Fix the high cost [Was:] High Cost of Sportplanes

TaxSrv wrote:
"Evan Carew" wrote:

As a first step, then, lets agree on some realistic commercial
numbers.
...
12000 rent...

Stuck on the very first number. How many sq. feet you figure
there, to build and market 100 planes/year? By golly, at our
airport there's decently sized and appointed hangar bldg for you, a
former bizjet maintenance facility. The annual ground lease the
bldg.owner (would be you if you had built - for $1 mil,) pays to
the airport is $50,000! So, I guess Acme Airplane Co. leases a
bldg. elsewhere. That means you still lease space at the airport
for testbed and demo planes. Since this is a commercial operation,
the airport might charge much extra, not just T-hangar rates.
Figure $20K there. You'll have travel and dead time costs for the
employees shuttling back/forth, and some duplication in staffing to
work on and sell the planes. Like your one busy sales guy has to
go 30 miles to meet a prospect who shows up an hour late.

Remember if 100 units turns out to be a pipe dream, your overhead
don't shrink much. Was that a 5-year bldg lease you signed?

The LSA will be cost-effective when 10,000 units in two or three years
is a realistic goal.