Garage Grad School project - help me out?

hyunelan2

Hello all. I am currently working towards an MBA, and am about 1/2 way through the program. For my Marketing Management class, we had to create a fictitious company and develop a marketing plan for it.

The company my group selected is garage design and finishing company. Basically, they come in measure your stuff, do a sketchup/CAD display of the garage, sell the cabinetry and optionally install it. It's been a fun project thus far (every week is another chunk of the presentation) and now it's getting down to the nitty-gritty.

We identified 5 major competitors in our area that do similar work (there are more, we choose these 5). There are also a ton of secondary competitors, like Lowes, Home Depot, Menards, etc. - all the places that cater to the DIYer.


Here is my question to you all: of the people that decide to organize/finish their garage, how many (%) do you think actually pay to have at least some of the work done, vs. the % that go out to the local big-box and DIY?

I know this is a DIY forum, so there will probably some skewed results. I'm just trying to find some public opinion here.

My personal thought is it's probably 25:75. 25% hire, 75% DIY.

Thanks all!

Mr Chips

I'd think it would be a lot less hiring it out. the garage is the DIY palace, what better place to flaunt your skills. I'm curius to what you'll discover

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Scuba_Dave

Yeah...garage I definitely DIY
If I can build the garage....I can build some shelves & install cabinets

WirelessG

Good thing you didn't email this question to Steve Jobs.

I think your average middle class family would make it a DIY project, but someone with money or someone retired would likely lean towards hiring someone. Your 25/75 ratio is likely reasonable.

spaceman spif

When you install cabinets in the garage you tend to not worry so much about them lining up perfectly, as opposed to kitchen cabinets, so I agree that most DIY's would do it on their own.

But I also agree with Wireless, that someone retired or who is short on time or doesn't have someone to help hold the cabinets in place during installation would likely hire it out. I don't know if advertising or listing a "target group" is part of your project, but if it is, I would mention targeting those types of people in your ads.

Mr Chips

i would think your target consumer is an old car collector or someone like that, and i seriously doubt 25% of americans fall into this category. I could see someone with a fully restored '67 Mustang wanting to turn his garage into a showroom, where a woodworker would build out his own garage

it's interesting though....let us know what you find out

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Blondesense

I agree with Mr. Chips.

Finishing a garage for strictly storage; out of season sports equipment, lawnmower, bikes, etc. will give you much better numbers than targeting a DIY or workshop group.