The biggest benefit from joining our forum is access to opportunities information. You get to learn from experiences of others in the business sectors of your interest. In this article we feature Zbinite Mzoe whom we featured on our Premium Chat where he shared his experiences of starting a hardware.
My business name is Javelin Hardware & Construction
My motto is: A Mark of Excellence
Construction is a big industry with vast opportunities in supply, construction, interior deco and others,
Opportunities
One who solves the affordable housing market niche will reap huge rewards.
There is huge demand for entry level low cost housing schemes with demand far outstripping supply.
The supplyside has few headaches although the margins are low so it’s a volumes business
Risks
Clients who fail to honour payment terms,
As a capital intensive venture, one risks all profits when there is a huge supply side push and less demand for materials especially during ran seasons.
Advice to start-ups
Hardwares is a good business and one needs a minimum of US$10k to have a small decent hardware shop.
I have resorted to cutting deals with suppliers and accessing credit and also doing online business with diasporans. Diasporans prefer cash on delivery.
Interestingly most high value sales are done online.
How He Started: I became a middleman. Yes, I found a man with trucks and told him I will sell your sands and for every load give me $10.In my first 2 weeks I moved sands worth $1600. getting a commission of $300. One episode that really pushed me to go into hardware…
I got a job to renovate a house and showed the lady mikoto of cheap items and helped her get discounts. We bought paints, sands tubs, sinks, electrical items worth $7000.When I charged 1800 to do the renovations she said you want to buy a car? I was pained and left the job as I had saved her in excess of $900 using my contacts.
Let’s go to stats a bit: 1. Zim has a housing backlog of over 1 million and it’s still growing, 2. In Bulawayo over 2000 plans are submitted yearly, 3. A house needs between $10 000 to $60 000 in materials to be completed. These are items that a bought on cash.
Startup Figures:To start a hardware business you need between $0.00 like me to $10 000. There are these types of hardware, General hardware or specialised hardware, eg paints hardware, electrical or plumbing,
Shifting to Supply: However, in my journey as a builder I discovered some things that made me move towards supply.1. Even if you direct prospective home owners to the cheaper mikoto they wont thank you. In fact they want a further discount on your labour charge.2. Its the suppliers who give you ye drink for bringing a client.3. Labour fee is paid over a long period but all materials are paid up front on cash. I decided to move over to supply.
Requirements: A general hardware is capital and human resource intensive as construction is very broad. You need manpower who understand, plumbing, electrical etc.
Mostly those main items you need to build.
Cement Tricks: The curious case of cement, cement has a profit of 70 cents a bag. But cement is a client puller. Low profits but it pulls people who buy other items.
