Welfare business advice

[bobthebuilder]

Crushers - Small ones are a pipe dream for people that fantasize that dicking around spending a day crushing 10t of rubble is better than a grab lorry..... they don't work unless the jaw size is double that of a concrete block and by that time there is rarely enough concrete to warrant bringing one in.

Long and short there is no cheap easy self earners..... Yes a few are doing well with small plant ATM as there is more demand than supply..... give it 12 months and reality will reappear with the national hirers throwing stuff out for free.

If you want a winner.... Compaction Equipment such as Bomag 80's, pedestrian rollers and larger compactor plates are good but costly.

i hire adam who turns up with a 12 ton crusher knocks out 250 ton plus a day ,then goes home,with crushers you must send operative with crusher

 

[Gunners]

There's no doubt a lot of firms doing welfare unit hire now but demand is outstripping supply so there must be room for a few more. Don't know how much they are new (I'd guess around £20k) but a decent 2nd hand unit is around £12k now in refurbished condition which is what you would want to start a hire firm with IMO. The formula for hire is pretty simple;
Unit £12k
Hire rate per week £150 lets say. I cant get one for less than £200 round here, but obviously long term hire is always a bit less. £150 sounds reasonable.
80 weeks hire pays for it, but its not quite that simple...
Delivery is always charged extra, £50 on average in my experience. Same for collection. That should help to cover fuel costs but not really your time as well or wear and tear. So lets say for every unit hire - delivery, collection and prepping it for hire takes you 3 hours. That's an hour for cleaning/ prep (check oils etc) and an hour to deliver and return, with another hour to collect and return. £25/hr for your time, plus fuel, truck wear and tear wont be covered by the delivery charge and will come out of the first weeks hire. Which is ok - you can set minimum hire terms of 4 weeks for example. Many do that round here.
Insurance, servicing, tyres, brakes lights etc will need to be covered, as will somewhere to store it which costs regardless of if the cabin is in the yard or not. £250/ month for storage rent? Lets say £90/ week should cover all costs?
So on a 4 week hire, you will have a gross of £700 including transport.
Costs will be £435 leaving you with £265 profit before tax. Doesn't sound so good with only £60/ week paying the cabin back (200 weeks hire to pay off now) but lets not forget its a 37% margin and many aren't making that.

Now that's worked out based on one cabin and some assumptions, some of those costs will be diluted by having more cabins so the margin will increase per cabin as you get more.
There is also the thing in plant hire of any kind where the asset is worth something after its useful working life. Lets say it does 3 years and halfs in value. Plenty on the market for £5-6k so that seems reasonable. It only has to pay back half of the £12k now, (100 weeks hire) 2 years worth of weeks that. And the 3rd year is therefore more profit.
Doesn't seem like a bad business model to me, and its one I have considered myself if I'm honest. But you would need a few of them to pay you a wage and the utilisation wont be anywhere near 100%, especially in the first couple of years where the uptake will be slow. But its a pretty low risk venture really. You can always sell the unit if it doesn't work and not loose a huge amount of money. At least you can say you tried.

 

[Shovelhands]

If it’s out on hire it will need to be serviced weekly.

 

[Quattromike]

If it’s out on hire it will need to be serviced weekly.

When we had our own welfare unit I was getting costs from a few different companies to come and empty the toilet . One company wanted £45 a week to service it, another was £35 a fortnight and we went with heilanloos who were £15 every time we called them in, usually once a fortnight. It all depends on how much use it will get. In the end we didn't use ours enough to justify so got rid of it.

 

[Brendan]

When we had our own welfare unit I was getting costs from a few different companies to come and empty the toilet . One company wanted £45 a week to service it, another was £35 a fortnight and we went with heilanloos who were £15 every time we called them in, usually once a fortnight. It all depends on how much use it will get. In the end we didn't use ours enough to justify so got rid of it.

I didn't manage to find anywhere less than £25 plus vat, was £40 for where a 4x4 pickup was needed.
Most of the big national places were over £60 alot of places weren't interested in doing anyone elses.
I managed to get a good 2 weeks out of mine but was just me and another lad but that's with a proper flushing toilet and all waste from sinks going to the toilet tank.

A chemical toilet and sinks that discharge to tubs you would get more time out of.
Reality is for a unit on hire it would have to be serviced at least weekly, depending on how many people are using it.

The one I have could possibly be discharged to a sewer but never tried as always nowhere near a drain, also did consider piping the canteen side basin to a 25l drum as washing up dishes and hands can use up a fair bit of water, could also do the toilet side basin too to get alot more water from discharging to the tank.

 

[Brendan]

There's no doubt a lot of firms doing welfare unit hire now but demand is outstripping supply so there must be room for a few more. Don't know how much they are new (I'd guess around £20k) but a decent 2nd hand unit is around £12k now in refurbished condition which is what you would want to start a hire firm with IMO. The formula for hire is pretty simple;
Unit £12k
Hire rate per week £150 lets say. I cant get one for less than £200 round here, but obviously long term hire is always a bit less. £150 sounds reasonable.
80 weeks hire pays for it, but its not quite that simple...
Delivery is always charged extra, £50 on average in my experience. Same for collection. That should help to cover fuel costs but not really your time as well or wear and tear. So lets say for every unit hire - delivery, collection and prepping it for hire takes you 3 hours. That's an hour for cleaning/ prep (check oils etc) and an hour to deliver and return, with another hour to collect and return. £25/hr for your time, plus fuel, truck wear and tear wont be covered by the delivery charge and will come out of the first weeks hire. Which is ok - you can set minimum hire terms of 4 weeks for example. Many do that round here.
Insurance, servicing, tyres, brakes lights etc will need to be covered, as will somewhere to store it which costs regardless of if the cabin is in the yard or not. £250/ month for storage rent? Lets say £90/ week should cover all costs?
So on a 4 week hire, you will have a gross of £700 including transport.
Costs will be £435 leaving you with £265 profit before tax. Doesn't sound so good with only £60/ week paying the cabin back (200 weeks hire to pay off now) but lets not forget its a 37% margin and many aren't making that.

Now that's worked out based on one cabin and some assumptions, some of those costs will be diluted by having more cabins so the margin will increase per cabin as you get more.
There is also the thing in plant hire of any kind where the asset is worth something after its useful working life. Lets say it does 3 years and halfs in value. Plenty on the market for £5-6k so that seems reasonable. It only has to pay back half of the £12k now, (100 weeks hire) 2 years worth of weeks that. And the 3rd year is therefore more profit.
Doesn't seem like a bad business model to me, and its one I have considered myself if I'm honest. But you would need a few of them to pay you a wage and the utilisation wont be anywhere near 100%, especially in the first couple of years where the uptake will be slow. But its a pretty low risk venture really. You can always sell the unit if it doesn't work and not loose a huge amount of money. At least you can say you tried.

Majority at 5-6k are missing or have faults with generator, plus majority need money throwing at them to be in a decent condition

 

[Monkeybusiness]

When we had our own welfare unit I was getting costs from a few different companies to come and empty the toilet . One company wanted £45 a week to service it, another was £35 a fortnight and we went with heilanloos who were £15 every time we called them in, usually once a fortnight. It all depends on how much use it will get. In the end we didn't use ours enough to justify so got rid of it.

£15 to go and pump out/clean someone else’s bog? Are they mental?!

 

[DaveDCB]

not from April they won't be .... an' I reckon plod is going to be well up on what's acceptable by then .... easy money

Nah just Chuck a round bale in the back of it, ag use then

 

[Danny]

£15 to go and pump out/clean someone else’s bog? Are they mental?!

Chap down this way does it for a similar price. He's got toilets & welfare units of his own everywhere and would of thought he plans his cleaning route around it, he's normally on site less than 5 minutes

 

[RYMCG1]

There's no doubt a lot of firms doing welfare unit hire now but demand is outstripping supply so there must be room for a few more. Don't know how much they are new (I'd guess around £20k) but a decent 2nd hand unit is around £12k now in refurbished condition which is what you would want to start a hire firm with IMO. The formula for hire is pretty simple;
Unit £12k
Hire rate per week £150 lets say. I cant get one for less than £200 round here, but obviously long term hire is always a bit less. £150 sounds reasonable.
80 weeks hire pays for it, but its not quite that simple...
Delivery is always charged extra, £50 on average in my experience. Same for collection. That should help to cover fuel costs but not really your time as well or wear and tear. So lets say for every unit hire - delivery, collection and prepping it for hire takes you 3 hours. That's an hour for cleaning/ prep (check oils etc) and an hour to deliver and return, with another hour to collect and return. £25/hr for your time, plus fuel, truck wear and tear wont be covered by the delivery charge and will come out of the first weeks hire. Which is ok - you can set minimum hire terms of 4 weeks for example. Many do that round here.
Insurance, servicing, tyres, brakes lights etc will need to be covered, as will somewhere to store it which costs regardless of if the cabin is in the yard or not. £250/ month for storage rent? Lets say £90/ week should cover all costs?
So on a 4 week hire, you will have a gross of £700 including transport.
Costs will be £435 leaving you with £265 profit before tax. Doesn't sound so good with only £60/ week paying the cabin back (200 weeks hire to pay off now) but lets not forget its a 37% margin and many aren't making that.

Now that's worked out based on one cabin and some assumptions, some of those costs will be diluted by having more cabins so the margin will increase per cabin as you get more.
There is also the thing in plant hire of any kind where the asset is worth something after its useful working life. Lets say it does 3 years and halfs in value. Plenty on the market for £5-6k so that seems reasonable. It only has to pay back half of the £12k now, (100 weeks hire) 2 years worth of weeks that. And the 3rd year is therefore more profit.
Doesn't seem like a bad business model to me, and its one I have considered myself if I'm honest. But you would need a few of them to pay you a wage and the utilisation wont be anywhere near 100%, especially in the first couple of years where the uptake will be slow. But its a pretty low risk venture really. You can always sell the unit if it doesn't work and not loose a huge amount of money. At least you can say you tried.

Good afternoon mate how are you!
Mate a would have payed a grand for that information man but in a way it was like talking to myself in the mirror the prices and weeks you mentioned where exactly the same assumptions as my own! It’s really good to hear it from somebody else’s point of view.
Yes your correct my area is the same can’t get one for less than £200 so my plan would be to obviously try and beat that by £150-180 to try and make contacts for the buisness and as you said it would be payed off in 80 weeks or so , I am in a position to buy one refurbished but was attracted to the idea of taking a brandew one out on finance to show my customers I have good equipment but I know refurbished would still work, the plan is of course to get as many as possible and then maybe on to some small plant hire . But again like you said most sites need these cabins now and demand is high and the risk is very low compared to other buisness.. it’s a pitty you don’t live locally mate you seem to have the same visions as myself haha are you going to give it a try then? I am definitely going for it I would rather try and fail rather than not try at all.

thank you for your response anyway much appreciated buddy

 

[Justme]

I am in a position to buy one refurbished but was attracted to the idea of taking a brandew one out on finance to show my customers I have good equipment

Its only new for the first client

 

[Furniss]

Sorry to be negative and we all need to find a way to earn a crust but it sounds a frigging horrible idea to me ... cleaning up and servicing muddy welfare units and emptying toilets

 

[RYMCG1]

Its only new for the first client

Haha your not wrong their!

 

[RYMCG1]

Sorry to be negative and we all need to find a way to earn a crust but it sounds a frigging horrible idea to me ... cleaning up and servicing muddy welfare units and emptying toilets

Their are small contractors out their for the toilet servicing and in terms of cleaning the ( mud ) that’s all it is is is mud we got covered in it as kids it’s not going to kill us… just depends on how clean you want to be with your career but mud Dosent bother me.

 

[Furniss]

Their are small contractors out their for the toilet servicing and in terms of cleaning the ( mud ) that’s all it is is is mud we got covered in it as kids it’s not going to kill us… just depends on how clean you want to be with your career but mud Dosent bother me.

Ive spend my life in the stuff (mud) so yep mud doesn't kill people ..it just doesn't sound like a very interesting or profitable business idea .... surely there's better ideas to pursue

 

[RYMCG1]

Ive spend my life in the stuff (mud) so yep mud doesn't kill people ..it just doesn't sound like a very interesting or profitable business idea .... surely there's better ideas to pursue

Their will be mate I’ve just been doing research on this for a few weeks it seemed attractive to me when I first came across them , a small jet wash machine would prep the unit for its next delivery and if you ended up doing well with say 10 or more units it would be a nice profit at the end of the year.
I think in terms of better ideas your right their will be but one with less risk I would say this is probs best bet.

 

[V8Druid]

Their will be mate I’ve just been doing research on this for a few weeks it seemed attractive to me when I first came across them , a small jet wash machine would prep the unit for its next delivery and if you ended up doing well with say 10 or more units it would be a nice profit at the end of the year.
I think in terms of better ideas your right their will be but one with less risk I would say this is probs best bet.

they're hardly likely to tip 'em over are they and not on the top of the pikies shopping lists

 

[Brendan]

Their will be mate I’ve just been doing research on this for a few weeks it seemed attractive to me when I first came across them , a small jet wash machine would prep the unit for its next delivery and if you ended up doing well with say 10 or more units it would be a nice profit at the end of the year.
I think in terms of better ideas your right their will be but one with less risk I would say this is probs best bet.

Depending on the floor it won't clean well with a pressure washer. Patio rotating brush not really any better either

 

[Smiffy]

Depending on the floor it won't clean well with a pressure washer. Patio rotating brush not really any better either

The ones we use are hard plastic sealed into the walls so can't be to difficult to clean

 

[Brendan]

The ones we use are hard plastic sealed into the walls so can't be to difficult to clean

Mine have chequered floor