- Aug 3, 2022
- 34
- 18
I did in-depth research on the same thought. In my area, rent was too cost prohibitive for this idea to take flight but heres my summary:Seeing that there are no convenient facilities nearby to me, I'm 90% of the way to convincing myself to open one. I've been giving pitching lessons out of my basement, but I only have 40ft of space there, and I have a couple coach friends that give catching and hitting lessons that would benefit from having a consistent place to teach from. So something of a business plan is developing. Primary use being a place for us to teach from. Secondary would be team rental space. 3rd would be batting cage rental.
I have read through and learned a lot from this thread already https://www.discussfastpitch.com/threads/building-an-indoor-facility-any-suggestions.38276/
Looking at some commercial/industrial warehouse space nearby. Some reasonably priced ones available at 3300 and 4500 sq ft. The 4500 might be large enough for an infield, so that was a great tip I picked out of that thread.
Soliciting any advice on everything from cautionary tales to what your favorite facility does that you love, to flooring suggestions, netting solutions, commercial pitching machines (would like to put in an automated machine lane if the infield thing doesn't pan out). Insurance advice, sample waivers and agreements. Pretty much anything the DFP community has in their vast knowledge.
TIA!
1. Insurance: Easy. Many companies offer facilities policies.
2. Waivers: Easy. Insurance companies will provide templates and then you work with an attorney to insert additional verbiage to make it work in your state. In my case, I had a team parent who was an attorney help.
3. Facilities - rental: HARD. I looked at leasing space and worked with commercial real estate agents. Rent was exorbitantly high in my area and I could not build a business model to generate enough revenue to offset cost.
4. Retrofitting cost - HARD. any space you find will need additional HVAC, nets, floors, padding, sprinklers, gear, etc to support sports activities. There are some requirements from insurance as well. Maybe you will get lucky and able to find a space that was already retrofitted.
5. Facilities- build: HARD. I also looked at buying or leasing land and building a facility. Again, cost was prohibitive.
6. Marketing/recruitment: MEDIUM. Its doable if you have the outreach skills and experience with marketing platforms. I have experience but very time consuming. It's almost a full time job.
7. Facilities maintenance: HARD. I found that hiring a part time "super" was surprisingly hard to find. Property management can offer resources but it's expensive. It can become a full time job for the owner of the facility.
8. Business operations/Customer service/portal: HARD. You need people to man the desk and phones. Deal with payments. Enforce house rules. Etc. All require dedicated resources and money. Having a website portal with some automation can help but a decent website can be expensive.
9. Finance/accounting: EASY. Finding an accountant was relatively easy. He/she will guide you on the books to keep. There are software that can help as well. Quickbooks, etc.
Hope this helps.