Indiana Business Reviews

Entrepreneurs have three options on how to start a business (a) starting their own business from scratch, (b) buying a franchise business, or (c) buying an established business for sale (either franchised or non-franchised). The cheapest approach appears to be (a) because the start up costs may be the least.  In the case of a service business, or contractor-based business, this may be true.  If the business was heavy in assets, like manufacturing, or if it takes a long time to develop a customer base or sales cycle, the start up costs can accumulate while trying to create revenue.  It may take 2-3 years before some businesses become profitable in this model, based on the investment.  Depending on the business, the risk can be fairly high as well.  Many businesses fail in the first 2 years and businesses created from scratch often fail at a higher rate than others. The next most attractive option, at least to a first time business owner, may be to buy a franchise.  The franchis

Michelle bought a new condo in Plainfield.  The garage floor had a thick coating of cure and seal on it, but the worst part is that the interior wall was built just to the side of the foundation block between the house and garage, leaving the block exposed, rough, and just plain ugly.  The builder did a great job on the condo, but the mistakes they made in the garage were below the standard found in the rest in the house.  Michelle called Indianapolis Garage Floors, which is the local franchisee for Slide-Lok Garage Interiors.  They came out and gave her an estimate and worked with the builder to finish the floor on a weekend so other contractors would not have to be re-scheduled.  The removal of the cure and seal is normally done with special pads on the grinder, or just the standard diamond pads, but this just wasn't coming up.  The floor coating owner spent additional time to strip and then grind the floor to properly prepare it at no additional cost.  They also filled in

Sometimes I wonder how honest a home service company really is.  I'm leery of people in general.  Like when you go to an automotive repair place and they give you a list of 7 or 8 things that all need to be replaced and it totals more than your car is worth.  You really don't need all that, but the guy is on a commission and they are pushing everything they can.  Of course, you want them to be honest.  What do you really need?  Does it need to be addressed now or should it be scheduled in the next 3 months, 6 months or when?   You build trust when you're honest with customers and long term, a loyal customer base.  Other groups I'm leery of are plumbers or heating and cooling contractors.  Sometimes, you schedule a service call.  They charge you $89 or so to come out, regardless.  I understand that since they have payroll costs and overhead.  So I often agree...but mostly because I seem to have no other choice.  I would like to see the service call or estimate charge