As you know paintingestimators.co.uk provide estimating services for painting contractors of all sizes, all over the UK.
Some are VAT registered and some are not.
The problem for any commercial painting contractor NOT VAT registered, is that when calculating your painting rates, because you can't claim the VAT back, you need to add the 20% VAT to your material purchase prices.
Now if you are NOT already VAT registered, it is highly likely that, compared to VAT registered painters, your material prices are quite high anyway. So to then have to add 20% to these to cover the VAT means that for commercial painting projects, you will struggle to compete with other VAT registered painters.
If however, you are a domestic painter, then NOT being VAT registered is an advantage as you will not need to charge your customer an additional 20% VAT so you will be competitive with other domestic painters.
So you need to make your choice: If you are looking to expand more into the commercial painting market, I'm afraid you will have to register for VAT. Remember, even if you are not currently at the threshold for VAT registration, you can opt to voluntarily register.
Happy estimating
Mark-Painting Estimator
www.paintingestimators.co.uk