Starting Chimney Sweep Business – Profitable Business Plan

Most of you would have certainly seen a chimney that is used for various purpose. Some chimneys are for domestic use which are used to pass smoke from wood fires while some are used for commercial and industrial purpose. It is obvious that if a chimney is being used regularly then it is destined to be cleaned on regular basis to ensure its proper working. This is where a chimney sweeping service comes into play.

A chimney sweep service is one whose job is to clean chimneys of various types both industrial and domestic. Before we go into details we need to understand how does the chimney sweep business operates, what are its objectives and what returns will one get from this business. So here’s a detailed study on chimney sweep business.

Opportunities in Chimney Sweep Business:

The prospect of a chimney sweep business exists only when there are enough number of chimneys near the locality. Thus if you are planning to go for this your target market should always be a place that is an industrial area and chimneys are enough for your business to survive. In this as well there are two aspects.

The one is where your business is professional full time and for this you need a favorable market while the other is a part time profession where you work part time in cleaning chimneys. For the later one, a small place with relatively less chimneys will also work.

In a standard case, your ideal target market should always be a place that has plenty number of both domestic and industrial chimney.

Laying the Blueprint of Chimney Sweep Business:

What you want to get in the end is what that determines the blueprint of your business strategy. The first step in laying the blueprint should be set a clear perspective about what you want to do, what you expect and what you get in the end.

Conduct a Feasibility Test for your Business:

Since the business you are entering is not much popular you need to have a detailed information before you enter into this field. A feasibility test will help you understand the basics of your business about how much you need to invest, how much time will it take to give returns, how much profit will you make and other information regarding the business.

Plan your Business accordingly and proceed:

Plan your business accordingly and proceed based on the feasibility report. The first step in this is to form a team. You need to decide whether you want to make this business a profession or just a part time. In case you want to go professional, hire few experts who deal in this business. Make your own team of 4-5 members who will be assigned specific jobs in your business.

Requirement of Equipment and Machines:

The first thing you need as chimney cleaner is a set of brushes of various types to manual clean the chimney. The second equipment you would require is Vacuum cleaner specially designed for such work. There are residue that remain fix despite thorough cleaning only to be removed by a vacuum cleaner. Creosote cleaner is also an important tool to clean the residue that gets accumulated on the inner walls of chimney.

You may also need to have the required chemicals for thorough cleaning which can well be obtained by experts in this field. Apart from those specific equipment, you also need a ladder, a rod, lots of cloths, dust collector, a vehicle to transport all such equipment, etc.

It may occur to you that you may not own all these equipment. For this you can own what is of daily requirement and extra use while the rest can be borrowed on rent especially in the initial days of business.

Note: Contact a person specialized in this field to know what specific things you require.

Man Power Required:

If you are in your initial stage of business then it would be advisable to put not more than 2-5 members in your team. One can be put in the office which can be you as well. The rest can be manual workers, labors, experts in cleaning, etc. based on your requirements. As your business grows you can hire more experts and labors and build a bigger team. The importance of keeping a small team in initial times is to cut the expenditure and reduce the investment.

Requirement of Office:

need an office which should be at the center of the location up to where you will extend your service. The importance of choosing such location is to ensure that your team reaches the location at time and each destination is not too far from your office. Thinking from the perspective of capital investment, an office made within your home or a place where the rent is low could be the best option in saving capital investment.

Capital Investment for Chimney Sweeping Business:

There is not much investment of capital required for chimney sweeping business ideally but your investment may extend for unintended purpose. In an ideal case, for your business you only need cleaning members of 4-5 people, cleaning tools and machines, an office and a vehicle to reach your destination. But while implementing this your investment will set to rise. Here is a quick look to the investment you need to make.

• If you are making your own house as office and workshop then it will surely reduce your investment. You only need to invest further in furniture and revamp to made your house adequate for running your business
• If you don’t have an office then either you need to rent it our own one. Renting would be better in initial days to reduce capital investment. Make sure you don’t waste much money in it as you only need an office to operate, a garage to park your vehicle and a room to keep the tools and machines.
• Manpower will cost you a bit on monthly basis based on the qualification of your team members and their position of job. Labors will charge the standard labor rates. Since cost of investment in this will be on monthly basis thus it is important to know how to utilize your people.
• The best way is to hire only the required number of men who are good in multitasking to reduce your expenditure.
• Tools and machines are the ones that will also cost a good amount. For heavy machines, renting them for a while will be the best way to reduce expenditure. Small tools like brush and rods can be purchased at cheap prices. If your machine is required for daily work then you can buy it after few months of your business.
• There will also be expenditure on vehicle, either you buy it or rent it. The vehicle should be able to carry machines and tools and should also accommodate the cleaning team.
• There will also be an expenditure on office expense that will include electricity, water and office tax. There would be other such miscellaneous expenses like fuel for vehicle, snacks, etc.

Note: In the initial days of your business, do not spend your money on things that are costly. Later as you start to get returns you can buy them.

Registration of Business and other Office Work:

Based on the laws of your native place you can register your business. If necessary you should also get special permissions. There may be special laws related to workers working in hazardous places which you need to see and based on requirements you need to get your documents intact. You can hire a legal advisor who can does the official work for you to get you out of the hassle. It is pretty simple to get the required documents.

Return on Investment:

You will be charging money from your clients for the cleaning service that you provide to them. The rate for cleaning of chimney depends from place and type of chimneys. Domestic chimneys are cheaper to get cleaned while industrial ones are expensive. It also depends how much labor you have to put in to get it cleaned. Some services charge on per hour basis while some charge based on the type of work.

In terms of return, it depends on the number of times your service has been used, the rate at which you are paid and how less your expenditure is.

Overview of Chimney Sweeping Business:

You need to properly advertise yourself in the target market to gain customers. Wherever you give your service, provide them with your visiting card and ask them to direct new customers to you. These business don’t do much good solely on advertisement and thus a word of mouth is the best way to gain customer which will take time. You can register to firms that deal with such work as well to get customers.

Lastly, succeeding in this business requires lots of time and labor which you need to put. You need to build your contacts to get new clients, to get things at cheaper price and also to get your work done.

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