How to start a new scrap yard. - Page 2

Ok well just let me say that i admire your spunk and guts to even think about opening a yard, Jacksonville is a old city i am not familiar with but i am sure there are a few well established yards there, also many yards do not have a shredder they sell there goods to a shredder yard, the reason most don't have a shredder is the investment, any kind of industrial type shredder new is in the millions and i don't mean 1-2 million more than 6-9 million. Its very costly to operate a shredder and you need to have thousands of tons a week to make it feasible. My old yard is seven acres and we did not and they still do not have a shredder on the property. My advise to you is go to work for a yard if you can, find out how a yard works i could go on for hours telling / suggesting to you what you should do. opening a yard today is a huge under taking, 15-20 million dollars is not to far of the start up costs buying the property and all scales, machines and equipment. You might think that i am over estimating but i am not, the way the market is going and will continue for a couple of more years the margins are not looking so good for the scrap yards and dealers. i hope i did not spoil your dream but i think it is a dream, Good luck to you 1956

sir that might be what I needed to read... ALL and ALL we are talking 8 mil.. there is only my mother, me, and my sis... I want to keep all the prop in the fam.. I am not sure what direction to go... All I really know is IT and scrap... And I know IT is dead here in the US... I live outside Jax (I dont want to say where cus there Is no yards here) and when I drive around I still see tons of stuff... You still think it's not a good investment? BE HONEST please..

From what little I know/understand about scrap yards, is that margins can be tight.

Rather than tie up more money in opening and maintaining a yard, paying employees, workmans comp, equipment, scales, loaders/track hoe w/ claw, bins, forklifts, etc etc etc.....why not gather up all this material you see around your area and haul it in with the trucks you have?

Ok Solant in my honest opinion the way the markets are, and your inexperience in what a yard needs and how it turns a profit i would have to say it would not be a good investment at this time, what i would suggest to you is opening a Cardboard Paper Recycling Company Or A Plastic Recycling Company. The learning process is a lot less involved, the start up costs are a fraction of what it would cost to open a yard and the profit margins are greater. Plastics are the next big in my option, Are there as many plastic recycling companies in Jacksonville than scrap yards, i think not, believe it or not computer plastic bailed right now is worth 1200-1400 a ton. Take 2 million open a state of the art plastic cardboard recycling faculty in Jacksonville and put the other six million in the hands of the best investment banker you can find Good Luck 1956

Originally Posted by pjost

If I had $6 million headed my way, I wouldn't want the headache of trying to start a business. Not in this day and age and taxed to death climate. I'd buy me some gold and silver, and go fishing. Oh, and break down scrap when it's to windy to fish.

#dreamlife

Sounds like a good time to retire.

Eight million dollars... if only that was enough money to open and run a yard with a shredder. Lets do a shopping list without prices. Hammermill (shredder),machine shop to work on shredder,seriously paved yard,at least 3 large material handlers(cranes),railroad siding for outgoing product,large bucket loader (can't do everything with cranes),gate radiation detectors (don't want to buy radioactive junk),trucks,containers, metallurgical testing gear,torching gear and shear. I am sure I forgot a few things but there are the broad highlights. Most important you need a community that is okay with you putting a shredder in...heres what happened last time someone proposed a new shredder in southern michigan:Photo by Gabriel Goodwin
State Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit, third from left) and Sierra Club member Ed McCardle (right) protest the GLE Scrap Metal’s proposal for the installation of an auto shredder unit Sept. 4 outside Melvindale City Hall. City council members approved the installation of the shredder on the property, 25434 Outer Drive, Aug. 21, but nullified that vote to consider the new information presented to them after the council meeting. By GABRIEL GOODWIN
Sunday Times Newspapers
MELVINDALE — The future of an auto shredder unit at GLE Scrap Metal is still in question after the council retracted its vote to “dig deeper into the situation.”
The council decided to reconsider its unanimous Sept. 4 support of the proposal to allow an auto shredder unit at the scrap metal yard, 25434 Outer Drive.
Councilwoman Kalley Hess said she was not satisfied with the information presented during the Aug. 21 meeting.
“After the meeting, I had a couple of conversations,” she said. “It became personally evident to me that I wanted to discuss it further as a council. Afterwards, I didn’t feel educated enough to have made that decision.”
The councilors with unanswered questions — Hess, Carl Louvet and Wheeler Marsee — started their digging Wednesday night during the planning commission meeting, where their concerns were the only agenda item.
The council will hold a new vote at its meeting Wednesday. Hess and Marsee said they received information that was not available to them before their vote and they were not comfortable with the previous vote “because it felt rushed.”
Marsee said the way some of the information was presented, he thought more people were on board with the approval of the shredder. He said that was “obviously a miscommunication,” so the council wanted to take a step back to consider the interests of both Melvindale and its residents.
“I was under the impression (when the decision was made) that the commission, our city engineer, and our building inspector were all on board with this,” Marsee said. “But, now I know they follow the decision of this council. Due to the uprising of the residents, we had to shift gears and take a more specific look into the shredder. I want to make sure our due diligence is done.”
No councilors present disclosed whether their votes will change, but said the additional time was necessary because they “clearly did not have all the facts.”
GLE owner Nathan Zack proposed the addition to the planning commission in June, but did not receive unanimous approval until commissioners’ concerns about his original plan were resolved and presented in August. The commission requested Zack install a fire suppression system within the property and required the system be connected to Detroit’s water system.
Zack petitioned the commission and council to give him a fair shot because he has “done everything asked and in most cases more.” He said the shredder would be a $10 million addition to his property, which would be no different to any other piece of heavy machinery he operates, except it would be stationary.
“The addition could add up to 20 jobs in the city and allow for the city to collect on a larger tax base,” Zack said.
Brian Moench, who is the project manager for GLE’s shredder upgrade, said the council’s approval is still only step one in the process. The votes were still not a guarantee the machine could be built, he said, because GLE still needs to file applications with Wayne County, the Department of Environmental Quality, and the Environmental Protection Agency.
The machine could be operational by May 2014, once those applications are approved and the company waits the 46 weeks for delivery of the machine.

TY for the input everyone... I wont even have that much after uncle sam, and blood sucking lawyers ( and church).. prob closer to 4.5 - 5 also ty for the go fishing and relax input but with 2 family members and 2 children that's not enough at 38 to live the rest of my life (not that I need much) plus I couldn't have my grandfather look down on me and be a bump on a log. I am at least a yr off anyway so I will continue to research options.

Before you think about buying stuff, you need to find a location that will work for scrap metal. Some say by railroad access is best others say where large trucks have easy access. Got to buy a scale before you buy a shredder...

In my younger days I was running a successful on-line retail operation. An opportunity came up for me to buy one of my suppliers for not a lot of money. I had been running a successful retailer for a few years during the pre-2000 internet heyday (easy money), and buying from all the major distributors at the time. I had even bought out the complete inventory of a couple that had gone under. I thought buying the supplier made sense since I had all kinds of retail experience and it was an extension of what I already was doing. How hard could it be? I already knew the retail issues I was likely to encounter. So I bought it, and oh boy. Sure, I knew the retailer issues, but I had NO IDEA what the distributor issues would be and almost all my now new competition was more than happy to point their bad customers my way. My point is you know what selling to a scrap yard is like, but know nothing of what the other side of the equation is. Short of you getting a job at a competitor for a year, I wouldn't even consider going up against established businesses with your experience. You have an opportunity to do something new, not try to scratch out a bit of business from others who know what they are doing. 1956's comment about the plastics makes a lot more sense to me. You get that going, you could add in other items as you grow.

Originally Posted by solant

TY for the input everyone... I wont even have that much after uncle sam, and blood sucking lawyers ( and church).. prob closer to 4.5 - 5 also ty for the go fishing and relax input but with 2 family members and 2 children that's not enough at 38 to live the rest of my life (not that I need much) plus I couldn't have my grandfather look down on me and be a bump on a log. I am at least a yr off anyway so I will continue to research options.

4.5-5 million is not enough to live on? You need to certainly talk to someone a LOT SMARTER than you.

4 million at 5% interest is $200,000.00 a year without ever touching the principal. If you had a financial planner, they could easily beat 5% with little to no risk. You can buy tax free bonds and make 3% with no risk at all.

I'm pretty sure I could find a nice house for $500,000.00 and live on 200k a year for the rest of my life pretty comfortably. I suspect you will be broke and bankrupt in a few short years.

Best of luck to you.

Originally Posted by solant

TY for the input everyone... I wont even have that much after uncle sam, and blood sucking lawyers ( and church).. prob closer to 4.5 - 5 also ty for the go fishing and relax input but with 2 family members and 2 children that's not enough at 38 to live the rest of my life (not that I need much) plus I couldn't have my grandfather look down on me and be a bump on a log. I am at least a yr off anyway so I will continue to research options.

Seriously? This comment reminds me of people that call into Dave Ramsey, saying they make 200k or more a year and they can't make ends meet. Even heard of one making 500k and "barely getting by". Absolute insanity.

A scrap yard isn't what you need. Find a financial planner you feel comfortable with and go from there.

To be honest . If you have the space to store material . You are already ahead . From there start small. Offer to buy from other individuals and scrappers, bussinesses, contractors etc. You will already be ahead then others are by offering to pay.

"4.5-5 million is not enough to live on? You need to certainly talk to someone a LOT SMARTER than you."

AS already mentioned with family members the math is not that easy... I am the only surviving male.. whatever I am not into internet fighting... I should have know this forum was no dif after the first couple of posts... Is there a way I can PM someone on here? I would like to talk to a couple cats with out public bashing..