[Grafters Cleaning Services]

As there has been a bit of scare mongering within this forum with reference to the water hose ban in the South so I took it upon myself to ring Southern Water and this is what they said,

 “although the ban will not effect me in the Southampton area it may effect areas such as Sussex, if you rely on water to run a business such as wfp window cleaning then it will not effect you and you will be permitted to carry on as usual”

If in doubt you can also write into your local water authority to get conformation of the above although this is not necessary it may give you peace of mind.

I hope this clears up the matter.
Jay

[Roy Harding]

Nice one Jay

Roy

[Grafters Cleaning Services]

There is one thing that has occurred to me though,

If it comes to the standpipe on street corners this would cause a problem as you could hardly turn up in your van and say

“FILL HER UP MATE”

I guess if that were to be the case those affected would have to go elsewhere and buy their pure water?

[macc]

hi jay, i live in sussex, i spoke to southern water yesterday & was told i should not have a prob, what did you mean by.

 “although the ban will not effect me in the Southampton area it may effect areas such as Sussex, if you rely on water to run a business such as wfp window cleaning then it will not effect you and you will be permitted to carry on as usual”

thanks. mac

[Grafters Cleaning Services]

hi jay, i live in sussex, i spoke to southern water yesterday & was told i should not have a prob, what did you mean by.

 “although the ban will not effect me in the Southampton area it may effect areas such as Sussex, if you rely on water to run a business such as wfp window cleaning then it will not effect you and you will be permitted to carry on as usual”

thanks. mac

hi mac
in a nutshell they told me that the ban is more likely to be in other areas of the south (such as sussex)

they also told me that if you run a proper biz that requires water to maintain the biz  you would be excluded from the ban

hope this makes sense to you
jay

[squeaky-clean 1]

Hi Jay

we use wfp but we do not pay business water rates or do we have a water meter
so how can we say that we need it to run our business without it costing us more by paying business rates.

should we all inform the water board before the water ban comes in,
to make sure that any water shortages that may come, do not affect us.

if it realy is going to be a problem maybe we should all contact the water board.

how many of you pay business water rate and work from home?

Belinda

[Sarah Sarill]

Hiya Belinda,

How are you ?

Good questions as whilst we are not at any risk yet - if we were to face the same situation we would be in the same boat as you.

Sarah

[Grafters Cleaning Services]

Hi Jay

we use wfp but we do not pay business water rates or do we have a water meter
so how can we say that we need it to run our business without it costing us more by paying business rates.

should we all inform the water board before the water ban comes in,
to make sure that any water shortages that may come, do not affect us.

if it realy is going to be a problem maybe we should all contact the water board.

how many of you pay business water rate and work from home?

Belinda

good point belinda
i'm afraid i can't answer this one
this is perhaps something that should be looked into by anyone that may be effected by a ban.

ps, i don't pay business water rates either
jay

[poleman]

JAY if you run out come and see us in poole, fill up a 1000lt in 10mins from are business unit.

Andy

[Grafters Cleaning Services]

JAY if you run out come and see us in poole, fill up a 1000lt in 10mins from are business unit.

Andy

thanx for offer poleman
it may be difficult to fill up 1000lts into a 125ltr tank

there is a company here in southampton that do the same
jay

[chris@c.m.s]

What a squeaky that wfps  thanks though Jay thats quite assuring just my luck I'll get all the gear and then get banned from using it  :

[wightsurf]

would it be posible to fill up a tank of water from a business standard tape then take it home and use a pump to flow it through ro unit ? :
I don't know anyone where i live that would be willing to sell me 0 tds water.
 
Isle of wight,

Martin

Ps.  local tv seem to think that even window cleaners won't be allowed to use water. Can't see that some how.

[macc]

thanks jay, you put my racing brain cell to rest, worried me when you said sussex.

southern water said basically the same to me.

thanks for quick reply, 

[Rob_Mac]

Iv'e just posted on another forum

If you are drawing water from a domestic supply and using it for business purposes you are breaking the law.

If you apply for a meter and to go on business rates, wherever you operate from this is legal.

Business rates for one cubic metre of water are £1.47 plus the VAT.

There are no impending hosepipe bans or drought orders in place across the Severn Trent Water region.

I suggest that for the sake of the above price you get yourselves on a business tariff.

Rob ( Your all very naughty)

[Ian_Giles]

Just to be picky, technically anyone using water that hey are drawing from home for business usage should therefore be on a meter, even the trad window cleaner who only uses a couple of gallon a day

Which is total garbage of course and will be totally ignored.
Us WFP'ers are different of course in that we use a bathful of water every day, and there are so many of us it will be the difference between empty reservoirs and half full ones...not.

Another thing that irritated the hell out of me.....why are busines water rates (on a meter that is) more expensive than domestic?
What the hell is the difference?
Would I be getting something extra for my money?
Is there some extra service thrown in that I don't know about?
And how will they separate my main usage, the domestic water, from the bathfull of water I use for my business usage?
Why the hell should I pay 20% more for my domestic supply when the business use makes up....what...40% ? ?

Ok, with the above I am just being picky and a little arguementative, but you get my drift

And of course if the letter of the law is applied, were I to go back to traditional window cleaning then I should still be on a meter set at a business tarif, how angry I would be then if I had to pay 20% more than everyone else just for the sake of a bucket of water every day

Of course there are always R/O systems you can get that can fill up your tank, even a 1000l one in an hour or two (with enough water pressure, and you can always get booster pumps) so you can fill up on site during the day if you have too, even if that is only enough water for the job in hand.
I know that Roy Harding has a system that will fill up his tank faster than he can actually use the water.

Also; I have forgotten what thread it was on, but there was a reply detailing about the difference legally betwen having a system plumbed into your home, and a system you merely connect up to a water supply, maybe someone who reads this can supply a link to the thread in question?

So it ain't all doom and gloom for us window cleaners

We'll all be moaning like crazy when we do eventually get a long period of wet weather, I know we desperately need the rainfall, but I don't want to see it in the summer
Though I suppose that is pretty unlikely to happen, which is bad news for those in the South East! It means that we will probably have water problems right through until next winter.....sigh

Ian

[Rob_Mac]

Ian

I offered a viable option - the ultra picky was not required.

I know that most people will continue using their domestic supply for business use.

If the ban affects your area and stops you working don't come on the forum complaining, when the alternative is nominal in cost.

Breaking the law is breaking the law, whether by a bit or a lot

You earn money from your water supply - that is the difference between you and a domestic customer - that is why you should pay more.


The price of £1.47 per cubic metre of water has no drainage cost to it, so is cheaper.

Peace of mind - I love it

Rob

[AuRavelling79]

Well Midas how about this conundrum for the Sth-East guys and gals? (without industrial units)

Worst case scenario -

You pay your business rate (IMHO £1.47 for 1000 litres = peanuts if it's earning for you)

The water co. cut off your water with all the rest of the houses in your street.

So unless you've a seperate business supply you're up the Swanee without a paddle! (not that you need a paddle if there is no water about!)

[Paul Coleman]

Well Midas how about this conundrum for the Sth-East guys and gals? (without industrial units)

Worst case scenario -

You pay your business rate (IMHO £1.47 for 1000 litres = peanuts if it's earning for you)

The water co. cut off your water with all the rest of the houses in your street.

So unless you've a seperate business supply you're up the Swanee without a paddle! (not that you need a paddle if there is no water about!)

My conundrum is even worse than that.  My static tank is installed at someone elses place as I live in a flat and don't have the facilities here.  I don't have any real say in what goes on.  I would have been happy to pay for the water even before there was a shortage.  If I will now need to invest in a business unit to guarantee my supply, that would be too much extra expense and put me out of business - apart from the difficulties in finding such a unit and organising it all..  I live and work in the North Sussex/Surrey area too, which appears to be the worst affected.

[Ian_Giles]

Rob,
 I was of course being pedantic, but window cleaners are not going to make a particularly big difference to the water problems, lump all of the WFP users together and they won't even come remotely close to the water a paper mill uses in just a few hours, there is a relatively  small mill close to us that pumps out tens of thousands of litres a day. (they are amazing places by the way, and are 2nd only to steel production in the heavy plant used to produce paper)
I have no real objection to paying for the water I use for business purposes, but I would object to paying a business rate on my domestic water, particularly as that is higher than my business consumption!!

Of course water companies would hardly insist on a trad window cleaner going on a meter and paying business rates for his water, that would be ridiculous.

When the law is interpreted to the very letter then it becomes an ass, perspective is important in its implementation.

Though to avoid business rates I would certainly upgrade my R/O, or rather the threat of being put on business rates would be the spur to do so.
Far more expensive than a tenner a week extra on my water bill but it would mean being able to fill up on the go and I wouldn't be restricted to one source of water supply.

But what did you mean when you say,
"The price of £1.47 per cubic metre of water has no drainage cost to it, so is cheaper"  ??

And why should the water companies make more money out of me because the use of water is necessary to my business?
But also, (and I honestly don't know the answer by the way) if you are say...a local shop, something like a clothes shop and the only water you use is to flush the loo and make the odd cup of tea or coffee, would you also be on a business tariff for your water supply?
How the hell would that be fair or reasonable

I dislike intensely the fact that just because I am a business I am forced to pay more for for a product or a service than a domestic customer.
When I go to a pub I pay the same for a pint of beer as anyone else, why should I pay more for a pint of water?

Ian

[Rob_Mac]

Ian

 I don't have a beef with you and don't care to get into an argument about the ethics of how other people operate.

As I said I offered a viable option to what might be a considerable problem for some of our southern associates.

Malc(G) old - you don't need a unit to go onto business rates for your water usage.

I am not in the position yet where I have a reserve of water in my unit but this will be the case for the future - so if I hold 5000 litres in reserve this will see me through a week of work - they wont cut anyone off for that long, unless a drought order is imposed.

I use 800 litres per day at present and this is rising add the waste water onto this and it clearly is not domestic use - I cannot get away with continually pulling that amount from the domestic supply and neither will others.

If you are only using 200 - 300 litres a day then you will get away with it, till someone reports you because there is a ban in your area and they see you as using excessive amounts.

Their is always someone who wants to stick their nose in.

Gary Hollins on the other forum asked why I was only paying £1.47 per cubic metre ( Ithought it was on this post)

Rob