8 | OCTOBER 2017
News
Read online at www.proinstaller.co.uk
SO YOU WANT TO START YOUR
OWN INSTALLATION BUSINESS?
Many people dream of starting their own business and while many succeed,
many fail too. It can be very rewarding but there’s no doubt that it’s also
hard work. Benjamin Dyer of Powered Now looks at how you can assess your
likelihood of success and how to keep your chances as high as possible.
Getting started Think carefully about costs
Hundreds of thousands of people start
businesses every year and a good chunk of
these are installers.
There are two crucial elements to a suc-
cessful business and these are the ability to
do professional work and finding enough
work in the first place.
Unfortunately, a few people start-up be-
cause they keep on getting fired for doing
a poor job. That’s the very worst reason
and cannot lead to success. Instead, there
will be constant confrontation with custom-
ers, problems with people paying bills and
even issues with trading standards. It’s
much better to seek out a career where
you have more natural ability. “Know your
strengths and weaknesses” advises Alan
Cope of Southwest Spas. Remember to budget for the minimum
equipment you need to do the job. Good
tools are worth it in the long run, but when
you are starting up don’t go overboard.
Having said that, it’s all too easy to get
carried away. Running a successful business
is all about generating a profit, not spending
money. There is always a tension between
investment and waste. Never investing is a
poor choice but so is wasteful spending.
Quality comes first
Most installer businesses and particularly
small ones, get the majority of their work
by recommendation and repeat business.
That’s why quality of work is so impor-
tant. If you leave every customer with the
impression that they have received good
work for a reasonable price, you will suc-
ceed.
That’s the reason why you have to be
realistic with yourself. Can you be bothered
to do good work when you are your own
boss? It’s not good enough to be good at
the job, you have to be self-motivated too.
Jessica Harris of Girl Power sees it this
way: “reliability and honesty are key.”
Finding initial work
Reputation is great for getting work. But
when you start out you don’t have any
reputation. That’s why it may make sense
to slowly build up some evening jobs and
weekend working for friends and family to
get you started. That way taking the plunge
is much less risky.
In our experience, some people have
got their first work with folks they already
know, some posted leaflets through all
of the houses in the surrounding s