Floor Plans

I just had a great idea for a small business for anyone capable of using simple drafting programs -- creating floor plans.

Real estate agent put listing and measure rooms but they rarely draw a floor plan. They have the measurements and they visit the property so they know how the rooms are laid out. They can draw a rough sketch and send it to you and you can create a scale drawing.

You can also create 3d plans with windows.

The software is available at Staples or just search Google. But it is tedious to use and I don't think an agent will bother to learn it - they would rather pay $20 per property or more.

http://www.howardmodels.com/homebuil...um/index.html#

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/11/re...te&oref=slogin


It does take time but once you have a library of plans all it may take is changing the dimension to get e new one.


Look at NY apartments and you see that most have floor plans. I used to work for a developer and we had engineering drawings but they could not be used as sales tools without a lot of editing and the drafter were not going to spend time creating 3d drawings.

http://www.streeteasy.com/

1) Put up a website showing some Samples of what you can do.

2) Call RE Agents (or send a postcard) telling them about your service and to go to your website.

I'd charge $150 for the "service" which would INCLUDE....100 "Listing Sheets" they can use to hand out and put in the "Sales Box" in front of the property.

Run them thru your inkjet...

OR....email them a PDF and let THEM run them thru their own inkjet.

Use the front AND back of the Listing Sheets.

I'd also include a "Table of Monthly Payments" (on the back) based on;
Amount Financed and Interest Rate. Property Buyers are interested in "How Much A Month".

Don Alm

Don,

Why are you so hung up on "inkjets" when laser printers...

1) are dirt cheap
2) produce a MUCH higher quality
3) are much cheaper to run than inkjets

Originally Posted by James Anthony

Why are you so hung up on "inkjets" when laser printers...

1) are dirt cheap
2) produce a MUCH higher quality
3) are much cheaper to run than inkjets

Inkjets are the better choice if you need full color. Laser are better for plain text.

There are other markets for this type of service as well.
For instance, I had some new carpet installed and a guy came out to measure and a scale drawing of the layout.
He had a tape measure and a small hand deld device with a pointer pen to draw the image into the software.

He was at my home for about a half hour and told me he got paid $50/appointment.
Not bad for a half hour of easy labor.
He had 8-10 appointments per day.

Back to real estate and the potential for this service.

I would think that you could start by offering the service of taking the measurements and providing the drawings in various formats for their use.
I would charge between $50-$75 for the service.
Set appointment with client-
take measurment-
plug numbers to software-
send final product in the formats needed for realtors use.

You could always grow to offer other services to area Realtors such as,
Photography, home staging services, as well as design of their sell sheets.



Jason

Just wondered about the lasers for full color comment. I've never heard that about the newer laserjets. Why would inkjets be better for color? Doesn't seem logical to me unless it's simply a matter of filling in the dot pattern more? Anyone know?

Thanks!
Sandi Bowman

I'd say it's mostly not the best for Photo related printing...

Here's a good review regarding Laser printers...
http://www.consumersearch.com/www/co...rs/review.html

Phil

Thanks, Phil...it answered my questions nicely.

Sandi Bowman

As per the previous post...

Just to let you know... http://www.consumersearch.com is a Great site on all kinds of Consumer stuff...

They save you Time and Money as you never have to become a member or buy &/or read Consumer Reports magazine and other informative sites...

As they Read it All for you and Report back with all the important Details.

Definitely, some Good little “Hotsheets” throughout their site.

Re-work the Concept a little, Backend it with you know what and you might have http://www.consumerhotsheets.com/ where you could plug-in sub domain names into the swing of things...

Just thought I'd throw that idea out there...

Excellent Affiliate business model to Study!

http://www.consumersearch.com/index.html
http://www.consumersearch.com/sitemap
http://www.consumersearch.com/www/about.html

Phil

Originally Posted by karunnt

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/11/re...te&oref=slogin

Does anybody know the name of the program that produces 3d images like the ones in THIS link??