Opening an indoor facility

[Youngabunga]

Seeing that there are no convenient facilities nearby to me, I'm 90% of the way to convincing myself to open one. I've been giving pitching lessons out of my basement, but I only have 40ft of space there, and I have a couple coach friends that give catching and hitting lessons that would benefit from having a consistent place to teach from. So something of a business plan is developing. Primary use being a place for us to teach from. Secondary would be team rental space. 3rd would be batting cage rental.

I have read through and learned a lot from this thread already https://www.discussfastpitch.com/threads/building-an-indoor-facility-any-suggestions.38276/

Looking at some commercial/industrial warehouse space nearby. Some reasonably priced ones available at 3300 and 4500 sq ft. The 4500 might be large enough for an infield, so that was a great tip I picked out of that thread.

Soliciting any advice on everything from cautionary tales to what your favorite facility does that you love, to flooring suggestions, netting solutions, commercial pitching machines (would like to put in an automated machine lane if the infield thing doesn't pan out). Insurance advice, sample waivers and agreements. Pretty much anything the DFP community has in their vast knowledge.
TIA!

I did in-depth research on the same thought. In my area, rent was too cost prohibitive for this idea to take flight but heres my summary:

1. Insurance: Easy. Many companies offer facilities policies.
2. Waivers: Easy. Insurance companies will provide templates and then you work with an attorney to insert additional verbiage to make it work in your state. In my case, I had a team parent who was an attorney help.
3. Facilities - rental: HARD. I looked at leasing space and worked with commercial real estate agents. Rent was exorbitantly high in my area and I could not build a business model to generate enough revenue to offset cost.
4. Retrofitting cost - HARD. any space you find will need additional HVAC, nets, floors, padding, sprinklers, gear, etc to support sports activities. There are some requirements from insurance as well. Maybe you will get lucky and able to find a space that was already retrofitted.
5. Facilities- build: HARD. I also looked at buying or leasing land and building a facility. Again, cost was prohibitive.
6. Marketing/recruitment: MEDIUM. Its doable if you have the outreach skills and experience with marketing platforms. I have experience but very time consuming. It's almost a full time job.
7. Facilities maintenance: HARD. I found that hiring a part time "super" was surprisingly hard to find. Property management can offer resources but it's expensive. It can become a full time job for the owner of the facility.
8. Business operations/Customer service/portal: HARD. You need people to man the desk and phones. Deal with payments. Enforce house rules. Etc. All require dedicated resources and money. Having a website portal with some automation can help but a decent website can be expensive.
9. Finance/accounting: EASY. Finding an accountant was relatively easy. He/she will guide you on the books to keep. There are software that can help as well. Quickbooks, etc.
Hope this helps.

 

[gator5]

I've not heard of them, I'll look into that, thanks!

We have used the 643 facilities for years. Their business model:

1. Girls only
2. Monthly membership fee (so you still generate income in the summer). This fee gives you x number of lanes a week.
3. Lots and lots of trainers. They generally split the fees with the trainer. So if they charge $100 an hour, they get $50. I think that is where the money is truly made.
4. Automated sign ups. I don't have to talk to a person to rent a lane. I can do it online.
5. Key pad for entry. You don't need a person on duty. You need cameras for sure.
6. Keep the facility clean and don't go cheap on the equipment.

 

[Beeg]

Take this advice or throw it away: Maximize the facility. What does that mean?

Don't just get your standard nets for batting cages. See if you can find the white color (maybe it comes in other colors too) that is very heavy and used in school gyms to separate the basketball courts. Why, you ask?? well let me tell you.

The #1 thing I see with indoor facilities is they sit empty during the daytime when the kids are at school. If you have the kind of "netting" that I"m talking about, you can use the daytime hours (8am-3pm??) as an indoor driving range for golfers. There is never enough of those. And businessmen will GLADLY drop $20 or $30 for a bucket of balls during their daytimes. Without doing this, or something like it, your building will sit empty for 1/2 of the day. If you can maximize this time, you can make a fortune on the side.

I fully expect a % of the revenue generated by this. This idea is exclusive to House of Pitching and property there of. I truly believe indoor facilities waste a good portion of their day because the kids are at school and this idea would be a win-win for facilites. And believe me...... I've been in A LOT of indoor facilities. NONE of them do this. The only one close to it I've seen was in Portland Maine where a guy rented 1/2 of his facility to a fitness person who had a gym set up with weights and personal training. That worked too. Indoor space is a PREMIUM in cold weather states, and in places that get a lot of rain.

Piggy back on this... lots of retirees are playing pickleball and tennis. There aren't enough courts in public tennis facilities around, and they like to play during daytime.

 

[Fluid Fastpitch]

I did in-depth research on the same thought. In my area, rent was too cost prohibitive for this idea to take flight but heres my summary:

1. Insurance: Easy. Many companies offer facilities policies.
2. Waivers: Easy. Insurance companies will provide templates and then you work with an attorney to insert additional verbiage to make it work in your state. In my case, I had a team parent who was an attorney help.
3. Facilities - rental: HARD. I looked at leasing space and worked with commercial real estate agents. Rent was exorbitantly high in my area and I could not build a business model to generate enough revenue to offset cost.
4. Retrofitting cost - HARD. any space you find will need additional HVAC, nets, floors, padding, sprinklers, gear, etc to support sports activities. There are some requirements from insurance as well. Maybe you will get lucky and able to find a space that was already retrofitted.
5. Facilities- build: HARD. I also looked at buying or leasing land and building a facility. Again, cost was prohibitive.
6. Marketing/recruitment: MEDIUM. Its doable if you have the outreach skills and experience with marketing platforms. I have experience but very time consuming. It's almost a full time job.
7. Facilities maintenance: HARD. I found that hiring a part time "super" was surprisingly hard to find. Property management can offer resources but it's expensive. It can become a full time job for the owner of the facility.
8. Business operations/Customer service/portal: HARD. You need people to man the desk and phones. Deal with payments. Enforce house rules. Etc. All require dedicated resources and money. Having a website portal with some automation can help but a decent website can be expensive.
9. Finance/accounting: EASY. Finding an accountant was relatively easy. He/she will guide you on the books to keep. There are software that can help as well. Quickbooks, etc.
Hope this helps.

Helps a lot, thanks! The reason I'm thinking of moving on this now is I feel like I've happened upon a particular space that is well suited and affordable.
I agree though, all of these hats can be full time jobs. Maintenance, web development, marketing, etc. You gotta accept there's only so many hours in the day and putting 20% of your effort into marketing will yield 20% of the potential results. So where is it worth paying for help. Lucky for me, I've been building websites for years, and am pretty confident I can manage the web/marketing side of things. The maintenance and run-the-business aspects though have my head a little spinning.

We have used the 643 facilities for years. Their business model:

1. Girls only
2. Monthly membership fee (so you still generate income in the summer). This fee gives you x number of lanes a week.
3. Lots and lots of trainers. They generally split the fees with the trainer. So if they charge $100 an hour, they get $50. I think that is where the money is truly made.
4. Automated sign ups. I don't have to talk to a person to rent a lane. I can do it online.
5. Key pad for entry. You don't need a person on duty. You need cameras for sure.
6. Keep the facility clean and don't go cheap on the equipment.

I don't know if I can get away with girls only as a rule; but I intend to focus on Fastpitch specifically. You can go to a number of cages in a 20 mile radius and hit 55mph softballs. Good luck finding faster or slower. I haven't found a commercial cage around here that can spit out a 40mph softball for the younger girls. I think that's a potential differentiator, but not sure ball machines are going to be in the budget for initial investment.


@Beeg This community is pretty well served in tennis, there's a racquet club about 2 miles down the road. But I am eying golf, and welcome suggestions for other sports that could share and wouldn't tear up the turf.


Thanks all!

 

[Tango]

Rural area but a guy runs a facility that picks kids up from school in vans and runs an after school program with tutoring and then sports training. I'm not sure how all this works but it works. Also has staff for baseball, softball, VB, Basketball, and football. They do have courts in the facility and cages and lifting. Brings in special guest for big camps and rents to teams. I assume he couldn't do it without the after school crowd.

 

[bmwbykrydr]

I'm the president of a softball club and after years of sharing space with two to three other clubs, about 6 years ago we opened our own facility for just our teams. We fluctuate between 5 and 9 teams each year. When the team count gets low we open the space to teams and private coaches to help make ends meet. We are a non-profit so we aren't trying to make money, just break even. If you are doing it for profit then you'll have to price everything accordingly.

My main regret is that the floor has poles supporting the roof so find something with no roof supports. It's big enough when we close down the three hitting cages to have a full infield, but working around the poles is a hiccup, still better than anything we had before. Would have liked a higher ceiling also, but that's not really a big deal. Heated and air conditioned, separate bathrooms with a meeting room, lockers for players and team gear. We spent about $30,000 on turf, wall and ceiling nets, back stop matts and a new pitching machine when we opened it and it's still holding up well. Attached picture is taken from the center of the main floor.

Our landlord just added Common Area Maintenance fees to our rent this year so we are now paying $2000/month for our 6800 sq/feet, liability insurance is about $1200 a year.

In the end, this facility has made a world of difference for our teams. The ability to come in and work out whenever someone wants to is invaluable. Other clubs have opened much larger facilities since we opened ours and they ae EXPENSIVE! They're nice to use and easy on the eyes, but easily three times what we are paying.

My dream the past ten years has been an indoor 2 plex or 4 plex. I think the sport could support it in my area along with winter indoor tournaments that just don't exist here right now. Indoor soccer facilities have popped up just about everywhere, which accommodate softball, but I'd like a dedicated facility myself.

Some day...

 

[JOHNN]

We have used the 643 facilities for years. Their business model:

1. Girls only
2. Monthly membership fee (so you still generate income in the summer). This fee gives you x number of lanes a week.
3. Lots and lots of trainers. They generally split the fees with the trainer. So if they charge $100 an hour, they get $50. I think that is where the money is truly made.
4. Automated sign ups. I don't have to talk to a person to rent a lane. I can do it online.
5. Key pad for entry. You don't need a person on duty. You need cameras for sure.
6. Keep the facility clean and don't go cheap on the equipment.

Are trainers actually charging $100/hr for lessons?

 

[JOHNN]

Our landlord just added Common Area Maintenance fees to our rent this year so we are now paying $2000/month for our 6800 sq/feet, liability insurance is about $1200 a year.

Man that is a steal for a place that big. Just two weeks ago I was looking into leasing a place big enough for at least one cage and the cheapest I could find was a 50x30 warehouse with a single bathroom and sink for $1600/month. And that was after he gave a price break bc Id be doing something for kids in the local community

 

[LEsoftballdad]

Are trainers actually charging $100/hr for lessons?

It depends on where you are. On Long Island, NY, I pay $120 for catching and pitching lessons, and $100 for hitting.

The rent for the 6,800 sqft place would be easily $10K per month here.

 

[_MIA_]

DD’s org rents out 2 10K square foot facilities. You are better off using up every square inch and not leaving any room for parents to meddle..errr watch..They will be fine in the car..