Help me brainstorm buying a business...

I know. In some ways this seems like a terrible time. Maybe that's why I want to do it. 

For more than a decade I've wanted to build a company that was not tied to a specific geographic area, and whose product could be shipped. Probably small manufacturing.

My background is construction. 40 years worth. I am more knowledgeable  at the wood trades than the metal trades. I have owned several businesses. 
 

Sure, it would be great to have a company tied to healthcare, or technology. Those seem to be solidly recession-proof. But that's not my skill set, and I think I would chase that down a bottomless rabbit hole.

I want a company with some underutilized  production capacity. Most companies have this- if nothing else, the equipment could be used during a 2nd shift. 
 

I'm picturing a company with an existing client base, and a small existing production staff where the owner is ready to retire, and some of the sales methods could be modernized to open new markets. 
 

Any ideas?

I can set you up with my grandfather's chrome shop...

Check GRM, CM, Fine Woodworking, Fine Homebuilding and a bunch of stuff I'm not familiar with for ads in the back that have no email address or something @yahoo.com (or comcast, or aol...), no website or a site that's crap, no social media presence...

My theory is that that gets you someone who's managed to hang on this long with little or no online presence in an era when most people who've been aging into adulthood and buying power expect to be able to find out everything online, presumably including ordering.

Er, that's what occurs to me. I feel like I should've worked more question marks into what I was writing, because I sure didn't mean it as a Statement Of The Thing You Should Do.

Here's an example...

Small FL based woodworking company. Has CNC capacity, and 10 employees. Their primary business is making unfinished cabinet doors. They have a strong client base, but sell primarily wholesale to cabinet shops in the local region (its easier for cabinet shops to buy doors than make them themselves). They also have a small retail consumer business. They lease 2 warehouses for production near major highways. Gross revenue is $800K, cash flow is $145K, purchase price is $350K with owner financing.  Owner is retiring after 40 years. 
 

Seems like a business like this could be expanded by 1) Broadening the geographic base to include more wholesale cabinet shops, and 2) Developing better online website and sales methods to sell direct to DIY retail consumers doing remodel and cabinet refacing projects.  The CNC capability would also enable additional product lines that the shop is not even making right now, perhaps during a 2nd shift. 
 

Thoughts?

In reply to Javelin :

I was sad to see him closing. I intended to send him some business soon. 
 

Is it viable, or have EPA issues made it impossible?

I'd like to talk...

In reply to SVreX :

It is completely viable. He did the raw casting, too. Made 100% of Eckler's and Dan's Classic Ford emblems and trim. Copper, nickel, and chrome plating of metal and aluminum. Did work for vending machines, pinballs, jukeboxes, etc.

IMO, the casting is where it's at. Get some 3d printing and custom design work for the prototype and then custom cast parts.

AMX 310 at g mail dot com

In reply to Javelin :

You've got mail. 

Are you looking for partner, or just by yourself ? 

In reply to mr2s2000elise :

Partner is a possibility.

Email sent 

In reply to mr2s2000elise :

Email responded

Amish baked edibles. 

Call it Edible Derangements. 

Elder-Care supplies.

FWIW, considering I live in a different country and all, the cabinet-doors company sounds like an excellent idea for when people start renovating as soon as we emerge from Current Events.  Assuming this thing ends up as a couple of months of badness and not a year or more of complete disaster, I think there's going to be a lot of "If I have to live here AND work here, that [kitchen/couch/whatever] has got to go."

But I gotta say the chrome & casting does sound pretty neat.

I don't have a specific answer, but finding the niche is the key.

I'm thinking of things like Jet Performance.  They unlocked all the secrets of Carburetors, in specific, the Qjet.  The one carb everyone gets frustrated with, they nail it every time.  I visited their shop.  4 guys, small space, TONS of business.

My buddy Bryan bought some software and went down the rabbit hole of inexpensively tuning GM ECMs.  He focuses on LT1 and LS1.  The LS stuff he actually doesn't do much since the market is flooded with tuners for LS.  But if you need anything for LT1s, he is THE guy.

This may just be me (since I'm a bit weird), but I'm constantly looking for things that don't exist anymore.  Right now, I have a planer with the plastic keyways on the bevel gears sheared off.  No one makes replacements.  You used to be able to find some aftermarket steel replacements, but not anymore.  My two options seem to be A) buy a new planer, or B) find someone who will custom CNC new ones for me... but for that money I could buy two new planers.

I'm not suggesting you buy a 5-axis CNC and learn autocad, but I would think you could make some good money being that guy.  "Hey, I need bevel gears.  Here are the old ones and they had a 1/8" woodruff key."  You put it in a magical replicatrix box and CNC new ones.

I'm also finding from a few friends that FiTech has this trouble where they sell great EFI components, but they have zero official installer/tuners.  There are some shops that know how to tune it, but it is turning into a nightmare for FiTech in the PR category.  Great product, no tuning support.

I'm just spitballing ideas for niches that haven't been filled.

If you stay small in remodeling/construction based businesses such as that cabinet door business posted above, do not go RETAIL!

The Shiny Happy Ladies that watch HGTV all day will waste so much of your time, you'll lose your butt trying to make them happy and trying to clean up their negative reports on the interweb.

Let guys like me deal with the ladies, and bring you clean wholesale orders.   

As always,  YMMV

In reply to Curtis73 :

I like the way you are thinking. But those particular ideas are not shipable, and probably won't scale very well. 

In reply to Purple Frog :

Good word. 

You mention existing client bases and healthcare.

Suggestion:  You be the owner, let the experts do the healthcare.  I'll explain.

I have, for a very long time, wanted to start a co-op/business that capitalizes on a somewhat booming sector.  My idea is to buy/rent/lease a large warehouse/office space building.  I'm thinking like a former HVAC supplier with 10 offices, a small warehouse, and flex retail space.  You know, like when you walk into a larger Grainger, Fastenal, or Commercial building supply house.

I would start filling it with (wait for it and laugh later) new-age-ish things and some of the more progressive health care things.  Yoga studio, licensed mental health counselors, head shop, chiropractors, massage therapists, salon/beauty/nails, spa treatments, essential oils shop, reiki studios, juice/coffee bar, maybe a vegan deli.  The larger flex space could also be a real money maker.  Hold seminars, have some of the experts like Yogis and reiki masters hold larger group seminars.  Bring in outside talent; anything from fire dancers to psychics, DJs, alternative music groups, healthy cooking chefs... the list is endless.

And the seminars (in my dream) wouldn't have to be about new-agey stuff.  The whole point of the new-agey spiritual ideals are self-love and self-sufficiency.  I would straight up hold a seminar on teaching non-mechanical type hippie people how to change oil, or homeowners simple plumbing.  Whatever skills people have to share to empower people in whatever they do.

In my original plan (when I lived in TX) my future partner in this scheme was a boat builder.  He was hoping to give an ongoing boat building class where people could come in and build their own sailboats and then go sailing as a group.  Sign up whenever, here are the materials and plans, he would mentor and help, and once a month those who had completed their boats would go to Town Lake and sail.

In my example, I practice Reiki and I'm (slowly) getting my master's in clinical counseling, but it doesn't take any of that to own the building and contract out tenants who fit the bill.  Sit back, get free chiropractic adjustments and Yoga classes from your tenants, collect rent checks, and hire a general manager who has the smarts in that genre.

In reply to Curtis73 :

That's a neat idea, and I'll bet there is a market for it. But it's not me. 

Do you want something that you are working in or something where you provide money and others do the work?

You said you have been making sawdust for 40 years...

Maybe shift gears.  At forty years i ditched all the employees and went into a one man custom business.  So much less hassle.  Focus on doing high end work for folks that appreciate it and can afford it.  I found in a short time, only through word of mouth, i have too much business.  No employees, no advertising, happy customers, set my own schedule, and get to do really neat things.

SVreX said:

In reply to Curtis73 :

That's a neat idea, and I'll bet there is a market for it. But it's not me. 

The idea was not so much for you to do my suggestion, it was that you could own a business that you, yourself don't know.

If I wanted to start selling (for instance) elderly care medical equipment, I would start looking at other businesses and what they sell.  I would see invacare adjustable beds, compression socks, canes, and wheelchairs.  Great.  So I would talk to my bed supplier to get the ball rolling and they would say "who will be supplying your CPAP machines and insulin test strips?"  Light bulbs will start flashing dimly in the corner of my brain.  Then once the business is up and rolling, I may notice that the beds aren't selling, and everyone keeps asking me why I don't sell home-installed handicap ramps.

I'm just saying, you will be on a steep learning curve, but a fast one, especially if you hire someone who knows their stuff.

If there is one thing I've learned about business at the theater is that usually the worst executive director is the one who knows a lot about theater.  That business needs someone who is excellent at running a non-profit business.  The rest of the staff is who needs to know theater.  We need a person in that office who knows how to get money and what to spend it on.  Not someone with an opinion on how to build a set or what show to do.  Most of the time big corps hire CEOs because they're good CEOs, not because they know about pharmaceuticals or plastics, or whatever the company does.

In reply to SVreX :

There are more than a few companies that are set up and rolling now like you are envisioning. I've been buying from one of them for the last 20 years or so. Since most jobs (I'm guessing) ship common carrier, geography is somewhat moot I think. My impression is that margins are relatively low as well, and it's all about volume. That would be too close to a rat race for me.

Edit: 

I've often pondered the same thing you are, however, I'm thinking I will have to find/create my own niche in residential construction industry supply side, i.e.: Custom range hoods, pre-cut/pre-finished RTA door and window case, etc. Something I can set up and run either solo, or with few employees. The ordering systems the cabinet door places have in place are a great guideline to follow.

In reply to Purple Frog :

I haven't actually been making sawdust that long.

I've had many roles.  Almost always on site. I haven't been hands on for a long time- right now I am a Superintendent on large commercial projects- high stress. 
 

I've never actually worked in a shop.  I'm more interested in the entrepreneurial creative business side right now, but think I'd be smart to stick to products, customers and methods that I have some familiarity with.