Information

[jmh474]

Would just like to say hello first this is my very first post, i've got a little story i used to work for well known electrical company, but after my daughter passed away, lets just say my company seemed ok to start off with but in the end they showed their true colours so i left very unhappy, but things are looking up for me now life is getting better, so now i would like to start my own little company bit of a one man band, i guess you could say, installing intruder alarms in home and small businesses , but i'm un shore how to go about it, my qualifications are PEO level 2, 2330 level 2 and 3, iv a wide range of electrical work for over 6 years everything from house bashing to installing pumps for AW and hospital fire alarms to intruder alarms in stately homes  i would just like to know where to start would i reg with a company like nacoss or are there any other qualifications i would need to obtain any help would be great thanks for all your help

[matthew.brough]

Welcome to tsi.

 

To be recognised by NSI or SSAIB you will first need to have a client base and have procdures and all sorts of other things in place before going down that road. Many one man band compaines have either gone to the wall / been bought out / retired so whilst I wouldn't ever want to crush someones entrepreneuial spirit, are you sure alarms is the right business to be in. Why would someone use you over the 4000+ approved companies that exist already, do you have any USP's etc etc.

 

Making any money out of this industry is hard, and it is already very crowded and there are some fantasitc companies already doing it. The other issue you would face is customers are in contracts, some up to 5 years so getting new business may be quite hard.

 

I would certainly consider these points before investing any money or time into going it alone.

[Joe Harris]

Hi Jmh (I'm sure your name has more vowels really ),

 

Firstly, welcome to TSI....  Accreditation is important as some jobs will require it, but while you are finding your feet and setting up your business it may be feasible to provide services for smaller installations while you work toward accreditation.

 

The current uptake in this country is quite low at a little over 2% so I would always say that there is room for more business in the market however, as pointed out by Matt what is your USP?

 

What can you provide over and above other businesses in your area?  Give it some thought and focus your efforts on that basis.

[PeterJames]

Hi Jmh

 

Welcome to the forum

 

To get acreditations such as NSI you first need to know the standard that they would expect you to install too, amonst many other things. Most smaller one man bands get some experience under their belts by working for an approved co then maybe subbying whilst building up your contract base at the same time. just starting up as an alarm co with nothing but an add in the paper is the hardest way imhp

[jmh474]

So would i be right in saying that i can go out and install intruder alarms then when iv built up a small client base, then after a while i can register with a company like  nacoss nsi or SSAIB, but if i was to install fire sensors into the system would this require other certification like when you install hard wired smoke alarm?? all so with the USP i guess there are few things i can really offer at this point there are a few things that have come to mind like with the red care as i would not be able to offer this straight away i could have an auto dialer phone me then contact the owner of the installation asking for a password for safety reasons or go to the installation just a few ideas

[MrHappy]

unlike gas, any idiot can do just about thing in the UK w/o any pieces of paper to prove they have been trained to do "anything" properly.

[james.wilson]

You cant keyhold without sia though

[PeterJames]

I think you missed the point, you can install alarm systems and smoke detectors, Intruder alarm smokes are not compliant Fire Systems anyway smokes are ancilleries to the intruder system. But its not about having lots of customers its about having compliant systems and showing that you understand what is required to be compliant

[MrHappy]

unlike gas, any idiot can do just about thing in the UK w/o any pieces of paper to prove they have been trained to do "anything" properly.

I think you only "arf" read what I typed

You cant keyhold without sia though

There are no training and qualifications required for a key holding licence eg, fill in the form & pay 'em

[jmh474]

so if im right in understanding if i was to install an auto dialer i could be a key holder to say let the police into the premises as long as i do "not" act as a guard or investigate why the alarm is sounding??