Sole Trader or Limited Company?

[CharlietheCat]

Hi All

This is my very first post on this forum so please bare with me? I am almost a complete "newbie" with no experience in the "Field".

I recently underwent a 5 day intensive lock-opening/fitting course (4 day opening and 1 day fitting). This course cost me over a Grand (that's £1000.00) which I believe to be very good value considering the knowledge I gained from it, and also in comparison to other courses on offer.

I have so far invested around £1500 in tools and am currently looking into buying a van and some stock. Still got a long way to go yet before my business takes off as there is a lot to do and plan.

My question is to anyone out there running their own business, which is this:-

Is it better to work "self-employed" or as a Limited Company?

Any replies would be gratefully received.

Thanks
Steve

[Phatphish]

There are benefits of going with either of these options. The best advice I can give is to have a chat with an accountant who will be better able to explain the pros and cons of each situation.
Going LTD has some pro's when dealing with tax and liability issues, but also comes with extra costs and considerations. e.g. Accountant costs for a LTD company are typically 3 times that of being a sole trader/partnership.
You may still get some good advice from people here, but I cant stress enough the value of a good accountants advice.
Even if you go down the sole trader route I would still use an accountant as they know the system and are pretty good at getting your tax bill down to the least amount payable.
I did my own accounts the first year, and things were ok and the tax office was happy. The next year I used a good accountant and they identified several things I had not even thought of to make some hefty tax savings, well worth the £400 accounting fee.

[toomush2drink]

Firt up you will only know if your course was good value once you start doing jobs, only then will you apply what you learned or didnt learn.Opening locks is a very very small part of most locksmiths work.

Going limited is worth it if you earn over a certain amount and may possibly subcontract as it can give you protection from personal liability unless you sign contracts which make you personally liable.As mentioned above the costs of being limited and also the legal hoops you have to jump through and abide by are the downside.

As a new start up i doubt you will earn enough to make a profit in the first year such is the saturation of startups in the market as it is so being limited will just be another added expense.

Speak to several accountants,they will all tell you something different and finding a good one you can feel right about using is a whole new ballgame.

Get yourself on a basic business course and write a business plan.

How to get work is the biggest issue for any start up, most think going around all the letting agents,getting and ad in yellow pages will get the phone ringing off the hook.A year later or less they are selling their tools and stock or starting up a training school themselves because it hasnt worked out.

Think long and hard before you fully commit to this trade,it really is saturated by new startups and work is thinnly spread out.

[79commando]

I'd start out as a sole trader to start with as I'm afraid to say you are in for a big shock starting out in this business. If I could advise anyone thinking of this trade when choosing a course forget the opening side, as it is such a small part of todays locksmithing in UK. The Nationals and established guys have that side pretty much sown up with reputation and in the Nationals case advertising clout.

Spend your money doing UPVC door courses and basic joinery. There's locksmiths out there that have been operating for over 10 years that couldn't pick a lock, they just use joinery skills to get the door open.

Have a browse around the site and read some of the start up posts. There was a lad on here about 6 months ago who hadn't had a single job in about 2 weeks since setting up.