It's like the hourly issue. Those earning £25-30 an hour on the glass and thinking they're doing well are mad. By the time you take into account, holidays, sick pay, your overheads etc, I reckon you're probably better off on £12 an hour in a dead end job.
Maybe those that take a lot of holidays and are sick alot...
Personally il have a week off in summer and 2 weeks at Xmas.
Last time I took a day off sick was 2 years ago, didn't want to risk working with a bout of norovirus!
As for overheads, unless your buying a new van every couple of years then there's not a huge amount of outlay, especially after you've been established long enough to know and make use of the most efficient methods/ best tools, equipment etc for the job.
£30 an hour, with £19-20 take home after expenses/tax suits me fine...
It's not whether you take the holidays/sick pay or not, it's the net hourly value. You can probably add an hour a day to your on "on the glass" time in van prep/admin so your £19-£20 is straight away in actuality £15-£17 an hour.
Not sure how you get your figures, but if your spending an hour a day on van prep/Admin your doing something wrong.
Park van on drive, put hose in tank, turn on water and pump, done.. Takes around 3 mins.
The reverse also takes 3 mins.
Admin? Cleaner planner does all that, and its very quick indeed, less then 10 mins each day.
The most time spent is probably on Sunday, cleaning van/ pile of scrims and cloths, check resin etc.
15 mins a day is a bit different to an hour.
I guess we're all different. Personally I like to make as much as I can by doing as little as I can. Upto
7 hours work, Mon -Fri, starting whatever time I can be bothered (usually after a mcmuffin meal) and finishing when my list is done. I get home, do as above and be done with work for the day.
Why don't I work harder, build my business further, run a fleet of vans, spend an hour a day on van prep/Admin? Because I can't be bothered
I'm humble and happy as I am, and have built my business upto a point to allow myself to be as lazy as possible whilst still living comfortably.
Of course it does help the other half earns just as much me, for if that wasn't the case I'd probably work a little harder.