How To Become An Electrical Contractor

Starting up as an electrical contractor is not much different than starting up as a sole trader. In fact, nearly all big electrical contracting firms were “one man bands” at the start. Later, with hard work and dedication as the business started to grow, the company transformed itself from a sole trader to a contracting company with many employees and access to big public and private sector jobs.

Compared to a sole trader, these are the differences that define an electrical contracting company:

• Limited company framework. Electrical contracting firms are usually run by more than one people who are the directors
• VAT registered since the annual turnover would be much higher than 85,000 GBP
• Several employees such as contract managers, electrical supervisors, electricians, accountants, human resources staff etc.
• Big capital investment in premises, work vans and tools

There are very few companies who started up with all these in place. Because of this our advice is to start small and build it up from there.

Starting up as a sole trader is the best way of starting up in the electrical contracting business. When your business starts to grow and you see the opportunity for expansion, your accountant will advice you about the advantages of transforming your small business in to a limited company. At that stage you would already have some of the necessary people around you to help you expand your business.