Scrap yards

A lot of it will be real estate costs. If you own land that can be used, that's a huge advantage. We had two yards out here- one was leasing land, and the other was on a corner of the property owned by a trucking company (The trucking company owns the yard). The latter was always able to offer better prices, and is the only yard in our area now.

Ill agree with matador the biggest cost is usually real estate but then again this will vary from area to area. For most of us our next biggest expense is our scales and equipment (material handler, fork lifts, etc...) depending on what your wanting to deal in. As for what the typical cost is that's hard to say it can range from fifty thousand dollars to a few million dollars depending on what you want to do with the business from real estate weather buying or leasing to permits and advertising that all can add up real quick.
As an example of the things to consider when trying to figure out a estimate of how much a scrap yard will cost to open now or in the future can be hard but below are a few things to consider.


Will you lease or buy the property if you don't already own it, equipment cost can be up there but you have to consider weather your buying the equipment new or used, gaylord boxes, pallet cost, shipping cost, usual utility cost each month, NTEP Certified scales, scale certification, any vehicles your buying to transport material from customers, to mills,etc.., to insurance, and anything else you may need.


Theirs a lot to consider so the cost can be up more then listed above or in some cases it can be lower then the estimate above. Like I said above it will depend on where your located, what your states requirements are, etc... Hope this helps some.


I will say in most cases its cheaper to buy out a operating scrap yard then it can be to buy everything to open a brand new yard.