Sample2: Business Description

Business Summary & History

Christine & Denis Landscapes Limited has been in the lawn care business in Sherbrooke for four years and has a history of profitability. However, since the nature of the landscaping business is seasonal, we are interested in expanding our company into snow removal and making it a year-round operation. We will offer our services to our existing residential and commercial clients.

Industry Overview

As a northern country, Canada has always had a need for snow removal services during the winter. With the average person working longer hours and juggling more leisure activities than ever before, the need for professional snow removal services have increased in the residential sector. Similarly, as the number of small businesses with limited staffs continue to increase, more professional snow removal services are being used by these businesses as an alternative to bringing maintenance people in house. And, with new policies being implemented to fine people and businesses who fail to clear their property of snow hazards in the wintertime, market research indicates that snow removal services will enjoy a growth rate of approximately 4 per cent per year for the next five years.

On a local level, the city of Sherbrooke has recently voted to contract out $1.5 million in snow removal services.

Sectors Within Industry

• Residential sector: private residences in the Sherbrooke area; primarily those mid-to-high income dwellings inhabited by busy professionals who don't have time to shovel.
• Business sector: primarily comprised of strip mall tenants and those operating from store front locations in the greater Sherbrooke area. In addition, large institutions such as schools, hospitals and seniors' homes who, due to cutbacks, have decreased the number of maintenance workers employed, but still need to maintain a high level of winter safety.

Seasonal Factors

Snow removal is extremely sensitive to seasonal factors. A winter with a particularly heavy snowfall would result in an increase in demand for snow removal services; conversely, a mild winter would be potentially devastating to a snow removal company depending on the way its contracts are structured. However, Sherbrooke weather patterns for the last ten years have been extremely stable and the average snowfall from year to year doesn't vary more than 15 per cent.

Consumer Trends

With the risk of a substantial fine from the municipal government for failure to remove snow within 12 hours of a snowfall, residential use of snow removal services has increased by 16 per cent over the last five years. Similarly, with lawsuits stemming from property negligence on the rise, local businesses are 54 per cent more likely to contract out snow removal services than ten years ago.

Position in the Industry

Having been in the lawn care business for four years, we have established a strong reputation for ourselves in the Sherbrooke community with both business and residential customers. We are known for offering friendly and competitively priced service and enjoy a high rate of referral business. Of our more than 300 customers, the vast majority have expressed a commitment to using our snow removal services once they are fully functional.

Competition

There are currently a total of eight snow removal services in the Sherbrooke area. The two largest services Au revoir Neige and Gilles Délétang et fils Ltée currently control 80 per cent of the local market. These companies are well established and have both been in business for more than ten years. The remaining 20 per cent is currently split between six smaller contractors.

Although other contractors may try to cash in on the city's decision to contract out snow removal, Christine & Denis Landscapes Limited is in a particularly favourable position. We have built up relationships with clients in both the residential and business sectors as well as the municipal government over the last four years; therefore, we are in an excellent position not only to win contracts from the government, but also from private sectors and residential customers.

Use of Technology

We plan to make use of our computerized database, compiled during our four years in the landscape business, to market our snow removal services to existing clients. This will be an advantage over a number of our competitors who do not use a database, since it will allow us to track services rendered for customers and to send out direct mail offers to them to solicit further business.