Floor Plans

Welcome to the forum and I will echo the previous thread. A thought for you to consider is that I have never heard anyone complain that they wished they had built a smaller (house, shop, office, garage, etc.) I look forward to your contributions because of my interest in that type of business.

Hey Dave !

Welcome to the forum.

I was in the building trades for 30 + years so i've got some background in this. I'm not really sure what you mean by a "build out". Some pictures would help.You need 10 posts here before you can post pictures but you could use an image posting site and provide us with links.

Just some general suggestions:

1: Check the stats for your area, but about 80 -90 % of the new business startups fail within the first five years. My best advise would be to start small and earn your way up. Warehousing is a PITA. It's a major headache to keep track of all the inventory. You would be better off to leverage a used parts supply chain till you are firmly established.

2: Bigger isn't necessarily better. The bigger you are .... the bigger your overhead operating costs are likely to be. I look at it this way: You are sort of like a sparrow in a hurricane when you are running a new business. You are subject to the whim of economic mega forces that you have absolutely no control over.

Most new business startups are fueled by borrowing. The bigger the initial debt, the bigger the debt service once you get up and running. The prudent course of borrowing would be to take on no more than 1/4 of what you think you can afford every month. Your business plan should have you positioned to have your debt completely paid off within the first five years. Most likely ... you will run into unforseen expenses and economic reversals that you couldn't have anticipated and will have to re-fi after the first 60 months.

3: There's really no " one size fits all "approach to a business layout. Why not work with what you've got for awhile and see how it goes ? Experience would be the best teacher. That would tell you what you need once you become profitable.

4: I can tell you from firsthand experience that anything construction related is an expensive proposition these days. Build outs, additions, renovations, and repairs to existing structures can easily run 2-3x the cost of new construction per square foot.

The company that i'm currently working for has three buildings that are 50 + years old. Quite honestly, the company is in a predicament because it can't afford the maintenance & upkeep on these older structures. They're energy hogs,expensive to own, and are slowly falling into disrepair. The asset is depreciating at a very rapid rate. I'm hoping for the best, but the company's long term prospects don't look promising. On it's current track .... it's unlikely that the company will ever get out from under it's debt load. There's no sense in working for the bank. You're just a debt slave that way. It's a slipping down life.

You might take an example from some of the successful big box & restaurant chains. They generally don't keep a building in service for more than 20 years or so. Build new and depreciate the asset over a 20 year span. That way you would have a tax writeoff that would help the bottom line.

Probably more info than anyone would ever want but that does seem to be the reality of things.

Again ... just generalities w/o knowing much about your own particular situation.