I'm stuck, please help!! ... Startup Requirements*

Given Costs

The cost of registering a Limited Liability Company in Florida, filing fees listed at the bottom of the application form located at http://form.sunbiz.org/pdf/cr2e047.pdf

Business Insurance, estimated at $1000 per year

No health benefits except for the owner of the business

Workman's compensation fees

The cost of the initial route of 100 homes, at a cost of $120,000

Costs you should estimate through research, experience, or other methods

*if you have questions about startup requirements, or think other startup costs are necessary for the business are missing, then make an assumption and state it in the relevant section of the report.This list is not necessarily complete.

Given Financial Assumptions*

• The owner will be granted a loan for the initial startup, repayable over 10 years at current interest rates for small business loans
• The owner will use personal funds to operate the business until it generates enough cash flow to fund itself.
• Essentially, 60% of sales are made by credit card and 40% are made by check. All credit card sales are paid to the restaurant daily by the credit card company.
• 2.5% of sales is paid to a credit card company in fees
• The average lawn service costs $150 per month.Irrigation repairs are minimal at an average of $50 per customer per year, landscaping and other services are about $200 per customer per year.
• Equipment is depreciated on a straight-line basis over 5 years
• The owner has health benefits, other workers do not.
• Each lawn takes about 1.5 hours to cut and manicure, as well as any other repairs or extra services like tree or shrub trimming.

The entrepreneur will manage the company and draw a salary, but will not service lawns or perform other services.

*If you believe any other assumptions are necessary, then please state them in your budget proposal

executive summary

The first paragraph of this executive summary should give a brief description of the business to which this budget applies. Very briefly describe the products and services of this company, the geography or demographics of the customers it serves, and why people purchase the main product of this business. Much or all of this information will be found in the business profile provided to you. Please use your own words, and please do not simply copy and paste the explanation in the course materials. Make assumptions if necessary. Also, provide a second paragraph that describes how the budget supports the company's strategy. Finally, provide a third paragraph in which you summarize the key points from your budget, including the planning horizon; the amount of up-front investment; the NPV, payback, and IRR of the project; and key figures from your income statement, cash budget, and balance sheet. Remember, this is not a thesis or introduction of what you will talk aboutit contains the major, specific content of each section. The second and third paragraphs should be written after you have completed all other sections of this template. As you complete sections of this template, please remove all italicized text in all sections of this template and replace it with your own text or you will lose points!

I need to come up with a 5-year budget that supports the entrepreneur's vision and strategy and needs for equipment labor and other startup costs.

Business: a landscaping company

To do: Executive Summary(a written budget proposal), a supporting Excel Workbook showing your calculations

Business Profile: The Cutting Edge Landscaping

The vision of the entrepreneur is to come up with5-team landscaping business that caters to upscale neighborhoods in Miami, Florida.The company is to be called "The Cutting Edge".The entrepreneur's goal is to generate income of at least $42,000 per year as his personal salary and profits of 4% after-tax sometime no later than the second year of operation.The entrepreneur intends to buy a route of 100 homes from a lawn service company whose owner is retiring.

Strategy

a)Market Focus/Analysis

The landscaping business targets upscale neighborhoods with home associations that demand lawns to be manicured and well-cared for.Customers tend to be upper-middle, upper-class individuals with household income levels of $110,000 or more.The geographic focus is Miami and its surrounding area.The area is expected to show slow economic growth of about 1% per year over the next five years.

b)Product

The product is lawn maintenance and landscaping services as well as minor irrigation equipment repair.The primary source of income is expected to be in the form of lawn-cutting, debris-blowing, and hedge trimming services.However, the company will also do reseeding, landscaping, and foliage/tree planting, tree trimming, and light irrigation system repair when necessary to keep their customer's lawns watered and healthy.

c)Basis of Competition

Customers hire the Cutting Edge due to its reliability in showing up when they are supposed to, quality lawn service, as well as their ability to keep lawn sprinkler systems in good repair, sparing the homeowner of the inconvenience of calling a sprinkler repair for minor repairs such as broken or clogged sprinkler heads, or other minor sprinkler system repairs.

Startup Requirements*

Given Costs

The cost of registering a Limited Liability Company in Florida, filing fees listed at the bottom of the application form located at http://form.sunbiz.org/pdf/cr2e047.pdf

Business Insurance, estimated at $1000 per year

No health benefits except for the owner of the business

Workman's compensation fees

The cost of the initial route of 100 homes, for $120,000

Costs you should estimate through research, experience, or other methods

Team equipment for lawn cutting, which includes equipment for a two-person team:

A pickup truck

A trailer

A large riding lawnmower

A smaller riding lawnmower

A push lawn-mower

Two gas-powered lawn-trimmers

Two gas-powered lawn edgers

Safety equipment for eyes and ear protection

Tools for minor equipment repair on the job

A drink cooler

2 gas-powered blowers

2 tree/hedge trimmers

2 long ladder

Buck Saws for cutting branches

The cost of 10 workers, two per team

All operating costs such as advertising, phone, a small 400 square foot office complete with utilities, internet a laptop computer, and accounting software like QuickBooks, as well as office supplies, and annual depreciation on equipment.

*if you have questions about startup requirements, or think other startup costs that are necessary for the business are missing, then make an assumption and state it in the relevant section of the report.This list is not necessarily complete.

Given Financial Assumptions*

The owner will be granted a loan for the initial startup, repayable over 10 years at current interest rates for small business loans

The owner will use personal funds to operate the business until it generates enough cash flow to fund itself.

Essentially, 60% of sales are made by credit card, and 40% are made by check. All credit card sales are paid to the restaurant daily by the credit card company.

2.5% of sales is paid to a credit card company in fees

The average lawn service costs $150 per month.Irrigation repairs are minimal at an average of $50 per customer per year, landscaping and other services are about $200 per customer per year.

Equipment is depreciated on a straight-line basis over 5 years

The owner has health benefits, other workers do not.

Each lawn takes about 1.5 hours to cut and manicure, as well as any other repairs or extra services like a tree or shrub trimming.

The entrepreneur will manage the company and draw a salary, but will not service lawns or perform other services.

*If you believe any other assumptions are necessary, then please state them in your budget proposal

*Please at least 1 valid reference

**the first step is to come up with a sales forecast(in sales dollars) when no historical data is available. Use methods such as historical analogy, expert judgment, consumer surveys, the Delphi method, or calculations based on population distributions, estimated growth rates, or expected market penetration rates to arrive at reasonable sales figures for your business for the next 5 years