I think a lot of women would not want to go to a home office, at least to start with. I assume from your name that you are a man, so might be totally unaware of the safety issues that women take for granted. And women are sizably the larger part of your market.

More than that though, I'm not sure you have a well conceived business plan. For instance, will all the cabinet lines you want to represent allow their wares to be repped by people who aren't certified by their company? And do they allow their lines to be shown alongside similar looking but inferior products? There is a big difference between the leeway companies give to designers and contractors, and what they'll allow for a nationwide chain.

Even if you can deliver on the merchandise, how are you going to keep up quality among your employees/franchisees? The very best mostly want to run their own shows. I have an absolutely fantastic GC, who works his butt off. When suggested that he could expand and hire project managers, to do more and work less, he rejects the idea because he's never found an employee who could give his level of service. The ones who are good enough just want to steal clients and go out on their own. The big knock on Home Depot has been the variability of their installers. The best don't work for Home Depot, and they (reputedly) contract with a variety of adequate to inferior to crooks.

Going with your variables, I think you might have a better time as a middle man for contractors and designers, especially away from urban centers where everything is available. That way you wouldn't be responsible for the workmanship of such a far flung group of individuals, but could still make use of your resources and expertise.

I'm a toucher...I like to open drawers and cabinets, see how the various drawer slides work and see physical mock-ups of potential kitchen designs. Others may not mind not seeing the cabinets, but it would be a deal breaker for me. I actually bought specific cabinets and various features because I loved them when I looked at the cabinet - just looking at the catalog didn't peak my interest.

The less expensive products would all be there to see and touch and feel. No store has all the High brands on display cause the combination is too great.

All the main componets to demonstrate quality would be in the home office for the 30+ brands that would be on display believe it or not

Thanks for the comments.. very insightful

Dave

Agree with pillog's comments about the home office concept. Also, the home office would have to be so large to display the items you've listed that it would be unlikely to fit in anyone's home.

I would start with the ''best remodeling professionals'' concept. If you read the posts here, there are numerous complaints about lazy, unresponsive, or incompetent KD's and installers. There are already a zillion KD's out there with home offices who do a lousy job and no one wants to deal with. I would explore a local or regional chain of well-trained KD's and installers who are certified by your various suppliers and whom you hold to a high standard of performance. You provide them with support and access to the products you mentioned. You need to market a more competent product, i.e. design and installation, so your prospective customers knows what they're getting up front.

Attention to detail is important. I would be unlikely to seek out someone who spells his own name wrong on a website.

Yes most CKD Certified Kitchen Designers are a pain. I am not looking for them. I am looking for people like myself that love to design and take pride in the finished product and be proud of their work. The hard working person that loves building and is driven to succede by being self employed.

They will need 600 sqft of space for display. It will cost them $20k to get the displays which is 50% discount from normal Dealer cost. No one makes money on that. An investment that size should weed out the lazy!

In return they should make $2k-$4k per project. I expect them to do 4 kitchens a month. The return on investment is pretty high.

Just this week I priced a project in Orlando where I can provide the cabinets in a high end design provide the granite for the kitchen in 10 colors, install it and paint the room for the same price as Home Depot is thru Kraftmaid just on the cabinets!

As I am learning from the posts so far and as I supected perception is everything!

thanks for the comments again!

Dave

Actually I like the home office part of the plan. I recently went to a local cabinet rep whose entire showroom WAS her home. She had the living room next to the front door converted into a showroom office and sample room, complete with wall to wall floor to ceiling racks of cabinet doors, a work table and LCD screen mounted onto the wall. It was quite efficient, but what I was most impressed by was when she moved us into her real kitchen to get a better feel for how the cabinetry operated. Then she pointed out built-ins in the living room and a hutch in the dining room and took us into two bathrooms to view the real life cabinetry! She repped three different lines and had examples of each throughout her house. I kept thinking how wonderful it would be to live with all that top of the line cabinetry with all the bells and whistles, plus you would always have a cleaning service to keep it pristine and it would be a major tax write off to boot! Heck her whole house was a tax write off. Since she only meet with customers by appointment, it wasn't like you were interrupting her life or anything.

The part of your plan that I'm not sure about from a personal standpoint is the one stop concept. I can't quite get one line to work for me everywhere and plan on getting some things from one dealer and others from another. All and all we will probably use three different cabinet companies, three different reps/designers.

5 years in the business hasn't been long enough, I think. You are trying to invent a concept that already exists. Kitchen showrooms do all of what you are describing. They carry multiple brands at multiple price points and can coordinate all aspects of the decor finishes. Design and build firms even employ GCs to be able to 100% handle the home add on or extensive renovation if that's involved. You're not talking about offering anything new. You're just talking about marketing what exists differently, which possibly could work if you found the right ad campaign.

Cabinet companies are also pretty particular about who carries their cabinets. And they often will not work with companies that carry their competitors. So, you won't end up with 9 different budget choices and 12 different mid range choices. They just won't allow you to do that. Unless you're talking 9 different Chinese made choices, that is. And those aren't likely to be taking any market by storm any time soon. Too many risks and quality variables.

And potential customers who are looking to renovate really won't flock to a "Cabinet Hut" type of place run out of anyone's home. There will be a great deal of suspicion attached to that, directly related to your location (especially considering your sex), as well as your liquidity. If you can't afford a decent sized showroom with really good displays, then you will have people wondering if you'll be in business in 6 weeks when their cabinets are supposed to be delivered.

You have zero reputation with anyone as a startup, and that's going to work against you with both consumers and builders. That's why most KDs either go to work at an establised showroom and create a name/buzz and then go out on their own or only work part time out of their home and have a spouse with a more traditional job who carries the insurance and benefits.

All in all, you'd probably be best served by approaching an already existing residential KD firm and pitching your services to them as a "contractor division" that you'd run. If your data checks out, and your finances are sound, it'd be a win/win proposition for both of you. And, in 10 years time, after you've built a reputation, you could then sever the ties and have your own company that could easily stand on it's own feet.

daveinorlando Are you still in the kitchen remodel business? We are located outside of Charlotte, NC and ready to do a full kitchen remodel.

I don't think Dave's concept ever got any traction.

No. Another failed business. Maybe two by now. It's been 5 years. I do know he completely ditched all of the Chinese cabnets that he was going to make so much money with. Hard to make money with c-rap-ola and months long slow boat from china lead times.

Expert , personalized service for kitchen projects doesn't scale well nationally. Condensing local customs , tastes, and economic realities into a formula or manual that can be repeated , sold , and or monetized on a recurring basis isn't easy or sometimes practical.

Besides , finding good people is hard enough, how easy do you think it'd be to find , and keep, a local star who can build a business in every sizable market? Then , you want them to pay you for that opportunity ?

fat chance

Dave, I know this thread is super old but if you get this, would you recommend Bridgewood Cabinets still in 2024? Do you have good experiences with them post covid?