Hi all,
Starting my business plan next week. I am going to be starting my own Fabrication business after having worked as a Manufacturing Engineer for the last 4 years, the last year of which has been in complex fabricated parts for Aerospace (Combustion chambers).
I am going to be fabricating iron gates, fencing, balconies, railings etc as well as bespoke pieces as required by customers. All gates will be hand made for the customer and there will be approx 2million different combinations of possible gates alone (This is less individual items than you initially think, however, due to so many possible combinations of each it comes to quite an impressive number, I was even shocked myself) when also taking into account paint colours and the ability to do golden spearheads/scrolls etc.
My main target audience is obviously going to be upper-middle to upper class home owners and middle class home owners that spend way too much money on impressing their friends and passers by.
First of all, feel free to grill me or ask me tough questions to make me think about the idea more in depth.
Secondly, is this a business idea that can grow to a multi-million dollar business alone, or is it going to be a nice, steady earner but I will have to likely move eventually into other markets to expand past the typical "tradesman" earnings?
At first I will be working from my garage, initial start up costs for equipment are under £5k, after that just material costs. Eventually looking to move to a small unit and hire a young lad to train up to help with welding and fabrication aspects.
This is my first venture into my own business and I can't wait to get started!
>>1093800
>£
Shit... Burger here. I was going to ask about custom iron inlays, table legs, and other decorative stuff to put on my stuff.
>>1093800
marketing plan?
>>1093810
Yeah, Brit I'm afraid :(
Would happily do that sort of stuff though, bespoke goods will be the more fun stuff I get to soo, only so many bars I can weld and bend before I get sick to death of it!
>>1093814
Going round the local, nicer housing estates posting leaflets through doors, will set up a website where people can actually select hat they want n their gate for exmple and at the end it will render an image of what it will look like. Also have the option for people to not only order online but I can come round, measure up, show them the options and give input free of charge.
Newspaper ads and a decal on the side of the van with company logo, phone number and website details.
That's all at first. Then I will hope to get business through word of mouth and employing those same tactics above.
Likely will have a supply chain of other tradesmen for more complex jobs that I can't manufacture everything in house so will also rely on bringing business their way and them bringing business mine.
If it's anything structural (mainly aiming at balconies, railings etc here) prepare for a regulatory butt fucking.
http://www.steelconstruction.info/CE_marking
>>1093826
Good info - Thanks.
>>1093824
>word of mouth
Facebook actually kicks ass for this. A page, with some well staged pictures of your products, and after your initial nucleus of upper middle class housewife fan base is established, you start buying 'boosted ads'. They are cheap as fuck to run, and the friends of friends of your wealthy existing customers can't help but keep up with the Jones'.
At least, that's how it works for my custom furniture biz.
Also, quick question about your distribution intentions. Are you going to manufacture, sell, and install yourself? It sounds like you're heading that way. Would you also be able to market your products to contractors in different regions, so they can prescribe, sell, and install them for their existing clientele?
>>1093800
>Manufacturing Engineer for the last 4 years
What did you do in your job and what industries (apart from Aerospace) did you work for?
I'm the guy who made >>1093830 and I'm just wondering what the average manufacturing engineer really does. I'll be finishing my studies soon and need to know if I am going to the right direction. I reckon I would be mostly in a logistic or some kind of analysis job to start with. What you are doing sounds cool though, something I want to try to get into later as well.
>>1093831
I hadn't thought of Facebook but you're right, this is exactly the sort of thing I came on here for. My friends actually started a business selling recycled wooden pallets as furnature and he's got about 10k likes on Facebook so I should have thought of this myself!
>>1093838
Yes, I will be manufacturing, selling and installing them myself at first. It would be possible to do it through contractors all around the UK, however, I'm not sure this is the best way to go at first as I want that "personal" touch if you like so that people feel like they are getting a real quality, handmade product rather than something pumped out of a factory that is low quality.
As the website and word of mouth grows I will likely need to cater around the country so at that point it would likely require transportation links, but probably not through a third part source, everything would be direct through my company, it would just mean that "visits" were not available for regions outside lets say 30 miles of my house unless it was for a very special project.
Do you think that this is a mistake?
>>1093843
Hi,
I'm a Manufacturing Engineer - Continuous Improvement so my responsibilities are looking at the current method of manufacture of parts and looking for cost reduction, defect reduction and lead time reductions. Also dealing with production issues such as writting reworks for parts that are non-conforming. I'm also responsible for one lot of parts and my job is to reduce the DPU (Defect Per Unit) year on year to set targets through continuous imprivement projects (mainly Six Sigma Green Belt sort of stuff).
Logistic role in Manufacturing plants is mainly MRPC (Manufacturing Resource Planning Controller) and not a Manufacturing Engineers role. As an ME you are the technical lead for processes and products and not delivery or material. Managing customer deadlines and man management of shop floor workers is Production Leaders. Inventory control, transportation, making sure we are launching enough material to meet orders is MRPC and technical Manufacturing Issues are dealt with by MEs.
>>1093843
Also, I have only ever worked in Aerospace. I did my apprenticeship through my current company and got a job straight after and have stayed since.
>>1093851
>>1093852
Okay cool, thanks for the information. I'm not quite sure what I will be doing when I finish my graduate studies but I do have an apprenticeship lined up at a manufacturing company, so that is why I was asking. Probably more related to something like what you said and optimizing machine production output and production process development. Interesting stuff imo.
I was originally planning to go for a mechanical designer role but figured out that I like managing systems and general managing stuff although my specialization is in simulations. Not a bad skillset to have though I think. How is the market in UK for mechanical engineers now and is the pay reasonable?
Also, any good websites to follow the industry?
Sorry for derailing your thread.
Regarding your project: I don't have any experience of sales or marketing but I think that when a company has some kind of internet presense it gives it a bit of edge. A cheap but good looking website goes a long way for marketing when people start googling and looking for products. As a customer, I would rather buy from a manufacturer that puts the effort into a minimal but good looking website rather than someone who is listed in the yellow pages or has a website like it was designed in the early 00s. But your market group is not millenial so maybe this is not so much relevant to you.
>>1093864
Mechanical and Maufacturing Engineers at my company are paid on the same pay scale. I'm 22yo and on £27,300 currently, but that will be going up to around £30k in the next 2 months as I am doing a boarding to the next pay grade.
I don't really read around the subjects or follow any websites, just learn on the job.
Yeah, the website will be professional looking. As I say you will be able to "build your gate/fence/balcony" online so it will have to look good! I will also have images of projects I have done in the past also to show people my best work (Or just any work at first until I build up a big enough portfolio of projects completed to pick and choose!).
As for a company name for something like this, do people think it's best to go with something like "(My Name) Fabrications", "(Location) Fabrications" or something a bit younger/cooling like "Anvil Masters" or something (That name is already taken by a fabs company just an example.
Will it all be custom made?
Will you be able to design different features for customers at request?
>>1093878
Everything will be made from iron bar/rolled iron by myself yes. Obviously, the iron will be bought in from a forger.
Apart from automation systems, which I will buy in and install to my gates for a charge.
Painting and galvonising will likely sometimes have to be outsourced for larger projects until I get a my own unit as I can't really fit a spray booth in a garage without killing myself with the fumes!
Yes, I will be able to do bespoke features that aren't under the listed standard options for a price of course. Providing I have the machinery and equipment to do them myself I will do so, otherwise I would outsource them and just do the welding to the fabrication myself.
>>1093824
Don't forget to advertise to pikeys, they're the biggest buyers of these things outside of mansion owners.
Whether you want to actually deal with them is another issue entirely.
>>1093897
Really? Around me at least pikeys are more likely to break into my garage and steal the iron than buy a gate out of it.
Anything else?
This has been constructive for me so far.
What are you opinions on the growth potential for this business?
>>1093954
What happens if you get more requests than expected?
If you're doing it all yourself, how quickly could you get an average project completed?
>>1093974
Hi, OP here.
I'm hoping demand will rise slowly enough that I can forecast when I will need to buy a unit and take someone on, but if demand was so much that I couldn't meet it I would have to find someone to help me full time, quit my job sooner than expected currently and buy a unit straight away.
It may mean a few weeks of explaining to customers lead times may be longer than expected but hopefully they would understand as it is hand made not mass production.
Ex-Construction manager in Australia here. Worked for 3 years before now recently quit to start my own business.
You will get most of your business from builders and architects. Make sure you market to them especially remediation builders.
>>1094798
How do I go about marketing to them? Is it best to call the companies direct, introduce myself etc or advertise somehow?
there's always a way to scale a freelance biz into a multimillion dollar
in regards to marketing, cold calling architects and builders like another guy mentioned - and perhaps more importantly, internet marketing is the way to go
how hard would it be to ship these things? in pieces I'd assume, so you'd have to develop relationships with a range of fabrication shops around yuroland - at least around uk to start
digital marketing is something I've been researching lately. facebook ads can get extremely targeted, and in general in this space, analytics are at your fingertips - you will see what brings returns, what doesn't and adjust accordingly
also, we're in web 3.0, whether or not the rest of the world knows it. and you can bet fabrication shops do not - you are in a space to do Extremely well if you choose to adapt
check it out, go to humanproofdesigns.com - spend $400 on a custom site for this space. play with it as you proceed, hour a day
in all business, they say the head should spend 80% of their time on marketing
I can not stress enough, in your space you are in a position to make an insane impact if you choose to do your marketing digitally
https://youtu.be/A5YCbID8j9E
give this a watch - it's entertaining as well
watch it
>>1094801
you can find a way to target them via fb ads
I know my grandfather is a landlord and he's hired a fabrication shop to do railing on a recent remodel
the economic disparity may also work in your favor because people may be looking to remodel
I'll check google trends in a second
yeah that looks about right
watch the video I posted
Out of interest, how many people on here would actually spend moey on a hand made, custom design gate made by yourself vs a stock one for half the price that was mass manufactured?
>>1093800
Make sure you know what iron/steel you want, get a good source for your raw materials, try to buy from a wholesaler if you can or speak with any mills in your area directly, they usually keep some stock or have an agent who can help you get a good price.
>>1095266
Yes, already started sourcing my metal online but will be contacting forgers direct.
>>1093800
seeing that you are in britain you have to ask yourself about the housing market in your area.
that bubble is going to burst sooner rather than later, so dont make the mistake of going into debt thinking that the booming business is going to pay for itself.
i'd say do your research and try to find other businesses in the same field. See how they market themselves, the products that sell the most etc.
If in any case you cant find similar businesses then maybe there's a reason for that.
Check this introduction to economics, and do allot of reading on running your own business.
http://www.investopedia.com/university/economics/
>>1095209
more than you think, especially when you can say it's all custom made locally. Basically one-upping your douche bag neighbor.
keeping up with the joneses
I'd talk to every builder, remodeler, and architect. Basically anybody in the home improvement industry. Give them your card, let them know what you do, don't push too hard and be sure and cut them in on a piece of the action. You want them to think of you when work comes up. You might have some success targeting home owners directly but I think the guys doing the work recommending you is a better angle. Good luck!
>>1095209
Go look at the market for doors.
>>1093800
Why not fabricate iron dildos.
Nobody is doing it, its a huge untapped market.
Fucking dont worry about your 2 million gates, make a billion dildos
>>1096278
>The Tetnus 2000: Shane Diesel Edition
