Change of career direction

C

creditworthy

Registered User
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Good afternoon ,

Can I please ask for some pointers as I begin the process of a change of residence and career ... my situation is as follows and I would appreciate advice on the best options and questions to ask the council and accountant in the coming months .

I own my own house outright and have inherited a property which is derelict , which I would like to renovate.

1. To avail of the grant for house refurbishment , the renovated property would have to be my primary residence. What is the process in declaring this my PPR- whenever that building work gets completed ? I intend keeping my own house and a family member may move into it in time .

2. In addition , I would like to run a business from the property , either from the main house or build on a purpose built separate area for this . I have made initial enquiries from our local Leader office around the viability of this particular business being established ( self employed - and running a holistic therapy practice or a hub type centre where different therapists can rent a space and run workshops etc ) and also the eligibility of getting a grant towards setting up such a business . I have yet to hear back on that.

I have been a PAYE worker for 32 years and really would like to use my skillset now in a different career - although looking likely that I will need to keep going for a while yet to pay for all of this ! I have about 100k which I could invest in the project . Having been a taxpayer for so long , I would like to now avail of some of the supports available !

I would really appreciate any observations you may have or advice regarding relevant questions to ask that I will not thought of , to add to my own extensive list !
Thank you .
 
I forgot to mention that I will have a lump of around 80k to put towards it also and borrow some ..
 
I dont think Leader or Enterprise Board will fund you. Have you done financials? Looked at targets, done a business feasibility plan? There will be planning on the business use bit.
 
ThisisMax said:
I dont think Leader or Enterprise Board will fund you. Have you done financials? Looked at targets, done a business feasibility plan? There will be planning on the business use bit.
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Hi ,
I am at the absolute beginning stage so I`ve everything to do ! I`ll start by looking into the planning requirements and learn as I go along . It`s all a learning experience .
Thank you .
 
creditworthy said:
1. To avail of the grant for house refurbishment , the renovated property would have to be my primary residence. What is the process in declaring this my PPR- whenever that building work gets completed ?
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You really need to check with whichever body is offering the grant.

If the scheme is restricted to your PPR, it may be intended for properties that are already inhabited rather than for those which require more substantial work.

There may be others schemes aimed specifically at restoring derelict properties.
 
You don't declare it your PPR. It either is or isn't. In simple terms your PPR is normally the property that you own that you live in full time or normally.
creditworthy said:
2. In addition , I would like to run a business from the property , either from the main house or build on a purpose built separate area for this .
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If the existing property is classed as residential then this almost certainly requires planning permission for change of use.

This might be of use in this context.

Starting a business

Outline of what you need to know if you are thinking of setting up a business.
www.citizensinformation.ie

The National Enterprise Hub

The National Enterprise Hub brings together information and resources on over 250 government supports available to Irish businesses.
enterprise.gov.ie
 
ThisisMax said:
I dont think Leader or Enterprise Board will fund you. Have you done financials? Looked at targets, done a business feasibility plan? There will be planning on the business use bit.
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The may fund you initially for a feasability study, grant for a website and small things like that. More importantly at this stage, they do some good courses on running your own business which you should try and sign up for. After that, grants tend to be geared towards taking on staff

I'd not worry about the grants at this stage, use them as a knowledge source
 
They wont fund it, its a professional service- ineligible. Business course wont be available as they wont be an EB client.
 
ThisisMax said:
They wont fund it, its a professional service- ineligible. Business course wont be available as they wont be an EB client.
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Partially correct Your local LEO is designed to to support any and all businesses with less then 10 employees and they do not discriminate on the type of business for such courses, or at least not where I live. EB is not LEO, one of LEO's aims is to hand it's clients over to EB and 2 main criteria for that is that it must be export driven and have more then 10 staff.

As for services businesses, it depends on the business. They won't support a new accounting or legal practise opening up in a town but will support a start up that is, for example, providing security services in IT

Web vouchers for businesses (Capped at 3k) for website dev are less restrictive then normal grants
 
Not correct.
They have to discriminate. They support manufacting and services but not personal services, gambling or healthcare.
EB are now all LEO - that happened in 2014. There are no Enterprise Boards now - All Local Enterprise Offices.
Leo are a stream to onboard businesses who have export potential to Enterprise Ireland.
Web vouchers, support & business courses are all dependent on status of the applicant - in this case the applicant would not be considered as its personal services.
I am familiar with above as I worked as a grants officer with a LEO and also contributed to policy nationwide on how to transition to LEO's in 2014.
 
ThisisMax said:
Leo are a stream to onboard businesses who have export potential to Enterprise Ireland.
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The LEOs are much more than that. They also support businesses that operate exclusively within Ireland, with no exclusion of businesses offering professional services.

Once registered, support can be by way of one-to-one mentoring, subsidised training programmes, networking events, seminars etc. They also issue grants in the way of online trading vouchers that can be used for website development (although it still works out quite expensive).

 
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Its been a long, hot day. So I will be brief....
Yes, they do lots of things but their proimary objective is getting businesses to be EI clients. Of course lots of businesses have no aspiration for doing business outside of Ireland and there are supports for them.

'Priority must be given to enterprises in the manufacturing or internationally traded services sectors which over time can develop into strong export entities and graduate to the Enterprise Ireland portfolio'

Exclusion of businesses offering personal or professional services - this is an exclusion. ( I know this because I was involved in drafting this for national level)
'This grant aid does not support those areas such as retail enterprises, personal services (eg hairdressers, gardeners, creches etc), professional services (accountants, solicitors etc), construction/local building services, as this is considered to give rise to unacceptable deadweight (where the project would have proceeded anyway) and/or displacement (where the projects imply displace business from other players in the market)'

Deadweight and displacement are key grant considerations. Exclusion above includes most retail, health, beauty and key considerations are around displacement/ replication.

You cant avail of supports if you are a professional or personal service as I said a few times above.....

'Ineligible Businesses
Enterprise Ireland / IDA / Údarás na Gaeltachta clients
Domestically focused retail, personal services, professional services and construction services.
Are operating in the coal or steel sectors.
Are involved in activities that Local Enterprise Offices considers as ineligible or as involving an unacceptable reputational risk. Ineligible activities include activities relating to:
The gambling sector, including "gaming" (as defined in the Gaming and Lotteries Act 1956)
Adult entertainment
Tobacco and tobacco related products.
spamspamspam-based products which are not authorised as medicines'

SOURCE: https://www.localenterprise.ie/Discover-Business-Supports/Financial-Supports/Eligibility-Criteria/

The actual number of valid projects that progress to grant offer is relatively small.
I hope this clarifies.
 
It does. Because it’s significantly different from your earlier advice, the thrust of which was that they existed only for the benefit of export oriented companies that had potential to progress to EI.

The number of LEO companies that progress to EI is minuscule and if they relied on this cohort to justify their existence, they would be considered a failure .
 
Sometimes I wonder why I post on this site. Your post was incorrect. I pointed that out. You then decided to try to divert from that by being pedantic on detail.
Best of luck.
 
ThisisMax said:
Sometimes I wonder why I post on this site.
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You’re not alone
ThisisMax said:
Your post was incorrect. I pointed that out.
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Nothing I said was incorrect. You stated in #10 that the OP wouldn’t be eligible for a business course.

I’m a client of LEO myself and some of the participants on the courses I’ve been on have been in occupations not unrelated to the OP’s proposed venture. I don’t think the OP would be automatically excluded as you confidently stated.
 
Look, they dont support personal services OK. If your local board do then great. Im reading off the official agreed terms which I partly wrote.
For the record you were incorrect:
'with no exclusion of businesses offering professional services' - thats incorrect, OK.

'support can be by way of one-to-one mentoring, subsidised training programmes, networking events, seminars etc. They also issue grants in the way of online trading vouchers that can be used for website development (although it still works out quite expensive)' Thats incorrect, if you are not an eligible sector business you cant register.

Thats as much as Im contributing to this thread as it seems you cant accept or understand the facts as I simply laid them out. Replies from you Im hiding from here on in.
Best of luck with your business idea.
 
Not in the real world. But hey, it’s nine years since you were part of it. Policies and interpretations evolve.

In my experience, the focus has been on supporting businesses, regardless of enterprise sector. For business courses involving relatively low levels of financial support, it’s unrealistic and uneconomic to insist on proof of avoidance of displacement/deadweight.
ThisisMax said:
Best of luck with your business idea.
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Thanks
 
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I've a current involvement. Moving companies to EI is an aspiration but the real priority is job creation firstly and foremost, regardless of what the guidelines state

Assuming a company is structured properly, has it's tax affairs in order and meets a number of other criteria, the other main consideration is displacement, namely they won't give a grant for Company A to employ someone if Company B goes out of business as a result.

They will support retail under the online voucher scheme and I've seen some food retailers given grants to support L&D for specific retailers.
 
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