Unglamorous brick and mortar businesses

[Dr. Howard]

There was a show on discovery about Harvesting.
Real interesting stuff.

un-glamorous or just unknown?

1. Rigging...aka installing big equipment in factories
2. Mechanized logging...its not that the margins are huge % wise but the volumes are crazy. I'd say similar to farming in terms of mechanical equipment costs but no need to own land
3. On the same note above, custom harvesters: these guys own and operate farm combines and just follow the harvest season from north to south.
4. Powersports (motorcycles, atvs, jet skis) dealer in a resort town

I've always wondered what some other essential services, like funeral parlors, laundrymats, franchise pharmacies (walgreens) and carwashes pull down.

Harvesting: Good one, though combines are hundreds of thousands of dollars. Along the same lines is water trucks. Industry needs a massive amount of water, all the time. From road building to industrial construction there is always water trucks on site.

Graders: Again a few hundred thousand but during snow storms the day rate is $2000. During busy summer months these guys bill out $30,000. Three graders (one being owner/operator)
$90,000 invoice
-$30,000 payments/maintenence
-$30,000 wages for operators
=$30,000 profit. If paying yourself $10,000 a month.

The hard part is finding good operators, and keeping the machines busy year round.

Also steel drum packers can be had at auction for $30-50,000 and usually bill out less operator for $10-15,000 a month.

Exactly. Payments are due every 30 days regardless of if the machine is working or not so that equipment (forest harvester, combine or grader) should have lights on it and be running two shifts of operators. Even a slow night shift is better than having the machine parked.

Being down for stupid reasons like engineering delays destroys operations because the equipment is just sitting and you still have to make payments so there always has to be a plan B (the show swamp loggers has great examples of being fucked over by bad planning by foresters/engineers)

Bad operators are almost worse than being down though as when they break machines not only are they down but they also need to be fixed.

Again, the show swamp loggers is a good primer on running a heavy equipment operation and dealing with client delays, good operators and bad operators.

 

[The Great Basilisk]

Painting. Some business student in Finland couldn't get a summer job when he was studying. Started a painting business to employ himself. By the end of the summer he had 12 employees. You only need ladders and paintbrush set to start.

 

[AntiTrace]

Painting. Some business student in Finland couldn't get a summer job when he was studying. Started a painting business to employ himself. By the end of the summer he had 12 employees. You only need ladders and paintbrush set to start.

I actually heard a lot of success stories of painting. Lots of smallish time ones like that. Kid's starting painting businesses to get some extra cash in college, end up dropping out because they are pulling in some good money.

It's got an upward limit, but its got a low barrier to entry and requires little skill to get started.

 

[WestIndianArchie]

Painting. Some business student in Finland couldn't get a summer job when he was studying. Started a painting business to employ himself. By the end of the summer he had 12 employees. You only need ladders and paintbrush set to start.

I actually heard a lot of success stories of painting. Lots of smallish time ones like that. Kid's starting painting businesses to get some extra cash in college, end up dropping out because they are pulling in some good money.

It's got an upward limit, but its got a low barrier to entry and requires little skill to get started.

Hustling up the jobs would be an issue I imagine.

WIA

 

[Chaos]

I have harvester myself (mechanized logging) for my own forest and others, but I mostly use it as a toy for fun when I want to fuck around.

I love all those American/Canadian logging series and it always struck me how goddamn lazy those people are in those series. I understand that the reality must be different from what we see on TV, but on the series on TV they are having a break every 5min meanwhile the rest of the team are watching them pausing.
And old equipment.

Anyways, I would love at anyday to try working as a helilogger.

However, Dr.Howard makes logging sound like a piece of cake to make easy money.
Maybe in North America, but in the Nordics it's another story.
More than " just putting lights on the logger and drive in night time"
You can't just get hands whenever you want on such easy contracts that you can have your machine going 24/7.

Unpredictable winters ( not frozen ground) , Russian timber tolls, recession in the paper industry, high fuel costs, mostly private owned forests and if the paper industry are shutting down factory after factory, it's a nasty competion for logging contracts and then we have greenpeace and other green activists who do everything they can to make a problem. And so on.

 

[Chaos]

Garbage and recycling business are very successful in Finland and in the Nordics aswell.
Everybody need to have a trashcan,and you have to pay a monthly fee for it whether is empty or not.

Doesn't matter what kind of trash you are sitting on, people will compete to get their hands in it. And they will pay for it.

Huge money to be made in collecting garbage and recycling the shit out if it.

 

[Darius]

Huge money to be made in collecting garbage and recycling the shit out if it.

I used to work for someone who recycled metal and went to auctions.

Some companies will give him the metal for free, just to get rid of it. Then he just turns around and sells it to the scrap metal companies. It's free money as long as you have a truck and a trailer.

I've also seen him get semi used tires for free and resell them for $20-25 per tire

 

[Laner]

Garbage and recycling business are very successful in Finland and in the Nordics aswell.
Everybody need to have a trashcan,and you have to pay a monthly fee for it whether is empty or not.

Doesn't matter what kind of trash you are sitting on, people will compete to get their hands in it. And they will pay for it.

Huge money to be made in collecting garbage and recycling the shit out if it.

When I was living in Malmo there was a garbage shortage to run the incinerator. Sweden started importing other peoples garbage, and now I hear its a daily process. I would imagine that starting an industrial binning company in Sweden could be good business, or leasing the bins to a country that has a lot of industrial infrastructure being built, and trucking it to Sweden.

Just yesterday six bins left a job site, mostly filled with ramboard (industrial cardboard) and wood off cuts.

I used to work for someone who recycled metal and went to auctions.

Some companies will give him the metal for free, just to get rid of it. Then he just turns around and sells it to the scrap metal companies. It's free money as long as you have a truck and a trailer.

I know a fab shop that gets $4000 a month for their scrap metal, mostly stainless and some black and alum. Guy picks it up, gives $4000 cash, and rolls on to the next shop. We figure he probably takes $1000 of that, meaning he sells it for $5000 delivered.

 

[Chaos]

^ Yeah. Where I live there isn't much money to be made in recycling iron and metal because everyone are aware that iron = money.

But with wood there is still money to cash in. Everything that burns,not only households also big schools, hospitals and factories are going over bio heating.
Usually with wooden chips.

In fact, at todays market you get paid more for selling all wood except decent timber to these small powerplants who have invested in gigantic top modern fire chambers.
They pay more than the paper factories who used to be Finlands economical engine.

You get a decent tax cut if you convert from oil or electricity or Polish coal to biological fuels. (Wood, tarf)


However, when it comes to recycling.

How come countries like US,UK or even fucking Russia haven't started with this bottle and can recycling system?
It's keeping the streets clean like nothing else.
There are always someone ready to pick them up.

 

[Dr. Howard]

I have harvester myself (mechanized logging) for my own forest and others, but I mostly use it as a toy for fun when I want to fuck around.

I love all those American/Canadian logging series and it always struck me how goddamn lazy those people are in those series. I understand that the reality must be different from what we see on TV, but on the series on TV they are having a break every 5min meanwhile the rest of the team are watching them pausing.
And old equipment.

Anyways, I would love at anyday to try working as a helilogger.

However, Dr.Howard makes logging sound like a piece of cake to make easy money.
Maybe in North America, but in the Nordics it's another story.
More than " just putting lights on the logger and drive in night time"
You can't just get hands whenever you want on such easy contracts that you can have your machine going 24/7.

Unpredictable winters ( not frozen ground) , Russian timber tolls, recession in the paper industry, high fuel costs, mostly private owned forests and if the paper industry are shutting down factory after factory, it's a nasty competion for logging contracts and then we have greenpeace and other green activists who do everything they can to make a problem. And so on.

Yes, its a difference of location. Canada has more than 10x the forest area of finland and its continuous blocks owned by the government and leased out at millions of hectares at a time. Machines don't need to move very often and its easy to get contracts. Harvest areas are too remote for greenpeace to do anything meaningful. Haul distances are long and road conditions are poor though.

When its worthwhile for europe to buy shipload after shipload of wood from canada to burn for fuel...its clear to me that the logging business is better on this site of the atlantic.

 

[Kitsune]

Building kitchen stuff.

I watched a documentary the other day, "Brits Get Rich In China" on youtube. There was one guy who made millions out of sourcing taps and cabinets for ready-made kitchens. He travelled the world looking for materials to source and bought his own quarry and forest and stuff.

There was another guy who had a cushion factory, and another who made air conditioning units.

Those are things that I'd never have thought could be big business, but were.

Then you've got to think, "What about the guys who make nuts and bolts and those plastic bits on the ends of radiators?" and the like.

 

[Seadog]

Of my circle of high school acquaintances, the one who did the absolute best dropped out (eventually got it just because, but a few years after everyone else).

He started around grade 10 doing basic yard work on his own. From there him and a few buddies started doing small scale landscaping, which got bigger and bigger. He did a decent job, word of mouth spread. He's bought a few pickups, got bigger jobs, now has dump trucks and a few snow plows 15 years later. Got a huge winter contract this year for the city for snow removal, bringing on a mechanic, has like 10 guys. Has low 7 figures of sales annually now.

This was great in my opinion. No barrier to entry, and fairly easily to scale and expand at least to the point of upper middle class. But he's never gonna be on the fortune 500, but he's sitting real pretty.

Another guy I know a few years older, but not in my circle really, but family friend. Similar thing but paving driveways. Higher barrier to entry, but also was able to grow it from driveways around the neighbourhood to parking lots etc. Also very scalable, just higher more guys and buy more trucks, and you've doubled your capacity.

 

[Seadog]

This is another reason why at least in the west trades pay so well. Everyone born after 1970 or so it seems was brought up on the idea that that is low class work, and "you're going to collage mr!". What happened? 30 years later glut of ppl with worthless degrees, and no one who knows how to weld.

 

[Chaos]

A new thing came to my head last evening that I might stick my head into.

Changing,repairing and selling tires for big machinery.

There is only one guy who is doing that in this region and he's 71 year old.

All tractors and heavy machines have increased extremely in size in the last two decades here and there are a shitloads of different entrepreneurs.
When they are operating and a tire breaks down, they need quick service.
Their machines are so expensive so they can't afford having them standing still.

I already own a pretty big garage and warehouse where this could be done.
The equipment I need is affordable.
There is plenty of workers to hire for this since you don't need to be a Einstein to handle big tires. These workers can be hired for a minimum wage.

If not, I can always hire some Poles. They are usually good workers and are very eager to work for Finnish wages.

There is a hole in this market here, and the hole can be filled.

I just need to do some research to see if there is any major profits in it.
Only looking at the 71 year olds yard, he seem to be doing pretty well.

Damn I like the buzz when I have a new business opportunity to check out.

 

[kosko]

[Draft post removed by moderator.]

 

[Vaun]

Painting. Some business student in Finland couldn't get a summer job when he was studying. Started a painting business to employ himself. By the end of the summer he had 12 employees. You only need ladders and paintbrush set to start.

I actually heard a lot of success stories of painting. Lots of smallish time ones like that. Kid's starting painting businesses to get some extra cash in college, end up dropping out because they are pulling in some good money.

It's got an upward limit, but its got a low barrier to entry and requires little skill to get started.

Thats what I did. I started around the age of 19, worked for a contractor for a while and grinded for $10/hr, and put my life at risk almost every day for that money in non-union, large scale commercial construction. I went out on my own after about a year, and started with the old ladies house across the street from my parents, with a step ladder and small tool box. That turned into the next job, turned into the next. Then I got into spraying, and could basically double my output, especially metal buildings and mobile homes. I could fully prep and paint a mobile home in under 16 hours for $2500+ profit. I dabbled with victorian home restoration but thats a time suck and low profit margin business that very few actually do that well in. After a few years I had a crew and was bidding on the largest commercial construction projects in my area, doing factories, hotels, retail stores, new residential construction. I got in with and did continual work for 5 years with general contractors(commercial & residential), and homeowners with massive homes that always needed work.

I dropped out of a big 10 school and did my business, and went to night school. I finally earned my bachelors at 25, sold all of my tools and trucks and married a phd grad, and moved to start a new life. It afforded me to live on my own terms and make a great living, but I ended up working working way more than I should have. This was the 90's, if I had better foresight I would have started into the internet way earlier. But the whole experience set me up for later in life.

 

[BallsDeep]

I was recently at the canton fair, and spent quite a bit of time in the heavy machinery area.

Machines that purify and bottle water. Machines that make the water bottles from rolls of plastic.

Machines that make shampoo. Or soap.

Machines that make cookies, and then the packaging, and then put 20 cookies in the package and seal it. All in one machine.

Machines that make milk. Or yogurt. Or soda. Lipstick machine. Eyeshadow machine.

These were all things I never thought of before, but the machines nowadays aren't that expensive. And in emerging or third world markets where import costs are high, you could create a nice niche for yourself in manufacturing a product that's equal in quality to the imported version that you're able to sell for less.

 

[Sidney Crosby]

I've heard the people that have their own trucks doing power washing of oil sands equipment in Canada make crazy money. You'd have to be prepared to work crazy hours though.

 

[obrero]

Painting. Some business student in Finland couldn't get a summer job when he was studying. Started a painting business to employ himself. By the end of the summer he had 12 employees. You only need ladders and paintbrush set to start.

I actually heard a lot of success stories of painting. Lots of smallish time ones like that. Kid's starting painting businesses to get some extra cash in college, end up dropping out because they are pulling in some good money.

It's got an upward limit, but its got a low barrier to entry and requires little skill to get started.

Hustling up the jobs would be an issue I imagine.

WIA

My father is a very successful industrial painter. He does very well but works incredibly hard for it. He's been in business for over 20 years and in the first couple years could barely put food on the table. He started by doing residential and automotive work, and moved to industrial later. If you live in the north, make sure you have another cash stream sorted for winters.

It's hard work and the most difficult part is finding good employees. If you decide to pursue this you will work long and hard to make over 100k. Competition is high but if you get some big clients and become their preferred painter by working your ass off, you can do well. I don't know for sure but I believe that competition is even higher in residential painting.

I suspect you will run into the need for expertise and longevity to be very successful in any blue collar business.

 

[Jack Of All Trades]

I've heard the people that have their own trucks doing power washing of oil sands equipment in Canada make crazy money. You'd have to be prepared to work crazy hours though.

it's called a vac truck, you need a class 1 license and a helper/swamper. It's good $ I think I heard mom and pop shops do 200-300k/yr I think this is after costs of a truck and paying the swamper, cuz everything gets billed to the client. You need a bunch of $ though, I heard one guy bought a used one for a steal at 100k cash with 12k kms so I'd guess a new one is probably a lot more.