New skip hire business

[TheRampantRabbit]

Hi ladies / gents .

I've recently been made redundant and have been looking into opening a skip hire business . I aim to target the house holder and small builder as my primary source and build on from there . I intend to use a targeted adwords and SEO campaign along side traditional media such as yellow pages and local newspapers .

I understand the transport legal side of things , but i cant find anything that tells you where the waste goes . (i know plastic and wood go 'off' for recycling but where does it go and how much is it bought off you for roughly) . Building rubble and topsoil go to landfill I'm assuming .

I intend to open with a 17 tonne and a 7 1/2 tonne waggons , and purchase 10 of most sizes of skips . I also aim to add a RORO service to in due time .

I guess do I sound insane for thinking about it is my question , and secondly for anyone that has started one , is circa 35k enough .

Thanks in advance

TRR

 

[mud-stx]

Hiya TRR,

Where will you be based? What is the main area you will be targeting?
You said you will be using an adword and SEO campaign, have you looked into this yourself?

 

[Beachcomber]

Your local council will be able to give you guidance on trade waste licenses etc.

Not sure if 35K will cover trucks, skips & premesis to store / operate from?

If you could afford to bung a transit van / flat bed lorry into the mix you could offer house clearances and garden waste removal to your services.

 

[roofing solutions]

i agree with the transit/ flat bed idea, our local council charge a fortune for the shops in the town to clear daily rubbish so a lad i know started collecting from them all and is doing really well for himself. the council have the answers you need, also call you local landfil they'll be able to help you out. you'll need a liscence to dump it but its only about £400 per year i believe then you pay by the tonne. I use my mate for small jobs and he does about £80 per tonne and i get a skip with a road liscence for about £200.

 

[Rainbow Chasers']

Agree - I would look into costs in detail. They can be quite high for waste licences, especially these days. Also look into insurance, liability etc. Skip hire is the number one high claimer!!

Usually for badly loaded skips, or drivers who by their nature, just don't care! Hit and run is a daily occurance. You will need to factor in the cost now, and look at that rising each year. To give an indication, I claimed against a skip hire company that had an uncovered skip and whis it was infront of me, a fridge and breeze blocks came off and smashed the front end of the car - lorry didn't stop (didn't notice)

My insurance company called me one day, and said they were still waitin g for a response from the owner and he was searching through his files for an update on my case, as he had 63 ongoing claims!!

 

[lockyer]

Hello Rampant

I wish you all the best with the new venture, and if it's done right there is a fiar amount of money to be made in the skip game. If you need any help with liability or vehicle insurance drop me a line as we specialise in it.

Regards,

Jon

 

[Test It]

Yes good luck, the licences would be my first port of call I think to check out. As said they are probably quite expensive?

 

[MorrisChesterfield]

Hi,

I do a fair bit of property clearance, and do alot of work for my local council, ive thought about a waste transfer station but the list is endless for things you need, for the skip side, you need some land to operate on, so you can segregate the skips/ van loads of rubbish, i think certain licenses allow so many lorrys/vans into the yard each day, so if its poor access you might be lucky to get 5 lorrys in and out all day, its crazy.

House clearance game is good, but its its a waste of time running around collect the odd thing here and there, we only do full houses, 1 or 2 loads normally come out the house. plus people dont want to pay the sort of prices that it costs for a clearance.

good luck with the game, by the way, i pay between £50 - £80per ton over the weight bridge.

Ben

 

[TheRampantRabbit]

Hi thanks for all the advice , truely is appreciated .

This will be my first business on my own (i started and sucessfully co-owned a taxi firm, owned it 12 mths , had a few pints on it along the way , and doubled my investment ) . Needless to say that bought a few more beers lol But in that every partner had a role that they had experiance in , this time its me on my own by myself sinking or swimming .

I've been researching every aspect i can find , the Waste license is 3k a yr on top of the carrier lic ect , and the hoops to jump thru are many (what isnt red taped up nowadays) .

Thanks Morris for the over the bridge prices , I' ll work out some figures worst case , I have 3 landfill sites in under 3 miles from me so they must be competitive .

I've been pricing up a waste transfer station too , but you start with compactors / balers for plastic/card , then sifters to sort hardcore from topsoil , then a industrial grinder for the hardcore (then you get to sell on for profit as hardcore or crusher run) . Burn both ends of the candle .

This forum is an amazing resource , and I think I want to marry ElaineC100 from the accounts section lol .

TRR

Edited to add : Lokyer , once i know what I need quoting on , expect a phone call lol

 

[stickyadvertising]

you can sell the rubble/ hardcore jus do a search on google and you should find something,

can also sell, hard plastic, soft plastic, card, paper, glass, plaster board, iron, pvc,

used to work for a recycling company a few years ago

 

[MorrisChesterfield]

if you can make it work there's loads of £££ in it! also been thinking, you would need a weigh bridge really, not at first but somthing deffo asap! there about £10k estmate.

ben

 

[lockyer]

also try subscribing to http://www.theskip.net/ we get it every month and it has some usefull stuff in it. give them a ring, they're a really friendly bunch.

Another top tip is that there are a few skip co's (with licences ) for sale. like here
http://www.rightbiz.co.uk/uk/201_skip_hire.html

hope this helps

jon

 

[MorrisChesterfield]

Have you gone any further yet RR?

 

[elaine@cheapaccounting]

This forum is an amazing resource , and I think I want to marry ElaineC100 from the accounts section lol .

Oh my lord

 

[maxine]

This forum is an amazing resource , and I think I want to marry ElaineC100 from the accounts section lol .

Can I be bridesmaid?

 

[elaine@cheapaccounting]

Maid of honour surely

I think Zeno, Alpha and David G would make lovely page boys - a little sailors outfit me thinks.

 

[TheRampantRabbit]

Result ! ,Just 1 quick question about the ceremony ,Is your dress claimable as a one off cost ,ermm under the enteraining client section lol .

No morris , not got any further yet , I'm heavily dipping toes into the water . Still a few thing I need to look into yet . Re-weighbridge , I've been looking at those , I have seen a couple go on ebay for 1500-2k on occasion used .

Thanks again .

TRR

 

[elaine@cheapaccounting]

Client entertaining is not an allowable expense I'm afraid.

However I think as the wedding dress will have a useful life of more than one ceremony I will treat it as a fixed asset and write off over the next 10 years.

I hope to get some good wear out of it!

 

[maxine]

Client entertaining is not an allowable expense I'm afraid.

However I think as the wedding dress will have a useful life of more than one ceremony I will treat it as a fixed asset and write off over the next 10 years.

I hope to get some good wear out of it!

Couldn't it be a uniform so you can wear it every day and then write off as expense


Anyway, Op, good luck with your venture... you will have more patience than me trying to wade through the various descriptions for exemption application on the environment agency website. I went on there recently for gypsum waste (we do plastering) and it was very difficult to understand

 

[TheRampantRabbit]

I hope to get some good wear out of it!

I hope that means as a uniform as maxine said , the thought of a serial bride would lead to divorce as quick as the ceremony lol

TRR

 

[tony brooks]

rampant rabbit did you have any luck with your skip hire company ? would like to start my own and was wondering how you got on and how you went about getting started ? thanks

 

[d-g.repairs]

Instead of a weighbridge cant you get a device in the cab that tells you your weight (not 4 sets of digital scales)

 

[Vintage06]

Rabbit. Where abouts in the UK are you going to be setting up your business?

 

[atsminiskips]

Good luck with the new venture, hows it going? i've been in the industry for 15 yrs and worked for many companies in every postion before starting on my own this year. so if u need any help or advice let me know.. where abouts are you based?

Tom bugg

 

[johnsonpeter]

For skip hire, you can visit at kielyskips.com

 

[Business Friend UK]

set up a website where your clients can pay and reserve online.

I imagine you have a set price per day/area.

The advertise the site and use it as a central reference point for further business!

rmconey.com

check this site out. Specialized carpenter who is using his website as a central point of contact for all new business and a place for word of mouth to land in high gloss!

 

[johnsonpeter]

yes i agree with ur points

 

[S-Marketing]

set up a website where your clients can pay and reserve online.

I imagine you have a set price per day/area.

The advertise the site and use it as a central reference point for further business!

rmconey.com

check this site out. Specialized carpenter who is using his website as a central point of contact for all new business and a place for word of mouth to land in high gloss!

That site is an awful example. In fact its much more like a demonstration of how trades get their marketing wrong.