Fix Radio.
On today's show, we're asking what are the challenges of setting up a plastering business
today and joining us to discuss this is Stu Roberts from Trail Talk.
Hi, Stuart. Thanks for joining us. How's it all going?
Very well. Thank you, Chris. Great to talk to you again.
Good man. Good man. Right, and Stuart, would you like to have to set up a business in the
current marketplace? Would you like to set up now?
I think so, yeah. I'd love to set up a plastering business today, if I'm honest. And I think
what's exciting about setting up a plastering business is you don't need much kit and equipment,
do you?
No.
When you sort of compare it to, let's say carpenter, for example, who's going to need
to kit out his van with lots of expensive power tools and routers and God knows what,
for somebody who wants to start up a plastering business today, I mean, the tools are so cheap,
you can get going as long as you're not a brand snob, you can get going with, say, a
cheap paddle mixer, you know, a couple of buckets after, as long as you've got half
decent trowel, as you know, you can get a good finish. And, you know, if you can start
off with the cheaper tools and the cheaper brands, moving down the line when you get
profitable, you can say invest in like the Dewalt cordless gear and all the rest of it.
But I think that's what's great about starting a plastering business. You don't need that
upfront investment. I think within, say, £500, you can get going.
I think the most, yeah, I think, you know, your biggest investment is going to be, obviously,
your van, isn't it? And, you know, investing in yourself and your skills and your knowledge
is, you know, plush is 90% skill, isn't it? The actual equipment and the tools is not much
cost at all. So I think it's a great time to be honest to set up today as a plasterer.
Can you remember what challenges you had when setting up?
Yes, I do. I think my biggest challenge when I set up was number one, finding the work, finding
consistent work, week in and week out, because it was often feast and famine. Sometimes I'd have
jobs. Other times I'd be quiet. That causes anxiety, especially if you're raising a family,
for example. Cash flowing money management was a big struggle for me early on. I didn't have any
kind of rules or payment terms or systems in place, like I do today, for example, the booking
deposits, things like that. So I'd often be running out of money. The time management was a problem.
So I'd say yes to everybody. I'd be scared of running out of work. That caused stress because
obviously, you know, I'm putting all my energy and my time into my business. And then that has a
knock-on effect on your personal life and your family situation. So those are the struggles,
I think. Most plushies have. These are my struggles, but looking on trial talk, a lot of the new
self-employed lads seem to be going through the same struggles. Definitely. Yeah, yeah, there's no
fall. You don't want to be a busy fool, do you? And when you get that money in that job, it's not
all yours. You've got materials, you've got your tax to pay, your insurances. Do you know what I mean?
It's a lot to get your head around. You've got to become an accountant at QS.
You have. No, you're right. Yeah, it's a juggling act. But you remember it well.
I do. I do. Yeah, I think tracking costs and expenses and tracking your profit is something
we overlook. And we just, you know, as long as we're busy, busy, busy and the money's coming in,
you know, the problem with that attitude is we're at risk of just like you mentioned there,
we're just turning money over because we're paying everybody else and we're just about keeping our
nose above water, but we're not actually making much in the way of profit. So I think early on,
my advice to anyone who does want to start a business today is put all your attention and your
focus on becoming profitable before you start, you know, like I say, investing in all the new gear,
the spray machines, buying a new van, financing a new van and all the rest of it. Let's get you
profitable first and then we can look at adding all this stuff later down the line. Yeah, never.
I was always told, never look at what you earned last week, look at what you earned in the last
three months, then you can have a guide of what's left because if you do it every week, you've got
it. You know, if you earn, I know, £1,600 one week and you think that's yours, you're going to be
in trouble very quickly, aren't you? You've got to do it over a period of time. Absolutely. Yeah,
I would say track, if you're brand new, I think you need a good couple of years at it, you know,
with a sort of helicopter view, if you cash in and you cash out, and if you're tracking everything
properly, that'll give you a good forecast moving into the future for the next two, three, five years,
and you can think, well, I'm roughly going to earn about this much per year. Yeah, and if we can get
them figures, I know they're going to be rough figures, but if we can get them figures locked in,
then we can plan ahead and build on it. They say what gets measured gets improved, but if we're not
tracking or measuring anything, and we're just busy, busy, busy, you know, chucking the tools in
the van onto the next job, paying all the lads, paying your suppliers, paying your tax, but you're
not actually tracking what you're making. Like I say, you're at risk of just turning money over,
then spinning your wheels, but you're not actually moving forward, if you know what I mean. So,
yeah, money management is a big one. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
What do you reckon is the best way to get your name out there, Stu?
I think the best way to get your name out there is reputation building. Yeah. You need to ensure
that you're good at what you do. And when you get good at what you do, it's about building that
reputation online, and then sharing that reputation across the internet, across all your social
platforms, your Google business profile, video marketing is huge today. I think if you're going
to start a plastering business today, you have to look at incorporating video marketing and creating
video content, especially if you want to go down the domestic route. Right, yeah. Because that's
where everybody is. Everybody's on TikTok. They're on YouTube. They're on Facebook Reels. And
customers today, you know, most of my customers have found me looking at my YouTube videos.
But what's important is, alongside your video content, you also need what we call social proof.
So, you need your reputation accessible for the new customers to go and check you out online and
see what customers are saying about you online. And that way, they're more likely to get in touch
with you. But video marketing, you know, in three minutes, you can really sell yourself,
sell your personality, your skills, you can show the customers the type of finish that you've got,
the type of jobs that you do. And that'll attract more of the same. So, you know, we've got smart,
we've all got smartphones in our pockets with fantastic cameras, video recorders. We haven't
really got an excuse not to do this. But I think it's more just getting past that, you know, discomfort
and fear of putting yourself on camera. And I think it's essential today for anybody starting
a small plastering business, especially if they want to be a domestic plasterer.
Absolutely. Who are some people you need to like get to know or contact you need to make when setting up?
I think that would depend on what kind of business model you want to follow when you're
setting up. So, for example, if you want to go subbing, then the kind of people and the contacts
that you need to get in touch with are going to be very different to if you want to be domestic
plaster in the home improvements market. So, if you want to be subcontracting, for example, then
you might want to think about getting on to LinkedIn, contacting local home builders, for
example, maybe contact your local council, see where the new homes are being thrown up in the area,
get in touch with local home builders and build up your connections that way and also join in the
relevant Facebook groups. And if it's the domestic, if you're going the other way and you're going
to the domestic market, you need a completely different strategy. And I would suggest joining
the plastering forums at the Trowel Talk. I'm going to put Trowel Talk of course.
And getting to which local plasterers, the more established plasterers that have been in the
game a long, long time now, they'll offer you down advice and tips. But the main thing if you're
domestic is the reputation building because who you need coming through your business is new inquiries
all the time because the work isn't going to be reoccurring very much unlike the subcontract work.
Well, it'll be reoccurring work in the domestic market. You need a lead generation system.
So the kind of people coming through your business will often be new inquiries each week
or each month. So in terms of what kind of contacts do you need, it's more of what kind
of lead generation system do you need. So there's two different strategies there.
Do you know what I admit, most of the people I work with now, I know,
when I turn up on a DOI, I used to be at about 10 years ago. Good way in networking.
Yeah, I know. I went to work for two or three days for free and I was helping people out and I met
so many plasterers and now they're all people I work with constantly in yesterday and in next week.
So that was a brilliant way for me. And I met Chris obviously as well.
That's brilliant. Stu, right, do you think it's easier to set up now or say 30 or 40 years ago?
I know you're not that old, but what do you think?
I would say I would say I would set up about 20 years ago. But I think it's easier now, Chris.
Definitely easier now. I mean, it's easier to get customers now. It's easier to share your work
on the internet with everybody now. It's a much faster process, I think. And of course,
it doesn't cost anything to get going with the internet and the smartphone. So I think it's
a lot easier now to be honest than it was 30 years ago. Yeah, yeah. Now I think you're right.
All right, Stuart, look, mate, thank you for getting back to us. Thank you for joining us on our
little show. Glad you're well up and running back on the tools and we'll catch you later on next year.