Need advice on starting my own machine shop.

[Rogue]

EDITED: Sorry, just reread the original post - I thought you meant your workshop was your double-garage. I'll leave the first few questions in place in case it's useful for someone else but I appreciate they may not exactly apply to you

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So you'll be using part of your property for business purposes?

Have you checked that there are no restrictions on the property? A search on the land registry costs a few pound and should warn you about any restrictive covenants affecting the property (ie not to be used for business purposes)

Have you considered that part of your property may now attract business tax rather than council tax?

Have you discussed it with the insurance company assuming you have house insurance? You may need to alter the insurance as it would probably be invalidated by running that kind of business from home, especially considering the value of the equipment bought.
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Is there the potential that business customers will visit the location or that you will visit theirs? If so, have you considered Public Liability Insurance? As a subcontractor are you prepared (ie insured) to deal with claims that the component you made was somehow incorrect, causing damage to the customer's equipment/loss of profit etc?

I'd recommend a meeting with a decent accountant (who will be your new greatest love when they help you and your new greatest hate when you get the bill), and check if your bank has any advisors for small businesses.

There are a million questions you need to ask (and answer) that will apply to any start-up. Hopefully the answers aren't going to stop you proceeding, but you really need to make sure you've asked them.

The biggest problem with a business is rarely the actual business itself, it's all the paperwork and hoop-jumping that goes around keeping it legal.

All that being said and done, best of luck with the venture, I hope it works out well for you :tup: