Refitting Houses for the Disabled

Startup Costs: $10,000 - $50,000
Home Based: Can be operated from home.
Franchises Available? No
Online Operation? Yes

Millions of people live with disabilities, and often these physical disabilities can turn life's simplest tasks into stressful and daunting chores. The housing needs and requirements for people living with disabilities are much different from those for people without disabilities. Doors must be wide enough to accommodate wheelchairs, light switches have to be lower, and electrical outlets have to be higher. Kitchens and bathrooms often have to be completely customized, and ramps and other safety items have to be installed in the home. Starting a business that specializes in refitting homes to accommodate people with disabilities can be both a profitable and personally rewarding venture to initiate. The most effective way to market this type of renovation service is to construct a showroom that reflects the alterations and improvements that can be made to a new or existing home to make the house more functional and user-friendly for the disabled person. Alternatively, if your budget does not allow you to implement this type of showroom display, you can still market your services with the use of brochures and other sales aids. However, this type of marketing does not have the same kind of tangible quality that a hands-on showroom can provide for clients. requirements: This type of specialized renovation service has many requirements that have to be carefully considered, such as liability insurance, business license, skilled tradespeople or subcontractors, and operating location. The business definitely requires a full business plan, action plan, and market evaluation to be completed prior to establishing the business. start-up costs: Launching this sort of business venture can be very costly. If your plan is to be completely operational including a showroom, you can expect to invest in the neighborhood of $50,000 to $75,000 for this type of specialty home improvement venture. profit potential: For any home improvement business to be financially viable, you should always strive for a 50 percent markup on all material and labor. If you follow this pricing structure then you will have a 33 percent gross profit margin on all work completed. Depending on sales volumes, 50 percent of your gross profit will be used to cover the cost of operating overheads, leaving approximately 15 percent of your total sales as pretax profits. Providing you can maintain sales of $500,000 per year, that would leave you a gross profit of $75,000 per year.