Basic start up advice please
Discussion
Hello All,
I currently have a full-time job, which I like and will keep doing, however, I'm also considering doing some custom/classic bikes on the side.
Tinkering with motorbikes is a hobby, but if I could make the hobby pay for itself, that'd be pretty good. Not looking at making a full time career out of it, worrying whether or not the mortgage will be paid if it doesn't go well, etc. just doing what I enjoy and maybe making a bit of spending money.
Basically, buy a cheap base bike, make it nice/customise, sell on, probably one at a time (max 2)
Could be anywhere between 1-10 bikes a year, and say for the sake of argument I'd make between £500 and £2k (optimistically!) on each.
So I'd guess that's probably more than a regular Joe who likes chopping and changing his bike now and then and officially a "business", albeit a part time one.
I was wondering if
a) I had to register as a business - and how to do it if so
and
b) what kind of advantages does that have (VAT off tools/equipment for example?)
I'd not be looking to perform services as such, just "I have this thing I've built, would you like to buy it?"
Any advice would be gratefully received.
Thanks,
Dan
I currently have a full-time job, which I like and will keep doing, however, I'm also considering doing some custom/classic bikes on the side.
Tinkering with motorbikes is a hobby, but if I could make the hobby pay for itself, that'd be pretty good. Not looking at making a full time career out of it, worrying whether or not the mortgage will be paid if it doesn't go well, etc. just doing what I enjoy and maybe making a bit of spending money.
Basically, buy a cheap base bike, make it nice/customise, sell on, probably one at a time (max 2)
Could be anywhere between 1-10 bikes a year, and say for the sake of argument I'd make between £500 and £2k (optimistically!) on each.
So I'd guess that's probably more than a regular Joe who likes chopping and changing his bike now and then and officially a "business", albeit a part time one.
I was wondering if
a) I had to register as a business - and how to do it if so
and
b) what kind of advantages does that have (VAT off tools/equipment for example?)
I'd not be looking to perform services as such, just "I have this thing I've built, would you like to buy it?"
Any advice would be gratefully received.
Thanks,
Dan
Apologies for the silence - been away - but I really do appreciate all your advice. It's been interesting reading, especially the VAT bit. Looks like there's no point as you say as I have some tuff already - there's no point saving £20 off a set of new spanners if I have to give £600 off a £3k bike to the government.
One thing about profit - /how would I sort labour? I'm basically doing the labour for free, do I pick a reasonable but arbitrary figure for that and count it as costs?
i.e. Profit = Sales price - (base price of bike + purchased bits + 40 hours@£10)
Think I'm going to make a couple just for me for a bit of fun, then see about setting up as a sole trader. What insurances would I need? Public Liability I guess, if I've made something and it breaks then I'll want to be covered.
I assume there's some sort of threshold to becoming a sole trader? I mean a bloke selling one or two bikes a year privately is one thing, but selling 200 is quite another. What's the cross-over point? I've heard 6 mentioned, but that's based on nothing I think, or is it a certain sum/%age of income?
One thing about profit - /how would I sort labour? I'm basically doing the labour for free, do I pick a reasonable but arbitrary figure for that and count it as costs?
i.e. Profit = Sales price - (base price of bike + purchased bits + 40 hours@£10)
Think I'm going to make a couple just for me for a bit of fun, then see about setting up as a sole trader. What insurances would I need? Public Liability I guess, if I've made something and it breaks then I'll want to be covered.
I assume there's some sort of threshold to becoming a sole trader? I mean a bloke selling one or two bikes a year privately is one thing, but selling 200 is quite another. What's the cross-over point? I've heard 6 mentioned, but that's based on nothing I think, or is it a certain sum/%age of income?
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