Dad recently retired from the police but was a builder years ago and has always dabbled in it just doing free jobs for people. He would now like to do more ‘formal’ work to top up the retirement fund so has started to look at self employment. He did some casual work this week which he hadn’t intended to charge for as it was a favour but as it is a company they have asked him to invoice for it. He doesn’t quite know the ins & outs. I can give him an invoice that’s fine but we don’t really know how much to charge for labour per hour – what would be reasonable? Also, what would be some good websites to look at with information about being self employed, what rules etc there are and what he needs to be doing?
Thanks 🙂

lol, one day soon I am going to post a bike related question again 😳 🙄

he should charge whatever he thinks his services are worth….

never under-sell yourself.

being self-employed in Germany i look to earn around 200€/day. in the UK i was looking for upwards of £180/day; taxes and associated costs are lower in the UK than germany.

he should get himself down to the tax office and sign up as being self-employed. easy enough procedure. i don’t think it’ll affect his pension, but will mean his tax return may be a little more complicated.

My builders charged £100/day when doing my extension last year.

You can register on line as self employed – it’s really straightforward. He will then get a bill for NI contributions each quarter (assuming he has to pay them – not sure as he is retired) and he’ll have to do a self assessment for income tax which again you do on-line – it’s really easy!

What to charge depends on what and where he was working on obviously. If it was a bit of a favour (as you mention) with on eye on future work then I would charge around £12 an hour. If the company was making a profit out of your fathers efforts then I would look at charging £17 to £25 per hour. Anymore would be handy!! I would suggest your father applies for his UTR (unique tax reference) number with the HMRC ASAP. The HMRC website will have all the information he will ever need.

Very good advice from Alpin up there ^^- NEVER UNDER SELL YOURSELF.

It would be a good idea for your father to get himself a CSCS (a H & S card/exam thingy) card, as many sites insist you have one before you start work on their sites. If he is going to be working on larger sites it would be an idea to familiarize himself with Health and Safety (CSCS card exams are pretty easy to pass)as much as possible and if it is smaller jobs (house extensions etc) it might not be as important. A good working knowledge of health and safety will help him a lot as he will probably be asked to do things by people that have little concern for health & safety so long as it saves them a bit of money and time.

If a task is unsafe or not in his field of expertise then he should say so or say “no thanks, that’s not what I do”. Never allow someone to pressure you/him into doing something you’re not comfortable with. If he is doing a task like putting a tower scaffold up or using a power tool that he is unfamiliar with, then ask someone that knows about it and read the instructions. Companies like HSS, Britannia and Nationwide all run courses for tradesmen, starting from how to use grinders correctly through to use of MEWPS (powered access platforms).

HTH.

he should charge whatever he thinks his services are worth

Beware, if he overcharges he could end up on ‘BBC rogue traders’

I think i will retire from building stuff, and join the police, any tips on what to do.

All your dad needs now is customers with money to spend, theres plenty with ideas on what they want to have built or made, but no money to pay for it.

My builder charges me £180 per day which seems to about average round here (Guildford). He is always being told he should charge more because he is so good. He is also a perfectionist and works in a very clean way; he hates mess which is great. I’ve got odd-jobbers for less but a good builder costs and is worth it.

Cheers chaps, Ill get on the sites up above and get the registration stuff done for him. Doubt he’ll be working for bigger builder companies, more handy man sort of stuff but will be good to get him set up properly as he’s really not ready to not work anymore, he was just fed up with the police and retirement came up so it was a good excuse. 🙂

* he’s charging £20 per hr for that job plus petrol and materials.

Register for NI with HMRC in Newcastle – can be done on-line – needs to be done quite soon after going self-employed otherwise you will get a £100 fine.

Keep a record of invoices sent and also receipts for bills paid e.g. materials, tools, mileage/petrol, computer. Get an accountant to do the self-assessment tax return as they will be able to advise you what your father can set aside against tax e.g. stuff mentioned above, amount for using home as an office, depreciation on assets e.g. computer etc. – this is likely to more than pay for itself.

Depends what he is doing and what his skills are. “Building works” can cover a large range of works and different skill levels. Even within trades there is a big difference, there are carpenters and there are carpenters for instance.

Last instance I had to deal with.
South coast prices.

Labouring £100 p/d

Fully qualified Electrician or Gas safe engineer £200 – £250 p/d

Other trades inbetween these two amounts.

probably need some liability insurance?
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Pensionsandretirementplanning/Working/WorkingToSuitYou/DG_10027003
http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/life/employment/self-employment_checklist.htm

sod paying for an accountant if he’s only odd jobbing….

just chuck all bills at the taxman and if they’re not happy with something then they’ll say so.

i never had a problem in 8 years doing my own tax returns and always got a kick back.

Might be worth looking at the CIS stuff as some contractors want you to have a CIS card.

WRT self-assessment for tax, pretty much all the info about claiming deductions is on the HMRC website but you might have to hunt about a bit for it, also their phone helpline is pretty good as long as you don’t try to call <24hrs before tax return deadline!

You can’t just “choose” a trade and get a cscs/cpcs card. You will need proof of previous experience etc or qualifications ie right back to city and guilds or modern nvq’s! Oh and some of the “rates” being touted on here are a little optimistic to say the least!
Souldrummer, does your builder wear a mask to work?

Double post