Dear friend,

A beautiful kitchen adds value to any property. It also plays a crucial role in swaying prospective buyers. Mostly, people look for ways to improve their homes without having to spend piles of money.

As a “kitchen magician” you can offer an inexpensive, hassle-free way to transform tired kitchens into sparkling new ones.

All you need to do is keep your customers’ old kitchen units (called carcasses) and replace the doors, drawer fronts and work tops. This way you create a brand new kitchen at a fraction of the cost of a complete kitchen renovation.

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What you'll need for your new business...

You’ll need your own transport to travel to your customers. You’ll also need a telephone, business bank account, some business stationery and business cards.

You won’t need any fancy showrooms, staff or heaps of stock. All you’ll need is some samples of doors, drawer fronts, handles etc. of the most popular kitchen ranges and some brochures to take with you when you visit your clients.

Prices and quality vary considerably, so it’s best to shop around.

You’ll need to find a professional kitchen fitter to carry out the transformations. It’d be best to have a few fitters (at least two or three) lined up before you advertise your business. Although you only need one fitter per job, he may not always be available so it’s better to have a selection.

You can find good candidates through the Yellow Pages, on the Internet, in the local newspapers or by referral from kitchen component manufacturers. Select on the basis of good quality workmanship (even if it costs more). You’ll be staking your reputation on this person’s workmanship.

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The ins and outs of your new business up...

Set up a meeting at the client’s house and offer them a free survey. Once you arrive, examine the existing kitchen to check the carcasses are sound. Discuss the type of kitchen the client wants. What type of finish, colour or style they prefer.

Show them samples in the kitchen and allow them to handle the samples. This will give them a clear idea of what will work. Start by selling only doors and drawer fronts as these make the biggest impact and are simple to sell. Once the customer has selected these, you can go on to sell them the extras.

This opportunity doesn’t require any personal kitchen-fitting or DIY skills. All you need to do is measure accurately.

In order to cultivate a professional image, it would be best to draw up a survey and pricing form before you visit any clients. You can record your measurements on it, list all the items you need for the job and then calculate the total cost and price to the customer.

Once customers have decided what they want and you’ve completed the form, you can order the necessary components. Buy the components at trade prices, add a mark-up and resell them to customers at retail prices. Then arrange for the fitter to come in and fit the pieces.

Since you are only selling, surveying and organising the job, this is easy to do on a part-time basis. If you decide to go full time you could aim for four or five transformations a week and turn it into a R900,000 business annually. You still wouldn’t need any staff, warehouses or showrooms!

For more business blueprints, go to www.InsiderConfidential.co.za