Sub-contracting work

[littleroy]

Hello to all,
Im currently working as a self employed plumber and i am considering taking on sub-contract work. Having never done this before could anyone advise me on what pitfalls there are if any? I have contacted a few national companies and they have expressed an interest and offered me work in my area for a set rate of £45 hr. Is this about right? I believe most of the work offered is insurance related, ie breakdown cover.
any comments would be most welcome.

 

[B.O.B DOLE]

Hello to all,
Im currently working as a self employed plumber and i am considering taking on sub-contract work. Having never done this before could anyone advise me on what pitfalls there are if any? I have contacted a few national companies and they have expressed an interest and offered me work in my area for a set rate of £45 hr. Is this about right? I believe most of the work offered is insurance related, ie breakdown cover.
any comments would be most welcome.

Which ones did you apply to as i know a few rates of contractors rates

 

[littleroy]

Its a company called safe and secure based in Chelmsford.
also applied to Reactfast in Birmingham...............they sounded all to eager to get me onboard but still waiting to here from them.zzzzzz

 

[Vic Spanner]

Reactfast in Birmingham..Now that name rings a bell..ever watched rouge traders?

 

[corgiman]

Weren't they the ones who had that lad blow up the pcb in a glowworm, after he repeatedly told them he didnt know what he was doing???

 

[jobloggs]

Poxi

Are the rouge traders the ones with red faces???

Sorry but I could not resist it.

 

[Paul Barker]

It's a year now since I had anything to do with these type of firms, and I've never looked back.

They pester you like mad on a Friday night and try to send you all over the countryside on fools errands, and don't even pay you half the time.

Don't bother with any of them, paddle your own canoe.

 

[corgiman]

I totally agree they will only use their subbies when their directly employed labour has gone home, if you do do it, expect lots of call from 1800hrs and at weekends.

not forgetting lots and lots of quibling over the money they owe you.

no back up no support no respect no way

 

[B.O.B DOLE]

Hello to all,
Im currently working as a self employed plumber and i am considering taking on sub-contract work. Having never done this before could anyone advise me on what pitfalls there are if any? I have contacted a few national companies and they have expressed an interest and offered me work in my area for a set rate of £45 hr. Is this about right? I believe most of the work offered is insurance related, ie breakdown cover.
any comments would be most welcome.

To tell you the truth mate you have missed the boat maty the gas game like any other business where there is money there is corruption
like i was like you all dreams and glory thinking to take on the world but
it will all end in tears .........................
sorry but that is the way it is all these cowboy outfits who promise 45 hr
is bullshit they mass advertise fore locksmiths, gas breakdown engineers anything they can make money on and they mass advertise , and you get a small percentage of the wage , my advise to you is GET OUT OF THE GAS GAME IS CORRUPT TO F.U.CK and there is nothing me you can do anything about it ,


ps these are the sharks few national companies and they have expressed an interest and offered me work in my area for a set rate of £45 hr

and u are the small fish they will use

 

[meldrew's_mate]

..ever watched rouge traders?

Would they be some type of French wine smugglers?

Seriously though, they'll take £45 per half hour from Joe Public (+VAT) that you have to collect. They don't pay for your travelling time, and you'll end up chasing around for spares and chasing them for money.

If you're half decent and competent after one year you should have work coming at you from all directions, so what's gone wrong?

 

[Vic Spanner]

Can somebody please let me know how to spell..ROUGE pooperley.

 

[littleroy]

Thanks for all your input 0n that i had a feeling they were a bit dodgy!
I guess im just finding it a bit hard to get established. Yellow pages ad comes out first of march so heres hoping

Or is the rest of the country quiet at the moment as well?

 

[ollski]

Can somebody please let me know how to spell..ROUGE pooperley.

rogue, if you mean as in 'a bit of a rascal'

 

[Paul Barker]

I am absolutely inundated with work, I haven't submitted the last 4 estimates for big jobs that I would like to do, there isn't even time to do an estimate. I'm doing my head in over it, if I had my BP checked it would be sky high. All this is for good established customers, I'm being rude to people that I don't know, there is no other option.

Yet, there can be times when you suddenly turn round one day and realise you're nearing the end of your jobs to get round to list. But you never actually reach the end of it.

I was a little mad today though, fixing a Brit II for one of my regular landlords I discovered he'd had a firm in to change the cylinder in flat above. They charged him £530, it was only a standard 117 ltr direct cylinder.

I thought why am I scratching around keeping all his ropey old gas appliances going and he just goes and calls a con merchant to chartge him £400 for 1/2 a days work?

 

[corgiman]

i think your feeling the effect of our brother polish plumbers inundating the trade, spec in your neck of the woods mate.

and that to the trillions of ex bankers (rhyming slang intended) that have flooded into the trade as well, not as much to go around as there once was