Reply to: set up agency to 'poach' contractors? advice/comments please

[malvolio]

Thank you for the help

Ignoring everything else, think about funds...

10 contractors at £400 a day is £20k a week You give them that on a Friday and invoice the client for £20k plus markup. 8 weeks later (at a minimum) the client pays you. Meanwhile you had to lay out 8 weeks at £20k, or £160k debt that will always be there and will need servicing. Assume your money costs you 5% a year, that's roughly £52k loss a year right there.

[psychocandy]

Yes, it's clear this isn't going to work. Thanks everyone for the help even those who feel the need to be condescending dicks, a simple statement of facts would have been fine.

Off to try and think of another money making scheme.

so thats quite a few people on this forum then lol

Although, I dont think it'd work either to be honest for reasons already mentioned. I just don;t think clients/contractors will go for with minimal return like this.

[psychocandy]

It sounds a bit like the newbie contractor's version of the "I should open a launderette with a pub in it" idea that students have.

Hey......

[Crazyhorse]

It sounds a bit like the newbie contractor's version of the "I should open a launderette with a pub in it" idea that students have.

There are pubs with launderettes in Brussels

And for the OP, you're going to be in court before the end of month one.

[doodab]

hi,
something I just thought of which I thought some people on hear might be able to give me some advice about.

I am a contractor working through an agency for a client. The client has a number of other contractors all through different agencies.

What if, the contractors would hand their notices in to leave and then I would employ them through my new agency to to the same job for the client.

Say for example the current agencies charge £6/hr on top of the contractors rate. My new agency would charge the client £5/hr and also give the contractor an extra £1/hr therefore making a profit of £4/hr.

Obviousely there are many factors to consider including the contractors and client beaing happy to do this but for the sake of argument presume that everyone is happy to do this.

I am just wondering -

a. is this feasable?
b. is it legal?
c. any thing else to think about?

Any help of advice/comments would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

a. perhaps
b. probably not, as most contracts will prohibit working for the same end client through another agency
c. Cashflow. You're likely to have to pay contractors before the end client pays you, so you will likely need to pay for invoice factoring unless you have a huge pile of cash sitting around. Pretty much all agencies except perhaps some really big ones work on this basis.

[northernladyuk]

Yes, it's clear this isn't going to work. Thanks everyone for the help even those who feel the need to be condescending dicks, a simple statement of facts would have been fine.

Off to try and think of another money making scheme.

[Sausage Surprise]

to start with i was just thinking of it for the client who i currently work for. Lets say there are 5 contractors.

As far as i know, all i would be doing is sending 5 invoices and 5 payments every week. Yes, assume I have the money to cover the 5 contractors invoices for a couple of weeks or however long the clients payment schedule is.

The only thing the contractors would have to do is send their timesheets to a different agency, and theyll get an extra £160/month.

[northernladuk]

ok doky - Fact is this is one of the worse ideas we have ever seen, can anyone remember a worse one.?

We've had questions about contractors supplying other contractors to their clients quite a lot but never on this scale, with this level of audacity and with so little thought and effort. I didn't think I was being that condescending though. I thought I was being pretty factual up to the point where the OP's own answers should have made it clear it wasn't going to work. Ah well....

[tarbera]

ok the Facts

a simple statement of facts would have been fine..

ok doky - Fact is this is one of the worse ideas we have ever seen, can anyone remember a worse one.?

[phillcooper]

Yes, it's clear this isn't going to work. Thanks everyone for the help even those who feel the need to be condescending dicks, a simple statement of facts would have been fine.

Off to try and think of another money making scheme.

[northernladuk]

Wow. You are really not cut out for agent work are you?never said I was, as I said in the first post, it's just an idea that I'd like some feedback on.

It still has to be a releastic idea.....

A) Handcuff clauses will not allow you to do thisI personally don't have a handcuff clause and a couple of the other contractors don't, would have to check with the others.

I find this very hard to believe and it's not just yours. It's the upper contract between the agent and the client... You did know that there is a contract between the agent and client did you?

B) Do you have the time to manage all these contractors from personal experience, there is no managing involved, I havnt spoken to my agent in nearly a year.

That doesn't mean your agency are not speaking to the client regularly for feedback on your progress and to deal with issues such as payment and in the worst case dismissal of non performing contractors yada yada

C) Do you have the funds to not get caught out if the client pays late yes.

And you enter a dispute taking a few months so have to pay 5 contractors up front for 3-6 months without a penny coming in. Agencies that actually know what they are talking about go bust due to cash flow issues.

D) Do you think the contractors want to go with you? What is in it for them? more money.

£1 an hour to go with a cowboy outfit that is more likely to get them walked than work with a client to get them more work? Pull the other one.

E) Are you on the clients PSL?what is psl?

Yep, this idea is as dead as it can get.

F) Do you not think the client is likely to finish you if you encourage all their contractors to hand their notices in?not if they know what is going on, I wouldn't keep anyone in the dark.

I beg to differ. If I was running a business and some oik said I know, all contractors are going to hand their notice in I think it would be quicker to walk the oik that deal with 5 contractors renewing.

G) With no processes in place is that margin really enough for you to spend time sourcing contractors, interviewing them and then managing them going forward. I wouldn't source any new contractors, just take over the current ones. If the client needs more, then that's a different issue that would need looking into.

LOL. I can't even begin to start with this. You are providing zero extra service to the client? Hmmmm....

H) Have you considered the start up costs of getting contracts drawn up and legally checked as well as some form of admin tools, insurances and the like.
I thru to Z) which I am sure there are.no, any idea on rough costs?

Very very poorly thought out idea. Stick to contracting. maybe, maybe not.

Totally maybe...

You kinda see now you have gotten to the next level of your idea the whole thing is just way beyond your grasp. Not knowing what a PSL is? Bloody good start if you want to become a supplier to a client.

Way out of your depth and a total lack of understanding what your offering to the client it is. He really won't be interested in putting his projects at risk for the saving of a couple of quid, which is probably going to be written off by the time taken to set all this up and manage it.

I would bet every new contractor has had this idea and not one of them did anything about it so back to contracting.

[northernladuk]

oh come on. Let the guy have a go.

You are even meaner than me

[DirtyDog]

Thank you for the help

Go for it - let us know how you get on.

[DirtyDog]

Wouldn't the OP have to register as an agency and more than likely not be able to avail himself of the FRS and thereby have more work to do/more to pay his Accountant?

Yes. But why let facts get in the way of an obviously brilliant idea

[stek]

Perhaps it's a loss leader so the OP can find what out everyone's rate is...