Factor

Target Outcome

1. The flow of wood waste in the area you are going to operating in (20 mile radius).
We need to find out what builders (and other potential collection customers) are doing with their waste wood. If there is a ‘man and a van’ going around building sites collecting timber for free, there is little chance that builders will pay you to collect, so a business in your area might not work.

We need to find out if wood is going into the skip.

Hopefully your potential customers will just be putting waste wood into the general skip with all the other rubbish.

To give you a reasonable market size, you’re looking for more than 60% to do this.

2. What size of skip they use.
Our business model competes most effectively with 8yd3 or 6yd3 skips. Any larger and the cost per cubic yard they’ll be paying will go down - and it will be harder to compete. Most feasibility studies carried out so far show that an 8yd skip is still the most popular size on a building site.

You want at least 60% to be using 8yd skips.

3. The cost of the skip
The budget for a successful community wood recycling enterprise is based on receiving a collection fee of £13 per cubic yard

To compete on price, a good proportion of our potential customers should be paying at least £104 plus VAT for an 8yd3 skip
(£104/8 = £13yd3).

4. If in principle they would be interested in taking part in the collection service.
If they are paying more than the target figure, we try to gauge the likely interest in our service by asking them if they would like further information on the service once operating.

You want at least 60% to be interested in receiving further information.

Target groups: Builders; carpenters/joiners; furniture makers; timber/builders’ merchants; industrial estates (for pallet collections).

Where to find them: Yellow Pages; Yell.com; local business directories.

How many to interview: At least 30 builders; 10 each other categories (or as many as you can find).

5. Where can the non-usable grade 3 timber be disposed of?
As a good deal of the collected timber will have to be passed on to a chipping firm, you will need to locate the nearest and find out how much they will charge you to bring it in. Without somewhere relatively near and relatively cheap to take it, it is doubtful you will be able to operate a successful venture.

Most community wood recycling enterprises are paying between £20 - £40 per tonne for chipping.

Target groups: Skip companies; wood chipping firms; waste management companies.

Where to find them: Yellow pages; Yell.com; www.recyclewood.org.uk; local business directories.

How many to interview:  Around 12 (or as many as you can find).

6. Suitable premises
You will need to find affordable premises. Community wood recycling doesn’t need good quality space, but you will need at least 2,000 ft2 and retail sales are such an important part of the financial model that any location has to be relatively easily accessible to the public.

Scan the web and talk to estate agents.

Also, talk to the Local Authority about using redundant Council property that might be empty awaiting re-development. Several enterprises are in Council-owned premises and pay very reasonable rent.

In the Budget only £12,000 per year is earmarked for rent and rates, so that’s the target.

Target groups: Local estate agents; Local Councils; property companies; developers.

Where to find them: On the internet; Yellow pages; Yell.com; local business directories.

How many to interview: As many as you need to until you find the right property.

7. Voluntary Labour
One of the aims of the enterprise is to help disadvantaged people by offering them work, training and volunteering opportunities.

But such people will need to be recruited. Where will they come from? How many will be available, how quickly?

Don’t worry if this seems daunting, all community wood recyclers so far have managed to attract and keep a steady stream of great people.

There are many agencies set up to help various client groups (eg. the long-term unemployed; those with mental health challenges; reformed ex-offenders looking for work) Many will be very excited by the prospect of placing good people in your enterprise, and some will pay you too take them. But these agencies need to be located, contacted, arrangements made and lots of paperwork completed. If you locate and ‘prepare for’ volunteers before you start, you will be able to hit the ground running. 

The business model is reliant on getting a steady stream of hard-working, well motivated volunteers – and the Budget is predicated on having at least 3 per day.

Target groups: Local Volunteer Bureaux; Job Centre Plus; Probation Service; Youth Offending Team; Mental Health Trusts; Mind; 

Where to find them: On the internet; via the Council; Yellow pages; Yell.com; homeless charities.

How many to interview: As many as you need to get your labour force sorted.

8. Potential firewood/pallet sales
Selling collected pallets and firewood and kindling in winter can generate significant income, so it is good to ask some pallet firms if they’d buy pallets from the venture, and see if places that usually stock firewood, would stock yours.

Find out the price of locally-sold firewood from garden centres, DIY/hardware shops, farm shops and petrol stations.

You need to establish what pallet firms would pay you for certain pallets and what you could charge for a sack of firewood that would keep you competitive with other local suppliers, then you can work out how many pallets and how much firewood you would need to sell to reach the figures in the Budget.

Target groups: Pallet companies; DIY stores (not chains, because they buy centrally); garden centres; petrol stations; farm shops.

Where to find them: On the internet; Yellow pages; Yell.com; local business directories.

How many to interview: Pallets - as many as it takes to get the best deal; Firewood – 12 of each other category.