Need help with putting together a business plan

Good morning, I am considering opening up a division of residential garbage pickup in my area and I really have no clue if it'll be a good business opportunity. From the outside, it seems like it has potential but...


As for the customer list, I have over 1300 active customers in my carpet cleaning business, so they would be my first target market. If someone will pay to have their carpet cleaned, they'll definitely pay for this service.

So just for assumption, let's say that only 400 of those customers sign up at the beginning.
-How many trucks will I need? Isuzu cab over type
-What is today's average cost to dump per ton?
-How many tons per week on 400 customers will be dumped?
-How many cans per 8hr day can those cab over isuzus pick up and dump?
-And what's the average charge per can I should start out with?

And is there anything else I'm missing on what I should consider? I'm in a little area away from the big cities, so the requirements should be minimal. There's several junk pickup trucks hauling trash, so if they're getting away with their setup...a professional setup should go through.

 

What will your market bear as far as price per pick-up and what are current cartage rates?

 

The SBA and SCORE are excellent resources.
Having launched 7 businesses in 15 years, I will tell you a few things...
Know your business inside and out, forward and back. If you have no direct experience, don't do it.
Estimate costs at 25% over what you think they'll be
Estimate revenue at 75% of what you think.
Think bare bones to start. Debt is lethal.
Keep a full year cash reserve. You'll burn through it in 6 months.
Launching a business is ultimately a race.... A race to become profitable before you go broke.
Find out who's already doing what you wanna do, and imitate them.
Learn what they're succeeding at, and where they fail. Then fix it for your own business model.
Estimate 10% of existing clients getting on board, not 40%.
Locate your dumps, and negotiate better rates . Yes, they will negotiate, if you're a consistent user.

 

My dump is on the same road I live on, the average monthly charge here is $25/can.

 

If you're commercia , there's different rates.
You're thinking wrong.
Generally, it's a per ton rate for commercial carrier .
You gotta wrap your head around these things, or you'll die a quick death in business.
Now, that said, if you want my assistance in talking you through business basics, I can consult for you, but I won't do it for free.
I spent years and tens of thousands of dollars learning the lessons, got the PhD in the school of hard knocks, and loved it for the most part.
There's basic business principles, tax laws, local, state, and federal law, and a myriad of other rules and regs you need to know BEFORE you start dumping money into this.
Most research you can do for free, but you gotta do the leg work.
There ain't no easy road.
Diligence beforehand prevents pain afterward.

 

@TNSquire Well said, great advice!

 

Here in Cal you cant just start up a trash company as far as customers concerned, not residential at least maybe on the commercial side, roll-offs , bins that sort of thing, also check out the environmental sides of the business. Doing Recyclables maybe easier to get into, residential and commercial, also may have less competition.