The Lemon Fool

I'm just toying with a name for my small "one man" business. It will be limited.

So it would be

My initials (say AN for example) followed by what I'd like some feedback on please

AN QS & Cost Consultant Ltd

The QS stands for Quantity Surveyor which is my profession. My thoughts behind the name are that anyone looking for a Quantity Surveyor will know it's shortened to QS, and if they don't know this I'm not sure I want to be approached by them. I've also assumed that the "Cost Consultant" part goes hand in hand with the QS bit. In other words those who know what a "QS" does will know that "Cost Consultant" infers "Construction Cost Consultant"

Thank you in advance

AiY(D)

Ok, just an opinion, but I think it’s too long and complicated.

Your customers may know what QS stands for, but does the grunt in their accounts dept? Use acronyms and you’ll be forever spelling it out letter by letter to people who want to send cheques or make BACS payments. Was that an En or an Emm? Word “and” or ampersand? Banking software checks these things these days, and may reject payments if it doesn’t match the account details exactly.

Pick something shorter and simpler. You don’t need a company name that describes everything you do. You need one that’s short, memorable and easy to spell. E.g. “Andrew Nobbs Ltd” or “Yorkshire Surveyor Ltd”

Gryff

Software engineer. Pet hate is programmers who use acronyms for variable names. PTTLB=7 might have meant something to the author when they wrote the code several years ago. But means nothing to anyone, not even themselves, when they come back to it years later.

gryffron wrote:Ok, just an opinion, but I think it’s too long and complicated.

Your customers may know what QS stands for, but does the grunt in their accounts dept? Use acronyms and you’ll be forever spelling it out letter by letter to people who want to send cheques or make BACS payments. Was that an En or an Emm? Word “and” or ampersand? Banking software checks these things these days, and may reject payments if it doesn’t match the account details exactly.

Pick something shorter and simpler. You don’t need a company name that describes everything you do. You need one that’s short, memorable and easy to spell. E.g. “Andrew Nobbs Ltd” or “Yorkshire Surveyor Ltd”

Gryff

Software engineer. Pet hate is programmers who use acronyms for variable names. PTTLB=7 might have meant something to the author when they wrote the code several years ago. But means nothing to anyone, not even themselves, when they come back to it years later.

Agreed.
Keep it simple, and difficult to get wrong.

It doesn't really need to explain what it's naming - most of its job will be to identify you among the others.

(Same goes for variables - especially those that look like MACROs )

I must admit I don’t care for the name much either. You appear to be trying to get across both who you are and what you do (Apple does neither) and the result isn’t exactly memorable.

There is an increasing desire to buy local services and I will guess that as a one man band most of your business will be within or close to that great county. So I too will suggest Yorkshire Surveyors Ltd, Yorkshire Quantity Surveyors Ltd. Or maybe something like White Rose Surveyors (I note White Rose Charted Surveyors already exists.) or something that has a connection to Yorkshire or the part of Yorkshire you are in. The Dales, Saltaire, Yorkshire Pudding

Alternatively if you shortened it to anqs then abrdn might think you are cutting edge and buy you out for a tidy profit

Best of luck with whatever you choose.

Pendrainllwyn

Or if you already have a good reputation in the industry - which you seem to - your name (not initials) and Surveyor. Presumably they already know you do cost consultancy too.

Pendrainllwyn

Thank you for your thoughts, which are certainly of interest. I understand why you would all suggest Yorkshire and I've no wish to sound disingenuous but I want to be able to cover the country. The vision is to work from home preparing Bills of Quantities.

A Bill of Quantities (BoQ) is a complete schedule of the works required to construct a building. The quantities (quants) are “taken off” (measured) from the drawings provided by the architects and engineers. There are rules to follow to prepare the BoQ. Once the BoQ is ready it can be distributed to the subcontract trades and their estimators can price the works up.

I have software, and have done some initial training with the company that provides it, that quants direct from drawings into the BoQ. It speeds up the process of preparing the BoQ and as such reduces the cost to produce it. It can cope with drawings provided in any format. So PDF, DWG or BIM for example.

The software goes much further. It has enhancements which will produce information that will be useful in certain circumstances. It can manage BIM drawings and the electronic information embedded within.

I need to become familiar with it and I “estimate” (sorry I had to throw that in) that it will take me a year to get familiar with it and be able to produce a BoQ profitably.

So my core vision is to produce BoQ’s. Perhaps using Yorkshire in the name of the business will create perceptions of geographical limitations. I don’t want to rule out London or Birmingham or Manchester as being places where I can get business from. Drawings can be acquired electronically and the need for meetings can be done through video conferencing.

I don’t have contacts in large areas of the country. My thought process was to include what I do in the name of the business in the hope that every now and again it pulls in a new customer through Google. I think I am going to need about 30 [repeat] customers and guestimate I need to replace 10% of them per year.

AiY(D)

Small point, I'd avoid using '&' in your company name, it will cause all sorts of silly problems with poorly written programs that handle web pages, emails and the like.

AsleepInYorkshire wrote: I understand why you would all suggest Yorkshire and I've no wish to sound disingenuous but I want to be able to cover the country. The vision is to work from home preparing Bills of Quantities.

No problem, it was just an example. It’s the principle of short and simple we’re all pushing for. Though white rose is quite good. Yorkshire people will know it’s local, southerners won’t understand. Might put off the Lancys though . So many big famous names are really short. Ford, Kodak, Yahoo, Google. That’s not a coincidence and long predates the internet. If people can easily remember the name, they’ll come back to you next time. You’ve got 7 words in your example. I (and apparently we) just think that’s too hard to remember, and spell out to clients/lawyers/accountants.

Gryff

I think I'd rather engage a quality surveyor, rather than a quantity surveyor.

No?

Pendrainllwyn wrote:There is an increasing desire to buy local services and I will guess that as a one man band most of your business will be within or close to that great county. So I too will suggest Yorkshire Surveyors Ltd, Yorkshire Quantity Surveyors Ltd. Or maybe something like White Rose Surveyors (I note White Rose Charted Surveyors already exists.) or something that has a connection to Yorkshire or the part of Yorkshire you are in. The Dales, Saltaire, Yorkshire Pudding

Quantity Surveyors Baht'at Ltd.

AsleepInYorkshire wrote:The vision is to work from home preparing Bills of Quantities.

Looks like you're safe ... for now at least!

Human: do you know what Bills of Quantities are?
AI: Yes, Bills of Quantities are documents that contain an itemized list of the materials, labor, and other items required for a construction project.
Human: can you prepare them?
AI: Unfortunately, I am not able to prepare Bills of Quantities at this time. However, I can provide more information about them if you would like.
Human: yes, tell me more
AI: A Bill of Quantities is a document used in construction projects to provide an itemized list of all the materials, labor, and other items necessary for the completion of a project. The document is typically prepared by a quantity surveyor who will work with the design team to determine the exact quantities, measurements, and specifications of materials needed. The Bill of Quantities also helps contractors and suppliers determine the cost of the project and determine the budget for it.

https://beta.openai.com/playground/p/default-chat

Tedx wrote:I think I'd rather engage a quality surveyor, rather than a quantity surveyor.

No?

If they get the same pay I'm up for it

But noting that one of my skills is to know what level of quality I am looking at and therefore, if it falls short, I don't certify payment

AiY(D)

'Labor'? Careful, some of your clients might be nit-pickers like me

Bill o' Materials Ltd - especially if OP's name happens to be William

i suggest you contact firms of solicitors in Yorkshire that act for developers. Normally, such can be found under the list of services provided. I get asked to do work throughout England and Wales simply by stating that coverage. i decline anything that doesn't interest me usually because the rent is below my minimum level for taking on work from new clients, or is too far away to be worthwhile.

Another place to look is to scour the planning register for application and recent approvals for development projects. only you would know at what stage your services are likely to be required so when you contact an applicant is for you to decide.

Unless you have to travel, i wouldn't have thought your whereabouts mattered to prospective clients, as much as your attention to detail and the cost of your service.

As for business name, use your real name; that's more likely to be remembered. In the property world, people do business with people.

AN QS & Cost Consultant Ltd

Anker Cost Consultants Ltd

AsleepInYorkshire wrote:I'm just toying with a name for my small "one man" business.

Nearer the start of the alphabet is better.

V8

Have you settled on a name, yet?

You some very useful advice from brightncheerful about generating prospects and a website address added to a business card is a relatively low cost investment. Setting up your own .co.uk domain is generally straightforward and getting someone local to create a simple website - initially might only be one or two actual webpages is unlikely to break the bank.

You might make contact today but if someone has your name and contact details (and can find out a bit of information about you, your experience, etc) it might be two or three years down the line before contact and possibly work emerges. That's the nature of quite a few professional services in my experience.

Good luck

modellingman