Plan-It-design

FSB - Sponsorship Opportunity

2011-10-18T08:25:00.000-07:00

FEDERATION OF SMALL BUSINESSES
WEST LOTHIAN BRANCH ANNUAL DINNER
Deer Park Golf and Country Club
Friday 18th. November 2011, 7:00 pm - late
　
　
　
I am delighted to announce Beatlie School Campus as our chosen charity to benefit from this year’s annual event being held at the fabulous Deer Park Function Suite just off J3 M8. The school provides a holistic approach to the care and education of children with disabilities and their families within West Lothian. Education, health, social work and the voluntary sector work in partnership and on site to provide a comprehensive range of services for children with special needs from birth to school leaving age.
The dedicated staff at the school provides:

Child Development Centre
First Steps Playgroup
Pre-School Home Visiting
Social Work
Therapy Services
Physiotherapy
Occupational Therapy
Music Therapy
Speech and Language
School Nurses

I am positive, with your support, we will again be in a position to donate a healthy sum to our chosen charity. Sponsoring the event gives you a superb opportunity to elevate your business profile and support a worthy cause within our community at the same time.
Our special guest at the event is Alex Neil MSP who will address our members and update us on The Scottish Government’s initiative for Small Business. We congratulate Alex on his recent promotion to the Cabinet as Infrastructure & Capital Investment Secretary. His extensive portfolio covers Housing, Transport, Procurement, European Structural Funds, Scottish Futures Trust as well as Communities and Regeneration.
As we expect an attendance of over 100 members and guests representing businesses and organisations from across the region, we would like to offer you this unique opportunity to sponsor the event.

1 GOLD SPONSORSHIP £1000.00
To headline the event with your company name on display in the dining room
Your company name as headline sponsor on each menu cover at the event
Ten tickets to attend the event for your staff, colleagues or clients
Your company name mentioned and appreciated in our Regional Magazine VOICE* and on Twitter
　
15 SILVER SPONSORSHIPS £150.00
Your company name as a sponsor on each menu
Two tickets to attend the event for your staff, colleagues or clients
Your company name mentioned and appreciated in our Regional Magazine VOICE*
　
25 BRONZE SPONSORSHIPS £50.00
Your company name listed on each menu with special thanks
Your company name mentioned and appreciated in our Regional Magazine VOICE*
　
*VOICE circulation is currently 4,912 throughout the Lothian’s, Scottish Borders and Fife.
To purchase your tickets and sponsor the event, please visit:
www.eventelephant.com/fsbwestlothianannualdinner
or contact Jim Gardner Tel: 01324 623740, Mobile: 0776 112 1673, Email: jim.gardner@fsb.org.uk
　
Yours sincerely
　
Bruce Fairbairn
FSB West Lothian Branch Chairman

A New Garage

2011-04-18T15:54:00.000-07:00

Slide Show of a new garage being built.

What our clients have to say:

2011-04-18T14:14:00.000-07:00

Paul Kirkwood - Kirkbrae
“Plan-it transformed our living space. Bruce’s ideas worked out really well, and he took the whole project through from start to finish, with a minimum of fuss, and gave us plenty of good ideas, we are thrilled with the result.”

Kay Sieber - Redhall
"We were very nervous about having workmen in and out of our home for such a long time but are very glad we did. Altering our home was the solution to our moving house and we now have the house we would have chosen. Plan-It made this transition as pain-free as possible and with children and an elderly person in the house you can't actually put a price on that so I am very pleased with the service provided".

Walter H.S. Brown - Currie
"I can assure you that we would certainly use your services again, and would recommend your firm to anyone. Thanks once again for all your help".

Mr. & Mrs. Fennell - Corstorphine
"Fees charged were reasonable and in line with our expectations".

Mrs. Jones - Clermiston.
"I wanted to thank you very much for your efforts and expertise in getting our building warrant approved".

Federation of Small Business FSB

2009-10-22T04:25:00.000-07:00

The FSB is a true friend to SME’s, sole traders and all small business. It is a sleeping giant in the back ground of your day to day activities, but working tirelessly on your behalf at a political and administrative level. Then when you wake it up and invite it in to your business you will be protected by a wealth of expertise and service including:

Business Advice:
Tax, Insurance, Employment.
Personal Service.
Health & Medical, telecom, insurance.
Financial Service.
Credit, Factoring, IFS, Banking.

If you run a small Business this is the best £150.00* per year you will ever spend.
If you are in West Lothian and would like further information give me a call.

Bruce.

Before you build it . . .Plan-It.

* all information is subject to change and is provided here as General Information.

Search Engine Optimisation. SEO

2009-10-16T08:11:00.000-07:00

At this morning’s WLCM (16.10.09) I had a good long chat with Paul Doffman on SEO. Paul is advising that whist keywords, key phrases and content are extremely important for the correct working of your web site you can not stop there if your site is to be truly effective. For this you MUST form links with the web sites of relevant external sources. For instance the content of your pages has to include key words and phrases but also read as an expert source of information. You must then provide that information to other experts in your field to refer to. By doing this the other experts will send people from their site to yours via a link, Google will then reward your expertise and make you easier to find.
It does require relationship building and time, but THAT’S THE WAY TO DO IT.

Good Luck,

Bruce.

Before you build it . . .Plan-It.

Marketing and Public Relations.

2009-10-16T07:51:00.000-07:00

At this morning’s WLCM (16.10.09) I had a good long chat with Nigel Duncan and Mark Eyre on the principals of Marketing and Public Relations. Nigel is the Editor of FSB Publications and explained that Marketing on its own is a restrictive and expensive process. When coupled with Public Relations it is vastly more effective and far better value for money. He sited the example of a small add in a paper may cost £50 for 3cm x 3cm advert. However a story and better yet a picture will yield far better coverage and will serve to get your advert noticed. This needs to be worked on and relationships formed with editors/journalists but the time invested will be far more effective than any advertising campaign.
If you are not Public relations savvy then take professional advise but you MUST consider this in conjunction with your marketing campaign.
Remember “its not what it costs, but what its worth” that counts.

Good Luck,

Bruce.

Before you build it . . . Plan-It.

Bankruptcy and Receivership.

2009-10-16T07:15:00.000-07:00

At this mornings WLCM (9.10.09) Peter Wilson divulged some of the intricacies and even less well know facts of going into receivership and bankruptcy. I am not going to pretend that by listening in I have become any kind of authority on the matter but suffice to say there is a correct and methodical way for a business to go into receivership.

You may have thought it unlikely for any business to want to go into receivership but in fact it can (for big business) be used as a tool for negotiation. For small business I think it is sufficient to know there is a proper way to do it. So if you are considering receivership or bankruptcy seek professional advice, as it will save you a lot of money.

Quote of note “its not what something costs you should be asking rather, What is it worth.”

Good Luck,
Bruce.

Before you build it . . . Plan-It

Social Networking Strategy.

2009-10-16T06:52:00.000-07:00

Introduction.
On the 9th March 2009 E-business West Lothian, a Business Gateway Creation, hosted a lunchtime seminar on “Getting Started on Linkedin”. It was presented by the very useful Andy Gilpin and in itself was a great event. However it was only the embryo of what has become my Social Networking monster.

At that time I had a website which had remained static for a number of years and was used to simple point people towards for further information on Plan-It. I had also recently joined Linked in and had vaguely heard of Social Networking. I knew of Bebo and Facebook but had never visited them, probably for the same reason that many, many people are now refusing to enter the world of Twitter.

EBWL went on to host other lunch time sessions and indeed other e-business networking events and from them I have come to know Andy and indeed have received some great advise on Social Networking. The best single piece of advise was that my Social Networking must be stratagised. I have spent from March till now doing just that and this article is my way of sharing my strategy with you.

Strategy
You first of need to know why do you want to network. For me it is to:
1. Promote my business.
2. Keep up to date with the technology.
3. Turn Social networking into actual networking. (which is great for personal development).

You will have your own reasons and these should be identified.

I then decided to compliment my web site with a blog. I use my blog to post articles (this one) and other interesting/ relevant posting that I think can help my potential client group or industry colleagues to understand who I am, who my company is and give people the opportunity to visit my web site for further information. From the web site I can be contacted by phone or email.

You then need to get your message out there. To do this I twitter from an iphone.

On the iphone I have stored tweets in the Notes section. Each tweet has a short description and a link to an article on the Blog.

i.e WLCM http://plan-it-design.blogspot.com/2009/10/west-lothian-coffee-morning-wlcm.html

I then copy a stored tweet from time to time onto twitter which is then picked up by people following me on twitter. I also use the stored tweets to reply to other people and send email or Facebook postings.

So in short:

iphone -> twitter -> Client ->Blog -> Web site -> Me -> iphone.

This is a work in progress and no doubt will continue to be refined as time goes on.

I hope this can assist you in some small way.

Good Luck
Bruce.

Before you build it . . .Plan-It

West Lothian Coffee Morning WLCM

2009-10-16T04:23:00.000-07:00

This is a gathering of Small Business Owners and organisations with a Small Business interest in West Lothian. If this is YOU this is a must attend event. It is held each Friday morning at the Winter Garden in the Centre, Livingston. The brain child of Neo Recruitment (Claire Hammond) and Simple HR (Paul Hunter) the WLCM now regularly attracts between 30 – 50 people with such diverse business interests from high finance to knitting, architecture and magic.

The format is very informal, just a chat over a cup of coffee however the benefits are immense for small business and include:
 Development of ideas with like minded people.
 Ad hoc but invaluable mentoring in a diverse range of subjects.
 Free advice and simply blethering.

Its free and open to anyone so if you are interested just come along and join in. If you would prefer an introduction just give me a call.

For an idea of the great topics I have discussed have a look at the WLCM labels on my posts.

Good Luck,
Bruce.

Before you build it . . .Plan-It.

Home Extensions- Engaging a design consultant.

2009-10-06T01:36:00.000-07:00

You should invite a Building Surveyor or Architect or someone who has a professional knowledge of the building and design process to discuss your project in your home. This will be someone who can prepare plans and is actively involved in submitting applications to the local authority for home extensions. This consultant has the advantage over all other advisors of being able to offer you a design solution to meet your own needs and also give guidance on what is legally acceptable.

You should avoid consultants who do not carry Professional Indemnity Insurance. This is a sign that they are probably “moon lighting” and as such will not have your best interests first and foremost.
This insurance is mandatory from all the professional institutes and exists to protect you in the event of your consultant making a mistake. Any one offering these services without Professional Indemnity Insurance is telling you that they are already acting in an unprofessional manor.

You should also avoid consultants who do not specialise in this type of work. Many larger practices and some individuals simply can not deal with this type of work efficiently. In construction terms these are small works but in real terms are every bit as demanding of time and resources. As such the fee level does not allow some practices to operate at a profit and they will only accept this work as a last resort.

Having identified your prospective consultants you should invite them to your home.

Before you build it . . . Plan-It

Modern Door Widths

2009-10-06T01:35:00.000-07:00

The building regulation now stipulate that all rooms should be accessible through a door with a clear width of 800mm. This can be reduced to 775mm in certain circumstances but not many. The out come of this is wider passage ways, bigger doors and generally less living accommodation or more costs.
The purpose of these doors is a new word "visitability" meaning that anyone may visit any property without being restricted by lack of access.

Before you build it . . .Plan-It

FINANCIAL INCLUSION NETWORK (FIN)

2009-10-06T01:34:00.000-07:00

FIN is a network of Voluntary, Local Authority and Business organisations who have come together to assist all citizens of West Lothian with various financial matters. There objective is to ensure that all residents are aware of there financial choices and to promote access to financial advise, financial products and other services particularly for the most excluded social groups. Over 60 organisations are involved with FIN including Credit Unions, employability, welfare, health and financial literacies and Small Business Groups

For Further information contact The FIN secretary Janet Munday on 01506 633222

The Poets Journey

2009-09-14T00:20:00.001-07:00

The sheet is blank; my pen is still,
And there’s why! Do I want this page to fill?
I do not know and I do not care,
As I journey off to I know not where.

But one thing I do know and that’s how I feel,
Like a child, its exciting and almost unreal,
As the words start to flow and they start to makes sense,
With my licence for monsters and love and offence.

Inspired by a moment, my gift finds the rhyme,
Its nice to feel gifted its something that’s mine,
As the blank turns to lines and the rhythms unfold,
And a story emerges that has never been told.

Then a moment of greatness, the verse just above,
Will inspire me with passion, its some kind of love,
To continue my quest and print words out in rhyme,
Just for pleasure, its pleasing and works every time.

But the last verse is always the hardest you know,
Like the child, who will always want just one more go,
As I step off the ride and my feet touch the floor,
I am left with the feeling; I just can’t wait for more.

It's Only a Party

2009-09-07T02:12:00.000-07:00

From the Don to the Lizard
They descend in droves,
Harmonica, fiddle
Well prepared prose
In kilt and croc
Costume and cape
A library opens
The art takes shape
72 hours
Reading aloud
Pamphlets, books
Very proud
It's only a Party
Sal kids herself
But it's an international communion of the deities of wordsmithery
To the rest of us.

Bruce... 7.9.09

dedicated to Sally.

E-Business Analytics

2009-07-14T04:47:00.000-07:00

E- bus West Lothian, how has it helped,
It’s gave us the Shower Guys, and young Andy Gilp,
We’ve googled and twittered, and drank some fine wine,
Over breakfast and lunch it’s a heck of a time.

The network is growing the spiders are out,
The bounce rate is slowing as more of us tout,
What once was each month is now every week,
Or each hour of each day if you count all the tweets

We’ve met in the mornings, we’ve met in some pubs,
In cyberspace, coffee shops, hotels and clubs,
In offices, business parks, daytime or night,
The tap of the keyboard just always seems right.

Now there’s business card swapping, email and tweets,
Google and Apple and Bing with their treats,
We’re linkedin to thousands by laptop or phone,
And followed by millions from Auckland to Rome.

It started with blogging, when none if us knew,
How to hashtag or tweet and from then on it grew,
Now we optimise, post and have gadgets galore,
And speaking for me I just can’t wait for more.

Bruce... 10.7.09
Dedicated to Andy for all his hard work.

Fire escape windows

2009-06-29T08:24:00.000-07:00

Although Fire escape is not usually a concern for most two storey houses the regulations were changed in 2005 to introduce a means of escape from every room at first floor level.
A window ( nick named a dreep window) must now be installed to allow occupants to (dreep) escape in the event of a fire.

Down stairs loos.

2009-06-22T14:41:00.000-07:00

The Building regulations do not permit the removal of a down stairs toilet. These are installed in the current regulations to facilitate people with mobility issues. They were installed in the past for convenience. Either way you can no longer remove them.

Project 1060 completes

2009-06-19T14:54:00.000-07:00

Scared

2009-06-01T00:45:00.000-07:00

Care nothing at all for what others MIGHT* think,
And cast from your head all self doubt,
Be happy each day for the things that you have,
And be proud how you've brought them about.

Do something each day that scares you,
And some things you'll need to do twice,
You will then get to witness the death of your fear,
As your comfort zone grows which is nice.

Bruce... 29.5.09
*(remember: what others actually think is market research)

Corporate Manslaughter. YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS

2009-05-06T10:20:00.000-07:00

FIRST CORPORATE KILLING PROSECUTION UNDER NEW LAW

For the first time in the UK, a company has been charged under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007. The company, Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings, is accused of the criminal offence of corporate manslaughter following the death of one of its employees, who was killed whilst taking soil samples from a pit in September last year. The company's director has also been charged with gross negligence manslaughter and could face life imprisonment if convicted. Both the company and the director have also been charged with breaches of health and safety legislation.

This is the first prosecution under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act, which was brought in to make it easier to hold companies accountable for the death of their employees. A company will be guilty of corporate manslaughter if the way its activities are managed or organised causes a death, and amounts to a gross breach of the duty of care to the person who died. A substantial part of the breach must have been in the way its activities were organised by senior management. If convicted, the company will face an unlimited fine.

It is expected that this will be the first of many such prosecutions – since the Act came into force in April 2008, many other work-related fatalities are under investigation for corporate manslaughter. Commentators have also speculated that the construction and engineering sectors are particularly vulnerable, because of the number of workplace deaths that occur in them each year. In view of this, it has never been more important to ensure that your organisation is aware of the scope of its health and safety obligations and what it must do to comply with them.

Courtesy of MacRoberts solicitors e update of 30.4.09
Note: This is not legal advise and may not be relied on for any reason.

Tanked and Masked

2009-04-27T14:21:00.000-07:00

The girl sat on the gunwhales
all flippered, tanked and masked,
"what now" she said "do I just fall back"
the captain heard her ask.

Now normally a lovely man,
for years he'd been afloat,
"well if you fall forward you stupid fool
you'll still be in the boat"

Bruce...27.4.09

to Derek

Where do I start

2009-04-22T16:21:00.000-07:00

"I want to extend my house but where do I start."

Many people start by bringing in a builder because they want to know the cost first and foremost. The trouble with that is builders can't usually tell you what you will be permitted to do, nor can they give advise on cost without the plans being prepared. The correct place to start is with an experienced design consultant. This may be an Architect or Building Surveyor. They will be able to give an immediate reaction to any obvious problems that you may be heading for, initial advice on the procedures the council will make you go through and usually some budget guidance as well.

before you build it... Plan-it.

What is a letter of comfort

2009-04-22T16:18:00.000-07:00

Letters of Comfort were introduced in the 1990's to provide a kind of amnesty to people who had carried out unauthorised alterations prior to the Building Regulation update of 1990. It was meant as a temporary measure and essentially was a letter from the local authority which confirmed they would not be prosecuting you for the unauthorised alteration. Thus giving comfort and allowing a house sale to proceed. This temporary measure still exists some 19 years later. This has allowed some unscrupulous individuals to simply build without a building warrant and then apply for a cheap letter of comfort to allow house sales to proceed. Unfortunately, some local authorities now find LoCs to be so lucrative that they are very unwilling to stop the process. There is however a new procedure on the horizon "a completion certificate where no warrant was issued" this is more robust in terms of compiance with Building Regulation, more intrusive in terms of inspection and more expensive, so will not be popular with the public. It is coming though and should see the demise of the LoC. So if you have any unauthorized alterations to your home you would be wise to sort it out now whilst we still have the cheap and easy option.

before you build it . . .Plan-it

How to succeed

2009-04-17T12:55:00.000-07:00

"If you don't know where your going, any road will get you there" anon.

Pick your destination and choose it early, stick to the path come what may, its a long way but it's the road to success.

Letters of Comfort- prepare to say goodbye

2009-04-15T16:36:00.000-07:00

The "letter of comfort" that the councils have become very used to issuing to regularise unwarranted works are soon to be a thing of the past. A new procedure called " a completion certificate where no warrant was issued" has been introduced and will be the replacement. It is much more robust and requires full drawings as if a warrant were being issued. The drawing must represent "today's" regulations and the works can be opened up for inspection at the behest of Building Control.
Look out rogue developers!

Inspiration

2009-03-20T14:33:00.000-07:00

"Never pass up the chance to tell someone how good they are"
George Harrison

Workload

2009-03-16T16:11:00.000-07:00

Plan-It is currently working on its 1068th project and has 33 live projects at various stages of Planning, Construction or completion.

Garage Conversions

2009-03-15T15:11:00.000-07:00

This is a very popular way for families to increase their living space in a very cost effective way. The alteration always requires a Building Warrant but usually will not require Planning Permission. One thing to watch for is that the developers very often omit the foundation below the garage door. If this is the case a foundation will need to be formed to infill the garage door. It is not good practice to simply build off the garage floor slab.
Floor levels can sometimes be an issue especially in modern homes built after 2005. Houses since this time need to have a level access which has brought floor levels closer to ground level than in the past. The new floor will usually need 100mm Kingspan insulation and a chipboard floor finish. In some cases the concrete floor may need to be removed to fit it all in.
The conversion cost will range from about 7,000 to £10,000 +VAT (2009)
For further information give us a call, see our website http://www.plan-it-design.co.uk/

Scottish Building Regulations

2009-03-15T08:32:00.000-07:00