900 000 ₽
Revenue:1 050 000 ₽
Net profit:525 000 ₽
Payback period:from 2 months
The production of cinder blocks is a profitable business that can bring significant profits. Equipment for the production of cinder block is quite affordable, technology and raw materials are available in each region, which provides a low threshold for entering this business.
The main advantage of cinder block, compared with other types of wall blocks used in construction, is its low price, which against the background of declining incomes of the population provides it with a significant competitive advantage.Composition, types and brands of cinder block
Cinder block is a building stone, which is obtained by vibropressing or natural shrinkage in special forms. The main raw material for the production of slag blocks is slag, granite crushed stone, expanded clay and other fillers, for the connection of which cement is used among themselves. Cinder block is a universal material, the properties of which are largely determined by its main filler.
Using sand, pebbles or gravel, the most durable cinder blocks are made, but they also have maximum thermal conductivity.
The main types of cinder blocks include:
solid blocks with solid filler for laying socles and foundations;
solid blocks for masonry walls, which have less weight and strength;
cinder blocks for laying partitions, which have less weight than brick;
colored decorative cinder blocks, which are used for wall cladding, fences.
The main characteristic of the cinder block is its strength grade, which ranges from 35 to 125 kg / cm2. Cinder block is considered a low heat-conducting material. Its thermal conductivity depends on the filler and varies between 0.3 - 0.65 W / m * k. For comparison, ceramic brick has a thermal conductivity of 0.8 W / m * k, and silicate brick - about 0.9 W / m * k.
The standard life of the cinder block is approaching 100 years. It is very convenient for construction that the cinder block practically does not shrink, but it has a high level of water absorption, and therefore buildings from the cinder block must be finished with some kind of insulating material.
Slag stones are standardized according to GOST 6133-99 “Concrete wall stones. Technical conditions. " The environmental friendliness of the cinder block is determined by its filler.
Scope of cinder block
The main area of use of cinder block is the construction of buildings and structures. First of all, it is used for the construction of low-rise buildings, the construction of utility buildings, ventilation ducts and in landscape design.
The main competitor as a building material for cinder block is brick. Both the one and the other material have its pros and cons, in terms of using it for the construction of buildings. The main advantage of using cinder block is its lower cost per square meter of the erected building, as well as the smaller amount of cement mixture needed for masonry.
Technology and equipment for the production of cinder block
The technology for the production of cinder block is quite simple. At the first stage, mixtures of cement, selected filler and water are made. Plasticizers are added to the prepared mixture, which increase the strength and waterproof properties of the product.
Also, special chemical additives are used to save cement, accelerate hardening processes, increase frost resistance (that is, increase the number of freeze / thaw cycles without damaging the unit), and provide hardening at low temperatures. These chemical additives can be divided into: plasticizing, air-entraining, hardening accelerators, anticorrosive and others.
For the preparation of cinder block with your own hands, without the use of equipment, you can use many recipes. We will not dwell on them in detail, since the production of cinder block by the manual method, without the use of equipment, is rather not a business, but a way to save money on our own construction. The simplest and most universal recipe is the following: 2 parts of sand, 2 parts of crushed stone, 7 parts of slag, 2 parts of Portland cement M400. Water is added in a ratio of about 0.5 parts plus the necessary plasticizers. However, each specialist in the production of cinder blocks has its own recipe for production.
Next, the prepared mixture is unloaded in the form of a vibrating press. The hardening of products occurs in vivo for up to three days. Special additives contribute to faster hardening.
The complete set of the basic technological line for the production of cinder block consists of a vibrating press, a concrete mixer, a flyover for a concrete mixer and a control panel. Additionally, the line can be equipped with various dispensers, which simplify the process of loading the mixture. This line can be equipped with various matrices, which allow to produce cinder blocks with different configuration of voids.
Such a semi-automatic line can work both indoors and outdoors. Such equipment does not require special skills and complex training of personnel. The area of the production facility for the production of cinder block will be about 40-50 m2. A connection to the power supply network of 380 V is required. The number of workers to service such a line is 2-3 people. The pressing time is about 30 seconds.
The principle of operation of the vibrating press is quite simple. A molding tray is placed on the vibrating table, then the molding mixture is automatically loaded into the matrix. The process of vibropressing begins. At the end of the molding, the worker lifts the matrix until the product is completely released from the matrix. Next, the pallet with the product leaves and is removed from the rolling cart, and another pallet is installed in its place. Such a press costs about 360 thousand rubles.
For the production of cinder block, it is necessary to use a forced-type concrete mixer designed for the preparation of semi-dry hard mixtures. The convenience of this equipment is that, as a rule, load cells are provided for weighing raw materials, thereby achieving the accuracy of dosing of raw materials according to a given recipe. The cost of such a concrete mixer of Russian production is about 240 thousand rubles.
The cost of additional equipment may be about 300 thousand rubles. Thus, the base line for the production of cinder block will be about 900 thousand rubles.
How to set up a cinder block production business
Making a business is necessary for the possibility of connecting to electric networks, concluding contracts with customers and ensuring the security of the business itself from the point of view of audits of tax authorities. Do not forget about the responsibility for illegal business activities.
However, the cinder block production business does not require any serious specialized premises and does not mean large customers among legal entities. Mostly your customers will be private customers.
Therefore, at the first stage, you can focus on setting up production and selecting clients, and only then get puzzled by the legal design of the business.
The legal form of starting a cinder block production business can be any, both a limited liability company and an individual entrepreneur. In our case, we recommend choosing the IP form, as this will simplify the registration procedure, as well as providing regular tax reporting.
A simplified tax system will be optimal for this type of business. In addition, you need to decide on the choice of the object of taxation. For STS, you can choose two types of objects: the object of taxation "income" or "income minus expenses".
As a rule, the criterion for choosing between these two objects is quite simple. If the percentage of expenses in revenue is more than 60-70%, then it is more profitable to choose the object of taxation “income minus expenses”. If the percentage of expenses is less, then it is more profitable to pay on income. It should be noted that accounting for the object of taxation "income" is simpler.
When organizing a business for the production of cinder block, taking into account the scale of the business, we recommend that you involve a specialized accounting outsourcing company to prepare financial statements and submit declarations.
After registration, you can get a certificate for your products. Certification is not mandatory, but is voluntary. This certificate will positively characterize your products in the face of the customer. The cost of certification, depending on the region, is 7-10 thousand rubles.
The OKVED code, which must be used in the cinder block production business, will be 08/18/2019 "Production of finished construction products from concrete, cement and artificial stone."
Competition and demand in the market of wall blocks
Speaking about the cinder block production business, it is necessary to take into account that there are a large number of varieties of wall blocks on the market and all of them compete with each other for the customer. The most common types of wall blocks include: foam concrete blocks, sandblocks made by volume vibropressing, heat blocks, polystyrene concrete blocks, expanded clay concrete, wood concrete, ceramic blocks, Balaev's heat-efficient blocks.
In addition to this, there are several more effective technologies for the construction of buildings and structures, such as wooden construction, frame construction and others.
There is fierce competition in this market, the choice of material for construction is not easy for the customer. We will not consider the comparative characteristics of all these materials in terms of efficiency; similar studies can be found without difficulty.
However, with all the diversity of choice for all studies, it turns out that there is no cheaper material for construction. Some experts question the environmental characteristics of the cinder block for the construction of residential buildings, but for the construction of utility buildings, the cinder block looks very profitable.
Let us first assess how competitive the cinder block is in a series of comparable building materials. To estimate the demand for cinder block, we will use Yandex keyword statistics. There is a special service for this. We will analyze the number of requests for the following search phrases: "buy cinder block"; "Buy aerated concrete blocks" and "buy a brick." Such requests are usually carried out by small construction companies and individuals engaged in construction, that is, direct consumers.
For the query “buy cinder block”, Yandex statistics say about 14 thousand queries per month. These statistics include relevant queries, for example, “buy cinder blocks price” or “where to buy cinder blocks”. By region, the leader of the inquiries is the Ural Federal District, the Central Federal District and the Siberian Federal District. Yandex statistics, for estimating demand, provide another indicator - “Regional popularity”. The index of regional popularity of the request above 100% characterizes the increased interest of users of this region in the request. According to the “Regional popularity” indicator, the request to “buy cinder block” in the Urals Federal District is 216%. That is, interest in these products is increased.
For comparison, Moscow carries out three times less requests for this keyword, and regional popularity is only 35%. This suggests that the main competitive advantage of cinder block - the price, is the most popular in regions with lower living standards.
Consider similar statistics for the key query “buy aerated concrete blocks”. For this request, as well as for relevant, for example, “aerated concrete block price”, the number of requests is about 14 thousand per month. By the number of requests, Moscow and the Central Federal District are confidently leading.
At the request "buy a brick", Yandex statistics say about more than 200 thousand requests per month. In this block, the request “buy facing brick” is also popular, with a share of almost 10% of all requests in this category. Such a ratio in requests is natural, since nevertheless it is brick that is the most common building material.
We conclude that the demand for cinder block, of course, is an order of magnitude lower than for brick, but it is. Peak demand falls on March, April May, that is, at the beginning of the construction season. In these months, the number of requests is more than 20 thousand requests per month. Statistics show that in Russia there is strong demand for cinder block. However, before deciding to start production, we recommend that you independently check the statistics for keywords for your region. Once again, we remind you that cinder block is sold near its production sites. This is done in order to reduce shipping costs. Check the number of requests for your city and region separately, this will help to draw a more accurate picture of demand.
A similar service for analyzing keyword statistics is also available in the Google search engine. It will be optimal to estimate the number of queries in both search engines.
Profit, profitability and financial performance of a cinder block business
The production volume of the cinder block production line described above is about 1000 blocks per shift. The market price of such a block is about 35 rubles.
Thus, the revenue will be about 1.05 million rubles per month, provided that it works in one shift. The cost of production depends on the availability, cost and type of cinder block filler. Taking into account average prices for raw materials, wages and taxes, the cost of production will be about 40-50% of the sale price.
Thus, while ensuring sufficient loading, such a cinder block production line can provide revenue of about 12.6 million rubles per year. Net profit with such revenue will be about 6.3 million rubles per year. The payback period for the indicated investment costs of 900 thousand rubles will be less than two months.
Risks arising from the opening of cinder block production
The main risk when starting the production of cinder block is that you can’t find enough customers and, accordingly, do not provide enough workload to ensure cost-effective operation. Consider how to overcome this risk.
The cheapest and most effective way to promote a cinder block business is the Internet. First of all, you should focus on bulletin boards, they have a significant audience and good conversion. First of all, it is necessary to place an ad on the avito website, which is the most visited in Russia among bulletin boards.
Next, you need to use contextual advertising in the search engines Yandex and Google. Each ad costs money, but the payback of this type of advertising can be quite fast.
Also, you should have your own website. Currently, if you use special site designers to create a site, you can do everything yourself. If you are not ready for this, then involve a specialist in the creation of the site. The cost of developing such a site, using the site builder, will cost you about 10 thousand rubles. The annual maintenance fee is about 3 thousand rubles. On the site you can place quality certificates, price lists, photographs of product samples and other important information for the client.
Summing up, we conclude that the production of cinder blocks is a profitable business with a low payback period and a low entry threshold. The technology for the production of cinder block is simple, raw materials are available, the equipment does not require complex expensive maintenance. Cinder block is mainly in demand in regions with a low standard of living, as it is the cheapest building material. The main risk in the cinder block production business is high competition in the building block market and difficulty in finding customers.
Anton Vodolazov, business consultant, candidate of economic sciencesContact the author:
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