lisa k Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 Hi Guys, I am new here. My name is Lisa and i am currently studying cert 4 in small business management. As part of my course i was assigned a 'business' type. the business type i have is a imaginary boarding, grooming and training facility for dogs. I have sourced the information for the grooming side of the business, but am unable to find details on set up costs for a training facility and boarding facility. I have some information on the boarding side, but not a single thing on the training facility... so i pose this question- WHAT do you want to see in a training facility - equipment, size of space provided, type of trainer etc. what would be your ideal training facility for your beloved four legged pal? Any and all information- or a point in the right direction to finding the required information would be, beyond helpful and greatly appreciated. thank you Lisa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdierikx Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 Have a look at this place... http://www.farmerdave.com.au/ T. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sas Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 Have a look at this place... http://www.farmerdave.com.au/ T. That is not a good representation imo. Dirty (So many people say this about this facility), dogs escape (the very public case of the bulldog that the facility has not supported the medical costs), dogs get returned from boarding/training with wounds and emaciated (one of my rescues). Free range facilities aren't a good idea imo, attacks, injuries, too much exercise etc. What makes a good one? Not 1001 dogs, you need smaller numbers to ensure you know what's going on with all the dogs in your care. Well built kennels that are always clean. Big exercise runs with an appropriate number of dogs in them with size appropriate play mates and not over exercised etc. People who monitor the dogs in their care i.e. are they eating, are they injured etc. The training methods should herald results and the facility be honest and transparent in what methods they actually use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSoSwift Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 I have a small boarding kennel Look at www.countrylaneboarding.com and if it's the sort of model you are after I am happy to help. I don't do training or grooming apart from maintainence grooming Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Her Majesty Dogmad Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 Have a look at this place... http://www.farmerdave.com.au/ T. That is not a good representation imo. Dirty (So many people say this about this facility), dogs escape (the very public case of the bulldog that the facility has not supported the medical costs), dogs get returned from boarding/training with wounds and emaciated (one of my rescues). Free range facilities aren't a good idea imo, attacks, injuries, too much exercise etc. What makes a good one? Not 1001 dogs, you need smaller numbers to ensure you know what's going on with all the dogs in your care. Well built kennels that are always clean. Big exercise runs with an appropriate number of dogs in them with size appropriate play mates and not over exercised etc. People who monitor the dogs in their care i.e. are they eating, are they injured etc. The training methods should herald results and the facility be honest and transparent in what methods they actually use. This is spot on advice and some of us have heard about the escapees from this particular place on Facebook etc. When I see the videos of masses of dogs roaming around together, I personally find it terrifying. I have worked in a facility with up to 20 dogs in an enclosure and I can't tell you how awful that was when a fight started. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpha bet Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 I run a facility...since 1993 We have boarding for 20-30 dogs.... We also run training classes (not inhouse boarding) We conduct some grooming services We also breed Australian Shepherds Happy to answer any questions to help www.alfoxton.com.au Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisa k Posted April 11, 2015 Author Share Posted April 11, 2015 Fantastic guys, thank you for the tips and offers of help- i will be in contact with you all shortly. The basic idea of my 'grooming, boarding and training facility' is to have no more than 7-15 dogs in boarding at any one time, a small grooming salon that will groom approximately 8-10 dogs a day depending on the type of groom offered (ie maintenance, show, full) and the training facility holding 3 training classes a day with a class size of 1-7 dogs depending on the type of training offered (ie puppy school, basic obedience, one on one behavioral etc) i will have a squiz at the links provided - and depending on how well my internet is running, will be back in touch. Thank you again for your help :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpha bet Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 Ahhhh in a perfect world it would be wonderful to have a facility that operated so strategically.... The reality is: Boarding has peak times - and these are not always regular Grooming does tend to be a bit more seasonal - unless you are located on a main road with the long hours required to provide easy drop off and pick up... Training Classes - very few places would have three classes running every day, again on a main road in a busy area, provided council will approve such facility in this location. Therefore the idea of budgeting any such business structure has to be planned on the low to average.... costing out staffing for fluctuating businesses is very difficult and effective advertising is the hardest and most expensive especially when you consider costs of newspapers, websites, google ads, yellow pages, internet. Example.... I have a boarding facility that is set up for 25-30 dogs... not because I have that many dogs in residence but to allow for the peak periods... generally over the xmas I have 30 dogs but inbetween xmas and new year I am actually able to accomodate up to 42 dogs (we have some multifunction areas in the training school and stables. School holiday periods are generally catering for 15-20 dogs and then for the rest of the year is 4-8 dogs. Therefore to cost the income achievable on a kennel my size I would need to calculate 40 dogs for one week, 25 dogs for 4 weeks, 15 dogs for 5 weeks and 6 dogs for 16 weeks = 1601 dog overnight stays @ say $26 = $41,626 Whereas most people setting up a plan would think that as I have a 30 dog facility therefore if you had it half full on average that is 15 dogs for 365 days = 5475 dog stays @ $26 = $142,350.... I WISH! This is not reality... there is another local boarding facility who caters for 150 dogs but off season she says she generally has 1-2 dogs during the week but might have 10 for the weekends.... I run most of this myself with flexible work from a local woman who is also a great groomer and has apprenticed to run the training classes as well but finding the right staff is like finding gold... and then you have to provide regular enough of an income to keep them. The type of structure you are talking about has very little likelihood of achieving the perfect scenario : finding the right location, council approval and ability to have on-road advertising... I know this is an assignment..... therefore a "fantasy" business, but to really create a great Small Business Assignment you need to factor these issues into your business plan.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpha bet Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 And just to make comment about 'farmer daves' - one persons idea of dirty can easily be a dogs idea of fun. I get people here who think there dog is precious and should be washed and pampered - my website clearly states "This is a place where dogs are allowed to be dogs" that means they don't stay in sterile little compartments which are made of concrete, steel, vinyl... they are not sleeping on little brass beds with doona's nor do they have televisions in their room... They go out in the paddocks with other dogs where they can play and romp under the trees or jump in the paddle pools and then sunbake if they wish... for a few hours every day... not a 10 min walk over to the colour co-ordinated playground with airconditioning and fake grass. Yes my dogs can get dirty... in summer it can be dry and dusty but they run in fresh air, sunshine and space... then come into their pens for dinner and rest up for the night. The pens don't smell because they have fresh air and sun and I don't need to use heavy chemicals to cover the odour nor do I need to wash dogs in scented shampoo to make the owners think their princess is being pampered.... Easy to be critical of someone else's business and heresay is actually a risk of being sued.... but I question if the dogs have a better time at farmer daves... than at Hanrob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisa k Posted April 11, 2015 Author Share Posted April 11, 2015 Alpha Bet--- you are simply wonderful! Thank you for going so in depth with your answer- i had simply not even thought of this- i have little to nothing to do with dog boarding/ grooming places- i have two dogs of my own- a 15 year old pommy x rescue and a `12 year old border collie x kelpie whom have never been in boarding with me (ive had the BC since she was 4 weeks old and the pommy for almost a year now) all grooming/ training etc is done by myself and my ever patience mother. so the possibility of kennels having slow days/ weeks/ months had not even crossed my mind- i want my business plan, profit and loss statements etc to be as true to the case as possible- rather than with the pulled out of the sky numbers i am currently using (having a hard time getting anyone to part with their pricing schedules/ costings etc.) which i totally understand- they don't know me, nor have any reason to part with their business strategies and pricing rules. so such a small 'kennel' such as 'mine' lol. would simply not be something that would be able to survive being a full time business- with such large lulls in the incoming dogs. thank you- it give me a little more to dig for and search out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSoSwift Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 Yes on of the hardest things to try and work out is income. You can go from turning people away to a couple of dogs in days. It also depends on how many boarding kennels are in your area. If there are a numebr close togetehr you may have less dogs in slower periods than if there is only a couple of smaller kennels. It also depends on if you had to purchase land, get all necessary permits - every form you hand into the shire council costs $250 - and then the costs of building. there are always things you don't think of. Also would you get a builder to build it or would you do a lot yourself? We couldn't have afforded to do ours had we required a builder. We were up to $150 K and that was only for the concrete shed and septics, no gyprocking, or any runs built, insulation etc, never mind outside yards. How you actually set up your runs can also affect cost. If you wanted a groomer you would need a room with space to hold grooming dogs - incase long term boarding was full - plus all grooming gear so would need a specific room set up for that. Having a sperate room also stops hair going everywhere. If you run training classes you need an are big enough to do so, if training large groups, then more area. Also one person cannot do it all, how many staff would you need to have a groomer, someone cleaning, exercising and playing with your boarders, and a trainer or two?? All that adds up as you have wages, super, and insurances for the normal stuff plus insurnace goes up depending on how many you employ. There is also book work to be done, do you do that yoruself or have a book keeper? Many costs invloved you don't think about at the begining. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisa k Posted April 13, 2015 Author Share Posted April 13, 2015 Hi Guys, to those of you who own kennels/ grooming etc- would you mind if i use your websites as a reference- this means that your website address will be listed on my reports reference pages. i just need to show where some of my information was gathered and that the information is readily available on the internet and not made up information. If you have supplied a link reference can i please get a quick yep or nope as to which way you would prefer to go. thank you all so much for the information, links and ideas you have provided. you really are a bunch of great peeps. thanks again lisa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSoSwift Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 No worries about using mine :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpha bet Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 (edited) yep no problem mine is www.alfoxton.com.au Edited April 13, 2015 by alpha bet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisa k Posted April 14, 2015 Author Share Posted April 14, 2015 Thank you all so much. With out your help i am sure i would still be on question 1! will let you know how it goes, thank you again. Lisa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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