Figures On Opening A Field/Store

[QUINCYMASSGUY]

This is a post for anyone who owns/owned/operates an indoor paintball field, store, both, or outdoor field and store. The focus is on hyperball fields not larger recball fields. Any figures on overhead and expenses, such as how much wholesale paintballs go for, rent costs, other expenses, etc would be valued. I would be honored if experienced paintball experts such as Bill Mills, Tom Kaye, or anyone else who has had a significant presence in paintball would give their input. Info such as why most fields are in remote locations (although I think I know this one), set their pricing up as they do, barriers of entry to the market, and other related info would be very helpful.
These figures would relate to the Northeast/Boston area but no, I don't plan on opening a store and field anytime this year and probably not next either. Down the road it's always a possibility but I'm fresh out of a Business College and focusing on experience in big business first. Your knowledge would be great as a reference for everyone, thank you.

[Evil Bob]

Remote locations: Zoning! The number one killer of fields is zoning and environmental impact, this will be the hardest factor to overcome and is the big reason that most fields are remotely located.

Wholesale paint: depends upon how much you buy, what brand(s), and the source you get it from (distributor or direct), you can get anywhere from 15-50% off the MSRP depending upon the size of the order and who it's placed through. Other questions to ask yourself, do you want to allow customers to bring their own paint? If so, you run the risk of them bringing cheap stuff that will stain and not wash off of your barricades/netting/equipment.

Rental equipment: Another big question is if you want to supply rental equipment or not? Having sufficient stock on hand for rentals is a big part of the starting cost, you also need to consider maintainance to keep them in working condition.

Staff: You need refs on the field, players like to see refs and know that rules are enforced. You will also need staff manning a booth for sales, communications, info, that players can access at any time, people who can answers questions during games and help out visitors/players who just arrived. You can usually find willing volunteers if you let them play for free, Ref A refs saturday and plays sunday for free, Ref B plays saturday for free and Ref's sunday.

-Evil Bob

[Kevmaster]

I cant go into specifics for obvious reasons(confidentiality agreements, business relationships). but, as a manager of a field or store, the profits you experience will be minimal. the cost to operate the field (esp if indoor) is very high, and the return will barely cover the cost. if you are looking for a source of fun and entertainment, then go for it. if your looking for a true source of income and livelyhood, i strongly recommend looking elsewhere

[QUINCYMASSGUY]

Any idea of a good resource for knowing Zoning? Now how about Indoor Fields? I presume because environment is not an issue the zoning would be different.

For a smaller store, what is the best route of acquiring inventory? Would working directly with the company be best or is that way National Paintball Supply is for? Are any companies better and work more closely with smaller companies? Being an AGD dealer would be a definite interest, they are rare around here.

How about Sup'Air? What are the benefits/downsides/costs of getting a full Sup'Air field? In regards to size, I am talking about the size of Boston Paintball if you're familiar with that. I think it's 100 yards long or something.

Thanks again! Keep the knowledge coming! Please mention as well if you own a field/store or just know about them! Thanks! :D

[QUINCYMASSGUY]

Two part followup: first off, I just hit 100 posts. hey, we all got to have our crappy little milestones right?

Anyways, the real followup: How much does a wholesaler's license cost and what exactly does that allow? My friend used to have one, sold to people he knew and him and his friends basically played all the time for free. Anyone who has got one of these and done a similar deal, please let me know. Thanks!

[Evil Bob]

Zoning is handled at the city and county levels depending which state you live in. Start with a call to the city councel for info on where to go for all the specifics. California is a mess for zoning, they require that you have handicap accessible toilets, wheel chair ramps, and other ammenities that are not realistic given the type of people who come to play paintball. You are forced to provide this type of access regardless if you can show case history that you have never had any customers who used wheel chairs.

To qualify as a reseller you need to establish a company/corporation (incorporate) which can be done in a couple of days for $250-400 depending upon the state you plan to establish your business in. I have no idea what the cost is for MA, but it's usually very reasonable and is an ongoing yearly cost (business license).

Using a company like NPS means you have 1 single source all the products you might wants to use or sell, it cuts down on the paperwork and hastle as opposed to going to vender A for paint, vender B for markers, vender C for baricades, vender D for netting, etc. You can usually pinch pennies by shopping multiple sources and getting the best deal for what you're looking for.

Baricades: Are you going to play 7 days a week or only on weekends? Inside or outside? Inflatables were really designed with transportability in mind for tournaments. For a hardened site (something that's going to be there longer then just a weekend tournament) you might want to consider permenent structures. You can make baricades out of scrap lumber from construction yards, dumps, etc, place them on skids, them move them around as needed to change the fields. SupAir are great for a weekend game or tourmanent but not something I'd consider for long term use, and I'd not want to take the time to setup/tear down as it takes hours to setup a SupAir field.

Indoor vs Outdoor: Outdoor you have to deal with environmental impact upon nature, indoors you can almost get away with murder as long as your are not introducing harmful byproducts into the drainage system. Zoning for indoors is actually alot easier and you can setup usually in an industrial area as a sport complex. Most big cities have tons of old rotting warehousing that they'll almost give away from some sort of income, you could easily lease a large warehouse and do some really nice things with it, but leasing comercial property comes with a price and terms, usually 1 year minimum, so you need to be prepared to be successful or declare bankruptsy. Most warehouses come with the appropriate parking and bathrooms facilities and don't require too many modifications.

-Evil Bob

[Kevmaster]

as for the wholesale accounts....

i recommend picking a main wholesaler(National Paintball NJ, or Paintball Inc SC, TX, and CA) who is close to you. (the closer the better for shipping times). once you have them you have enough to open the store. their price on a marker in most cases wont be as good as the manufacturer(IE: msrp: $85. Paintball inc: $60. Dealer: $50--i wont tell you what item that is though). Pi/NPS will give you enough to open the store and get your store rolling along with the field. once you get into more volume, it will make sense to get dealerships with individual companies.

[scarpa43]

I am a head ref at a field in Houston and at least 1/2 of our refs are not old enough to get a real job. What we do is pay our refs on a point system.

Basically a ref earns points based on what work he did during the day, we have it broken into: setting up, reffing 1st 1/2 of the day, reffing 2nd 1/2, and clean up.
For each of those 4 that the ref does he get X amount of points that he then can redeam for paint, air, or green fees at the field.

It works well as you will get refs who know that they have to stay busy in order to get the points they need to pay for playing next time.

We consider each point $5 and the when the ref "pays" for his paint he has to redeam points equal to normal selling prices.

Just wanted to throw that idea in for you...

Darren

[rikkter]

we had trouble getting a field going because of zoning. police kept kicking us off. we got it straight with the cops and a person who owns land. well. some of the kids who thought they were cool decided to shoot a trailer. the lady pressed charges. got booted off. now we found a nice huge piece of land. police can't touch us, neither can the city. its on inidan reservation ;D. the owner was MORE then welcome to let us use the land. she called US up and told us to use it. she didn't even knew what paintball was. its really nice of her and we have like a donation box for money and stuff to give to her. this wasn't her plan or anythign. we're just doing it because she gave us her land practically, free of charge.
hopefully someone will be nice enough and just throw some land at you to do whatever you want with it

[TigerMan]

Now this is not the same as starting a paintball field, but it can give you an idea of what it can be like. In my entrepreneurship class, we have been doing research into franchise start up costs. Most cost at least $50,000 to start up (this is a single franchise). This is for the franchise. Now your not starting a franchise, but this is to give you an idea of what costs can be. The website where I got this information from was www.franchiseonline.com It may not be what your looking for since these are just regular franchises like Subway, Duncan Donuts, etc. but it can just give you an estimate per say.

Just make a list of things you'll know you'll need for sure, such as fill stations, paint, employees, insurance, land, utilities (depending where you are), materials for buidling field (lots of places where you can get this cheap or free, just got to look), and misc. parts. These are just main things, and as you can see it will add up and there will be more little things and such.

[ben_JD]

Originally posted by TigerMan
Now this is not the same as starting a paintball field, but it can give you an idea of what it can be like. In my entrepreneurship class, we have been doing research into franchise start up costs. Most cost at least $50,000 to start up (this is a single franchise).I represent franchisee clients and have NEVER seen a franchise cost $50,000.00. On a cheap franchise, the rights to the franchise alone cost $40,000 to $100,000. The initial rent, finish out, legal fees:), accounting fees, inventory, labor, insurance, etc. costs $250,000 to $750,000 out of the box.

Opening a paintball field is not the same thing in any way. You are looking at a limited liability entity (NECESSARY or you are less-than-prudent), (raw land?) rent, inventory, basic construction (nets, bunkers, etc.) and some parking substrate. The costs can be controlled.

[TigerMan]

Originally posted by ben_JD
I represent franchisee clients and have NEVER seen a franchise cost $50,000.00. On a cheap franchise, the rights to the franchise alone cost $40,000 to $100,000. The initial rent, finish out, legal fees:), accounting fees, inventory, labor, insurance, etc. costs $250,000 to $750,000 out of the box.

Opening a paintball field is not the same thing in any way. You are looking at a limited liability entity (NECESSARY or you are less-than-prudent), (raw land?) rent, inventory, basic construction (nets, bunkers, etc.) and some parking substrate. The costs can be controlled.

I guess I should've worded this differently. Some of the smaller business from this site i've researched on www.franchiseonline.com say the required capital needed is some smaller amount like $40k. Now the bigger ones have required capitals in the range you gave. I'm know expert so I don't know how much it all costs, I'm just going by information i've seen on the site. That's it.

[ben_JD]

I was only trying to show that franchise ownership and paintball field ownership are two different beasts. There may be some franchises which can be purchased and opend for $40,000, but they have got to be few and far between.

Also, I have never seen the website about which you speak, so I probably jumped the gun a little.

[billmi]

QUINCYMASSGUY,

I appreciate your wanting my input, but I've never been a field owner/operator, and from what I've seen of it, it's not a business I want to get into, so a lot of the answers you want, I don't have.

Having been to a lot of fields and talked to a lot of field owners, I do have some input on things.

Being fresh out of business school, you're a leg up on most people starting a field. Numero Uno mistake I see in fields that go under - no business plan.

Number two mistake - no marketing. Lots of people who run fields do it because they love paintball and want a place to play, they somehow think that (business plan or not) people will magically want to come to their field, and give them the money they need to operate. A sound business plan must include the expenses needed to effectively bring in paying customers.

For some field owners that includes paying (typically on a commission basis) a salesman to market to church youth groups, corporate groups, etc. In fact the field manager of the field where I started playing was also such a salesman. He set up meetings in the dorm halls at Fresno State where he brought in a bunch of photos showing the game, and some equiment, and gave a sales pitch, sigining up players for a game of one dorm hall against another. By the third time I played, I was pulling recruiting commissions - the field and rental fee was $25, and if I signed up a group of 20 players, I got my field and rental fee for free with a bonus of some extra paint.

Another item mentioned in this thread was if you want to have rental equipment. I have never, ever, ever, seen a financially successful paintball field that didn't have a rental fleet.

You can divide your potential customer base into two types - the new/occasional/rental player, and the experienced selfe equipped player. One will be willing to pay rental fees, buy paint at the field (and because they will shoot less of it, they will be willing to pay a higher price per ball because the total dolar ammount is still reasonable), and pay your field fee. The other will want to pay as cheap a field fee as possible (remember they can play on any land they can get to, so you are competing with "free",) they will want to bring paint that they bought wherever the found it the cheapest (and call you a rip-off if you are FPO and don't have prices as cheap as mail-order suppliers that don't have your operating expenses to cover), and won't be paying fees to rent equipment. Additionally, since they will typically have more firepower in their hands than your rental customers, you'll need more attentive staffing to make sure the rental customers aren't overwhelmed by them, and turned off as a future potential customer.

I've not met one successful field owner who didn't tell me that their bread and butter came from the types of players that rent all their gear and play once or twice a year. Getting to these customers means targeting them right with advertising, and active sales.

Now, as for those other players - the regular players who own their own equipment - don't discount them, they can be a portion of your customer base as well. For an indoor field, it's easy to add a proshop on site - so if you're selling them their gear and accessories, that's more income. For these customers to pay your field fee, and be willing to pay a little bit more for field paint only paint than they'd spend mail-order (they seem to forget the shipping and handling costs when comparing price) you'll need to offer them more entertainment than they would get just playing on the back half of grandpa Joe's farm for free. For players looking for tournament style play, having a Sup'Air o Ultimate Airball field is one answer to that. If you're in a climate that is really cold, or really hot half the year, climate control can be another answer (though it can be expensive for you) on an indoor field.

As for a wholesaler's licence I'm not sure what that is. I've only done retail sales (I used to service and sell video editing suites.) In California, and most states with sales tax, you need a resale tax number, in addition to the business and income tax licensing. Most distributors will want to see this as proof that you are a legit business (why sell to you at wholesale, if they can get retail price out of you). It's also what you need for a distributor to not charge you sales tax, and for the state to track the sales tax you are required to charge your customers.

Zoning - that info comes from either the city or counting zoning board/office where you intend to do business.

There's some of my thoughts.

See you on the field,
-Bill Mills