Fwd. Annual Revenue?

   / Fwd. Annual Revenue? #1  

Anonymous Poster

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Hey guys, this person by the name of Kevin asked this question on the lawnsite.com but of course, he isn't getting too much replies. I told him to become a member of this site so that he can have access by posting more questions etc. If you could reply to him that would be great. Hopefully he took my advice and will check in here to see what you all have to say. Thanks.

Blake

Fwd.-----------------------------------------------------

My wife and I are planning to start our own excavating business in 2003. We plan to purchase a skid steer,dump truck,and trailer and do mostly finishing work. In writing our business plan, we have encountered a major problem. We have to project sales and expenses for the next five years and we can't find the data needed for this. I've talked to some local excavating companies, but they understandably don't want to share with us "what their first year and consecutive years revenue were?" I have also called companies out of our area and received the same response. Could anyone tell me where the best place to search for this information is? Also,any advice you have for starting our business would be greatly appreciated.
 
   / Fwd. Annual Revenue? #2  
Blake,
The best place that I know where to look would be at your local state university. Ours has a department that is called Small Business Development. They will help with budgets, start up cost projections, etc.
 
   / Fwd. Annual Revenue? #3  
The only thing that I can say is that when one estimates for this type of business plan, is to plan on not being very busy the first year, of course it depends upon the area, the saturation of the competition, is there a demand for the product?

For the first year, use a rate of 40% of the work week as working and increase that 20% every year. This will depend on the demand and the weather.

For example, 40 hour work week times 40% equals 16 hours times $60 per hour equals weekly income of 960.

It is tough to start a business like this full time unless he has a lot of contacts

If nothing else use a SWAG.
 
   / Fwd. Annual Revenue? #4  
While I own one business, have a partner in another and have had other businesses in the past ranging from paint/drywall, contracting, auto body/paint and auto wholesaling to a partnership in a gentlemans' club. Through it all, I've never, ever prepared nor even had a business plan.

I personally feel the only purpose to have one is to give bankers something to put in your file to justify their lending decision to someone higher up the food chain there.

That having been said, I might suggest contacting the Service Corp Of Retired Executives (SCORE) in your area to see what help they might offer. Additionally, see if your community has an office of economic develpment and chamber of commerce. Another idea is to research some older landscape businesses that are now closed and track down the retired owners/managers and talk with them. You might find a wealth of information there and even someone who'd be interested in a little part time consulting to get you going. Along with the other idea about contacting your local university, you could also talk with some folks in the business department there for some help on formulating your plan.

Good luck with your venture. You'll never work harder or longer hours for less than you will starting your own business. I love that part. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif
 
   / Fwd. Annual Revenue?
  • Thread Starter
#5  
Thanks guys for the repsonses. I hope Kevin saw them, I'll go let him know he has some replies. This also helped me also, because at some point, I'll want to start my own business, but I don't need to worry about that now ;).

Blake
WA
 
   / Fwd. Annual Revenue? #6  
On the same note. Has anyone written a business plan for a family farm?
 
 
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