Brick & Mortar vs. Home Based

[Tonya]

Hello, I've been running a home-based business for several years focused on small business. I'm considering opening a storefront and servicing home consumers. Just wondering who else has a brick & mortar location servicing consumers and is it worth it. Any advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Mr. Ingram's Computer Repair & Shoppe]

I have brick and mortar. It's definitely not easy....

 

[dgoglio]

Seems like you would be going backwards. Most people start with home users and move to business users. Are you not making enough with business users? They should be more profitable.

 

[Porthos]

servicing home consumers

Most of those have gone away.

 

[Mr. Ingram's Computer Repair & Shoppe]

Most people start with home users and move to business users.

&

Most of those have gone away.

I make more from residential than I do businesses.

 

[Porthos]

I make more from residential

Depens on area and how many still use or have the need for computers or the income to pay for them. Expenses,traffic,competiors,advertising, I could go on.

 

[GTP]

&


I make more from residential than I do businesses.

Same here.
I've been working from a home office from day one. (about 20 years now!)
Many times I've considered moving into a B & M, but when you consider rent, insurances, location, foot traffic, parking, stocking shelves, etc it doesn't look as attractive a proposition as it sounds.
I'm a one man show so if I had to go out to a clients premises/business what do I do? Close for several hours? Hire someone to fill in?
I couldn't afford to do any of this; that's why I've stayed at home!
Besides, it only takes 20 seconds to walk to work even in heavy traffic! (Heavy traffic meaning my four cats and the dog giving me an escort! Lol)
My .02

 

[DRPCNZ]

Been home based office since I started full time self employed in 1999. Hell of a lot cheaper as far as overheads go and I'm mainly small business so everything is mostly done on site. new system setup and migrating data from old to new systems done at home purely because of time

 

[Diggs]

There's only so many businesses (although they may be better paying) whereas residential is almost unlimited. We've also had the discussion where businesses generate stress and residential work is almost worry free.

https://www.technibble.com/forums/threads/residential-vs-business-customers.74229/

 

[Krynn72]

and residential work is almost worry free.

Especially if done in-shop. On-site residential can occasionally be very stressful, but usually its fine.

 

[Archon Prime]

I'm a home based business. Very rare I even have to bring a machine on my bench. Most of what I do is done on site or remotely. But I find it a lot easier to not have to worry about paying additional rent. Since I'm not a full time gig, that would be a problem lol.

I find that I make more with Residential currently, but I do have small business clients that are great to have as well.

 

[sapphirescales]

As someone that's done both, this is my advice. You should pick a brick and mortar store if:

a) You feel that you can either charge a premium and/or increase your volume so dramatically that it will more than pay for the added cost of the store. When I say charge a premium, you usually have to be able to at least DOUBLE your rates and double your number of clients in order to make opening a physical shop worth it.

b) You plan to focus on computer sales vs. just service alone

c) Advertising is difficult in your area and your area typically relies on drive by traffic in order to find products and services. There are a few areas that I know of where it's almost impossible to have a home based business just because online advertising (Adwords, Craigslist, etc.) just doesn't work well. For areas like this, you either have to have a shop, or be willing to barely scrape by for months if not years just to get your name out.

d) Certain areas typically view home based businesses as non-professional and can be mistrusting of home based businesses and avoid them at all costs. For areas like this, a shop is an absolute must.

e) Your home isn't suited to a home based business. If your home is in a bad location, is too small, or is dirty or unwelcoming, it's typically best to open a shop instead of trying to wing it out of your home.

You should choose to run a home based business if:

a) You're a one-man operation and plan to stay that way

b) You mainly go out on-site and don't see that many clients at your location

c) Your competition is intense and you need to compete on price in order to get started. Remember that you should do this only as you start out as it can be difficult to fire these cheap wad clients that you attract later down the road.

d) You prefer to work by appointment rather than have normal business hours. There's no purpose in having a shop if you don't allow walk-in's.

 

[Porthos]

You should choose to run a home based business if:

a) You're a one-man operation and plan to stay that way

b) You mainly go out on-site and don't see that many clients at your location

c) Your competition is intense and you need to compete on price in order to get started. Remember that you should do this only as you start out as it can be difficult to fire these cheap wad clients that you attract later down the road.

d) You prefer to work by appointment rather than have normal business hours. There's no purpose in having a shop if you don't allow walk-in's.

This sums it up nicely.

 

[fencepost]

Your home isn't suited to a home based business.

Another tidbit to add to this one, if you're going to have regulatory or service conflicts - e.g. municipality has licensing requirements for home-based businesses, you want "business" cable modem service and static IPs, etc.

 

[calldrdave]

You might read this article here at Technibble about the advantages of staying at home along with this one of shop alternatives

 

[Your PCMD]

I am a (now) home based business, but with a soon to be B&M. Weird I know. Let me explain.

At first I had a location on a main busy street that I was paying just $1/sq ft. because I knew the owner of the building and we struck a deal. For just $300/mo I'd get a building and he would get "some" computer services for free. You know, bartering? Worked fantastic for the 1st few years in business. Then we had a falling out not too long ago because all of a sudden his entire family and their friends wanted free services. I was not going to have none of that so I moved shop to my home.

I am now in the process of building a separate building on my property for my business considering my land is 4 acres in the city just a half mile from where I had the commercial building. Business is great. I make 90% of my money through other businesses since I have dwindled residential purposefully.

So yes, I am home based, but will have a brick and mortar - or rather wood and siding soon. It's an investment but a worthy one. Besides, it will increase my property value by roughly 40% for a modest $20k to around $300k once the city finalizes the rezoning request from residential to residential/commercial which past the city board with a 6-2 vote.

So the TLDR version is yes, it is worth it to have a B&M, but it is also worth it to be home based. It depends on how you approach it and defiantly depends on your demographic.

 

[Joe Brochin]

Currently I am home based and all my clients so far are residential. Like others, I am part time as well. The freedom of working from home can't be beat. Troubleshooting in your underwear is special motivation to stay in home versus brick and mortar.

 

[Computer Bloke]

Troubleshooting in your underwear is special motivation to stay in home versus brick and mortar.

Words to live by. If there's trouble in your underwear you should definitely stay home.

 

[Porthos]

Troubleshooting in your underwear is special motivation to stay in home versus brick and mortar.

I can relate to that.

Dont have the web cam on though.