It is no secret that the construction business, in general, has slowed down over the past year. As with almost every negative thing in our lives, this has created opportunities.
The weak housing market and the weak economy have conspired to cause many changes in the marketplace. For example, many marginal businesses have failed. Many businesses became too much work for the meager profits they were producing. Lots of folks decided to retire early. The end result is that there are fewer competitors for many of us in the construction related businesses.
For example, one of the largest players in the industry, United Rentals, has closed a large number of stores. They have also returned to their base business, equipment rental. That means that they have cut back dramatically on their merchandizing and have removed trailer-based concrete from most locations. This creates a huge opportunity for someone to step in and fill the gap.
Among the stores that United has closed are two in California both of which had excellent sales of concrete and landscape materials. The Napa, California store, for years had sold about 5,000 yards of trailer-based concrete each year. That represents gross sales (of just the concrete) of about $625,000 and gross profits of approximately $350,000 annually. For a business that can be run with two people full-time and a bit of temp help, that's not bad. The other example is Turlock, California. The Turlock store had trailer-based concrete and a decent selection of landscape materials (18 material bins plus concrete mix). With the nearest United Rentals store in Modesto, 14 miles away, this is an outstanding opportunity for someone to step in and pick up this business.
Opportunities like this come to the attention of the staff at Cart-Away on a seemingly daily basis. If you want more information, please call, toll-free, 800-909-9809 or put your questions on this blog.
If you have any news of concrete or landscape materials stores closing or reducing operation, please let us know. We have interested parties and both new and used equipment to turn this opportunities into gold.