There’s no doubt about it, running a care home business can be very profitable. It’s a major growth industry, with an aging population and an increasing amount of the adult population suffering from one or more chronic illnesses in need of constant care.
Of course, this also means that there will be some stiff competition to your emerging care business, as you won’t be the only person to spot the size of the market and the potential margins involved. With that in mind, here are some areas you will need to get right if you want to give yourself the best chance of success.
#1 Find the right people
Even if you are starting small you can’t do everything yourself. Of course, you will need people alongside with the necessary medical knowledge, expertise and certification to provide your service to customers, but your team will need to extend beyond that. You will need somebody to perform the duties that would be taken care of in a larger establishment by a care home administrator, like making sure the people and resources are in the right place at the right time and overseeing the finances. You’ll also need somebody with marketing experience to get your message out there and find clients, but that could be outsourced easily.
#2 Get the right suppliers
It won’t surprise anyone that running a care home uses a lot of consumables and equipment, and nor will the fact that it doesn’t come cheap. This is a key area as the amount you pay for your care home equipment supplies can be one of the main defining factors to how much profit you are going to make. There will be a need for the more expensive equipment involved with mobility like hoists and wheelchairs, specialist beds and bedding for those who are infirm. There will also be consumables that will need to be constantly resupplied such as gloves and gowns as well as items like incontinence pads and sanitizing cleaning supplies. As you can imagine, there is a delicate balance to be stuck between quality and price and finding a supplier with a wide range give you the best chance of doing that.
#3 Find the right location
The location of your care home will be important, and not just by picking a state with an aging population. Your next choice will be deciding between your establishment being either purpose built, or a repurposed older building with the right number of bedrooms and reception rooms and kitchen space. There will be additional requirements needed for bathroom space and facilities which will need to be costed in and weighed up against the building costs of something that will have everything you need once completed.
Final thoughts
As with any business, you need to minimize the amount of money going out and maximize the amount of money coming in to create a healthy profit. However, in a business like running a care home, the repercussions of not getting things right can go much further than the merely financial. By finding the right location, sourcing supplies from the right place and surrounding yourself with the right people, you give yourself the best chance of getting the balance right and offering a quality service to residents and making a tidy profit.