Business Plan

[beefdog]

hi guys, im currently employed as a MIG/TIG welder but looking to start my own company doing gates and fencing. My career so far has consisted of fabricating stainless catering equipment and food technology so don't have experience with gates and fences although I am definitely qualified to do so. im shouting out for any help, suggestions, things I may need to know about design, correct materials, best prices, problems people may have had. Really just any comments to help me along with my business plan would be really appreciated.

Thanks

 

[marlinspike]

I would have a look on eBay at the designs and prices of other manufacturers. How long would it take you to make what they are making and could you make a living charging what they charge?

 

[oddbob]

It's not really my field, but I do use these people for various bits and pieces and I would've thought you'd find them a useful source of pretty much everything you'd need.

 

[cumbriasteve]

I have done it off and on for many years:

There is a market for top quality work, the rest of the market is flooded with cheap offerings, some of them I have no idea how they make for the money.

Remember you can get a massive fall in custom in the winter months, having an alternative all year product is protection against that.

There are certain safety criteria for railings etc that protect from fall from height, so a good read up on the regs will keep you right there.

So basically:

Don't do cheap work.. it's hard to get out of that bracket once in it.
Supply galvanised.. you won't get complaints in 6 months about rust
Take a big deposit to cover the material at least.. the worse you can then loose is your time.
Try it part time and build up to full time instead of a big leap.
Get good liability insurance
Go on the free HMRC course that advise on what you can claim against (they are very good)

 

[Kent]

Don't jump into it head first on nothing but hope and confidence if its the first go on your own. Even the best ideas fail! Frankly you need to o a few as this is the first thing clients will ask " have you done any near me?", "were can I see your work?" Be honest don't blag a few pictures off the net and bluff through that. Catering Fab work in S/S is nothing too similar (and I have done both in the past). You honestly do need to actually makes some gates before you go it alone, change you job perhaps? Get to learn the wrinkles and grab contacts while being paid ?

A business plan needs writing, its always a work of fiction but the bank will want to see one before they will open you a basic account in a new company name. Its basically just a sales prediction month by month with expenses. They are not actually too bothered if it don't come as shown as long as you aint way under or way over your plan mainly they want to see its been thought through, you have the skills to manage it and your not just dreaming. Businesses fail by either doing too little or by doing too much, both lead to an empty bank account.

You will take out less money than you do now as a PAYE fabricator in your first year (no ifs or buts on that one, sorry ), after that it depends growing businesses and order books gobble up money and leave little for the boss till its stabilised. Its not just buying the stuff (and I agree with Dan on deposits) its the tooling, premises, transport, insurance, professional fees, employing others, advertising etc.,etc

 

[beefdog]

thanks everyone for your comments so far, appreciated.

 

[Wedg1e]

From my one visit to a gates/ fencing place I'd say the most useful bit of machinery you need (after a welder!) is one of those hydraulic crop/ punch things (Geka Hydracrop springs to mind). Otherwise you'll be drilling holes till you're in a box.

 

[dannyp]

you'll need an ironworker, it's not optional, drill 1 hole punch 1 holethat should convince you. if not saw or grind a it of some flat , then shear some flat

 

[winchman]

I have done it off and on for many years:

There is a market for top quality work, the rest of the market is flooded with cheap offerings, some of them I have no idea how they make for the money.

Remember you can get a massive fall in custom in the winter months, having an alternative all year product is protection against that.

There are certain safety criteria for railings etc that protect from fall from height, so a good read up on the regs will keep you right there.

So basically:

Don't do cheap work.. it's hard to get out of that bracket once in it.
Supply galvanised.. you won't get complaints in 6 months about rust
Take a big deposit to cover the material at least.. the worse you can then loose is your time.
Try it part time and build up to full time instead of a big leap.
Get good liability insurance
Go on the free HMRC course that advise on what you can claim against (they are very good)

Some very good advice, I have ran a couple of small businesses over the years.
First two things are a good accountant and Insurance for product liability/ public liability.
I would do it part time and aim for the high end of the market
Build your own web site, we used these after a recommendation from a web designer.
https://www.lcn.com/web_hosting
If you can use word you can have a professional site in a week of spare time when you register the Serif software they try to flog you a book, if you buy it its excellent and will have you up and running in no time, if you don't build your own then it will cost you for every little alteration.
Know your costs, one co we ran in 1989 cost £1760 of sales per week just to break even, so it can be hard
In the current climate I would run it part time and keep the day job, if it gets busy take some one on to build them ( best if they are just a sub contractor) and keep the day job, remember most people will want them fitting evenings and weekends to avoid a day off work.
So what would you do in the winter?

 

[GrumpyOne]

A business plan needs writing, its always a work of fiction

Before my accident and the need to retrain I was a business transformation consultant for twenty odd years and I have helped write literally hundreds of business plans and completed thousands of hours of due diligence.
I agree with Kent that a business plan is an essential document without which you will get nowhere, but I have to disagree with him about it being a work of fiction, it should be as accurate a document as is humanly possible to get. A business plan will help you decide if there is actually a need for your services or products in your chosen area, it will help identify your customers and importantly your competitors, who are also chasing your potential customers, and allow you to forecast how much revenue it will be possible to generate from those customers.
Don't fool yourself in to thinking there are customers out there just because you think there are, you need to make sure before you start to trade, that is the biggest mistake small businesses make on start-up, not doing market research.
If you haven't done so already, I would get down to my local Business Gateway, enterprise office or whatever it is called now and ask for help, they run free courses, usually in an evening or Saturday morning, on everything from book keeping, PAYE, marketing to how to conduct market research. There might be grants available for you to help get started, take on employees or buy capital equipment.
Identify your customer and how many customers you have in your area, then you can forecast (the hopefully accurate fiction part) how much revenue you can expect to generate per annum, once revenue is forecast you can build the rest of your cash flow forecast which will tell you if your idea is viable or not, before you spend any money. Fail to plan, plan to fail.


Sorry if I sound preachy but I would rather you thought I was a C*** than failed in your new venture.

 

[GrumpyOne]

Your local business Gateway is:

West Lothian Connected
The Centre Almondvale South
Livingston
EH54 6NB
01506 777 400

If you sign up with them they will assign you a consultant who you can ask for help, and they are running a free business planning course on the 26th May, http://www.bgateway.com/local-offices/west-lothian


It's a small world, before moving to Aberdeen I lived in Murieston village

 

[julianf]

A business plan needs writing, its always a work of fiction but the bank will want to see one before they will open you a basic account in a new company name. Its basically just a sales prediction month by month with expenses. They are not actually too bothered if it don't come as shown as long as you aint way under or way over your plan mainly they want to see its been thought through, you have the skills to manage it and your not just dreaming. Businesses fail by either doing too little or by doing too much, both lead to an empty bank account.

From personal experience, the above is not accurate.

My experience -

Short visit to a pre-booked appointment at the bank, with the certificate of incorporation (or whatever its called) - filled out the forms, and that was that.
The most that was asked of me was the market sector, and i think that was just for the pull-down menu on the computer.

...but then i did not want to borrow money. They still signed me up to a company credit card, which i never used, and then cancelled anyhow.

Ive certainly never written a business plan for anyone.

 

[Kent]

From personal experience, the above is not accurate.

My experience -

Short visit to a pre-booked appointment at the bank, with the certificate of incorporation (or whatever its called) - filled out the forms, and that was that.
The most that was asked of me was the market sector, and i think that was just for the pull-down menu on the computer.

...but then i did not want to borrow money. They still signed me up to a company credit card, which i never used, and then cancelled anyhow.

Ive certainly never written a business plan for anyone.

Welcome to the new world of banking, a lot has changed! try just opening a new account at a bank these days post Terrorism act and banking crash it took my wife (a professional chartered accountant actually a fellow of the institute of chartered accountants and FD of a large FE establishment) about 3 months to set one up for her brownie pack. When I went to the Nat West who I have banked with for about 30 years and have perhaps five accounts with currently they wanted me to wait 6 weeks for an interview - I went to the Yorkshire there are no loans or overdrafts involved with my latest business . Now eight to ten years ago the nat west opened me a ltd company bank account on the day without wishing to see a plan and spent 30 mins trying to persuade me to sign up for overdraft facilities I didn't want or in fact need, theres a contrast for you (non the less I had a plan)
I have been self employed for about 25 years have bought and sold and built quite a few companies in that time a lot has changed like I say. Anyone who starts a business without a plan is basically planning to fail as inaccurate as they might be the fact is there is a plan and a plan can change but it like they say "fail to plan- plan to fail". Its like std operating procedure in the Forces the enemy tend to know them but it is at least a plan to start with and then we rely on good leadership and training.

 

[Kent]

Before my accident and the need to retrain I was a business transformation consultant for twenty odd years and I have helped write literally hundreds of business plans and completed thousands of hours of due diligence.
I agree with Kent that a business plan is an essential document without which you will get nowhere, but I have to disagree with him about it being a work of fiction, it should be as accurate a document as is humanly possible to get. A business plan will help you decide if there is actually a need for your services or products in your chosen area, it will help identify your customers and importantly your competitors, who are also chasing your potential customers, and allow you to forecast how much revenue it will be possible to generate from those customers.
Don't fool yourself in to thinking there are customers out there just because you think there are, you need to make sure before you start to trade, that is the biggest mistake small businesses make on start-up, not doing market research.
If you haven't done so already, I would get down to my local Business Gateway, enterprise office or whatever it is called now and ask for help, they run free courses, usually in an evening or Saturday morning, on everything from book keeping, PAYE, marketing to how to conduct market research. There might be grants available for you to help get started, take on employees or buy capital equipment.
Identify your customer and how many customers you have in your area, then you can forecast (the hopefully accurate fiction part) how much revenue you can expect to generate per annum, once revenue is forecast you can build the rest of your cash flow forecast which will tell you if your idea is viable or not, before you spend any money. Fail to plan, plan to f


Sorry if I sound preachy but I would rather you thought I was a C*** than failed in your new venture.

My previous field was sales and also consultancy / training . As a salesman I regularly blagged my manager , as a manager I regularly blagged the regional and as a regional I regular blagged the directors, as a director a regularly blagged anyone who might listen. BUT I had a plan .
You wont ever get that far with a plan as the competitors will react and financial and political situations change, when an opportunity arises you go with it, when a door closes or the room is found to smell you need to open another. Like I say "Std operating proceedures" I am actually on plan or slightly ahead of it but its come in all different ways and rates of flow than the plan I wrote for the bank (that's the fiction bit we have no crystal ball and if we did we should spend all day staring at our balls instead of getting out there making it happen)