Subpar Miniature Golf- What we learned

So with a space and existing as a legal entity, we began the research. I began to catalog all the costs I expected to have with the project, find suppliers, line up contractors, and see if the project was feasible. And the more we dug into the project the more costs and problems we found.

First there was the rear emergency door, which was not installed to ADA spec, and an entire front window assembly that was going to have to be replaced. Then there was the security deposit- a whopping $25,000, which, at the time was about half of our projected budget for the entire affair. We also put together income projections and things looked gloomy- even optimistic projections put us short every month. All told, everything began to look like the project was dead in the water- which was OK, my expenses in the project were minimal, and we hadn't signed a lease yet. But my dream of opening a miniature golf course was over.

But then I was contacted by my friend Bobby, who I hadn't talked to in a while, but is something of a business guru himself. He urged me to do some research that would give him the info he needed to see if this project was, in fact profitable. David and I researched customer numbers at similar establishments, competitor's pricing and services, and we sent our findings on to Bobby, along with our expected costs and income sheets from before. He sent us back some numbers that looked substantially more promising- we weren't going to be wealthy by any stretch of the imagination, but I might make enough money to support myself.

So with things looking positive, we signed a lease (after a whole long to-do regarding the Halloween store, which I'll recount at another time.) We had noticed some issues with the electrical system, but these were issues that the landlord would cover, or so we thought. We began work on the project in mid-august, with some light demolition work. Continued in part 3.