[dazmond]

reading others posts on expenses on another thread.i think some of you are not seeing the whole picture in regards to what you actually spend on EVERYTHING FOR YOUR BUSINESS!if you have round software its easier to see what you actually spend!

steven biggs you spend a lot more than £500 a year on your expenses thats for sure!

and sean k i turn over A LOT more than £25,000 a year as a one man band!!

cost of buying your van,fuel,insurances,MOT,road tax,repairs,parts,etc,poles,brushes,hose,pumps,connectors,detergent,water bill,resin,ink/paper,stationary(business cards/leaflets,chits,envelopes etc),workwear/wet weather gear,gloves,LPG(in winter),boots,etc,etc.

the list goes on and on.

in fact this year itll be more like £7,000 expenses,maybe more due to new van but i AVERAGE around 5 grand a year over a 5 year period.

2 grand a year when a was 100% trad was about right including car,fuel and running costs.yes i use extreme poles but they will last years.

seriously some of you guys are deluding yourselves in actually how much you REALLY spend as to what YOU THINK you spend in your head.round software doesnt lie.it gives you a reality check in black and white.

all my work is within a 10 mile area too so i dont spend much on fuel(around £60 a month).

[H20cleaning]

I spend about £2500 just on fuel a year... My expenses only come to about £3500 a year but than again i only have one pole and a small round

[8weekly]

My expenses last year were £10k. One man band, but employ leafleters.

[Window Lickers]

So far this year since April.

[C o z y]

So far this year since April.

That's what you spend on those dogging web sites and pay per hour hotel rooms you rent for your male contacts. 

[SeanK]

Dazmond like a lot you make the mistake of working out your expenses over a year which gives you a false
reading.
Example.. I paid 7k for my van about 6 years ago and would still like to get at least another 6 years from it as
I do very little mileage and its in as good a condition as when I bought it.
So the cost of buying my van is just under £600 a year so how your new van is costing you an extra £2000
a year I don't know.
Even if you don't keep it for 12 years the resale value would make up part of the difference.
I don't think I questioned that you where making £25000 or more a year, I don't make £25000 a year so going
by some of the expenses posted on here I shouldn't be able to stay afloat.

[Window Lickers]

going by some of the expenses posted on here I shouldn't be able to stay afloat.

That depends on what you turnover.

[Window Lickers]

So far this year since April.

That's what you spend on those dogging web sites and pay per hour hotel rooms you rent for your male contacts. 

 

[SeanK]

Sorry Dazmond but if a WFP system is costing you an extra £3000 a year you need to sack your accountant.

[SeanK]

going by some of the expenses posted on here I shouldn't be able to stay afloat.

That depends on what you turnover.

My turnover is less than £25000 a year.

[8weekly]

Sorry Dazmond but if a WFP system is costing you an extra £3000 a year you need to sack your accountant.

Er, I think Dazmond should pay his accountant more and you should sack yours as Dazmond's accountant is saving him at least £600 a year more than yours. Genius!!

[SeanK]

Sorry Dazmond but if a WFP system is costing you an extra £3000 a year you need to sack your accountant.

Er, I think Dazmond should pay his accountant more and you should sack yours as Dazmond's accountant is saving him at least £600 a year more than yours. Genius!!

The sacking the accountant remark was a joke, lighten up.

[SeanK]

Like I said in my previous post if your a window cleaner who needs a vehicle then the expenses aren't
going to be a much different if your traditional or wfp over the long term.
Yes there will be some exceptions to this, If your water is metered or you need premises to make water.
I mean a good DIY system will cost you around £1200 with a decent pole, add another £800 to maintain it
over 5 years and that works out at £400 a year. (yes I know there will be some who have done it cheaper )
So what would you say traditional cleaning would cost you, £200 a year over 5 years.
So you talking a difference of about £4 a week to clean using wfp.
Even if it works out a £10 extra a week its still not going to cost you thousands in the difference.
I'm only taking about the cost of the methods/equipment nothing else.

[richard groves]

5 K seems like a reasonable figure to me and I don't have a massive turnover.
Probably spend getting on to 2.5 K alone in fuel, then I have van maintenance, insurance, liability insurance, breakdown cover, road tax, equipment purchases and maintenance, resin, water bills, office supplies and stationery, work clothes, advertising, phone bills, leaflets etc. etc. it can all add up to close on that figure without realising.

[SeanK]

The original expenses topic that Dazmond is referring to was about the difference in expenses when comparing
traditional cleaning to WFP. ( Its on the is traditional methods are more acceptable post )
It was more the fact that he said his expenses went up £3000 a year by converting to WFP that was
questioned not that he was paying 5k a year.
Steven Biggs (I think) stated that he was paying £500 more a year using wfp methods not that his whole
expenses were £500.

[8weekly]

For a start if you are trad you don't need a van.

[SeanK]

5 K seems like a reasonable figure to me and I don't have a massive turnover.
Probably spend getting on to 2.5 K alone in fuel, then I have van maintenance, insurance, liability insurance, breakdown cover, road tax, equipment purchases and maintenance, resin, water bills, office supplies and stationery, work clothes, advertising, phone bills, leaflets etc. etc. it can all add up to close on that figure without realising.

Yes but I think you would have to be one of the unlucky ones to be paying that much as a one man operator.
What I mean is you would need to be on a water meter have very high insurance bills and having to pay for access to a water source.
Also having to travel a fair bit to get to your work would also add up in fuel and hourly costs.
I can easily get mine under £2500 a year and that's with a half decent van and a professionally fitted system.
To be honest If I hadn't wasted so much money on crappy poles and indoor cleaning kits I could have done it for less.

[SeanK]

For a start if you are trad you don't need a van.

Most serious shiners use a vehicle for their business doesn't matter if its a car or van the expenses are similar,
infact I would say a van is easier to maintain as its designed for work purposes.

[SeanK]

My expenses last year were £10k. One man band, but employ leafleters.

But that's not a yearly expense the cost of your advertising is only a start up cost that needs to be
divided over the lifetime of the work it gets you.
Its the same with your equipment there will be certain things that you might never need to buy again.
I haven't paid a penny in advertising in over 5 years but I still add it to my overall expenses as a percentage
because it cost me a certain amount in my first 18 months.

[Jonny 87]

Sean and others who think 5000 is way too much to spend on expenses.....

What have you claimed for on your 2013/2014 tax bill?

Mine is over £5,000 and I'm a one man WFP outfit. I also don't spend out on expensive gadgets etc, but everything adds up, including home office expenses everything.

Mobile phone costs alone are over £400 a year for me so £5,000 is hit very easily.