I am thinking about taking on a small workshop again, already got a location in mind (about 4 miles way) it is secure etc.
It is in a business park with 24/7 security and good parking access.
The idea is I would still be mobile but have set hours in the day when people can drop their PC off to me if they prefer, and perhaps get a small discount for doing so.
I currently have a workshop at home but it is causing some issues like people having to be in all the time and also I I don't have any separate work or home life.
I hope the new premises mean I might gain more business as I will have a physical presence. I know a lot of people would rather drop a machine off rather than have it collected.
What do you think?
I nearly did this before, but finances were a bit tight then, but now I have a lot more money to put into it and I also have all the furniture and equipment from my existing work shop.
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On the 2 or 3 occasions I've needed PC repairs I've always taken them to a 'physical presence'.
Probably easier to develop a reputation if people can be reminded of your presence by passing your shop.
It works for PC World.....
ahahahahahahahaaaaaa etc.
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It won't be a high street store, far too much overheads to make that work, but rather a small self contained unit in a small business park. There is around 100 other businesses there so I am hoping I will get some passing trade from that.
I just know some people don't like having strangers in the house and it this market I want to tap into.
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Two minds here.
I prefer someone to come to my home, for one thing i know they want to get it fixed and then be on their way and they are testing it out in situ using the usual router, secondly i can keep an eye on them till i get to fully trusting them...second point depending on how i got to know of them in the first place.
Handy to drop something off my more intensive dismantling, such as our Vaio needed recently when the screen tube light went on the blink.
Facility for both home and drop off for me.
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It is how I work at the moment, but around 70% of the machines I have to collect and stick on them on the bench anyway as I am not testing a 1TB hard drive onsite! (takes hours!).
Never been an issue but 95% of my work is recommendations or repeats at the moment as I am finding it more and more difficult to find new customers, hence the idea of also having a fixed place.
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Well, if you're confident of affording it then press on I say. You might even be able to employ someone to help you grow the business eventually if you would then have a suitable workplace for them.
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Stating the blindingly obvious here Rattie, but you do give a few business cards to your better customers to hand on to others don't you.
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How much extra business can you reasonably expect from a 'physical presence'?
Have you any plan/budget to generate extra business through advertising?
Will the extra business cover the rent plus running costs (heating/phone/rates/utilities)?
What's the minimum lease period?
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It is flexible rent, e.g on a month by month basis. So if it doesn't work out I just need to give one months notice.
I can easily afford the rent, insurance will only be a little more than I am already paying, but I will need to generate around £250 a month profit in extra income to to make it worth while, but I am hoping that will be very very easy to do.
The main issue is is a good 20-25 minutes drive away but the idea is I will be there from say 10 to 4:00 each day, allowing a couple of hours then in the evening to do call out work/collections/drop offs.
This is as much about my health really, as it is impossible to have any sort of routine with my current setup as I don't stick to it.
And yes I do have business cards :). I get plenty of work from recomendations but not havihng much look with finding new customers but I haven't been pushing that too much as I have been spending money on improving service so I can keep my existing customers.
Last edited by: RattleandSmoke on Tue 28 Feb 12 at 21:51
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When I've been asked to fix machines for friends/family it always take longer than they expect. So dropping them off is better - I don't charge them either. It took far to long to fix one Vista machine which would hang.... but I didn't want to trash that person's machine by restoring it to the factory build.
Personally I'd prefer to drop a machine off and collect it. That way no visit by a stranger and no time pressures on you to fix it.
I assume broadband to this premises is available at a good speed and reasonable cost? It sounds like it's not residential so does it have fast broadband. Essential I would think for a PC repair business these days.
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And Rattle not prying... if you wanted an opinion on where it is vs. customers going there drop me an email.
I can see why getting a business location makes a lot of sense for you. Best of luck.
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Its standalone, so I pay my own electricity and broadband, but it will come with a live BT socket. There is an exhange less than 1 mile away so I hopefully 15-18mbps is possible. I have around 20mbps here and that is fine.
I think there is just too much of a market I am missing out on because people rightly don't want a stranger taking their precious data away to god knows where.
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Yes knowing where the PC was taken (by them) might matter. And I'd prefer people not to come to me... being in for them... them being later than expected.... job taking longer when they thought they could fix it on site. The list goes on.
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To be fair I alwyas give a receipt to customers to say I have collected it, and that has my address on it, so the know who has it etc, but the point is new customers won't know that and may be put off.
And yes I hate people being late, one of the reasons I realised people may be putt off is my mother was moaning how much she hates having traders in the house. They are having builders in to fix the roof and do repoint the gable end.
I know I certainly would not want somebody coming into the house to fix say my HIFI I would rather drop it off.
Last edited by: RattleandSmoke on Tue 28 Feb 12 at 22:02
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Not up to speed on this but will you have to pay business rates?
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Last time I enquired I didn't due to some scheme with the city council, but due to all the funding cuts I probably will now though, however it was only £30 a month. Although the unit is standalone everything else is shared which reduces the rates some what.
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Rattle, re BT broadband, will you be tied into taking it for a year's contact initially?
FWIW, with many "tradesmen" I prefer to go with recommendations from other satisfied customers.
Recently I had to get a laptop screen replaced (as you are aware) and I did not know anyone who did this. I took it into a local shop where it was obvious that they had lots of work on and I was able to chat to the guy, get good vives that he knew what he was talking about.
If I didn't get the good vibes, I would have walked away. However, I would never have contemplated taking it round to soemeone's house unless they were recommended. Wouldn't have filled me with any confidence.
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Nobody ever turns up at the house, it has to be collected at the moment :). If the guy was recomended would you have let somebody take the laptop away?
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rattle have you tried working with someone who got a pc shop that will also help share out with the rent and sales, just a thought
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>>rattle have you tried working with someone who got a pc shop that will also help share out with the rent and sales, just a thought<<
I likes that idea Sahib.
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>> Rattle, re BT broadband, will you be tied into taking it for a year's contact initially?
You didn't answer this... we're all looking out for you. And it's a phone line plus Internet...
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If you only intend to be at the unit from 10am to 4pm you are severely restricting the amount of customers who can come to you.
Given that most people who can afford PC repairs actually go to work themselves when are they going to get to you?
Pat
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I would feel more comfortable If the repairer had a premises to visit, even just for a quick chat before arranging for the PC to be collected from my home if need be.
The flexible rent sounds good and the rates seem reasonable. If you can iron out the things mentioned like phone line/broadband tie-ins, then it's got to be worth a shot, you'll never know otherwise.
With lots of other businesses around the unit, that alone could generate a lot of far reaching interest - family and friends of the people who work there.
You say you need an extra £250/month profit, hope this is not too personal, but what does that require in actual turnover?
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I would also look closely at how secure the unit is.
You may have insurance but if you come in one morning to find half a dozen customer laptops have been nicked no matter what the insurance eventually pays you it will be nothing to the hassle those half a dozen customers will give you or the effect it will have on your cashflow as the customers will want you to pay out there and then once it has gone not wait for the insurance cheque to eventually arrive.
I agree too with comments about opening times people will want to drop off pick up on their way to and from work, some people just will not have the time during working hours. Have you considered buying in someone to do pick up and drop offs for you? It might only be an hour or two every other day of someones time that you actually need to pay for to cover all that running about depending on how much needs to come in and out. I doubt you would need that every day and if there was an emergency pick up you have the Panda.
Also if you have your own space you could also consider selling on a few refurbished bits of kit or stuff you pick up just by setting up some shelving, you would also stock some basic items which people might be tempted to pick up when they call in.
As always
Mark
Last edited by: Mark on Wed 29 Feb 12 at 09:00
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Also with a pick up drop off service its something you can charge for. There will be people who will be quite happy to pay a £10/£15 local collection/delivery fee to avoid the hassle.
You should be able to find someone trustworthy who will do this for you on a flexible basis and as long as you charge it properly against what you pay out it should enable you to put in more bench time which is where your earning power should be. If you do this on a basis where they don't have zoom off as soon as you get a call (unless they pay a premium) you should find you can do this by using someone for 2/3 days out of 5. Maybe for no more than 2 hours per day so 4-6 hours a week that you might end up paying say £40-£45 a week for.
As long as you get 5/6 pick ups/drop offs paid for it should cover costs.
As always
Mark
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>> I have around 20mbps here and that is fine.
>>
I think you need to make sure that everything you write is correct. I personally would be very wary about doing business with someone who sloppily wrote mbps instead of using the correct abbreviation Mbps. You might think it's a very minor point, but things like this contribute to the degree of your professionalism that you portray.
Last edited by: L'escargot on Wed 29 Feb 12 at 09:39
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The hours issue is a good point, my idea was that it would be via appointment only if and you;re making a special journey, so I could always make sure I am there in an evening if people wanted to drop thing off. I could make sure I am there 10-4 each day, but also open later via arrangement or if I have no evening call outs.
As for broadband you can get pay as you versions which don't tie you into a contract, the phone line is already connected so there is no setup costs.
Security is an issue, and my friend in the same line of business had all his laptops robbed but the insurance refused to pay out. He was working from a garage though, he has improved security massively since including more locks than a locksmith, CCTV etc.
The complex is all gated at night with 24/7 security, so I would have thought it is a lot more secure than say a standalone shop.
As for turnover it is hard to say, £250 profit could be as little as £300 turnover or as much as £800 it depends on the job. £300 is typical though.
Also yes if I had proper premises I could start charging for drop offs and collections, the only reason I can't really do that now is I can't give customers that choice as I don't want them coming round to the house as it is not my house.
Last edited by: RattleandSmoke on Wed 29 Feb 12 at 10:24
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>> As for broadband you can get pay as you versions which don't tie you into a contract,
>> the phone line is already connected so there is no setup costs.
>>
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Phone line might be connected but that doesn't mean you don't have to pay line rental. Budget another £12/month and bear in mind that it's almost impossible to get less than a 12 month minimum term.
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It is possible you just have to pay more, and yes I am aware I need to pay line rental. I deal with ISPs all the time.
The main thing I have no idea about is electricity costs but once I know the KW/H per unit costs I can probably work that out.
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>> It is possible you just have to pay more, and yes I am aware I
>> need to pay line rental. I deal with ISPs all the time.
>>
>> The main thing I have no idea about is electricity costs but once I know
>> the KW/H per unit costs I can probably work that out.
>>
Just sayin' is all.
15p/kWh is about average.
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Sorry didn't mean to sound snappy :).
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Look at it over the year.
1/ Its an additional cost - don't know what you would be paying, but as you have few overheads now its going to have a significant effect.
2/ Does it have a business benefit, will it increase your turnover or profitability to cover it.
3/ If 2 does not do it, is it worth the loss of profit for a better lifestyle.
2/ requires a lot of thought and forecasting. Even a business plan to exploit the new unit.
Last edited by: Zero on Wed 29 Feb 12 at 10:52
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The rent I am paying now is not that much less than the rent of this unit, but of course my current workshop has all the utilities included.
I will need to do a business plan but need to visit the premises to get an exact idea of costs. The main gamble is if the move will generate enough extra work not only to pay the extra overheads but also make additional profit. An increase is in profit is the main aim here.
The rent is flexible, so to quit you just give one months notice, so I am not going to be stuck with a massive lease I cannot afford if it goes wrong. Will need to do proper forecasts and projections but for now just wanted peoples opinion if having a base may improve custom and from the responses here it looks like it might.
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Its certainly provides a more professional image, and essential if you want to get into the small business market.
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>> Its certainly provides a more professional image, and essential if you want to get into
>> the small business market.
>> But not if it looks like this.....tinyurl.com/manchesterbusinesspark !!!!!!!!
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>> >> But not if it looks like this.....tinyurl.com/manchesterbusinesspark !!!!!!!!
I guess the units are cheap tho!
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Advertising "appointment only" would be a dampener I would suggest that when people call up to enquire that you just say some thing like "can you drop it in by 3pm so that it will be looked at tomorrow" Or "if you can get here here by noon so you will have a quote by 5pm" it looks a lot more professional than appointment only and still allows you some control over when punters might arrive. By setting service outlines and expectations you can take control and if you need to offer services outside of a basic level of expectations you can badge a higher level of service as "premium" and charge extra.
But bear in mind once you have a known site some people will just want to drop by or might say to friends "there is a guy at X why dont you take it over" Unfortunately customers coming by that route will probably assume you are open at least 9-5 each day and will be a bit dissapointed if they arrive and find a closed shop.
There is still (in my mind at least) the principle that you should earn your best income from bench time rather than being a courier. If by using someone else perhaps someone who is retired or similar to do do your running around you might be able to get more kit to fix on the bench. Just look for someone with a car who is happy to be "self employed" say £6 p/h plus petrol) rather than sitting in traffic and thereby reducing your most profitable activity time. It might be by using someone else you can get 20 repairs a week done rather than maybe only 10 if you go out yourself to pick stuff up. Then price your collection/delivery charges accordingly as an extra service that you provide. You only engage with them when there is something for them to collect and by scheduling and planning you might only need then for a couple of hours 2 or 3 days a week. Of course immediate "emergency collection" can be offered but it costs more. These are perfectly common models in business.
Get the work to come into you not necessarily go to it unless you cost your out of the unit time to truly reflect your (soon to be increased) overheads.
As always
Mark
Last edited by: Mark on Wed 29 Feb 12 at 11:32
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The idea is to employ my dad for some of this work, if I get busy enough. It will probably be the case that I have to work a lot more hours than I am doing now but that is partly the point, working from home is very hard to have any discipline, the work I need to on my website that gets over looked by the usual distractions.
If I am stuck in an office at set hours I can't just go and meet a friend for a hot chocolate etc.
I do need time during the week for other duties though. The property is in a business park rather than a retail park but there are standalone units which are almost like mini shops so and I am planning of taking one of those.
I might go down this afternoon and have another look and get a better idea of costings.
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If you go and take a look don't be too embarrassed to ask for a discount on the rent for the first 3-6 months. Say something like "I am not sure I can afford that as I will have a lot of new costs by moving here I am not sure I can cover them, if you drop the rent to X for the first 6 months then I might be able to sign a contract".
If they have empty units then a unit earning something is better for them than a unit earning nothing. And a site with several empty units is always harder to sell to new tenants as one automatically concludes its empty because its not a good location.
Go on and ask you have nothing to lose.
As always
Mark
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Home visits are hugely expensive, and should be treated - and priced - as a premium product.
If you get your dad to start delivery take the opportunity to introduce service levels and a pricing scale.
Same day - +25 quid (15 to your dad)
24 hours - +15 quid (10 to your dad)
Collection and delivery by appointment 10 quid (pay the old man 25p mile)
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Rattle
The change in gear that you suggest making above indicates (without wishing to cause offence) that you intend to move from what is a current a "mildly profitable hobby" to a "proper business" footing. Being focussed all day in a workshop will better for you than your current arrangements although I still worry about the "other duties" you mention as I guess you do not earn from these.
If that is your goal then you should to analyse all customer related transactions that you can provide and seek to make a profit on any and ALL services you can provide to your customers. That is a very basic rule of business and I dont think you are a registered charity.
Secondly set yourself a target when you go to see the unit of getting it (and all associated services such as utilities) for the same cost to you as your current overheads. (A bit like buying a car and the cost to change) try and get it all for the same your current costs at least for say the first 6 months as this will give some comfort. Better still try and get it all for less if can, all you have to do is ask or you will never know. If its going to cost you more you need to know how much more so you can work out what you need to do cover the difference.
After that look at how you charge, as Zero mentions some of the services you currently provide such as home visits are "premium" activities why should you provide these at a cost to yourself (time away from the bench) or for the same as others charge for dropped off work? If you are successful (and I hope you are) in 6 months you will find that you want to kick yourself for coming away from your work bench (where you make your real money) to spend time travelling to someones house. Of course if you are struggling for work you can be flexible but again on a case by case basis.
You will need to advertise to tell people where you are, what you do and how much it costs, again you need to work out what you need to do to pay for this cost and how you can use this to make a return on your investment.
Whilst your current customers have expectations about price and service this doesnt mean you need to offer the same to new customers so work out what your new business will charge new customers. If you feel you need to discount your "new" activities for "old" customers then weigh it up on a case by case basis and try to migrate all your old customers to your new business terms.
New customers are just that, they have no idea how you have worked in the past or what you have charged. Set out your stall accordingly; define your "standard service" how much it costs what they get, define a "premium service" and set price/service tiers accordingly.
You could offer "opening offers" such as "half price" collection/delivery or 15% off your next purchase vouchers and so on look at what other businesses do.
Look at what your competitors offer and ask yourself why should you be cheaper if you offer a more flexible or more responsive service.
If you do all these things then your business planning might actually be useful.
Its up to you to set customer expectations and then if you go above and beyond look for a way to charge new customers accordingly whilst migrating you old customers to the new service model.
Best of luck, it will pay off to work all this through.
As always
Mark
Last edited by: Mark on Wed 29 Feb 12 at 13:25
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Going to see it tomorrow, they only have unit left and it is 160 sq ft which is deal size really. At the moment I have about 110sq ft and while that is fine at the moment I would struggle if I had more work to fit things in.
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Rattle - if you take on a small unit and the rateable value is less than £12,000 you can claim small business rate relief. The government scheme means small companies will pay a reduced business rate and won't pay business rates at all if the rateable value is less than £6000. This at least cuts out one of the larger overheads you will have.
For more information go to:
www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/layer?topicId=1081626979
Last edited by: TheManWithNoName on Wed 29 Feb 12 at 14:27
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>> The main thing I have no idea about is electricity costs but once I know
>> the KW/H per unit costs I can probably work that out.
>>
Rattle, you're being sloppy again.
KW/H per unit? What's that supposed to mean? The abbreviation of a kilowatt is kW and the abbreviation of hour is h. For the purposes of calculating your electricity cost, 1 kWh is 1 unit.
I'm telling you this to try to get you to improve your professional image, not to just criticise you.
As it is, I wouldn't do business with you for as long as you continued to write computer and electricity related units in such a sloppy and incorrect way.
Last edited by: L'escargot on Wed 29 Feb 12 at 14:29
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There's no reason to believe Rattle doesn't spend more time proof-reading his output when dealing with customers, as opposed to looking for advice on a forum. I'm sure lots of us take a similar approach.
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>> There's no reason to believe Rattle doesn't spend more time proof-reading his output when dealing with customers, as opposed to looking for advice on a forum. I'm sure lots of
>> us take a similar approach.
>>
Whilst I agree in part, I feel that if you are accurate when there is no real need to be, then the room for error reduces when accuracy is important.
BTW I know, I do make errors before someone points it out!
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I wish I'd known a couple of weeks ago, Rats.
My man at the local Post Office, Ali, has had a little shop built at the side. It's small, got no windows except a patio type door and window directly on to the pavement. A roller shutter deals with security. Its 75 yds from the Metrolink and there's no competition round here.
I'll let you know when it comes vacant, as it surely will because it's opened as a small barbershop and I've not seen a customer in it yet.
A triumph of hope over research!
Ted
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Rattle - I say go for it!
You have very little to lose in this, and everything to gain. I really think you need to start operating in a more professional way, and move away from your home environment to create a work/life balance.
Perhaps if you got busy you could get someone from the local college to help out a bit (work experience)
Would the new govt work experience scheme work in your favour?
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Ted that is a shame would have been perfect although the rent may be a little high, There is a unit not far for me, used mechanics and is the landlord of my lockup but the landlord wants £300 a month for it. Far too much for a damp unit which will need too much spending on it to convert.
The main concern with the place I have in mind is it is in south east Manchester (Arrrrrrrrrrrrrdwick) although the complex does have very good security and it is cheap and flexible some where in Chorlton or Didsbury would make life so much easier but the rents are just far too high. Even the smallest of shops go for over £600 a month.
I asked at the Albany Estate once and the rent there was close to £9k per year!
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The local shop is in a market and market hours are 9-4pm and he's very busy so you need very good advertisment and still offer local pick ups and drop offs like he does.
If somebody wants there machine fixed they will get it to you but if your open weekends thats the advantage.
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>> There's no reason to believe Rattle doesn't spend more time proof-reading his output when dealing
>> with customers, as opposed to looking for advice on a forum.
It's got nothing to do with proof-reading.
The correct unit of electrical power consumed is kWh, and Rattle's version of KW/H is so different it must be what he thinks is correct. Apart from Rattle's error of putting KW/H which means KW per H, instead of KWH which means KW times H, there's a simple rule for determining whether the abbreviation of a unit should be an upper-case letter or a lower-case letter ~ and Rattle should know that rule. I was taught it at school.
Last edited by: L'escargot on Thu 1 Mar 12 at 09:19
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Rattle
I am probably right in saying most of your customers are probably Didsbury, Withington, Fallowfield, Chorlton and areas near them. Those customers won't be going to Ardwick. I know I wouldn't. There are other PC repair shops in those areas - there's even a new one just opened near me.
East Manchester is not a nice area - Ardwick included.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Thu 1 Mar 12 at 10:20
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That is my biggest concern and for that reason if I took unit there I would have to possibly market it as a separate business. I am now thinking of trying to find some where my local but cannot afford a proper shop in this area.
Also a more local unit would allow me to be a lot more flexible.
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Knowing roughly where your customers are and the area that unit is in... I don't think it will work. The customers are unlikely to go there and you'd be miles away from your customers.
I still think your business would benefit from having premises but it's a question of how much it will cost.
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Market research - Home visit or drop PC off? - Lygonos
