Starting out on the cheap

[Old Coastie]

Navy, huh?

That explains the shorts.

Stephen
PS: welcome aboard, Dan. Look for me in the bilges.

 

[Acp]

cant really complain about where I am at in this business... we run 2 trucks and a window washing truck. I do pretty well considering how many hours I have to put in each day, decided about 2 years back that I would rather take less in income but not do the labor myself... still help on big days when its needed.

our biggest problem is traffic, it really hinders the ability to scale the business as travel times between jobs is just out of control so we have to be very careful with scheduling the routes.

I was planning to construct a large building for this company but its really not needed unless I want to run a rug plant, which I dont. So the building is going to be used for my dog training/boarding business.

I like the carpet cleaning business but its not what I am super passionate about, dogs are. I can wake up 5am fired up and ready to go if its a day of working dogs... carpet cleaning just doesnt do that for me lol

Im building a 30'x70'x 18 steel structure that will house 12 permanent kennels, a customer lobby, an indoor training arena, dog treadmills... building surrounded by an outdoor grass area and hiking trails that wind through the property.

cant wait to have a brick and mortar (steel building) business where the damn customers come to me....

 

[Dolly Llama]

our biggest problem is traffic, it really hinders the ability to scale the business as travel times between jobs is just out of control

due to miles traveled servicing the greater area , or urban traffic snarls on major routes thru, in and around Seattle at all times of day?
or both...

the doggie training thing sounds cool
('cept for the kennel cleaning part and doggie pOOp patrols)

what do you teach them?
Hunt?
general obedience ?
Bomb sniffing?
rescue??





..lt..a.

 

[Acp]

due to miles traveled servicing the greater area , or urban traffic snarls on major routes thru, in and around Seattle at all times of day?
or both...

the doggie training thing sounds cool
('cept for the kennel cleaning part and doggie pOOp patrols)

what do you teach them?
Hunt?
general obedience ?
Bomb sniffing?
rescue??





..lt..a.

both, traffic starts at 2 and ends around 7-730.

Ya cleaning some poo is definitely part of it until I hire a kennel/helper person lol

I do competition obedience, personal protection, man tracking, scent detection. Schutzhund is the name of the dog sport I do which is similar to police grade k9s competing for which ones are the best.
The building will be for board and train, and also fitness day care etc

 

[Cleanworks]

both, traffic starts at 2 and ends around 7-730.

Ya cleaning some poo is definitely part of it until I hire a kennel/helper person lol

I do competition obedience, personal protection, man tracking, scent detection. Schutzhund is the name of the dog sport I do which is similar to police grade k9s competing for which ones are the best.
The building will be for board and train, and also fitness day care etc

One of the biggest problems we have with traffic is when school is in, everyone has to drive their little darlings, one to a vehicle, to school and pick them up again. Worst offenders are the private schools. How about mandating carpooling or taking the bus or walking? What happened to those days when kids walked to school through blinding snowstorms, uphill both ways?

 

[Acp]

Heres a short video of a puppy im building right now

 

[Acp]

One of the biggest problems we have with traffic is when school is in, everyone has to drive their little darlings, one to a vehicle, to school and pick them up again. Worst offenders are the private schools. How about mandating carpooling or taking the bus or walking? What happened to those days when kids walked to school through blinding snowstorms, uphill both ways?

if you only knew how bad traffic can be... I cant imagine yours is anywhere near like Seattle.

based on surveys we are like 4th I think in the US but that is based on # of people, how many owns cars etc.. but I think we are actually #1 we have no east/west freeways and the entire city is shaped like an hour glass.

everything funnels into the bridges in the center

 

[Cleanworks]

if you only knew how bad traffic can be... I cant imagine yours is anywhere near like Seattle.

based on surveys we are like 4th I think in the US but that is based on # of people, how many owns cars etc.. but I think we are actually #1 we have no east/west freeways and the entire city is shaped like an hour glass.

everything funnels into the bridges in the center

Yeah, I have driven through and in Seattle and Puyallup many times. We don't have any expressways at all. Coupled with summer roadwork and construction, it's a zoo. Trying to build up work closer to home but have 30 years of referrals in the surrounding communities. I do charge more longer distances and am evaluating all of my prices right . With gas hovering around $7 per gallon, everything else has to go up. Had a lady call today for a 1 bedroom condo. I could tell when I told her it's $150, she thought that was outrageous. Of course, she's not the one filling up the tank at $160.

 

[Acp]

wow $7 a gallon is brutal.. I think my service radius would get real small.

Im kind of in the same boat, I have a huge database of repeats from the last 10yrs that are up to 30 mile range. Its going to take time but we are trimming that way down to about 10 miles.

I dont have to do a ton of traffic sitting since I am not on the truck most days but still hear plennnnty of whining lol and I dont really blame them, it sucks

 

[SamIam]

I would say a budget Truckmount and used van isn’t a bad start$20-25k guys buying 60-80k to start is just dumb.

Build your business and as it grows then move forward with upgrades