I have recently had to leave my job of the last 6 years(jumped before I was pushed after getting grassed up for something outwith my job). I was employed in a stable, secure public sector office job earning £26k per year- cushty hours and every weekend off. I liked it but it wasn’t really me.
Now I am unemployed and looking for a new career in the new year.
I am 31 I have a few grand in the bank as savings.
I have 2 ideas for a future career but I can’t decide and I am going to have to do so soon.
Option 1:
My old man is a gardener but has cut back on his work over the last few years, I could take over his existing customers and look for more, while also getting all his tools, van etc so I would have a good head start. However, Gardening obviously slows down big time over the winter so I’d need to earn enough over the summer to see me through the winter. Its also weather dependent as well which could be stressfull- particularly in Scotland where I stay. Being my own boss would also be a lot of pressure but it appeals to me as well.
Option 2:
I use a few grand of my savings to do my class 2 and hopefully class 1 and try and get an HGN driving job. Having read this forum for a few weeks I am aware that trying to get any work whatsoever is going to be extremely difficult, surely with perseverance a supermarket job would eventually come my way in a few years? I enjoy driving and being a lorry driver apeals to me, however, I know I’d have to put up with some ■■■■ for a few years until I have enough experience. A few questions:
If I chose this option should I concentrate on my class 2 first and try and get some experience and then I would be more confident and better able to pass my class 1?
Or
Should I do the both of them asap and therfore make myself more employable?
What is the usual pass rate with each test?
How much do the tests cost?
If I set aside £2k would that cover both?
I am based in Central Scotland- is there much driving work available?
My mortgage is pretty small and I dont have any debts. I could survive for a year or so on £7-800 per month- what is the chances of achieving a wage like this quite soon after qualifying?
What do you do when you arent getting agency shifts? do you sign on?
Any general advice on what option youd take if you were in my position?
BBOY13:
Any general advice on what option youd take if you were in my position?
Hi BBOY13 and welcome to TruckNet.
I don’t know anything about gardening but as far as the truck questions go, I’ll give them my best shot.
You will get the best deal by going direct to a local driving school and not a broker who advertises in the tabloid press.
The first time pass rate for LGV tests is around 40%. You might just be able to do the lot for £2000, we have a few trainers here and they will give you a more accurate estimate when they come along, I personally would reckon on a few hundred more than that what with the medical and licence fees etc.
You would have more chance of finding work with a C+E licence, compared with only having a Class C licence, far far more.
You will get some work if you are persistent, TruckNet members in your area will point you to the right places to look so ask again if you do choose to do the test. If you needed £800 a month to survive on then you would probably need to do 8-10 days work a month, depending what work you are on. That is probably achievable, and when we come out of recession then you can expect continuous work, the buggers just won’t stop phoning.
Generally, even if you earn very little then you cannot sign on, but you may be able to claim working tax credits.
As for whether you should do it, of course you should. If you pass the C+E tests, then you can drive a great big ■■■■ off Juggernaut and so you are the most manly and masculine man on the face of the planet. You are not some ■■■■ who sits at a desk under artificial lighting wearing a suit and shuffling pieces of paper around, you are a TRUCKER!!!
Yep, probably best thing would be to balance both things, get to know the gardening round and keep it alive while it is hibernating, take truck driving lessons in January or February while it is quiet on the horticultural front, and then look towards May/June 2012 as a time of options.
Really, you have the best-case scenario here, two business ideas which can dovetail around each other.
Really, the true answer as to what career path to choose lie only With yourself but i’ll put my opinion in
£2000 is probably a bit under what you will need to cover all the bases as already stated, but dont let that put you off.
Once you do your class C licence, your best bet is to get your C+E licence. The amount of jobs you can then apply for or be offered will be much more than if you just held your C licence.
I held my C licence for about 5 months be for doing my C+E and was offered work, all be it in dribs and drabs, but only being 23 its a bit more difficult to get the work. At your age your well over the “must be 25 or over” mark, but the only thing you’ll be lacking in is experiance, but someone will give you a chance.
Sign up with as many agencies in your area as you can, therefore increasing your chances of a call for a job. You’ll get crap jobs and decent jobs, but dont people take you for a ride.
Money is not amazing with driving jobs, but thats not to say you’ll stuggle.
Find a locall training company and go down there and have a look, maybe even a trial drive (normally free of charge) this way you see exactly what your getting for your money.
What ever you choose, all the best
your ace card is the fact that you dont need much cash to get by,so get your test passed,go on agency and dont worry about getting 60 plus hours a week-40 will be enough,saturday night sunday night bit of gardening in the week…you got it made
sounds easy,i know,but it will happen if you`ve got ought about you
Over night and this morningbefore I came on here I’ve bene thinking that I am probably best hedging my bets and doing the gardening along with driving and not putting all my eggs in one basket when there is no real need to.
The only drawbacks I can see are that If I have 2 different commitments it means I cant dedicate myself to one and really make a go at one. If I am committed to doing around 20 gardens per week then then they jobs have to be kept on top off- that might mean I have to turn down agency shifts with driving- surely the agency are going to be reluctant to call you again if you turn down work?
The other concern I had was spending £2500 on my HGV licences and then I find myself concentrating more on the gardening and then it is money wasted that could have weent into gardening promotion and paying bills when it’s quiet or even worse I spend all that cash and fail!
I would presume that there would be more driving jobs available with agencies as the summer comes to a close and Christmas comes?
I dont’t need to make that much cash to pay my bills, but ideally I would like to be earning £400-£500 per week consistently in time- is this realistic through driving only?
As a driver in central scotland, I would hang fire just now. Work is fairly slim just now, look at doing your tests in march for looking at work a ccpuple of months later.
I would do it as soon as possible if you are going to do it at all. You may have read on here that it is somewhat harder to find work until you have held your licence for two years, and that two years will start ticking from the moment you pass your test(s).
At the moment, agencies can afford to be very picky but when things improve and drivers become harder to come by, they will be more accommodating if you do only wish to do occasional shifts to fit around your other work.
As to whether the money would be better saved and spent elsewhere, that is a bit of a punt. I have just spent £1500 odd taking my National and International CPC. I may use it to start my own company or I may just decide to carry on as an employed driver so in that sense I may have wasted that money. I don’t regret taking it though.
I would advise you to do it only if you can afford to do it with the view that it is “another string in the bow”, rather than that you will be immediately working full-time with an agency. Then just try to pick up bits of work as and when you can to build up experience should you ever decide to give up the gardening.
I think you are one of those people who turn up here already determined to take a certain course of action and are who are just looking for others to egg them on, so consider yourself egged on. Get off your arse and book the lessons!
BBOY13:
Any general advice on what option youd take if you were in my position?
Most pro gardeners I know (& working on skips I know a few) charge on a weekly/monthly basis & therefore they don’t worry too much about the seasonal nature of horticulture. In fact, I’ve been invited to winter at 2 of 'ems Spanish Villa’s in the near past.
You only need ■■ amount of customers paying £10’ish a week to manicure their surroundings to make a very good living in gardening ! You can make some BIG money if you chase enough business to be able to pay minimum wage to a few Polish & throw in the odd landscape occasionally.
Why waste your time on investing lots of £money to earn very £little ?
Chas:
Why waste your time on investing lots of £money to earn very £little ?
Same as most of us I suppose, because the idea appeals to him. I could earn more doing an office job or sales repping or somesuch but it would drive me round the twist. You spend a lot of your life at work so it needs to be something you can tolerate, or even enjoy.
Chas:
Why waste your time on investing lots of £money to earn very £little ?
Same as most of us I suppose, because the idea appeals to him. I could earn more doing an office job or sales repping or somesuch but it would drive me round the twist. You spend a lot of your life at work so it needs to be something you can tolerate, or even enjoy.
What ■■■■■ said.
I got my licences so I could quit working and spend the rest of my days chilling out in a comfy seat listening to music.
BBOY13:
Any general advice on what option youd take if you were in my position?
Most pro gardeners I know (& working on skips I know a few) charge on a weekly/monthly basis & therefore they don’t worry too much about the seasonal nature of horticulture. In fact, I’ve been invited to winter at 2 of 'ems Spanish Villa’s in the near past.
You only need ■■ amount of customers paying £10’ish a week to manicure their surroundings to make a very good living in gardening ! You can make some BIG money if you chase enough business to be able to pay minimum wage to a few Polish & throw in the odd landscape occasionally.
Why waste your time on investing lots of £money to earn very £little ?
The gardening has probably more potential. Ideally you want to be doing simple grass cutting jobs in localised areas- charge 10-15 per cut (2 a month per customer, Eventually I reckon I could be making a grand a week if I worked my arse off- but you can only really do that for about 31-36 weeks per year and you would have to pay tax and re-invest in equipment insurance and new van after a while. The fact you cant work all year round means you need to kil yourself every dry day in the spring/summer so don’t ever get any time off on a summer’s day really to go fishing or relax. Running your own business is pressure and it is a gamble. To expand I would have to take on every job going at the start to build a profile and work but that means doing annoying crap jobs as well. I don’t think it has that much potential to grow as a big self sustaining business when you have others doing the work for you as they will just leave you and do it for themselves.
I am not totally against the idea but the thought of eventually just jumping in a truck, sticking on talksport and driving down to Manchester and dropping off a load before returning appeals to me- although I am aware this is far from what I’ll experience for a good while.
BBOY13:
Any general advice on what option youd take if you were in my position?
Most pro gardeners I know (& working on skips I know a few) charge on a weekly/monthly basis & therefore they don’t worry too much about the seasonal nature of horticulture. In fact, I’ve been invited to winter at 2 of 'ems Spanish Villa’s in the near past.
You only need ■■ amount of customers paying £10’ish a week to manicure their surroundings to make a very good living in gardening ! You can make some BIG money if you chase enough business to be able to pay minimum wage to a few Polish & throw in the odd landscape occasionally.
Why waste your time on investing lots of £money to earn very £little ?
The gardening has probably more potential. Ideally you want to be doing simple grass cutting jobs in localised areas- charge 10-15 per cut (2 a month per customer, Eventually I reckon I could be making a grand a week if I worked my arse off- but you can only really do that for about 31-36 weeks per year and you would have to pay tax and re-invest in equipment insurance and new van after a while. The fact you cant work all year round means you need to kil yourself every dry day in the spring/summer so don’t ever get any time off on a summer’s day really to go fishing or relax. Running your own business is pressure and it is a gamble. To expand I would have to take on every job going at the start to build a profile and work but that means doing annoying crap jobs as well. I don’t think it has that much potential to grow as a big self sustaining business when you have others doing the work for you as they will just leave you and do it for themselves.
I am not totally against the idea but the thought of eventually just jumping in a truck, sticking on talksport and driving down to Manchester and dropping off a load before returning appeals to me- although I am aware this is far from what I’ll experience for a good while.
If I was you, get the class1 licence ASAP look at it as an investment as it will always be there for you to use! In the meantime do some gardening work to keep you going! I use to do landscaping once and there is potential to make lots of money but everyone is getting into these days. It’s also a very physical job and if you hurt your back or something and can’t work for a while you’re screwed. If you are driving for a living you can still work through injury and illness. Once you get a job driving an artic if you do get a cushy number driving down the m6 to Manchester and back it’s happy days but in reality you will be zig zagging all over the uk for 5 days solid including night out and running back Saturday morning have 45 hours of then doing it all over again! This is where the money is and 40k is achievable plus there are loads of places you can park up for the night and go fishing, I know a few places where you can fish for barbel and carp and still see your lorry.
Good luck in whatever you decide to do, read through as many posts on here as you can it helps you get a good idea as life as a trucker and it full of usefull information, I would say 3k would get you your licenses and you would hopefully have some left over for things like road maps, sat nav, fridge freezer, memory foam mattress, camping stove, inverters and other comforts you might need.
You can earn £400-£500 a week but as a newbie you’ll have to work your balls off to do it, probably around 60hrs or so. Just dropping off a load in Manchester then returning is fine in theory but it seldom works out like that…
If I were you, I’d get the C+E and then run the gardening business as your main source of income,then drive as and when you want/need to.
This job is much nicer when you can pick and choose who, when and what you do. You’ll get the best of both worlds if you do both jobs…
