Evaluating the market

[BCbound]

What are some good ways of deciding if there is room for you to start a bussiness? I'm looking at starting up a tree removel/pruning company but am unsure if I'll get work. The town has a population of 5500 and 20000 in the surrounding area. There are a few landscapers around and only one removel company that I can find. Any info would be great.

 

[ATH]

In my opinion, more inportant than population is:
*Are there a lot of landscape trees?
*Are people willing to invest in trees?

Then size up your competition:
*Will you be servicing the exact same market?
*If so, is there enough work for both of you?
*If not, how are you going to distinguish yourself from the competition?

There is always room for you to move in...if you can do the same thing as your competitor and do it 'better' (is that quality or price?) you just made room.

 

[M.D. Vaden]

5500 probably is barely enough for two companies, but I'm not certain.

We wanted to move to Seaside, Oregon, but I decided that its 8000 population with maybe 20,000 in the region was not enough. But there are a few landscapers and tree services in the region already.

 

[Logger's Wife]

You'd also need to consider the demographics of where your thinking of setting up. How many are "blue collar", so to speak, and are more likely to try and do the work themselves? How many are likely to hire out? What are the properties like - larger lots with lots of trees, hedges, shrubs or smaller lots with huge houses and the token Japanese Maple in the front yard.

We're in BC and find that there are definately areas where we know a quote is almost always a waste of time, then there are those neighbourhoods you can spend a month working in.

Doing your research is huge. Also, a lot of the more established companies don't advertise anymore but get a large amount of the work around. I'm not sure how you would find out if there are any like that around but it's good to know otherwise you're not really sure how many companies are out there you are competing against.

Best of luck!

 

[BCbound]

Thanks for the info guys. I"ll use all this info to see if it's worth it.