How Much A Man And Van Earns (And Factors That Affect It)

09 Feb 02:09h / Anthony King

If you enjoy the open road and like to do a bit of manual labor, then a Man With A Van small business may appeal to you. You also may think that they could earn quite a lot.

You can’t just work on what they get paid per hour but also take into consideration what their expenses are.

If you are wondering how much do man with a van make, then the answer is between £60 to £100 an hour depending on how many individuals accompany the van and how large it is.

You will need to consider other factors that will lower this number, like insurance, tax, maintenance, traffic, time, and a well-established business.

Do you know all the expenses that come with operating a Man With A Van service? Besides the ones mentioned above, there are a few more, and they can really decimate a Man With A Van’s earnings. Let’s review them all.

How Much Does a Man With A Van Earn?

You might have seen many vans in your neighborhood sporting the “Man With A Van” sign. If you are unsure what they do, they are individuals that offer self-employed service to help people (their potential customers) with removals (waste), house clearances, and deliveries.

Now, if you’ve ever used this type of service, you may be scratching your head and doing the math trying to figure out what they earn because this type of job might just appeal to you, and you may think that you could make a substantial amount of money.

What you and most people will typically do is calculate what you are paying your Man With A Van service average hourly cost and then try and guess how many jobs they would perhaps take on a day and try to multiple these figures and then come up with some exorbitant amount.

However, there are many factors to consider in terms of expenses when trying to calculate how much these types of services actually earn.

Let’s first see the rates for these van services and then break down what factors to consider in terms of time and expenses that will cut into the profit margin.

What is a Man With A Van’s hourly rate?

Let’s start with the “official” hourly rate of a man with van service charges. If you navigate to Chekatrade, you will be able to search for this service in your area and request a quote.

The standard hourly rate that you will typically receive is dependent on the size of the van and how many individuals there are accompanying it;

One person with a van charges approximately £65 an hour.
Two people with a van rise to around £80 an hour.
Three people with a van tops about £95 an hour.

Note that these prices are for medium-sized vans; a larger van size has to be considered because owners with larger vans will typically charge more because they can carry additional and more oversized loads.

Well, you may be thinking, that’s a lot of money for delivering a few items around town, and if that service does ten deliveries a day, that could equate to £650 pounds a day, that’s £3,250 a week and if you work 50 weeks a year that would be an astonishing £162,500 a year.

The answer of this question may vary depending upon the service you are delivering such as transporting goods, waste removal or any other service.

Factors that will lower the earnings for a man with van service

Now before you go out and purchase a van because you are all stary-eyed and have multiple van business ideas, you need to consider the other elements that will substantially lower this number.

1. Time

Consider that the job could take hours to complete, and depending on where that is, you may not be able to offer your service to other residents in the specific area that you typically cater to.

2. Prominent business

Thinking that a Man With A Van service accommodates up to ten different jobs a day is a bit much. Perhaps this could occur once or twice, but the fact of the matter is you are more likely looking at two to three jobs. This is amplified if the Man With A Business Van is not well known.

3. Traffic

Traffic is another factor to consider. Some areas in the UK are congested most times of the day, and being stuck in traffic will be part of the job. Traffic means less time to complete a job, and less time equals less money.

4. Expenses

Expenses are going to be the element that really cuts into the profit of a Man With Van businesses. There are a substantial amount of costs that they have to cover.

Man With A Van vehicle costs

If you don’t have a van and are thinking about starting this type of business, a new van can run you anywhere between £15,000 and £30,000. If you don’t have the kind of money, there is always the option to rent, and that will cost approximately £150 to £250 a month.

Man With A Van insurance cost

The insurance for a Man With A Van service is brutal and is not considered by many. There are actually many different types of insurance coverage you need for this type of service, that include;

Public liability insurance
Tools & equipment insurance
Commercial vehicle breakdown insurance
Standard van Insurance
Goods in transit insurance

You might have forgotten, but you don’t want to be on the hook if you accidentally drop a client’s precious vase that has been in their family since the Victorian era.

To get an estimate of how much the insurance will be that covers all of this, you can check out Fastquote here for specific amounts.

However, courier service with one vehicle that covers £50,000 worth of goods and has a £5 million liability will cost over £315.

Man With A Van petrol (gas) costs

Petrol prices rarely ever go down, and this type of service spends all of its time on the road. Depending on how far they travel every day petrol could add up in a big way.

Man with van road tax costs

Road taxes are almost never considered. In 2021 the high-emission vehicles tax (VED) was raised, and if you own a van, this means you are going to be shelling out more for tax. Here is the breakdown of the emissions tax for a van.

Engine size	12 Months costs (Single 12 month payment in Pounds) (£)
Less than 1549 cc	170
Over 1549 cc	280

Man With A Van vehicle maintenance costs

Remember that driving for up to eight hours a day five times a week and hauing large and heavy cargo is going to put stress on the vehicle eventually, and wear and tear will occur more so on a van than on a regular car because of the nature of the job.

You will have to consider:

Van service
Tires
Parts
labor

Man With A Van income tax costs

Lastly, you will have to consider paying income tax. A Man With A Van is a service and a legitimate one. This means you will have to give a portion of your revenue to the UK government, whether you like it or not. Income tax can vary and is situationally specific.

If you would like to look at what the rates are and what you should be paying, check that out here.

Conclusion

Even though a Man With A Van service can earn anything from £60 to £100, there are many elements that will cut into that revenue. There are too many to break down and to give a valid and clear rate of what a Man With A Van service would make.

However, if you go through our checklist and calculate the averages based on your situation, you would be able to get a result that is actually close to correct.

Lastly, these types of jobs don’t ever pay that much unless taken very seriously, but they are a good source of additional income.

Visit us at Transport Executive for more articles like this.

References

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=92&t=742243
https://www.quora.com/How-much-can-a-man-with-a-van-earn-in-the-UK
https://www.simplybusiness.co.uk/knowledge/articles/2021/08/how-to-start-a-man-and-van-business/
https://www.anyjunk.co.uk/blog/2020/02/12/man-and-van-guide/#:~:text=A%20man%20and%20van%20service%20typically%20move%20items%20from%20A,to%20a%20waste%20disposal%20site.&text=Local%20man%20and%20van%20services,the%20service%20in%20their%20area.
https://www.confused.com/car-insurance/guides/uk-car-tax-bands-explained
https://www.checkatrade.com/
https://www.gov.uk/income-tax-rates