Every day I want to quit concrete, but they won't let me pay 45 million a year

Disclaimer: The article was written by the author of the blog based on an interview with the founder of the concrete plant N. Tishchenko.

Glass fiber reinforced concrete is essentially ordinary concrete, but reinforced not with steel reinforcement, but with glass fiber.

The fiber itself is a banal glass thread, cut into small pieces. In this way, such concrete is similar to the glass wool known among teenagers.

Glass fiber concrete can be used to make tables, countertops, kitchens, flowerpots, and the top sellers are:

In 2009, I was engaged in construction and found this technology, which has been bringing me money for 15 years. At first, I poured products in the backyard of a private house, and now my factory occupies 250 sq. m. and makes an average of 45 million rubles per year.

Concrete sink from scratch

Mixing a concrete sink and selling it on Ozon is about the same as baking a pie, but there are some nuances.

1. Prepare the master model and the mold for pouring the sink

A master model is a container into which, for example, silicone is poured.

When the silicone hardens, it becomes a form. For example, rectangular or round, into which, in turn, a mixture of glass fiber concrete is poured.

In my garage days, I bought molds (from 15,000 ₽) from those who had a CNC machine. They can also be cut with a saw and your hands, if they are not crooked.

2. We dilute the mixture

I take glass fiber in 14-20 kg spools and cut it with a spray gun (500,000 ₽).

In the garage I used a bucket (1,000 ₽) and a hand mixer (15,000 ₽). At the factory – a concrete mixer (300,000 ₽), it works like a large mixer.

3. Vibrate the resulting mixture

Both in the garage and at the factory I used a homemade vibration table (10,000 ₽).

4. Dry

The wife puts the pie in the oven, the husband covers the sink with plastic and puts it out to dry.

5. Finishing the sink

We're done with the pie, but we still have to tinker with the shell. First, we release the shells from the mold.

We spend another 2 days finishing the frozen product. We putty and polish the flaws and holes., we are filming the first layer, it is called cement milk, we sand it and cover it with varnish.

I use hand tools (30-50,000 ₽) both in the garage and at the factory.

6. Preparing the sink for sending to Ozone

Box – 500 ₽, foam – 500 ₽

7. Use the results of your work

But seriously, my wife works with me in concrete. She is responsible for advertising and accounting, but she can also mix concrete and cut fiberglass.

In total, you can fill concrete sinks in the garage, or within the framework of a full-fledged production. The garage option is cheap (131,000 ₽) and angry, but you will be able to make a minimum number of products, and the quality will greatly depend on your eye.

The factory version is more expensive at the start (2.36 million ₽), but you can produce volume and take orders for 15-20 million at a time.

Cost price of a concrete sink

In total, a concrete sink, which costs 10,783 ₽ on Ozon, costs 7,747 ₽ in cost price.

Standard sinks have the lowest cost price. Because if you make 1,000 items of one type, then the cost of the mold and master model is divided by 1,000 items, but if you make 3 unique sinks to order, then the cost price of the mold is divided by three. We currently have sink molds worth about 1 million rubles.

Concrete facades from scratch

In addition to shells, we make pieces of building architecture from concrete. We used large pieces to help restore the Moscow State University building.

There is more money in facades, but there are also more problems with them.

To make non-standard shapes, in addition to the CNC, we will need a spray gun. At my factory, I have an industrial gun (500,000 ₽), in the garage, you can get by with a cartridge gun (5,000 ₽).

An economy set will do in the garage, but you won't be able to produce a large volume on such equipment. And the products are less reliable. When the mixture is mixed, more water gets in than when using a gun, which reduces the final strength. Usually, the first layer is applied with an economy gun, and then garage workers mold it by hand.

Currently, my investments in the production of facades in volume amount to about 3.65 million ₽.

Cost price of concrete facades

In terms of payback, there is more money in sinks. So, the average marginality for sinks is 50%, and for facades it is only 7-15%.

But there are more volumes in facades. For example, now we sell only about 1 million worth of sinks per month, but 3 million worth of facades per month.

But with 1 million ₽ in sinks, about 500,000 ₽ remains, but with 3 million ₽ in facades, only 300,000 ₽ remains.

The forms for filling the facade elements are not stored. They take up a lot of space, and storage is expensive, and it is not a fact that the same forms will be needed in the future.

How to sell concrete?

The main buyers of glass fiber concrete products are architects and designers. Sinks and countertops look unusual, so they are used for apartments and restaurants.

Social networks

I got my first order for a sink from an ad on Facebook*. Instagram* also worked well, it was convenient for people to immediately see the work and discuss the details. When Instagram broke, Vkontakte did not give similar results.

Now we spend money on shorts/reels, my wife posts and films. A short video is edited for 1,000 ₽. A long one – for 4,800 ₽.

On average, editing/previewing videos costs 20-30,000 ₽ per month. We have not yet measured the effect in orders.

*Meta is a banned extremist and terrorist organization

Yandex.Direct

Yandex used to bring a lot of orders, usually just turn on the ads and the calls start coming. Now I haven't used it for half a year, there are enough orders.

But don't think that all orders from advertising were excellent.

Free Catalogs

Free sites like “manufacturer RF”, oddly enough, also gave orders.

In general, being on the Internet for a long time and everywhere is useful: lots of reviews and good positions in search engines.

Ozone

Sometimes clients see us on Ozon, and then, realizing that it is more expensive to order on the marketplace, they look for the manufacturer directly. For example, bypassing Ozon, an object for 20 million ₽ came to us.

Avito

I posted an ad and sold one sink for 40,000 ₽. I didn't sell any more.

Network construction stores

The problem with large chains is huge payment delays, and you need to deliver so that the chain can place your goods in several locations. When we calculated, we needed to give away about 1,000 sinks – that's about 4 million ₽ in cost price.

And if Ozon, although it greedily eats your money, still pays twice a month, then chains like Leroy Merlin want to pay you three months after your sinks were bought in the store.

That is, invest 4 million in this enterprise and hope that someday you will be able to earn money. I think it is more interesting to put such money in the bank at interest.

And I haven’t even mentioned the huge fines for missed delivery dates.

So far we have 1 dealer who exhibited there for 3 months and disappeared, now the second one is trying, but I think he will also disappear.

Another network interacted with METRO. They wanted to buy a flowerpot, but promised to pay in a year. In a year, Karl. Probably, such offers are for those who have a lot of money and the desire to lend money to such impudent stores.

Government orders

Everyone thinks that working with the state means connections and privileges. Usually, those who have never worked with the state say this. The first thing you need to know about working with the state is that it is always right and there is no point in arguing.

They can torment you with paperwork playfully. That is, you do the work, but they don't sign the acts for you, because none of the officials wants to be the one who will be responsible for the object if something happens. And until there is a signature, you don't get money for the work either.

We were making a complex column at a new Moscow metro station, we were supposed to complete it in 3 months, but due to delays in funding, the project lasted 3 years. That is, the work was going on, but no one paid for it. In the end, when the column was already assembled, the foreman came and said:

The pins in the concrete should not be made of zinc, but of stainless steel! I don't know how, but they told me from above – stainless steel, even if I have to redo everything.

And the column was already there. Dismantling and reinstalling this column would have simply driven us into debt, and the company would have had to close. It's good that my wife found the technical specifications. Stainless steel is designated as A2 in the documentation and there were no such designations, and zinc was not defined in any way. So somehow we knocked off the column.

Concrete plant revenues

In total, our production has an average turnover of 4 million ₽, which is calculated from 48 million ₽ per year.

Production costs of concrete products

I will calculate expenses based on an average monthly revenue of 4 million ₽.

Rent – ​​60,000 ₽

The CNC machines and cutting table require a lot of space, about 50 sq. m each. The total production space is 250 sq. m and we are taking on more soon.

Since the workers at the plant often drink, our landlord decided to fight alcoholism himself and instituted fines for alcohol on his premises.

So, the first drinking bout costs our employees 5,000 ₽ + they still have to buy vodka, a relapse costs minus 10,000 ₽. Security monitors cameras, they call us:

Your workers are climbing over the fence.

For some reason the guys thought they wouldn't get caught over the fence. But there are cameras everywhere.

A record 4 malicious violators received a fine of 80,000 ₽ – 20,000 ₽ per person. Another 30,000 ₽ was issued to me, as the director, for oversight. This was such a flagrant and riotous feast. I am already saying:

Guys, don't drink on the premises, go somewhere else.

But they like it at work. And there's nothing you can do about it.

Utilities – 40,000 ₽

We don’t heat it additionally, but when you organize something like this in a garage, you need to seriously think about heat guns, since in humid cold air the concrete simply won’t harden.

Employees for 15 people – 1,180,000 ₽

It's difficult with the masters. There are still no concrete institutes, and you have to teach specialists yourself. Someone comes who doesn't know how to do anything and immediately wants a big salary. Although our beginner's rate is 72,000 ₽.

There is a lot of manual work, beginners often make mistakes, and every mistake costs money.

The guy took a template from the kitchen, brought it, we made it according to the template, we bring it, and it is 5 mm larger. And we have already ordered a manipulator for 12,000 ₽, as a result, you sit there, thinking what to do.

There was an order for polished panels for a restaurant in Moscow – curved with polishing. But the fasteners were installed incorrectly at the site and it took 4 months of work to fix it. You can imagine the customer's face and our phone conversations.

Then the newbie learns and thinks:

What's so special about it: a bucket, a mixer, cement – ​​nothing complicated!

And now he is joining the ranks of the self-employed, simultaneously renting a garage and taking customers away from his teacher. Customers of such self-employed people often turn to us when the contractors fail or simply disappear with the money.

I switched from piecework to salary. Individual orders create a wide variety of work processes. When tasks are typical, they are easy to calculate, for example, hammered 10 nails, received 100 ₽. But when operations are non-standard and strongly depend on the size and type of the product, it is problematic to calculate the price of different operations each time.

Restoration work sometimes takes 2 hours, sometimes 2 days, how to determine whether the restoration is fast or long – is unknown. Sometimes there is little work, sometimes a lot, sometimes the varnish is poorly applied – it needs to be reapplied. Often different texture, different holes, different colors.

My guys have been working for about 4 years now and it’s easier to work, but before I controlled all the operations.

The production is harmful, but not fatal. Dust on clothes, shoes and everywhere. We have already bought the most expensive 3M masks, but people only wear them when it is really dusty, usually, alas, no one wears them, it is uncomfortable.

Migrants used to work, but now they are dissatisfied with their salaries, hence the large outflow. We talked to the latter, they say that 2 years ago the salary was $2,000 for working 16 hours, now everything is the same, but they pay up to $1,000. Someone braver went to Donbass, where they pay $2-3,000. As a result: those who live in Russia are still working, and those who came to send money home are no longer satisfied.

Taxes – 1,270,000 ₽

Orders from Ozon are simplified – 7%. But from facades due to VAT and income tax it comes out to 40%. To pay less, you need to withdraw as little as possible and buy the material, so VAT will not disappear. I still don't fully understand how all this is paid.

In total, my production spends about 3.2 million rubles per month on average.

How much does a concrete plant owner work and earn?

In total, in an average month, working from 10:00 to 18:00, day off on Sunday, without vacation, the owner of a concrete plant and his wife in the Moscow region earn 800,000 ₽.

But we are not taking this money because we are trying another business. I am building a house out of concrete to sell, I dream of becoming my own customer. But everything is getting wildly expensive: we calculated the roof for 800,000 ₽, but it came out to 1.3 million ₽. I wanted a foundation for 600,000 ₽, but built it for 1.1 million ₽. In the end, I don’t know whether I will be able to make money, or at least recoup the investment.

But we can afford to go to a restaurant with my wife all the time!

Thinking about having dinner?

No way! Make a bar counter(

I monitor the execution of orders every day, watch who is doing what, give instructions. Now everyone is more or less independent, but it is necessary to be at the plant.

Conclusions of the owner of a concrete plant

After 15 years I realized:

Study well

I don’t mean courses on how to become an entrepreneur from zero to a billion, but real practice.

I was finally able to move away from garage production towards a larger volume when I found a person who already owned a large production and was involved in facade decor. He taught me a lot.

Custom orders involve a lot of money and a lot of problems.

After yet another misunderstanding with clients, you just want to load up all the marketplaces and start churning out standard products.

It's a double-edged sword: on the one hand, standard production is much safer than individual orders, but in return you get a high margin, which is tempting.

And if you stamp sinks for marketplaces, they don’t call you at 7 am to tell you about a crack or insufficient rounding, but the marketplace eats up the lion’s share of your profit, and competition drives the price down to a minimum.

You don't sleep well in concrete

Sometimes you get really big orders, for example, we are now calculating sports stands for a Moscow school. There was already glass fiber concrete there, but it cracked.

But, firstly, the customer is the state, secondly, children, you never know what. And in the end, you toss and turn and choose between 20 million in revenue and gigantic responsibility.

Every day I dream of leaving concrete. Every day something happens, something is missing, nothing is smooth.

Sometimes customers get up on the wrong side of the bed. For one order, the invoice was approved, and 3 months later, the customer says at acceptance:

This is not it, we agreed on something completely different with the final customer.

And we spent day and night sanding and re-sanding to more or less bring it to an agreed upon version.

Stress resistance is needed

Every day someone yells at you and demands something from you. But you get used to it. If something starts to burn now, I will have zero emotions.

But despite this, we work and try to develop. And a manufacturer is closer to me than a speculator-reseller. I understand how many nerves and problems this is, so such people command respect. Although, if I were offered to take over the business for a large part of the profit, I would agree.

But still… do concrete!

Phew.. While I was giving the interview, I already missed a million calls on my phone. Thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: The article was written by the author of the blog “fell, rose”based on an interview with the founder of the MKBeton concrete plant, Nikolai Tishchenko.

I am blogging “fell, rose” with stories about real business, not this successful success of yours. Every week – a new story based on an interview with an entrepreneur.

You will read: how I earned 13 million a year from passive income lovers, how I glued cardboard and sold it on marketplaces for 50 million a year, why my taxi fleet with 300 drivers and 40 cars is no longer a business, how I make and sell stones on marketplaces for 1.35 million a month, why the dumpling production in the provinces is dying, and how 1,000 workers work for me, although they think that they work for themselves And other stories.