Hi All,
can anyone give me any advice regarding getting work, other than agency, I am newly self employed.
Has anyone got a set of terms & conditions they can let me have?
I have got 18 months driving experience and am doing my ADR next week to improve my scope.
Thanks
Matt
The same way as you get any work!!!
Get ringing and visiting companies.
It will be hard though, those that have been driving a while mainly get the work through their reputation and from previous employers
Be prepared to do all the crap / crappy hours that no one else wants to do. Lots of phone calls, faxes and site visits. Get a name for yourself, reputation is everything.
Find out who uses agencies, knock their door and under cut the agency by a few quid.
Just do what everyone else does and what everyone wants . . . CUT THE RATES!!!
Never Fails, if you DO get a job through an Agency to start with, offer your services cheaper to go back there direct, everyone listens these days if they think they are getting something that bit cheaper.
TOP TIP though: No point doing this if you have damaged something, as the standard answer usually starts with F and ends in OFF!
Matty72:
Has anyone got a set of terms & conditions they can let me have?
Theres a generic set of Ts & Cs knocking around the forum, if you cant find em with the search button send me a PM with your email addy. Though youve a 50/50 chance of the company tellig you to offski when you pass em a copy, and Gawd help you if you have the ordacity to give a copy to an agency when you sign up
Matty72:
Hi All,can anyone give me any advice regarding getting work, other than agency, I am newly self employed.
I have got 18 months driving experience and am doing my ADR next week to improve my scope.
Thanks
Matt
Yep as I did self employed direct and not through agency.
With only 18 months driving experience you’ve not got enough experience of driving different trucks and loads or enough knowledge of the UK. That is the simple and inescapable fact about the matter.
My advice is go on agency for at least a couple of years. 2 years with an agency will get you that in the shortest amount of time as long as you don’t end up in one company the majority of the time. Get yourself a reputation built up as a good driver who gets the job done with the minimum of phoning the office, who doesn’t bend the truck, doesn’t damage the load and doesn’t wallop through fuel. When you get to the client, ask them for the traffic office phone number, what to do in the event of a breakdown or tyre blowout. Get yourself a smart set of drivers trousers and jacket and a set of steel toecap boots or shoes, not rigger boots. Get a clipboard to put the notes on and a holdall to put your gear in. A lot on here will say that’s a load of bollox and wearing jeans and shoving your gear in a Tesco carrier bag is OK etc but the thing is that what you need to do is present yourself as being professional in your outlook and attitude, not just an average driver. You need to stand out from the rest of them. Any knuckle dragging monkey can drive a truck but not any monkey can do it properly as this site proves on an almost daily basis.
When you get to the point where an agency client is asking for you then is the time to approach them about going direct.
Thanks Conor, some good advice there.
Have had quite a bit of experience so far, 6 month Live Haul Nights (Poultry) out of Thorne, running up to the borders, wales, scotland(was fun last winter). 8 Months container tramping round East Anglia and London areas and been doing agency since begining of December.
Would like to get experience on fridges, tippers and tankers next (ADR this week).
I have provided my own uniform for the job and get on well with all of the contracts that I have been sent on, a couple of the places I work at ask if I am available.
If you still think it is worth waiting a couple of years on agency before getting my own work, I shall, as you say I haven’t got that much experience yet but all the advice is great thankyou.
Matt