanical advisror. they might cost now but i have been yold the will save in the long run.

matts1

I run a design agency with an old pal. Get advice on the limited side of things, see what is best for you, us at the moment turn over around £250K a year and are not Ltd.

We went VAT registered straight away as people refused to use us because we brought print with vat ontop, but then sold it to the client and they couldn't claim vat back of us as we couldn't charge it.

We have not gone Ltd for tax reasons, better for us as it is, plus as said you have more problems with suppliers not trusting you and even clients for that matter.

Also as a limited company your accounts are exposed, anyone can get a copy of them. This is not great if you are tackling big contract and want to appear bigger than you are to build confidence with them.

We also registered to the Federation of Small Businesses.

It is good to be your own boss but also not so great when you have to keep making sure work is coming in and can't just work 9-5 and then switch off. Your business is your life.

Still, every morning I get up ready to go, no boss to time me or tell me what to do and it is amazing how hard you work when you see the cash coming directly backl to you, the harder you work, the more money you make.

Hope it goes well, if you plan it properly and have a nest egg of cash then even if it doesn't work out it isn't the end of the world.

Matt

bigwelshlad

good advice mate

you should ring up self employed line somewhere in newcastle to talk about your own position.

Lee Reynolds

cheers Welshy and matt! I really do hope we can make a go of it!

markk

iTrader: (2)

selective accounting pal

you cant see anything i dont want you to see , plus you have to pay to have a look

being a ltd company has save me 10 times more than it cost me to set it up.

bigwelshlad

pob lwc mate good luck as we say in wales.....welshy

Tom`s Fiesta

You only HAVE to have public liability if you are an employer but for the sake of £100 or so (I pay £85 per annum) its worth having and it covers me for £5,000,000. Just incase someone tries to sue you!

righthooker

this from the man a couple of months back saying how good it was to be cards in and self employment was pants cos he wouldnt get any holliday pay

Lee i am a self employed builder and i have 3 lads ,my insurance is 550 mate ,good luck if you go ahead with it

Lee Reynolds

Righthooker... I refer back to my quote to Neilm... The self employment i spoke about before was going site to site crashing em down on price...cant be arsed with that. I have ALWAYS wanted my own small buisness mate..since school

TrickyDicky

anyone who runs anytype of business and turns over more than 13k a year profit and is NOT ltd needs to really see a bona fide chartered accountant rather than a bookkeeper accountant-a chartered accountant will show you how being limited will save a fortune in tax!!!!

markk

iTrader: (2)

im with you on that pal -

will save you even more on NI

TrickyDicky

my accountant now has around 7 of my pals on board as well who wouldn't believe me-we were discussing it down rub a dub dub one night, all in partnerships etc and paying daft tax.

yes my n.i and income tax are very low!

markk

iTrader: (2)

was deffo teh move of last year, this years benefits are not as good but still outweights not being ltd

TrickyDicky

fortunately we dit it with my 1 company before dividends were taxable so had a good year till the bastard chancellor closed it!

markk

iTrader: (2)

me too pal

Damo V

Thats bullshit, you have employers liability if you are an employer...

Public liability covers me should say, erm someone trip over my electric cable while Im working etc etc... I am insured up to £2mill dont know how much it costs me as its bundled into my insurance ...

neilm

I'm with you on this one mate

You only have to submit abbreviated accounts when your turn over is below a certain level.

And people do have to pay to have a look.

BUT.... it also means when you want to open an account anywhere you have credibility as they just do a credit reference on your company number and as long as you have nothing to hide you are fine.


The other thing that was mentioned earlier, which is a top tip...

Join the Federation of Small Business... IF for no other reason than as part of their membership you get insurance cover against TAX & VAT Inspections and that is worth its money all day long.

My accountant wanted something like £300 a year for a policy to cover for that... My FSB membership was only £130 a year and I get all the other benefits aswell...

rabmc

Mmm very intresting this

Im starting my own company as i type this , and going to see a lawyer to see what route i need to go , basically i do alarms,cctv,door access control and all that kind of stuff , so im currently trying to get a van , ladders ,drills etc etc and im going to be sub-contracted to bigger companys including my previous one that ive just quit

Do i need to go limited ???? hoping to be bringing in roundabout 1k a week at least




Any help appreciated

neilm

Yes you need to be limited.

If you are working as a sub contractor to other companies.

The reason for this is...

If you fooked off and didnt pay any income tax due then the people who 'employed' you, even if it wasnt on their payroll as such, would be liable for your tax.

Most sensible companies wont employ sub contractor who arent limited for this very reason.

rabmc