F1wannabee
Plastic
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2018
Hello All,
First, I just wanted to say thank you. This forum has been a wealth of info and has been very helpful to me already.
I currently have the opportunity to buy an existing fab shop. My father has know the owner for a very long time and I actually worked for him when I was 17 for awhile doing basic shop labor. The owner has a good reputation and is a terrific fabricator but not the best business person. They show around $100,000 in gross annual sales with maybe $40,000 showing as profit. In addition to that, the owner is pocketing 20-30k per year in cash jobs. The owner has agreed to say on in purely a designer/fabricator role for the next 12 months as the business transitions over to me. I do not have his skills and would hire another lead fabricator once the year passes. A few of my thoughts and concerns are listed below;
1 - He is currently doing ZERO marketing. No website, no listings, no referral programs in place, etc. All his customers are long time repeats or word of mouth referrals. By adding in a nice website and hitting targeted online marketing, I think revenues could be brought up by around 25% pretty easily and in a short amount of time. The only possible downside is we may not be able to initially handle the increased workload.
2 - He is out of room at the shop. I want to put a shipping container on the side of the building and use that for material storage and equipment that is not frequently used in order to bring in some additional automated equipment and make the work flow a bit better.
3 - Would like to convert over to solar power to get rid of long term electric bills.
4 - The shop is currently on his home property. I would not be purchasing either building, but all of the shops equipment (the equipment alone is worth 100k+), customers and "goodwill". I would have to personally move as well to a location where I could have a large freestanding shop on my personal property. I don't think the business can support rental or lease payments for the building right now.
5 - I'm 36 and have a lifelong background around motorsports and general fabrication. I have been in financial sales up until this point and find myself beyond unfulfilled. I hate not having total control over my current business and the work environment has changed over the past 2 years. I feel it's time to do my own thing. This seems like a solid opportunity to me, as I can purchase the business and all equipment for $100,000. I have revenue coming in from day 1 and have plenty of ideas to cut costs along with bringing in additional work (motorsports - current owner builds race car chassis, but has not expanded outside of 1 class. We have strong opportunity in the market to branch out to other forms of motorsports. In addition to that, I was thinking of remote welding/repair, free pickup and delivery of parts within a 25 mile radius, general expansion of commercial and retail jobs). I think we can reach this market by way of some pretty basic online marketing.
6 - I do have help and support from family
7 - The biggest item holding me back, is my financial responsibility to my family. I currently work 30 hours a week, have pretty much total control over my schedule and make good money with benefits. The problem is I'm at the point that I hate the job and don't want to pick up the phone. I think just going to another employer in a similar industry is going to land me in the same place, so one of the few options as this point is to go out and do my own thing.
I value any and all input. If you have questions please ask. If you have feedback please give it. Thank you all again in advance!
First, I just wanted to say thank you. This forum has been a wealth of info and has been very helpful to me already.
I currently have the opportunity to buy an existing fab shop. My father has know the owner for a very long time and I actually worked for him when I was 17 for awhile doing basic shop labor. The owner has a good reputation and is a terrific fabricator but not the best business person. They show around $100,000 in gross annual sales with maybe $40,000 showing as profit. In addition to that, the owner is pocketing 20-30k per year in cash jobs. The owner has agreed to say on in purely a designer/fabricator role for the next 12 months as the business transitions over to me. I do not have his skills and would hire another lead fabricator once the year passes. A few of my thoughts and concerns are listed below;
1 - He is currently doing ZERO marketing. No website, no listings, no referral programs in place, etc. All his customers are long time repeats or word of mouth referrals. By adding in a nice website and hitting targeted online marketing, I think revenues could be brought up by around 25% pretty easily and in a short amount of time. The only possible downside is we may not be able to initially handle the increased workload.
2 - He is out of room at the shop. I want to put a shipping container on the side of the building and use that for material storage and equipment that is not frequently used in order to bring in some additional automated equipment and make the work flow a bit better.
3 - Would like to convert over to solar power to get rid of long term electric bills.
4 - The shop is currently on his home property. I would not be purchasing either building, but all of the shops equipment (the equipment alone is worth 100k+), customers and "goodwill". I would have to personally move as well to a location where I could have a large freestanding shop on my personal property. I don't think the business can support rental or lease payments for the building right now.
5 - I'm 36 and have a lifelong background around motorsports and general fabrication. I have been in financial sales up until this point and find myself beyond unfulfilled. I hate not having total control over my current business and the work environment has changed over the past 2 years. I feel it's time to do my own thing. This seems like a solid opportunity to me, as I can purchase the business and all equipment for $100,000. I have revenue coming in from day 1 and have plenty of ideas to cut costs along with bringing in additional work (motorsports - current owner builds race car chassis, but has not expanded outside of 1 class. We have strong opportunity in the market to branch out to other forms of motorsports. In addition to that, I was thinking of remote welding/repair, free pickup and delivery of parts within a 25 mile radius, general expansion of commercial and retail jobs). I think we can reach this market by way of some pretty basic online marketing.
6 - I do have help and support from family
7 - The biggest item holding me back, is my financial responsibility to my family. I currently work 30 hours a week, have pretty much total control over my schedule and make good money with benefits. The problem is I'm at the point that I hate the job and don't want to pick up the phone. I think just going to another employer in a similar industry is going to land me in the same place, so one of the few options as this point is to go out and do my own thing.
I value any and all input. If you have questions please ask. If you have feedback please give it. Thank you all again in advance!