How To Open A Key Making Workshop

A key-making business is a good opportunity to start a business with a minimum start-up capital and quite good income if you choose the right location for the workshop. Having invested 170-200 thousand rubles, you can earn 50-70 thousand rubles a month and at the same time not depend on anyone but yourself.

1. Business relevance
2. Business registration
3. How to choose a location for a workshop
4. Recruitment
5. Purchase of equipment
6. How to find clients
7. Business risks

1. Business Relevance

The provision of household services to the population these days is regarded as a popular line of business.

Every adult Person has faced the loss or breakage of keys to a garden house, city apartment or office at least once in his life. Of course, having lost the key, you can buy and cut in a new lock. But, you see, it is much cheaper to spend 10 minutes and 200 rubles and get a brand new duplicate.

2. Business Registration

Any business should start with the official registration of documents and registration with the Federal Tax Service. First of all, you need to choose the form of doing business and the taxation system. To open a small workshop with an income of 50,000-70,000 rubles, it will be enough to obtain the status of an individual entrepreneur. For this:

We prepare a package of documents – a passport, TIN, a receipt for payment of a state fee, an application for registration of an individual entrepreneur. With the documents you need to contact the territorial office of the Federal Tax Service. The documents must be accompanied by a statement on the choice of a specific taxation system (UTII or STS).

The following OKVED codes are suitable for opening a workshop:

• 28.6 – manufacture of hardware or locks;
• 28.7 – manufacture of metal products;
• 52.4 – retail sale of non-food products;
• 28.63 – production of metal hinges and locks;
• 95.29.42 – repair of metal license plates, house number keys and street signs.

However, if you additionally plan to open the locks of apartments, offices or cars by order of their owners who have lost their keys, permission to provide these services must be agreed with law enforcement agencies.

3. How To Choose A Place For A Workshop

The choice of the location of the future workshop is the key to the success of your business. This requires:

1. Outline the area of ​​residence of potential customers – making a duplicate of keys is ordered either near the place of residence, or not far from work. Therefore, when choosing a place for a workshop, you need to decide in advance whether you will work in a specific area or choose a specific shopping center for yourself.
2. Identify potential competitors – most often their number does not exceed 2-3 pavilions in a small residential area of ​​the city.
3. Decide for yourself what is more profitable – to rent a whole room or, for example, a small kiosk that can be placed near a metro, a bus stop or a busy intersection.

An important advantage of the key duplicate business can be considered the fact that a small space of 10-20 square meters is enough to open a workshop. This will significantly reduce rental costs.

4. Staff Recruitment

In most cases, the entrepreneur himself becomes the key maker. In the future, if the workshop and its services are successful, you might consider looking for a second master. In this case, you will be able to work seven days a week, which will positively affect the perception of your business by potential customers.

Often, making a duplicate is required here and now, and if a person comes to your workshop, and it turns out to be closed, then the order with a probability of 99.9% will go to competitors, while the next time the person will think ten times before going to your company.

The average salary of a master housekeeper in the Russian regions is at the level of 15,000-20,000 rubles. An important business advantage is the fact that you can train employees to work with machines and equipment on your own, which means that you do not need specialists with experience and higher education.

In general, there is no definite answer whether you need a replacement or whether it is better to work alone. Only after working for several weeks or even months, an entrepreneur can decide which option is profitable for him, therefore many businessmen advise not to rush to find personnel. Immediately after opening an outlet, you are unlikely to have many orders, which means that you will have to pay for the work of a hired foreman at a loss.

The option with the official employment of a keykeeper is suitable if you consider a key-making workshop as a business to generate additional income, and, in principle, do not plan to fulfill orders on your own.

5. Purchase Of Equipment

An important aspect of opening a workshop is the purchase of equipment. Different types of keys are made on different machines. Of course, you can pick up combined and automated models that are designed to work with different types of workpieces. However, this equipment is mainly characterized by inflated prices and sometimes, it is cheaper to buy three specialized machines than one universal.

At the start you will need to buy:

1. Vertical machine – from $150 and higher;
2. Universal machine – from $395 rubles;
3. Duplicator of chips for intercoms – from $340 rubles.

The most reliable and productive machines are considered to be of Russian, Italian and Turkish production, as well as cheaper equipment from popular Chinese brands. To work, you also need standard locksmith tools: all kinds of screwdrivers, keys, files, meters, etc. On average, their purchase will have to spend from 5 to 204 dollars.

To equip the workshop, you will also need a work table, a workbench, stands and racks for compact placement of tools, an order pick-up counter. On average, another $270 are needed to buy furniture.

A separate expense item is the purchase of consumables. Key blanks are sold in bulk sets, which, even with an intense flow of customers, will be enough for several months of work. But here you need to figure out in advance what blanks you need, since different consumables are used for different types of keys and machines. The average price of a wholesale batch of blanks starts at $136.

In total, you will need from $1636 to $1909 to equip the workshop.

6. How To Find Clients

From the point of view of advertising, a key making workshop is a rather specific type of business.

Obviously, if a limited number of people know about the workshop and its services, it is unlikely to bring a decent profit. Therefore, even at the time of drawing up a business plan, it is necessary to approach the preparation of a marketing strategy for a business with full responsibility:

• Choose the right location for the company – after gaining 10-15 thousand on rent, you run the risk of being left without orders in the end;
• Agree on the placement of advertisements on entrances and in elevators – this method is quite budgetary and at the same time very effective;
• Take care of entering your company into various Internet directories, including the Yandex database. Maps, 2GIS and Google maps;
• Use outdoor advertising – a large and bright signboard, streamers, outdoor pavement, etc.

Any other advertisement is likely to be ineffective and bring nothing but additional costs. Among other things, do not forget about word of mouth. In the case of small household services, it is the best promotion method. You carry out all orders with high quality and without delays, do not overcharge your services and then customers will return to you again and again, will tell their friends and acquaintances about you.

7. Business Risks

When planning to engage in entrepreneurial activity, it is necessary to determine in advance the possible risks that can interfere with the development of the business. These risks are much easier to prevent than to spend time on eliminating their consequences in the future.

The following risks are typical for a company that carries out orders for the production of duplicate keys:

1. Miscalculations made when choosing a place for a workshop. An unsuccessful location, for example, in a residential area with low traffic, can ruin a starting business in the bud.
2. High level of competition – accordingly, the more potential competitors will work near you, the less likely customers will choose you. Of course, you will not be able to avoid competition at all, so try to offer customers the best prices, high quality work and a decent level of service.
3. For your workshop to be profitable, you need to have the right skills and be an excellent master in this area.

In general, the key making business is suitable for absolutely everyone who does not want to work for an “uncle”, but also does not have millions to start a business in other, larger and more expensive spheres of activity.