Want a brilliant business idea? How about starting a parking garage? It may seem unconventional, but these businesses are proven money makers. Why? More and more people are living in busy cities and driving cars while there is less and less parking available. People will jump at the chance to pay for a good parking spot!
If this idea interests you, here are three things you’ll need:
A Prime Piece Of Real Estate
To start things off, the main thing you’ll need is a prime piece of real estate to start your parking garage business. If there’s an old abandoned parking lot somewhere that’s up for sale, then you’ve hit the jackpot. Buy it, and you can then revamp it to become your new parking garage. If not, don’t worry, there are still ways you can easily make this business work. All you’re really looking for is a stretch of land big enough to house your parking garage. You could easily buy a building and then knock it down and rebuild a multi-storey parking garage right there. It may feel like you’re spending a lot of money, but you have to pluck up the courage and think about the consistent revenue in the future. Also, the location of your parking garage should be in or around a popular place. I’m talking near a busy city/town rather than right out on the outskirts where there’s not a lot of traffic.
A Parking Guidance System
From the outside looking in, you probably have no idea that parking garages/lots use a special guidance system. It’s true, as you can see here parkassist.com there are guidance systems that show the owners how many free spaces are left as well as loads of other information like license plates, etc. You need a good parking guidance system in your parking garage business as it helps you keep track of the comings and goings while also allowing you to display the number of free spaces on a sign outside. It brings more structure to your business and lets you see if people park their cars and don’t pay.
A Competitive Price Plan
What sets one parking garage apart from another one? They’re pretty much all the same regarding the way they look and the service they provide. The only thing that makes someone choose one over the other is the price. Make sure you offer a competitive price plan for your parking garage, you don’t want to overcharge people and put them off. Furthermore, my advice is to set things up, so people pay when they’re about to leave rather than when they arrive. If people pay when they arrive, then there’s a chance they’ll underestimate how long they’ll need to stay parked, and could go over what they paid for and end up with a parking ticket and cause all kinds of unnecessary commotion. Make them pay after, and they can stay for as long as they like without worrying about going over their allotted time.
If you think this business idea is right for you, then go on ahead and give it ago. The three things here are very important components for a parking garage business, and you should keep them in mind. If you want another car business idea, check out this article here; https://www.jcount.com/starting-used-car-buying-selling-business/, where we teach you how to start a used car business.