Business Plan: Team 8 Grand River Rapids. Jim Barron Tom Marshall Aaron Vanderhill Jeff Van Laar

Transcription

1 Business Plan: Team 8 Grand River Rapids Jim Barron Tom Marshall Aaron Vanderhill Jeff Van Laar BUS-357-Fall 2009

2 Table of Contents Executive Summary... 4 Vision and Mission Statement... 4 Industry Analysis... 4 Industry Background and Overview... 4 Major Customer Groups... 5 Regulatory Restrictions... 5 Significant Trends... 5 Growth Rate... 5 Barriers to Entry and Exit... 5 Key Success Factors in the Industry... 6 Outlook for the Future... 6 Business Strategy... 6 Image and Position in Market... 6 Company Goals and Objectives... 6 SWOT Analysis... 6 Strengths:... 6 Weaknesses:... 7 Opportunities:... 7 Trends:... 7 Company Products and Services... 7 Product or Service Features... 7 Customer Benefits... 7 Uniqueness... 7 Patent or Trademark Protection... 7 Future Product or Service Offerings... 8 Marketing Strategy... 8 Target Market... 8 Market Size and Trends... 9 Personal Selling Efforts... 9 Advertising and Promotion... 9 Pricing Test Market Results Location and Layout

3 Competitor Analysis Description of Management Team Key managers and employees Employee Backgrounds Loan or Investment Proposal Amount Requested Purpose and Uses of Funds Appendix Income Statement and Break-Even Analysis

4 Executive Summary Premier Engineering Design is located at 1234 Premier Drive. Grand Rapids, MI. The partners in this company are: Jim Barron, Tom Marshall, Jeff Van Laar, and Aaron Vanderhill. The members are all certified civil engineers that graduated from Calvin College in Premier Engineering Design is a general civil engineering firm that specializes in designing whitewater courses and river restoration. The focus of the firm is to reclaim the rivers for the use of the communities. The market for our firm is municipalities. We provide the engineering design for water distribution, storm water management, sanitary sewer design, structural design, traffic design, and our specialty, river restoration. One strategy that will benefit our company is our additional services that will allow us to have a wider client base. All partners have extensive experience with civil engineering software and are up to date with the latest industry trends. The specific experience that the partners have in river restoration and whitewater design is another advantage. Vision and Mission Statement The purpose of our company is to provide the very best in quality engineering services. We strive for excellence in every project we have the privilege of designing. Premier Engineering Design provides a variety of services. We design natural and artificial water systems for rivers, streams, and storm water management. Our specialty is analyzing river systems and designing environmentally friendly waterways. We design systems when an old dam needs remodeling or removing, and we also design flood wall and access sites for rivers. The river analysis that we provide is unmatched in the market today. The uniqueness of Premier Engineering Design is the fact that we care about the environment and the community that we are designing for. We provide the best quality designs for waterways, while giving our customers the personal touch of caring engineers. Industry Analysis Industry Background and Overview Whitewater kayaking has been gaining popularity in recent years and was an official Olympic sport at the 2008 Olympics held in Beijing, China. The kayaking course in Beijing was manmade and was constructed solely to be used during the Olympic Games. As whitewater recreation activities such as kayaking and rafting have become more popular, there has been a movement to create new whitewater courses and modify existing rivers in order to create a whitewater course or enhance the existing rapids. 4

5 Major Customer Groups Due to the surge in popularity of whitewater activities, there are many different customer groups that we could potentially service. One of the most promising customer groups would be medium to large sized cities. Many cities are located near rivers and the potential to create a whitewater course that is in close proximity to a large number of people would be very appealing for the city. While the city may decide to not charge the residents to use the whitewater course, having it placed near other businesses creates the opportunity for extra foot traffic which would benefit local businesses. Smaller cities may not have a sufficient number of residents to justify the construction of a whitewater course due to the high cost which is why the reason we plan to target on larger cities. Regulatory Restrictions The design of whitewater courses involves either modifying existing rivers or creating an entirely new course. Manmade courses which do not discharge in to existing waterways do not have any special regulations unless there are local rules specifically relating to whitewater courses. Courses which are created in existing waterways must use proper materials which will not have an effect on the existing conditions of the river such as fish or other aquatic life. These restrictions will vary on a case-to-case basis depending on the location and local regulations. Significant Trends In recent years whitewater kayaking has seen an increase in popularity, in part due to the resurgence of the sport as an Olympic event. However, due to current economic conditions many cities are on extremely tight budgets and may not have the large amount of discretionary funds necessary for the construction of such a course. Growth Rate As mentioned earlier whitewater kayaking is becoming more popular, however current economic conditions have put a strain on funding and many municipalities simply do not have the funding to construct a whitewater course. During the beginning of the decade, whitewater kayaking was the fastest growing human-powered outdoor sport. The growth of the sport peaked in 2002 and has remained stable since then (paddlinginstructor.com). We believe there is a large market for the design of whitewater courses and it will rebound as the economy recovers. Barriers to Entry and Exit One of the barriers to creating our company startup is that colleges and universities generally do not offer classes which deal with the design of whitewater courses which means that it will be more difficult to find qualified employees that have just graduated from college. This means we will be hiring engineers with more experience who will also qualify for higher pay. Due to economic conditions it may also be more difficult to attract clients which is necessary in order for our company to survive. 5

6 Key Success Factors in the Industry One element which is critical to the success of our company is our reputation. The only information a client may have when selecting an engineering firm to design a whitewater course is previous work. As we design more courses we will develop a track record and we will become more reputable and trustworthy. As our exposure grows it will be easier for us to attract clients. Outlook for the Future The cost of constructing a whitewater course is extremely high and as we look toward the future we believe that as the economy recovers, business will also pick up. Whitewater kayaking is one of the fastest growing outdoor activities and we expect the popularity of the sport to continue in the future. Business Strategy Image and Position in Market Our firm is thought of by the competition as innovative and imaginative. We seek to shed a new light on the river restoration and artificial whitewater rapids industry. Our clients know that as Christian engineers we value honesty and incorporate that into all areas of our work. As a result our newly formed company will quickly blossom into a prestigious civil engineering firm specializing in natural whitewater rapids design. Company Goals and Objectives The firm seeks to be honest and transparent in all business that we do. This means information will not be withheld from any relevant party or persons affected. We will weigh the opinions of the majority when making crucial decisions. Financial we look to expand each year of our existence and have set high goals for the company to ensure that this happens. We strive for excellence and professionalism in all that our company does. SWOT Analysis Strengths: The company does a great job of interacting with the clients and designing a product that is specifically aimed towards that client. The firm has a wide range of experiences to draw from but designs are always unique. The core engineers at the company have been well trained in structural design, environmental design, and hydraulic design. Additionally the firm has 6

7 business training and other knowledge not directly related to engineering that benefits the company as a whole. Weaknesses: The firm is design oriented. As a result there are not any construction managers currently employed by the firm. For this reason the firm often struggles to provide much help in design implementation and construction cost estimates have a wide range of error. Opportunities: This company seeks to be stewards of the environment Trends: Research shows that interest in river restoration project are becoming more and more popular around the United States. Our firm believes that as the push towards becoming more environmentally friendly increases, so will the market for projects associated will the firm. The outlook for the company is very bright. Company Products and Services Product or Service Features Our company is an engineering firm which specializes in the design of whitewater kayaking courses. We design manmade courses as well as courses which are constructed in existing rivers. Additionally we provide any necessary site planning for all projects. Customer Benefits One of the primary benefits of constructing a whitewater course is the increased activity in the area. For courses located near cities this means increased tourism and foot traffic which helps support local businesses. Whitewater courses are also natural looking and aesthetically pleasing. Uniqueness Every river is different which means each course we design will also be different in order to meet the individual needs of our client and also to create the best possible course for the particular river. Manmade courses must also be designed on an individual basis due to factors such as land availability, whether or not the course will be used competitively, and the amount of funding available for the project. Patent or Trademark Protection Due to the fact that every course is different, we will not have any patent or trademark protection issues. 7

8 Future Product or Service Offerings Currently we have no plans to expand our service offerings. We specialize in whitewater course design and at the moment there are no other markets which would involve similar design skills. Marketing Strategy Target Market In a Civil Engineering firm, there are two different marketing segments. The first is our engineering firm marketing ourselves to possible clients and once we are hired, the project needs to be marketed to the future user which the engineer could help the customer with. For each of these stages in a project, there is a target market, a motivation of the customer to buy, a market size and trends, and personal selling efforts. For this business plan, our team will focus on the first part of project marketing regarding a private consulting firm marketing to clients, specifically municipalities. For our company, a private Civil Engineering firm, our target market consists of municipalities, other public entities, developers, and other private citizens. For all of these markets, our company will provide civil engineering services including site planning, hydraulic modeling and solutions, and structural design. The demographic profile of our marketing strategy consists of adults in the middle class, including both male and female. Our demographic involves the middle class as those are the types of people we will be dealing with most often in municipalities and development. However, there may be times when our designs will affect the lower or upper class so as a company we will need to be prepared to market to those social classes as well. One significant customer characteristic we have to be aware of is the technical knowledge of our customer. While one customer may know exactly what they are looking for, others may not so our company will need to discern between the two and make sure we make our service understandable to those who may not have engineering savvy. In our marketing strategy, our company needs to consider our customer s motivation to buy our service. Often, our customer will hire us if they have a problem to be solved however, to survive; our company needs to build a clientele that will continue to come back. This could include becoming the consulting engineers for various municipalities. Our company also needs to realize that it isn t always possible to market to future customers before they have issues that need to be taken care of, so our most important marketing strategy will be doing good work and creating designs that satisfy our customers because that will keep them coming back and build our reputation to bring in other customers. This also includes customer service and taking care of our customers by looking out for them rather than ourselves. 8

9 Market Size and Trends The market size and trends also need to be considered in our marketing strategy. Currently, there are quite a few engineering firms in the market making work harder to come by and competition stiffer. Also, in the current economy, civil engineering companies have been struggling to find work, so it will be tough to find work and thus will influence our marketing strategy. One way to overcome this would be to reduce costs and have the ability to do work for less cost to the customer. Overall, the number of companies in the industry is shrinking slowly in these tough economic times as well as the amount of work because municipalities don t have the money for capital improvement projects. Personal Selling Efforts Our marketing strategy also includes personal selling efforts. Our company will have a very small sales force if at all because it is hard to sell a project as often times the projects come up and a bid must be placed. So, most of the sales force will consist of the engineers in the company, but the upper level management force will be a major part of the sales force as well. In our company, since engineers and business management will be doing the sales and given the nature of the industry, no commission will be paid but if on person stands out, a raise will be given out of recognition. For individual sales, sales calls will vary as the engineers will be in constant contact with the customer to insure that the needs of the customer are met. In our company, it is hard to classify what a sales call would be so this stat is irrelevant in our company. Likewise, the amount of the average sale is irrelevant since each project will have a different cost and there is a large price spectrum. This value is only relevant for revenue and profit purposes. Advertising and Promotion Advertising and promotion could be used in our Civil Engineering firm to increase business. The main media used would be through word of mouth. In addition, our firm may also buy an advertisement in the local paper or in journals and magazines related to the industry that future customers may read. The media cost would depend on the paper or magazine used and as a start up firm in the current economy, minimized costs would be best, so smaller ads may be used early. The frequency of advertising would depend on how much work the firm has as well as the amount of money available for advertising. As mentioned earlier, advertising is one way to generate publicity. Another way to generate publicity is through sponsoring local events or helping various groups, such as a college engineering group. 9

10 Pricing The specific pricing information for a three-year plan can be found in the Appendix. Test Market Results The mission and goal of our company is to provide our customers with the very best option for them. This means that while we are concerned with cost and being environmentally friendly, our number 1 goal is to serve our customer s needs. We will use survey and probe the community that we are serving in order to get the best results possible in our design. An example of how we customer conscious is how we are using the results of a recent focus group for our design off the Grand River Rapids. Grand Rapids Whitewater held a workshop on January 14, 2009 that pooled the ideas of over 80 people. These groups were told to evaluated the following, Costs (construction, operations and maintenance), revenue potential (user fees, concessions, and equipment rentals), technical feasibility, nature of river experience/user appeal (length of run, challenge level, and the potential for creating a Heritage Water Trail), fishing impacts (habitat enhancements, access points), safety concerns (boaters, fishermen), land use (loss of existing parks/amenities, addition of parks/river access), water issues (water quality, changes in water levels), and hydropower potential, (demonstration site, alternative energy portfolio). Eight groups of people came up with the following results shown in Table 1. 10

11 Table 1: Decision Matrix from GRWW Location and Layout Our firm is based out of Grand Rapids, MI. There really is no significance in this location because the firm mainly design oriented. This means that we can take projects nationwide and work on them from the headquarters. As the company grows it seeks to add a satellite location in Colorado. This is because a lot of the work we do is based in the area. The main function of this office will be customer interaction and surveying for the western part of the country. Competitor Analysis The largest engineering firm and potential competitor in Grand Rapids is FTC&H. There are also several other civil engineering firms in the area, but Premier Engineering Design would be the only firm that specializes in whitewater design in Grand Rapids. This will allow our firm to grab the market for river restoration in the West Michigan area and extend our others services as our name recognition grows. 11

12 Description of Management Team Key managers and employees The formation of the Premier Engineering Design will not be oriented with a traditonal management system. The team will make all executive decisions together. The acting president will have the final decision in any disagreements, and that position will rotate every two years. Employee Backgrounds All employees graduated from Calvin College with a B.S.E. with a Civil Concentration in Loan or Investment Proposal Amount Requested In order to start our company we will need to rent an office building, purchase computers for all employees, and buy applicable software such as AutoCAD. We estimate that the total cost to begin our business will be $100,000. Purpose and Uses of Funds As mentioned earlier, the funds will be used to acquire an office space and all of the computers and software that we need for the design of the whitewater courses. 12

13 Appendix Income Statement and Break-Even Analysis 13

14 Premier Engineering Design Pro-Forma Statement of Income Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Sales revenue 500, , ,000 Variable Cost of Goods Sold 10,000 20,000 30,000 Fixed Cost of Goods Sold 200, , ,000 Depreciation 1,429 2,449 3,178 Gross Margin 288, , ,822 Variable Operating Costs 20,000 20,000 20,000 Fixed Operating Costs 15,000 15,000 15,000 Operating Income 253, , ,822 Interest Expense 1,300 1,300 - Income Before Tax 252, , ,822 Income tax (40%) 100, , ,729 Net Income After Tax 151, , ,093 Premier Engineering Design Pro-Forma Statement of Cash Flows Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Beginning Cash Balance - 262, ,991 Net Income After Tax 151, , ,093 Depreciation expense 1,429 2,449 3,178 Invested Capital (Equity) 100, , ,000 Increase (decrease) in borrowed funds 20,000 (20,000) - Equipment Purchases (10,000) - (10,000) Ending Cash Balance 262, , ,262

15 Premier Engineering Design Break - Even Analysis Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Sales revenue 500, , ,000 Less: Variable Costs: Variable Cost of Goods Sold 10,000 20,000 30,000 Variable Operating Costs 20,000 20,000 20,000 Total Variable Costs 30,000 40,000 50,000 Contribution Margin 470, , ,000 Less: Fixed Costs Fixed Cost of Goods Sold 200, , ,000 Fixed Operating Costs 15,000 15,000 15,000 Depreciation 1,429 2,449 3,178 Interest Expense 1,300 1,300 - Total Fixed Costs 217, , ,178 Income Before Tax 252, , ,822 Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Total Fixed Costs 217, , ,178 Contribution Margin % 94% 93% 92% Break Even Sales Volume 231, , ,558 15

16 Equipment Depreciation Purchases Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Equipment Purchases Year 1 10,000 1,429 2,449 1,749 Equipment Purchases Year Equipment Purchases Year 3 10,000 1,429 1,429 2,449 3,178 MACRS Rates (7-year recovery period) Interest Expense: Annual interest rate on debt 13% Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Average debt balance 10,000 10,000 - Interest expense 1,300 1,300-16