Singapore Expats

I thinking what business should i start-up. Their are a lot of field i'm interested with such as :
-Metal supplier
-Furniture custom made service
-Car dealer
-Property Investor
-Food & Drink Supplier

Based on my list, which start-up is more easy.

Hi Jack,

It is great that you have the entrepreneur spirit in you. But even better to have a goos business plan. I have helped incorporate quite a few companies where the owners did not have a clear vision and the business did not thrive well.

Metal supply could be capital intensive i.e. heavy investments
Car dealer- Since LTA is curbing the amount of cars on the road maybe a dud.
Property Investment- this would be on the personal level.
Food & Drink Supplier- Maybe the better out of all of them but very intensive when it comes to competition

Mark

Mark1986 wrote:Hi Jack,

It is great that you have the entrepreneur spirit in you. But even better to have a goos business plan. I have helped incorporate quite a few companies where the owners did not have a clear vision and the business did not thrive well.

Metal supply could be capital intensive i.e. heavy investments
Car dealer- Since LTA is curbing the amount of cars on the road maybe a dud.
Property Investment- this would be on the personal level.
Food & Drink Supplier- Maybe the better out of all of them but very intensive when it comes to competition

Mark

Good analysis!

Furniture custom made service - not a bad idea as people are always looking for reasonably priced furniture... BUT... you must find a good supplier who makes good furniture out of properly cured wood, and still be able to sell it at a reasonable price.

That means you will have to out source furniture to Malaysia or Indonesia and that makes things more complicated.

Strong Eagle wrote: properly cured wood

Can't stress this enough. Are you aware that some newly developed condo experience infestation problem with hardwood floorings. And what is the cost of an average condo huh? This corner-cutting mentality has to STOP !

So OP, there is definitely opportunity in good quality wood products in the Singapore market. That are priced fairly .

earthfriendly wrote:So OP, there is definitely opportunity in good quality wood products in the Singapore market. That are priced fairly .

My understanding on current market practice for customised furnitures is they will station sales reps in Singapore to do the sales and measurement. Then furnitures will be made and transport from m'sia.

sgboat wrote:

earthfriendly wrote:So OP, there is definitely opportunity in good quality wood products in the Singapore market. That are priced fairly .

My understanding on current market practice for customised furnitures is they will station sales reps in Singapore to do the sales and measurement. Then furnitures will be made and transport from m'sia.

This is generally the case, and also why it is also so important to find a good supplier and exercise strong quality control. There have been quite a few threads in these forums over the years from people who bought foreign made furniture only to find it rotting, cracking, or falling apart a few yearrs later.

I have no knowledge about the market for customized furniture. I was talking about furniture that you can pick out from the showroom. Practical pieces that fit the scale and style of the typical HDB flat or private apartments.

There are people who like wood furniture. Of durable quality. They are not always looking for high end or exotic pieces. Just your regular run of the mill type, but made with properly cured and treated wood. Hence my comment about corner-cutting.