Sole Trader or Limited / Tile Installation failures - TilersForums.com

[pendleh]

Hi there

Im new to tiling and wondered when to go LTD in terms of reducing your liability and the size of job your fulfilling (based on price). Anyone a director of a tiling contractor?

I would also like to know what information is needed so that I ensure that I dont have a tile installation failure!! For example info on movement joints etc.

How does the domestic market compare with the commercial side of things. What markets should I focuse on. Thanks guys.

Best Wishes

Howard

 

[Sully]

Howard,

Those 3 questions could take an age to answer as they are very broad but here is a brief reply with my opinions.

Going Ltd - speak with your accountant about the pros and cons but don't just leap in there to 'reduce your liability'. If you are a sole trader and manage your clients very carefully when it comes to payments, then you should be able to avoid a sting. No guarantees but written quotes with payment terms clearly stated will help from the outset.

Ensuring that you don't get a tile installation failure - That ones easy! Do the job correctly, use quality materials that come with a manufacturers guarantee and follow BS standards and if in the unlikely event, you get a failure - call in the product manufacturers who will help you if you've kept 'your side of the bargain'. Have you had any training? If not, thread very very carefully :ninja:

Domestic V Commercial - I only target the domestic market and which one you should go for is down to how you set up your business. I find that the domestic market helps me to target clients, manage their expectations, keep a tight control on payments and get paid sharply as opposed to on account. Not sure if all of these would apply in the commercial world.

Andrew

 

[pendleh]

Hi Andrew

Thanks m8. I need to purchase the standards. Would you also see what the product manufacturer has to say about a job - can you call them in to weigh up the job?

Best Wishes

Howard

 

[pendleh]

Would i need a surveyor on big projects?

 

[grumpygrouter]

Hi Howard, there are not a lot of advantages to being limited company with regard to liability nowadays. If you look to obtain finance of any sort you will be required to provide personal guarantees, which means you could still lose your house if things got bad!

There is also the extra administrative burden associated with limited status. Get some serious advice from a good accountant before going down this path.

 

[cornish_crofter]

Whatever you do, make sure you've got public liability insurance.

If you want to assess the financial risk of a tile installation failure for a given job, consider each job on its own merits and find out what will be when the job is complete, for example, would a kitchen need to come out to redo the floor etc?

This way you will know what the risk is in financial terms. We used to do this when we worked in project management. We used to write risk registers for each major project. We could then place a value on tangeable risks so that we knew what a given risk would cost us if it came to be.