Artistic forging has always been popular among buyers, although sometimes the prices for such products are too high. Despite the economic crisis, many private developers want to ennoble their house or plot, for example, with a wrought iron fence or handmade interior elements that not only look good, but are also a quality product.

If we talk about the current realities, then it is better to launch art forging as a business either in large cities or in the suburbs. The price tag for these products is serious, and you first need to focus on the target audience, and these are wealthy people, of whom there are not so many in the province. The second option is to work in a small town, with subsequent resale to a metropolis, but here you already need to take the client at a price and quality, and be able to convince him why he needs to use your services.

For whom is the business of selling forged products suitable? Firstly, for people with a welder's education who like to make beautiful and creative things and want to start their own business. Secondly, if you do not have a specialized education and work experience in this area, you will not be able to compete in the market, unless you hire qualified specialists. But as experience shows, if you personally do not understand this, you will not be able to control the level of work done, it will be difficult for you to evaluate all ongoing business processes. Alternatively, you can get a job as a welder in some competing company, work there and gain experience, and only then start your own business.

Documentation

For legal work in this direction, you will need to issue all permits and get all the documents in your hands.

Here is a basic list of what you will need:

• open a sole proprietorship or LLC.
• specify OKVED for activity. For Russia, this is 25.50. For Ukraine - 25.50.
• recruit staff if needed.
• conclude a contract for the lease of premises or an act of sale.
• obtain permission to operate from the fire department.

These are the main documents that you will need, for more detailed information on this issue, it is advisable to use the services of a lawyer.

Technology Choice

Before starting a metal forging business, you should decide on what technology you will work with. There are two main areas here:

• cold forging.
• hot forging.

If we talk about hot forging, then this is an ancient type of craft that requires special skills and abilities from a blacksmith. The entire process of manufacturing the product is carried out manually by heating the metal on fire and then manually forming the design. At the moment, the list of such masters is very small, but the price tag for unique products is high here.

At the start, we would advise you to look towards the cold forging business. This is the most commercially attractive option for a novice master. The base of the structure is also bent by heating the metal, but all decorative elements are bought in a stamped form and subsequently attached to the base of the frame by welding. Due to simply a huge assortment of various stamped forging elements, the master can immediately draw a sketch of the future product and implement it step by step. The cold forging method reduces the production time of the same gates or benches and at the same time is not inferior in quality to the approach given above. The advantage is a lower price tag for products, which cannot affect sales, even during a crisis.

Search for sales markets and assessment of competition

The first is the issue of competition in the sales of art forging. In large cities, the level of competition is quite high, but at the same time, it is quite possible to start using online sales and advertising yourself on social networks, which many forges do not do at the moment. In small towns, there are several such private enterprises, but you can also work there, because often either the quality of products is of poor quality, or the deadlines are delayed, or the price tag is inadequate. When considering this business idea, we can conclude that although the niche is filled with experienced players, with the right advertising approach, you can always get regular customers and take your place in this field of activity. Often it is your name that is formed as a brand, and people will turn to a particular master on the advice of friends and relatives. So, follow the image of the company due to high quality and adequate prices.

To analyze the market, you need to study the following questions:

• the number of competitive firms in your area.
• the volume of products sold.
• pricing policy of enterprises.
• the presence of good craftsmen and an assessment of the quality of products in general.
• how much their business is promoted, and what advertising methods are not used.

The main task is to find the weaknesses of competitors and fill this gap when organizing your forging business.

The main sales markets include:

• owners of private houses.
• government agencies.
• business structures.
• sale of forged products in retail stores (tables, chairs, shelves).
• funeral service agencies. For the design of fences in the cemetery.

These are just some of the options. In fact, everything will depend on what products you will focus on, for example, the manufacture of interfloor stairs, this is a narrow niche, but can bring a solid income when providing beautiful examples of work and a market price tag for services. You can start with a narrow segment, gradually expanding the list of works.

Location and premises

For a business in the manufacture and sale of forged metal products, you will need to rent a room. The best location would be the outskirts of the city. Why? Firstly, this is a low price tag for renting space. Secondly, forging - implies a rather noisy manufacturing process of the product, and in this way you will be able to avoid complaints from neighbors.

You can rent either a garage or a small hangar. For work, you can consider options from 60 sq.m. and more. All this is necessary in order to divide the room into work areas. There should be several of them:

• area for installing a desktop and a shelf with tools.
• a place for connecting welding and other equipment.
• place for painting and sanding.
• warehouse for storage of finished products and materials.
• recreation area for staff and a bathroom.

Such segmentation of the area will allow the most convenient organization of the entire process.

Equipment for artistic forging

The equipment plays an important role in the quality of the outgoing products, of course, with the practical skills of the craftsman. In order to work comfortably, you will need the main base of tools and it is for it that you will need to allocate a separate item in the expense item when drawing up a business plan for a company for the production and sale of forged products.

Here is a basic list of what you will need:

• welding machine.
• Desktop.
• workbench with tees.
• Bulgarian.
• cold forging machine. On it, the metal is heated with a subsequent change in its shape, for example, twisting, bending, and so on.
• Grinder.
• air compressor for painting products.
• turning, drilling and milling machines.
• hood.
• hand tools (hammer, screwdrivers, wrenches).
• security alarm system.
• staff furniture.
• racks and shelves for storing tools.
• structures for storage of finished products.

Depending on the direction of your business, you may need additional tools and fixtures. Also, do not forget about safety precautions and always use gloves, goggles and masks.

Raw materials and components

The next stage is the purchase of consumables and ready-made stamped elements for work.

• steel.
• metal profile (square, pipe, corner, round timber and others).
• primers, paints and solvents.
• electrodes.
• grinding and cutting wheels.
• stamped forged elements.

All these materials can be found in stores or warehouses, with rolled metal. If you live in a small town, then you can take a small wholesale batch of stamping and start selling forging items in your city at retail prices. This can bring a small additional income to the main activity.

How to give products a presentation?

The times of standard artistic forging, which our grandfathers were engaged in, have long passed, now all artistic elements are made using stamping. You can buy them in specialized stores, which are usually located in big cities. Their prices start at $1 and up. Taking a price list with pictures, you can think over your future product in advance.

Product range

As we said above, in the business of forged products, you can choose two development paths. The first is to choose a narrow niche and build your portfolio in that direction. The second is to have initially different product options. Which one to choose is up to you. It is important to remember that the more examples of work you can provide to the customer, the more likely he is to buy your product. Also, using photographs of the work, it is often possible to sell to the client the version of the design that you have already implemented in practice, this will save your time, and the client will be able to see the finished version of the product in a “real” format.

• gates and gates.
• forged fences.
• visors.
• furniture.
• fireplace accessories.
• interfloor stairs.
• interior items and more.

The list can be very long, since forged products are partly an element of creativity. And you can come up with many different options, apply this approach in living conditions or in the design of something.

Advertising

The question of the marketing strategy of such a company is very important. Of course, one cannot do without standard approaches. You need a bright, large sign so that customers who want to come to your place can find you on the outskirts of the city. Advertising in the media and online bulletin boards and now gives a good result.

To attract customers from the Internet, you can create your own website and launch contextual advertising or engage in search engine promotion, which many of these enterprises do not do. The main thing on the site is a portfolio, price list and contact information.

Of the extraordinary methods of attracting customers is the search for customers on construction forums or in groups on social networks. But for this you need to be active on specialized resources and, by the way, already sell your services to the target audience.

How much money is needed?

In order to realistically assess the cost of opening such a production in your business plan, it is important to calculate all the costs of organizing the forging process itself and the subsequent sale of products.

Starting investments:

• purchase of a tool - $10,000
• paperwork - $200
• corporate identity and promotional items (signboard, website) – $750
• initial purchase of consumables - $1500

Monthly costs:

• rent of premises - $5 - $8 per 1 sq.m.
• utility bills - from 10% of the rent in the heating season.
• taxes - $120
• salary - from $ 200 per employee.
• advertising - $100
• shipping costs for delivery – $80

We have indicated only the basic costs of this business. You may have more than this list if you plan to provide an additional set of services.

Business Profitability

What mark-up do experts in this field usually make? In fact, this is purely individual. But in most regions, the cost of the product consists of half the cost of materials, the second half is paid for work. If you collect a clientele, you can earn good money.

It will not be superfluous to think about the delivery of goods. But for the first time, you can use the services of a cargo taxi until you buy your own car.

So an example of prices for finished products:

• Forged gates, wicket - about $160 per 1 sq.m.
• Forged fence - about $65 - $70 per 1 sq.m.
• Balcony railing — about $120 per m.p.
• Stair railings - about $130 per m.p.

By evaluating these values, you can predict the approximate level of earnings from certain products.

The payback period for a business is on average 1.5 years or more.

Conclusions. The forging business is a profitable niche for real craftsmen who live and are interested in this both creative and technical process. It is difficult to attract a client and make a sale, but if you have a good portfolio, high quality work without delaying the product task and an adequate price tag, you can find your audience. This business is a stable source of income for many years.

Do you have experience in this niche? Looking forward to your feedback in the comments below.

Artistic forging- production of decorative and household items from metal by forging methods. After such processing, the products receive the final form, which has not only practicality, but also artistic value, functional decoration. Artistic metal products have always been valued. In the 21st century, the production of forged products is a highly profitable business with an inexpensive cost of entry into the business. Consider the details of opening a business and a blacksmith shop.

Modern blacksmith production usually produces gates, fences, architectural elements of buildings, garden furniture and decor elements, forged stairs and railings, furniture and interior items. And the list is not complete. Modern technologies make it possible to embody almost any fantasy in metal.

In household classification, forging is divided into two types - hot and cold forging.

hot forging- a classic type of forging metal processing by heating products to high temperatures and giving them a finished shape using mechanical action - under a press, hammer, hammer and other tool. It is used for the manufacture of piece, unique, complex and very individual products.

cold forging- the main processes of this approach are the bending of the finished rolled metal and its molding. A modern type of metal processing, where, with the help of various types of mechanical action, the metal is, as it were, stamped, bent, and acquires its final shape. So-called forged elements are made, which are then assembled into the final product. It is used for mass production of standard metal products. Suitable for products to which increased requirements of reliability and individuality are not applied.

Since we want to open a highly profitable forging business with a low start-up cost, then a cold forging shop will be the most preferable. Consider the moments of such blacksmithing.

We open a blacksmith shop for artistic forging. Business plan

Forging by the "cold" method imposes a number of restrictions. The production of forged elements comes from standardized rolled metal - pipes of round and square sections of certain transverse dimensions, sheet metal, metal bars and strips, therefore, the equipment used for cold forging can only work with the specified range of rolled metal on standard templates. Consequently, the set of products obtained is limited by the capabilities of the equipment. But, do not worry, you can combine standard complex and simple forms of forging with each other as you like, which means you can easily create a completely original product.

The advantages of such forging are also obvious - the availability and cheapness of the range of finished metal products, the equipment of various manufacturers is interchangeable for finished products and it is not required to stop the shop for re-equipment. A wide selection of finished equipment at a price and principle of operation allows you to "assemble" the workshop gradually, based on financial capabilities.

So, for example, equipping a workshop with manual mechanical machines (rigging) will cost you 100-200 thousand, such a workshop, due to physical limitations, will not be able to mass-produce products, but the business will already work - you can serve 5-10 orders per month .

And equipping the workshop with similar, but semi-automatic electromechanical or hydraulic machines, will allow you to produce forged products in bulk, up to 500 pieces per shift, which will expand the number of serviced orders to 50-100 per month. However, the amount of equipment for such a workshop will cost you 1.5-3 million rubles.

To open a production hall, you will need a production room of about 80 m². The workshop must comply with fire safety standards, as it will have to work with welding and hot metal.

Mandatory equipment for the workshop are:

• Racks for rolled metal and finished forged products,
• Cutting machine or scissors. Allows you to cut the required length of rolled metal and form a cutting angle.
• Pipe bending machine. Allowing to perform radius bending of pipes of various profiles and diameters.
• Bending machine. Required for the production of basic bent forged products.
• rolling machine. Allows you to apply a relief pattern to the metal and process the edges of the product.
• Twisted Pipe Machine. Allows you to make a "twisted" pipe or rod.
• Presses. For the manufacture of small, uniform forged design elements.
• Horn. The molding of some elements such as metal balusters, peaks and others requires preheating of the metal.
• Assembly table with welding machine. Welding finished forged elements into a single design according to the sketch of the order. The device is conventional for MMA or TIG welding.
• Spray booth. Where is the dyeing and drying of finished products.

As a rule, sellers of equipment for a forging shop provide free consultations and provide the necessary support (required documents, business plan) for opening a cold forging shop.

We offer you to get acquainted with the video showing manual equipment for cold forging

Also, you can watch a video showing the operation of the universal cold forging machine

The profitability of a forging shop easily reaches 300% of the cost of used rolled metal. Since it has traditionally developed that the cost of a forged product is measured in square meters, and starts from 2,000 rubles per square meter. So, a forged lattice for a window measuring 2 square meters will cost the customer at least 4 thousand rubles, and a set of rolled metal required for the manufacture of such a lattice will be spent a maximum of 400 rubles (a linear meter of rolled metal from 30 rubles). The rest of the cost is taken by the "blacksmith" for the work and consumables - paint, welding, work on machine tools.

I did this about 6 years ago. I hope I don’t have to anymore. We searched for the customer by ads in newspapers and at the entrances. A lot of gestures from here, the production itself is a small part. I explain that the bulk of the customers did not want to come to our workshop due to their employment and made an appointment right away object, you bring photos, you explain on your fingers, you take measurements, you say the approximate price, the customer promises to think and call back, calls back 30 percent, and after spending half a day and 10 liters of gasoline, you did nothing. Then the one who called starts actively bargaining (he not only called you) and says that he is ready to place an order if I throw off another 10 percent lower than the competitors. Whether they agree or not depends on the availability of orders. the necessary metal, you start buying the missing one. Then the manufacturing (the most pleasant moment). Then the installation, I will list a lot of problems, power the welding, friendly neighbors from above, when installing gratings and a canopy on the ground floor, they think that now thieves will go to them every day and they start yelling good obscenities, but this is nonsense compared to water poured on their heads and calling the police, even when welding, a neighbor’s computer may glitch and he will demand to buy him a new one, you have to send another one, often people converted apartments into shops without having them on hand permissions start installation neighbors knock on government agencies some kind of supervision comes together with a district police officer and they start to find out who they are where the contract is, here is the contract, but there are no labor agreements for workers, bend down, come here. they won’t wait for a chance. And this is not counting the problems with the opening of the workshop, I formalized everything that I knew, the year left, the check comes: there is an emergency, there is a Ses, there are firefighters, with the management of the consumer market in agreement, with the executive committee in agreement, and where do you say the environmental impact assessment of your enterprises, I say nah, but they show me the law according to which it is necessary. Again, you take out the money you just earned from your pocket and give it back.

My advice is to try if you want, but keep in mind that this market is very crowded. Good luck.

Dear, yes, any market is crowded. Take for example Euroset and Skyron. Who is more talked about, who is the sales leader? It all depends on your ambitions and ability to break through your interests. Do not scare at the initial stage of a person. Yes, there are many nuances in this business, but other activities are full of obstacles. And as they say: if you want fewer competitors, choose the most difficult path!