advice, opinions and help please

Hi there, I am just in the process of starting up a company named ------------------- (removed).

A monthly maintenance plan for engineering companies, instead of refunding the money for work done and loss of earnings etc. Like an insurance plan, the plan would cover repair of machines. It'd be a plan payed into monthly and if anything goes wrong the company itself would send an engineer out to fix the problem. With no further payment to be made
I already have an engineer on board to do the work.

Any ideas, suggestions, opinions on the prices you'd expect to pay, benefits you'd expect to recieve, or questions in regards to the product would be extremely helpful from the fellow engineering public.

[QUOTE=MaintenanceRefurb;6053]
Any ideas, suggestions, opinions on the prices you'd expect to pay, benefits you'd expect to recieve, or questions in regards to the product would be extremely helpful from the fellow engineering public.[/QUOTE]

When starting a business one should first research the competition as well as the market demand. In you case the parameters of research should include the cost of the labor you are trying to replace or market.

That is something already in progress, again what im looking for more is the sorts of prices expected by people aswell as benefits they'd expect

I read your messages twice - and I still don't really understand what you are talking about.
Who do you see as your market? Engineering firms? Their clients? Manufacturers?
Exactly what kind of losses are you trying to address? Equipment breakdowns? Failure of a design to achieve its stated performance? Acts of God?
You say you aren't an insurance company, and that you have an engineer on staff. Does that mean that if I design something that doesn't work, your guy will come in and make it work? Or are you just offering to do regular service on the machines I build and sell to customers?

I really have no idea what you are talking about.

[QUOTE=jboggs;6056]I read your messages twice - and I still don't really understand what you are talking about.
Who do you see as your market? Engineering firms? Their clients? Manufacturers?
Exactly what kind of losses are you trying to address? Equipment breakdowns? Failure of a design to achieve its stated performance? Acts of God?
You say you aren't an insurance company, and that you have an engineer on staff. Does that mean that if I design something that doesn't work, your guy will come in and make it work? Or are you just offering to do regular service on the machines I build and sell to customers?

I really have no idea what you are talking about.[/QUOTE]

X2 ...... ;?

Market research includes understanding what is being bought, required, etc...

[QUOTE=MaintenanceRefurb;6053].......... A monthly maintenance plan for engineering companies, instead of refunding the money for work done and loss of earnings etc. Like an insurance plan, the plan would cover repair of machines. It'd be a plan payed into monthly and if anything goes wrong the company itself would send an engineer out to fix the problem. With no further payment to be made
I already have an engineer on board to do the work.

Any ideas, suggestions, opinions......... .[/QUOTE]

That'd be insane...
How could you possibly offer an "anything goes wrong" repair... without "further payment to be made?" You can't know what costs you could be looking at so you couldn't possibly charge a flat rate and expect to have any control over your financial situation.

Even more so... A company would have to be even more insane to cut you or any other repair business a check for services before the fact. I can't even see a situation where you're paid a retainer fee (like attorneys came up with) to be available at a moments notice because what happens if you're already busy on a job when another "customer" needs you or one of your service persons?

Unless I'm reading this wrong as well? ;?