More space required - additional site or bigger site? Advice needed

[audispecialistlondon 1]

Hi,

We have outgrown our site and need additional space. I really don't like the thought of a second site as i feel it would be incredibly difficult to manage. has anon got experience of a second site and was it difficult to manage?

In an ideal world i would prefer to move to one larger site - has anybody done both that can compare the experience of each?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[audispecialistlondon 1]

On 4 January 2017 at 11:58 AM, audispecialistlondon said:

Hi,

We have outgrown our site and need additional space. I really don't like the thought of a second site as i feel it would be incredibly difficult to manage. has anon got experience of a second site and was it difficult to manage?

In an ideal world i would prefer to move to one larger site - has anybody done both that can compare the experience of each?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Any advice for billy no mates?

[audispecialistlondon 1]

Thank you very much for that advice. That confirms a lot of what i thought.

So why do people go for more than one site vs a bigger one ?? Is it purely vanity so that they can tell their mates they own 3 or 4 sites?

We are seriously struggling to find the larger perfect site & the second site feels more appealing by the day but i think as you've mentioned from previous experience, it could well turn out a disaster. 

[grant8064 219]

Not sure if it's exactly on topic but we moved to a bigger site about 8 months ago.

Old site was ok but a bit hidden. The new site is bigger and right on a busy A road. Costs a lot more but is generating far more sales.

Where we are, in the south east, sites are like hens teeth.

We toyed with the idea of two sites but in reality we would have to employ staff, currently it's just the two directors running the show. Staff = problems and costs.

Also the problems of someone phoning up and wanting to view Car A in location A but it's in prep in location B...in reality this would lead to a missed sale in many cases. 

Too much hassle imo...one site where you can monitor whats going on properly and keep a close eye on who is doing what.

[audispecialistlondon 1]

On 14 January 2017 at 7:10 PM, grant8064 said:

Not sure if it's exactly on topic but we moved to a bigger site about 8 months ago.

Old site was ok but a bit hidden. The new site is bigger and right on a busy A road. Costs a lot more but is generating far more sales.

Where we are, in the south east, sites are like hens teeth.

We toyed with the idea of two sites but in reality we would have to employ staff, currently it's just the two directors running the show. Staff = problems and costs.

Also the problems of someone phoning up and wanting to view Car A in location A but it's in prep in location B...in reality this would lead to a missed sale in many cases. 

Too much hassle imo...one site where you can monitor whats going on properly and keep a close eye on who is doing what.

That is really interesting - i think a second site somehow feels less risky as if worse comes to worse you can shut site B and you know what you have with A. Something about moving entirely somehow feels a much bigger risk as your leaving behind something that (hopefully) is working for something that may not without the option to reverse your decision. 

I agree re the missed sales bit completely; that is one of my main worries! It would complicate stock checks & i would just feel much more exposed responsible for 2 sites vs 1.

Thanks for your advice & i am pleased your new site is doing well - out of interest did you have any period where you closed on the switchover or did you get your new site setup first?

Thanks

[grant8064 219]

12 hours ago, audispecialistlondon said:

That is really interesting - i think a second site somehow feels less risky as if worse comes to worse you can shut site B and you know what you have with A. Something about moving entirely somehow feels a much bigger risk as your leaving behind something that (hopefully) is working for something that may not without the option to reverse your decision. 

I agree re the missed sales bit completely; that is one of my main worries! It would complicate stock checks & i would just feel much more exposed responsible for 2 sites vs 1.

Thanks for your advice & i am pleased your new site is doing well - out of interest did you have any period where you closed on the switchover or did you get your new site setup first?

Thanks

It's  good point you make about the option of closing site B if it's not working and still having the original site A which is a known quantity. In our case we know the area VERY well so felt pretty confident. Still spent hours sat in the car watching how much passing trade went past the new site each hour at different times of day before taking it on, checked all the planning history to make sure we didn't get a site with planning for flats etc. Research any site as best you can is what i'm saying. 

 

We had a six month notice period on our old site and moved onto our new site with 5 months remaining on the old one. 

Tempting as it was to use the old site for storage/sales instead we chose to concentrate fully on the new site. Emptied the old one and put a blocker with flat tyres and no battery across the entrance to keep people out. It meant we paid five months rent and rates for an empty site but in reality the logistics of two sites, on top of moving to a new one, would have been a bit too much. We decided to do one site well rather than two sites averagely and stomached the five months lost rent money.

[justina3 518]

I would echo the advise above, i wouldnt consider a second site unless you have a family member to run it for you or someone you trust 1000% 

I used to run three shops and spent my time firefighting issues daily on one sight then onto the next, the day we closed two shops down my hours went down by 50% my stress down by 100% and my bottom line up by 30% !! wish i done it years ago.