[sparklebright]

How about listing our running costs or some of them?

Accountancy £675 a year
Van (v cheap crap van) £2500 a year
Water costs (cheap system) £450 a year minimum
Poles £250 a year
Insurance £125 a year
Subby costs never you mind
Tax £4000 last year.

And I do things cheaply...

How about you lot?

[Nathanael Jones]

Between VAT, TAX and expenses, over 40% of my income is gone straight away. The majority of that is VAT, Tax and vehicle costs (My van is old and crappy too, but insurance, fuel, repairs etc soon add up!

[mikethechamois]

my costs are similar, i think most business' are

it pays to have a regular review of your costs which is what im doing now

i do my own books so just had to make a return to customs and revenue

my fuel and insurance costs were way higher last year than i had estimated for on pricing so im doing a review now as i may have to inrease my rates slightly to cover the extra costs

and yes i drive a 10yr old transit which i bought cash and maintain my self but my vehicle costs still averaged out at £150 a week

[East coast window cleaning Services]

How about listing our running costs or some of them?

Accountancy £675 a year
Van (v cheap crap van) £2500 a year
Water costs (cheap system) £450 a year minimum
Poles £250 a year
Insurance £125 a year
Subby costs never you mind
Tax £4000 last year.

And I do things cheaply...

How about you lot?

Wish mine were only that

[Rob.Hall]

When I did a topic on over pricing I had comments about running costs and why some w/c charge more.

I did a review on all expences of mine and was quite shocked.

I now put 50% of all income away. Makes sence.
Plus prices will have to go up this year as some are to under priced.



 

[mikethechamois]

this is music to my ears

i learnt the same way...............i was shocked at my costs

if you can put 50% away and still live and pay your costs then you are definatlely in the zone

and people will gladly pay  to have a good jobdone by a reliable professional tradesman

im doing the same as you and reviewing my rates as my fuel bill was high last year and i swallowed the extra, fuel is starting to creep up again so we could have a repeat

plus insurance is up again this year

[tompoole]

4k tax! . IS THAT VAT OR PERSONAL. if you are paying an accountant £700 a year you must b doing well. I would imagine most window cleaners are only payiny 2k tops in tax, sounds like your in a differnt league to most average oneman windowcleaners

[Gordon Saunders]

My expenses are almost always about 10% of turnover (working alone).  dont see why they should ever be much higher than this unless buying a new vehicle.
  G

[Chameleon]

  Get a New Accountant... £700 a year and you still pay £4000 wow!

You don't own all the empty holiday cottages around here do you?

[glen parva]

Get a New Accountant... £700 a year and you still pay £4000 wow!

i only pay £200 for my accountant
and she i worth  every penny
and do not pay noway near that ammount she claims for every thing

[sparklebright]

4k tax! . IS THAT VAT OR PERSONAL. if you are paying an accountant £700 a year you must b doing well. I would imagine most window cleaners are only payiny 2k tops in tax, sounds like your in a differnt league to most average oneman windowcleaners

The £4k is corporation tax, as I'm Limited (very limited, ask the wife, boom boom!) my personal tax wasn't a 10th of that. But cos I am limited my books are a bit more complex.
Plus I have lots of work subbed out. Not doing that well though, I'm not Vat registered

Actually that's a topic I'd like to know who's limited and not and why....

Really the point of the post was to show how much newbies can expect things to cost

[NWH]

4k tax! . IS THAT VAT OR PERSONAL. if you are paying an accountant £700 a year you must b doing well. I would imagine most window cleaners are only payiny 2k tops in tax, sounds like your in a differnt league to most average oneman windowcleaners

If your only paying 2k a year in tax you must be earning peanuts and must be 1 of the 1`s moaning about last weeks weather,no offense but 2k a year is nothing.Not being funny but my July bill is no where near that.

[Bobs Window Cleaning]

£700 for an accountant

I pay around the £200 mark

[sparklebright]

£700 for an accountant

I pay around the £200 mark

Hope you don't mind my asking, but are you a Limited Co?
You have to provide more info/reports when you are...

[paulscotney]

I am LTD and accountant charges £350

[tompoole]

[HWH,
Me I never moan,  have had too much fun sledging to moan about anything. and as for peanuts, I earn enough to pay me bills. Just finished my first year so have had the luxury of claiming for my set up costs . even so I don't plan on paying much more than 2k / 2.5k next year. Like I said most one man bands won't pay much more than this if they have a good accountant and claim for everything they are entitled to.
tom

[Londoner]

You ought to budget for time off eg holidays, sickness and of course very topically snow as an expense and set money aside to cover it.

[East coast window cleaning Services]

I am LTD and accountant charges £350

Thats cheap! im limited with a registered Address somewhere in New Bond St London. cost me int he region of £980 a year

[Ian Lancaster]

Between VAT, TAX and expenses, over 40% of my income is gone straight away. The majority of that is VAT, Tax and vehicle costs (My van is old and crappy too, but insurance, fuel, repairs etc soon add up!

You should never include VAT as part of your turnover ("income").  Look on it the same way as HMRC do:

"It was never your money in the first place, it was ours, you were just collecting it on our behalf"

Calculate your gross turnover as gross takings less the VAT element, that will give you the true picture of how your business is doing.  Including the VAT makes you seem to be doing much better than you really are.

[Helen]

Between VAT, TAX and expenses, over 40% of my income is gone straight away. The majority of that is VAT, Tax and vehicle costs (My van is old and crappy too, but insurance, fuel, repairs etc soon add up!

You should never include VAT as part of your turnover ("income").  Look on it the same way as HMRC do:

"It was never your money in the first place, it was ours, you were just collecting it on our behalf"

Calculate your gross turnover as gross takings less the VAT element, that will give you the true picture of how your business is doing.  Including the VAT makes you seem to be doing much better than you really are.

Unfortunately a lot of people including customers do not understand the vat element.
This is why some business people have trouble in paying their vat bill.  As Ian says work on nett of vat figure as your gross turnover and as soon as monies in clear, put vat element away in separate account. Do not spend what is not yours and defo do not include it in you turnover figures.