Home help service

[Hattie11]

As many of us on here, I'm always mulling over different ideas of businesses to keep me busy whilst I'm also busy being a mum!

In the new year my youngest starts preschool, and I feel now is the time to start building up a business slowly, with a view to becoming a fulltime job once he starts school.

I have had several different management roles in childcare and community and support areas. Have seen first hand the poor standards of care offered to the elderly in their homes and the non existence of help with general tasks around the home.

I have a passion to be able to offer a cheap reliable service to local households who need it. Not personal care, but general tasks e.g. shopping, cooking, cleaning, moving furniture, changing bedlinen, general garden maintenance....the list could go on.

would love thoughts and suggestions.

I'm aware that my business head is not great -- the truth is I'd love to be able to offer the service for free if i was rich! --but surely that too is an important part of business, to be passionate?

I'm aware I'd need insurance and CRB (or whatever the new term is)... but where would a service like this sit in amongst the local authority services already supposedly supporting vulnerable people in their home?

thanks for reading!

Nothing to add, but am interested so marking my place

Are you looking at this being a job just for you, or for you to run a business with other people working for you?

While it seems a good/worthwhile idea, remember that having a cheap service means you can't pay yourself/staff much money. I would have thought that even minimum wage is likely to put the service out of reach of a lot of elderly people. I would say you need a lot of local research into how much people would be prepared/able to pay.

Hi thanks for the comments initially yes just work for me. With the view to building up staff in a couple of years if it seems viable - that in itself comes with more complications such as insurance petrol costs etc.
I know cheap is the fundamental problem with the businessman plan. But I do know LA services cost between 10 and 20 pound and the difference is I want to offer a very friendly and reliable service. Hence it just being myself initially, if and when staff are recruited that would be done with great care.

Is anyone in this field and can advise if there is any governing body I would need to register with. I don't think here

Forgive the break - my silly phone freezes and won't let me finish the last message!

I don't think there is a governing body yo register with as I wouldn't be offering personal care but if anyone in the know knows otherwise please correct me.

Hi Hattie11, what type of area are you in? I think quite a lot of the 'new' generation of elderly people are wealthier and could potentially afford more than minimum wage. Or they might have relatives who could chip in etc. A starting point might be to think about how you could be efficient etc. for example with doing their shopping for them - you'll be able to do more shopping for more people if you do a big online shop then distribute it out. You don't want to be going to the supermarket 5 times a week (which would take 5 hours probably) just to spend £10 each time if you can do one big order which would take an hour and then take it around as part of your standard routine for people.

Cleaners often cost around £10-12 per hour and I think this would be a sensible rate to play around with. You could also offer 'bundles' possibly so people could pay in bulk and get a slight discount for say purchasing 20 hours of support, or you could have a slightly more expensive rate for people who need help as a one of task (say furniture rearranging or a one off garden sort out).

Marketing will also be key - you will need to find the most effective way of advertising and promoting your services to your market. Do you have a local magazine? Shop windows? You could also target potential younger relatives by well targeted (for your area) web presence.

HTH :)

Thank you mrscog yes I like the bundle hours idea. And yes I'd thought about shopping in bulk. In fact I'd considered offering from a standard list of basics to simplify as well. This way a tick sheet can be given and pricing is made easier.
I live in a village and will target here first. But there are many surrounding villages and small towns to spread out to. But the benefit of working in the village is outgoings would be minimal as I could do visits on foot.
I have local noticeboards and will deliver leaflets in houses initially. I just want to be sure there's nothing important I'm missing in terms of insurance or governing bodies?
Thanks for chatting on here it does make me feel more inspired to make this real.