I earn 200 thousand rubles a month on someone else's grief - revelations of a man selling tombstones

And no matter how regrettable it may sound, until that time, the services of a funeral agency will be in demand, so the question of how to open a funeral business is quite relevant for most novice businessmen.

How did funeral parlors come about

The history of funeral services stretches back to very ancient times, the beginning can be considered the time when people were first buried. Gradually more and more new traditions appeared, some of them people follow to this day. But it should be noted that burial services for a long time were carried out by several people, in no way connected with each other.

Some supplied wreaths and flowers, others provided the funeral procession with appropriate music, and still others made coffins. But at one of the stages, people realized that it was easier to unite and provide a range of services. Since then, ideas of the funeral business began to appear in the minds of enterprising people.

Difficulties of the funeral business

One of the lowest segments of this market is funerals with a minimal set of services. If we take into account the amount of the average check for such a funeral, it will be approximately 13-16 thousand rubles, depending on the region. This is the so-called social funeral, which is usually administered by the state. It is safe to say that this type of funeral will not give the business normal development.

Yes, it will be possible to stay afloat, but you won't be able to make good money. That is why, when drawing up a business plan for a funeral business, you should think about the fact that you can set up your own production of monuments or coffins, or better, both. This will increase profits by eliminating the need for interaction with other companies.

First Steps

So, you have decided to start your own business in the field of funeral services. But how do you organize a funeral business? The first thing to do is to draw up a business plan for the future organization. It should contain all the necessary information about the services that you plan to provide to your clients. Indeed, not only your income, but also your reputation will directly depend on their quality and quantity. Here is the main range of services that can be included in a funeral business plan:

But you need to understand that there is always an opportunity to expand the range of services, therefore, even if you are not going to make wreaths and coffins at the initial stage, the funeral business business plan should reflect the possibility of starting these works.

Current situation in the funeral business

The funeral industry is often attributed to the smell of vanilla. The funeral business is a huge industry, today it is not only the production of coffins and monuments, it is also a modeling business, perfumery, mourning paraphernalia, funeral agency services and a growing segment of business services for conducting funeral ceremonies.

Since 2021, funeral services have not been licensed, now control over the activities of funeral enterprises is only of a notification nature. The revocation of licenses has led to the fact that everyone can do the ritual business today. To do this, you do not need to worry about your transport, or about your farewell hall, or about the personal staff of employees - everything is now rented. Other enterprises are also engaged in the production of funeral paraphernalia. True, recently they began to talk again about licensing this type of service and about the mandatory presence of a diploma from a funeral agent.

In this article we will not describe the specifics of the work and do the calculations of the funeral agency. In this article we will focus on the main segment of this business - the production of coffins. At the annual exhibition of the funeral industry "Necropolis" there are always quite non-trivial exhibits - coffins-aquariums, tombs in pink color or the coffin "Tutankhomon" made of valuable wood species, worth one million rubles. The bulk of the coffins presented at the exhibition cost up to 60,000 rubles. Coffins are made of various types of wood, metal, sheep wool, fiberboard, cardboard, etc.

The cost of the cheapest wooden coffin in funeral enterprises with fabric finishing costs 3,500 rubles, without finishing - 1,500 rubles. Therefore, taking into account the margin of 20%, it can be assumed that the production of a wooden coffin without finishing costs from 1000 to 1200 rubles.

Is it profitable to make cardboard coffins?

In our article, we will focus on the production of coffins, but not wooden, but "green". These are the names of coffins made of cardboard. These coffins cause less damage to the environment (decompose faster). Such coffins are made not only for deceased people, but also for animals. Coffins made of cardboard in Europe have long been a familiar thing, in Russia it has not yet taken root.

The market for finished products is planned through funeral agencies and wholesale companies. The production technology makes it possible to produce coffins that take up several times less space than a traditional wooden semi-finished product. This allows, in turn, to increase the number of transported products several times, without increasing the volume and weight. When you reach good speed, it is possible to start the sewing and metalworking directions.

Payback and profitability of coffin production

For the production of products, consider the finished material in the form of a five-layer sheet corrugated cardboard. We will not consider the production of corrugated board itself in this article. The cost of such a sheet with a size of 2021 * 1000 will be 149 rubles (with a wholesale purchase). On average, 1.5 sheets are needed to make one product. To fasten the structure cut from this sheet, we will use building ties.

Two colors of material are used for the coffin upholstery - red and white. To upholster one product, 7-8 linear meters of fabric will be required. The cost of upholstery will roughly cost 350 rubles. In our case, coffins or corrugated cardboard construction will be delivered without upholstery, disassembled.

The main equipment required for cutting corrugated board is a laser machine, cost 550,000 rubles. Delivery and installation - 50,000 rubles. Other equipment will amount to 100,000 rubles.

We will summarize the initial costs in a table, the total for the year will be:

Ilya Boltunov has been in the funeral business since the age of 18. He develops the business against competitors, sells franchises and fights for honest work.

They arrive in jeeps and tie the coffin with ropes

Everything started with my grandfather. In the 50s, he settled in the Kaluga region, near the village of Detchino. Grandfather was a carpenter. Local residents came to him for various services: to whom to make a cradle, and to whom a coffin. The lesson dragged on, I began to work at the state sawmill. He alone dealt with it, and all the equipment remained with our family. Grandfather produced coffins and crosses, provided for his village and the nearest ones. It was going well.

In the 90s, my grandfather's sons, my father among them, lost their jobs. The grandfather gave them his sawmill and offered to continue his work. Moreover, in difficult times, people often die. They even began to make polished coffins. Then it was fashionable, authorities were buried in them. They could even call directly and say something like: "Here we have filled up Vaska Lysyi, we will come for the coffin." They come in jeeps, tie the coffin with ropes and go to bury it.

"We've filled up Vaska Lysyi, we'll come for the coffin"

Father and his brothers bought plots of forest and left for Zhukov, moved production there. They opened two stores - in Detchin and in Przemysl. They sold coffins and crosses of their own production, but did not organize the funeral.

At the beginning of the 2021s, my grandfather's business began to die. In 2021, three hundred workers worked, they produced thousands of coffins and crosses. A few years later, two Uzbeks remained. Now the old sawmill looks like this:

My grandfather suggested to me that everything should be done according to the rules. While the funeral activity was licensed, the grandfather's enterprise had a license. He also received a permit from the Patriarch for the production of Orthodox crosses. One acquaintance was on a short leg with the patriarch and called him directly: "Can you get a permit?" It turned out you can.

The seller took one hundred thousand from the cashier every month

When my father ran this business with shops in Przemysl and Detchin, things were not going well. He hired a saleswoman in Przemysl and once a month brought her coffins, crosses, and wreaths. A month later he came and took the money. How much I gave, I took so much, did not check.

Money was bad in the family. My mother is an accountant, we went to Przemysl with her, checked the documents, and it turned out that the saleswoman was stealing. She took about a hundred thousand rubles from the cash register every month and did not go to work. Then I decided that I had to clean up the shops.

Any business undertaking requires a well thought-out business plan, which is greatly facilitated by the analysis of your competitors' activities. Otherwise, don't expect success in the future.

The Reconomica magazine will tell you about an example of organizing services to the public in such a delicate area as funeral services. The hero of today's material has gone from a sales representative to a small business owner with a tangible income with a small initial investment at the start of the project.

How did the idea come about to start trading in monuments

My name is Andrey, I am 38 years old and I live in the city of Astrakhan. Three years ago, I started a business selling ritual monuments made of granite and marble. The only problem at the start of this business project was the lack of money to open your own retail outlet. Its solution turned out to be quite simple, you will learn more about it below.

Currently, my business brings me about 150-280 thousand rubles. per month, while the season lasts (from April to November). In the off-season, profit ranges from 70 thousand to 120 thousand rubles. monthly. People die in winter as well, but monuments are erected on graves mainly in the warm season, due to the sedimentation of the soil and the technological features of the installation.

And a small business can generate a good income.

I have at my disposal a space for a warehouse with an area of ​​80 sq. m. and a cargo gazelle for the export of finished products from decorative concrete of our own production, the idea of ​​which I quite logically came to later. The staff includes only one person who performs auxiliary functions (accepting orders for manufacturing, answering phone calls, he also delivers finished products).

I have successfully worked as a sales representative for the sale of building materials. I, in particular, had clients who were engaged in the manufacture of ritual monuments. After getting to know the underside of this business, I saw a number of shortcomings that, in my opinion, could have been avoided by doing it all myself.

These observations became the impetus for analysis and formed the basis of plans for my future business. Yes, I not only saw what others were doing, but also paid close attention to the mistakes of my future competitors.

Affordable prices are the key to my strategy

The ritual business is very specific and not suitable for everyone, but if you are ready to work hard, you will become the owner of a profitable ritual bureau.

Capital investments - 700,000 rubles. Payback - up to 1 year.

No matter how sad we are, we know that all people are mortal.

We are born, we live our measured number of years, and then we die.

Nobody and nothing can stop this process: neither a healthy lifestyle, nor huge monetary investments in our health, nor entreaties.

Death can be treated in different ways: if for friends and relatives of the deceased his death is a great grief, then for owners of funeral services it is an opportunity to earn money.

The ritual business is very specific and does not suit everyone, but if you are philosophical about such concepts as “life” and “death”, are ready to work hard and understand business, you will become the owner of a profitable ritual the Bureau.

Advantages and disadvantages of the funeral business

Choosing a startup to launch is quite difficult.

Many businessmen not only do not know where to start implementing an idea, but often cannot find this very idea.

The funeral business, like any other, has both advantages and disadvantages that you need to familiarize yourself with in order to make an informed decision: open a funeral service bureau or look for another project.