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Working for yourself is much harder: new md

6th February 1982
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Page 26, 6th February 1982 — Working for yourself is much harder: new md
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A redundant ex-transport manager won a tipper in a business competition. David Wilcox interviewed him six months later

A YEAR AGO Neil Gardiner was transport manager for a tap manufacturer. He is now managing director, admin manager, sales manager, driver and fitter for N. R. Gardiner (Haulage) Ltd.

The event that brought about this dramatic change in Neil Gardiner's life was that he won the BEN/IVECO Win a business competition. His prize was a brand new Magirus Deutz six-wheel tipper with which to go into business under his own name.

Looking back, Lady Luck seems to have been smiling on Neil. He entered the competition way back in October 1980 while still working as a transport manager. A victim of the recession, Neil was made redundant in the following April. A few days later he heard that he had won the competition — and a new livelihood.

That was all last spring. Neil finally took delivery of his Maggie six-wheeler (complete with X-registration) in August and was in business a few days later. I visited him at his home in Crawley, West Sussex, to see how his crucial first six months had gone.

To begin with, I wondered if he had been tempted to sell the Maggie brand new (it had a list price of around £32,000) and invest the proceeds. "It is a temptation, isn't it?" replied Neil, "But one of the cornpetition's conditions was that I must keep and operate the tipper for a minimum of two years."

In fact, Neil was not tempted to sell the vehicle anyway; he had always wanted to try his hand at running his own business. He told me that as an ernployee it was the wastage in Larger companies that used to annoy him most — "I would struggle to save £15 while someone else in the company would go and waste £500."

The BEN/IVECO competition was unusual in that the winner had a choice of prizes. All were a combination of IVECO vehicles to a value of over £30,000, so what made Neil choose the Magirus Deutz 232D 26FK six-wheel tipper?

He explained that he did not want the Fiat 170 unit and trailer on offer because the haulage business involves too many nights away — Neil is married with a young son. The other prizes all consisted of more than one vehicle, such as four Fiat Daily vans, and Neil ruled these out on the grounds that this would have meant employing other people to drive them, which he considered too risky in his very first venture into business.

"That only left the tipper, but I also knew that there was work for a tipper around here." Tho major project in the area is large development taking plac4 at Gatwick Airport, which is jus a few miles from Neil's Crawle) home.

Having won the vehicle, immediate problem was fin ance; a new business need some working capital. This hur die was overcome fairly easill because a representative of thi National Westminster Bank we: on the competition judgim panel.

Because Neil did not take de livery of the six-wheeler unti August, he had missed much o the prime tipper season (whe, the weather is good and buildim construction work is goini ahead) and so he lost no time ii getting started. Throughou August and September worked exclusively for one cus tomer, giving him some good steady work under his belt.

October was a wet month am that contract came to a halt. Ii retrospect this was no bad thim because it forced Neil to lool 31sewhere for work and estabish contacts among builders Ind other operators. He got into he habit of making a daily round )f phone calls late each ifternoon in search of work for he next day. Neil's wife usually ioes this for him and it can nvolve anything up to a dozen :ails. So far, something has almays turned up although it is Jsually just one day's work and io during November and De;ember Neil worked for dozens yf different people.

Neil estimated that about 75 )er cent of his work has been for )ther, larger tipper operators md only 25 per cent has been iirectly for the builder. Ideally he vould like to reverse this ratio Ind do most of his work for the )uilder.

While being sub-contracted by mother operator Ned has been ipproached by builders and offered work direct but he normally declines it — if he shortcircuits the system he will inevitably fall out with the operator for whom he was working and who would be a valuable long term contact. So Neil is steering a careful path to remain on good terms with all possible sources of work.

It has paid off. When I spoke to Neil early in the New Year he had failed to find work only twice since he had started. The snowy weather had put a stop to most if not all building, but he was hoping that the work at Gatwick would soon resume. This was particularly attractive because being so local it kept his dead mileage down to a minimum.

Crawley is fairly well placed from this point of view, situated as it is midway between London and the South Coast where much of the material originates. Sands and aggregates are his main loads, but Neil said he has carried virtually anything that will go in a tipper, apart from scrap iron.

His journeys have been similarly varied, covering most of the South east, with a few longer trips to Bristol thrown in for good measure.

Turning to the vehicle itself I asked Neil if the Magirus Deutz 232D 26FK 6+4 would have been his own choice had he paid for it himself. He admitted no, probably not — it's a premium qual ity six wheeler with a price to match. Having said that he's very pleased with his Maggie.

It shares a lot in common with the Magirus eight wheeler and has a derated version of the same 11.3 litre V8 air-cooled engine developing 155kW (207bhp) at 2,650rpm and 655Nm (483Ibft) torque. With the same cab as the eight-wheeler it's a comfortable, roomy tipper and well on top of the job when compared with lower spec six wheelers.

The disadvantage of such a sturdy six-wheeler is its weight and most tippermen worship the god payload. Neil's Maggie is equipped with Norde rubber suspension instead of the standard leaf springs which saves valuable pounds and he estimates it can manage a payload of about 15-151/2 tons, still a little less than some competitors.

However, Neil reckons that he makes up for this through the good performance of the Magirus. On the usual shortish trip Neil said he can invariably squeeze in an extra journey — he'll do six runs in the day while most of the others on the contract will do five. Neil also makes a point of getting onto the site as early as possible and doing his 'extra' run before there's too much traffic.

The Maggie is averaging a creditable 3 3.21it/ 1 0 Okm (8.5mpg), partially reflecting the care with which Neil is treating it — "I'm careful to keep it in the green sector".

So far it has been 100 per cent reliable — very important for a one-man, one-vehicle business — and Neil considers the reliability of the service that he offers one of his main selling points. He used to be a fitter and so looks after the minor points such as oil changes, booking it in to his nearest IVECO dealer for major services.

Neil had one criticism to make of the vehicle; its small fuel tank. He says he can squeeze in just over 40 gallons, giving a range of about 320 miles. This is adequate for most local work, but for the occasional longer distance trip it means that Neil, as an owner-driver without depot or bunkering arrangements around the country, has to rely on expensive diesel bought at roadside garages.

Neil Gardiner's Magirus is fitted with a 10cum (13cuyd) alloy Welmech body which is approximately 6.1m (20ft) long. This longer-than-average length has proved an embarassment on a couple of occasions; in the fully tipped position the body is very close to the ground and Neil has twice ripped off the tailgate while tipping.

Among the other local tipper operators' vehicles Neil said his new Maggie stands out and he admitted that this adds a certain pride of ownership — he enjoys driving it. It also gets him noticed and he has picked up some work through this.

Although he has been given the vehicle free of charge. Neil pointed out that he still has to allow for depreciation and budget for its eventual replacement. Because he is kept so busy in his first five months, the mileage has clocked up surprisingly quickly. In the BEN/IVECO' competition the expected annual mileage had to be estimated and Neil had put down 39,000km (24,000 miles). In fact, the actual figure looks like being double this amount.

One of the most common mis takes made by new, small businesses is to run into cash flow problems. In other words, you are paying your bills quicker than others are paying you. Neil was well aware of the danger here and is sticking to the golden rule of never giving more credit than is extended to him and has incurred no bad debts.

Surprisingly, he has found the larger companies have been prompt payers.

Neil has set aside Saturday mornings to do his paperwork and has converted his spare bedroom into an office. Understandably, he finds this side of the work very much more interesting than when he was doing it as a transport manager — "it's somehow more satisfying when you're doing it for yourself."

In an effort to keep administration costs down Neil is doing virtually everything connected with the business, employing his accountant on a time-spent basis rather than a per centage.

Part of the competition had been to say what he would do if business declines. Neil's answer had come out strongly against "offering discounts" — rate cutting. A good competition answer, but is it realistic? "To be honest I would find it very hard to survive on some of the rates being offered at the moment if I had bought the truck and had repayments to make," he said.

As it is, Neil reckons that financially he is in about the same position as when he was employed as a transport manager. If the summer goes well and Neil keeps as busy as he hopes, then he should be a lot better off than before. Because December is such a quiet month in the tipper world owing to the weather, Ne will probably work right throug the summer and autumn an take a winter holiday instead. H will de-tax the vehicle and in thi way will be able to take time o without missing too much bus ness.

Because he had been luck enough to win a £30,000 pit tipper, Neil half-expected to er counter a little resentment fror established owner drivers in th area.

"I could understand it. They'v probably worked for a compan for years and just about scrape enough money together to buy second hand tipper of their owl Then I come along with a bran new Magirus six-wheeler," h said.

In fact, there has been no suc at all. Neil said that othi owner-drivers have shown an ir terest in him and his vehicle an wished him well.

All in all, Neil has enjoyed III first six months of business an N. R. Gardiner (Haulage) Lt seems to be developing alon the right lines.

"Working for yourself is muc harder. I live with the busineE 24 hours a day. Even when finally sit down in the evenin it's never out of my mind," h said.

"I'm just about getting used t not knowing what I'm doing tc morrow. The hours are muc longer, too — I usually get up about 5.30am these days."

"But I think I would find it ver hard to go back to working fc someone else now."

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Locations: London, Bristol

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