Do you want to start a sober living home and need to write a plan? If YES, here is a sample sober living home business plan template & feasibility report.
If you live in the United States and in most developed countries of the world you will quite agree that it is indeed brisk business taking care of drug addicts and alcoholics who want to recover and be reintegrated into the community.
People that are recovering from drug or alcoholic addictions usually usually look for a secured and conducive home to enroll in so that their recovery will be smooth and fast, hence the need for sober living homes.
What is a Sober Living Home?
A sober living home is a group home for people who are recovering from addiction issues. People who live in sober homes have to follow certain laid down rules. Many addicts use sober housing to help them transit from rehab to living independently without using drugs or alcohol.
If you think that you have a flair and you are trained in helping addicts recover from their addictions, then you should consider opening a sober living facility in your city. Setting up a sober living home requires hard work and serious planning.
You are expected to obtain a permit and license to run such facility from the government, and your facility must meet the required health and safety standards.
Aside from well-trained domestic employees that will be on your payroll, you will also need to hire nurses, care givers, and psychologist et al.
Starting a sober living home business is indeed capital intensive, but at the same time it is lucrative. You are rest assured to make good returns on your investment because there will always be need for your services.
A Sample Sober Living Home Business Plan Template
1. Industry Overview
Operators in the sober living home industry largely provide residential and personal-care services related to diagnosing and treating alcohol, drug and other substance abuse.
Demographic trends have supported growing demand for sober living home franchises, and the industry has experienced strong growth over the last half a decade.
This growth is expected to improve, driven by an improving economic environment and the continued addiction to drugs, alcohol, and other substances, which will expand the industry’s markets.
The law in the united states states that before a sober living home facility can commence operations, there should be at least six residents and at least one trained caregiver there 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.
So also, a standard sober living home facility is expected to have a house manager, night manager, weekend activity coordinator, and 2 or more caregivers depending on the size of the facility.
Statistics has it that in the United States of America alone, there are about 5,623 licensed and registered outpatient and inpatient facilities handling substance addicts responsible for employing about 126,263 employees and the industry rakes in a whooping sum of $10bn annually with an annual growth rate projected at 4.9 percent between 2011 and 2016.
No player in the industry can boast of having a lion share of the market. A recent report published by IBISWORLD shows that the distribution of substance abuse clinics in the United States largely reflects the distribution of the population throughout the various regions.
The report further states that other important factors include the extent of substance abuse, the age distribution of the population, state government policies and the level of urbanization in the region. The majority of industry clinics are located in the Southeast, the West and the Mid-Atlantic regions.
The Southeast accounts for 23.5 percent of substance abuse clinics, according to data sourced from the US Census Bureau’s County Business Patterns.
This is slightly below the region’s respective share of the population at 25.4 percent of the nation’s total. Within the Southeast, Florida has the greatest share of industry clinics, measured at 6.5 percent of the total.
Some of the factors that encourage entrepreneurs to start their own sober living home facility is that the business can easily get support from the government and the business is indeed very profitable despite the legislature governing the industry.
Over and above, sober living home businesses in developed countries are still enjoying good patronage particularly if they are well positioned and if they know how to reach out to their target market.
2. Executive Summary
St. Mac Anthony® Sober Living Homes, Inc. is a licensed sober living home facility that will be located in the heart of Chicago – Illinois in a secured and spacious housing facility.
Our sober living home facility is specifically designed and equipped with the needed facilities/gadgets to give comfort and security to all our residents. We are set to rehabilitate and help substance addicts recover fast get reintegrated into the society.
Despite the fact that we are a sober living home facility, we are going to be a health conscious and customer-centric with a service culture that will be deeply rooted in the fabric of our organizational structure. With that, we know that we will be able to consistently achieve our set business goals, increase our profitability and reinforce our positive long-term relationships with our clientele and employees as well.
Our accommodation facility will be decorated in an exquisite and elegant facade, so much so that it will be a conspicuous edifice in the city where it is located. We will be equipped with everything that will make life comfortable for our residents.
We will as well build a fitness room and library. We will also install free Wi-Fi that will enable our residents and guests surf the internet free of charge, and there will be wireless access in all the public area within the lodging facility.
We will ensure that we enforce our rules, treatment programs, work requirements and curfews. While in our sober living home facility, inmates will not be allowed to use drugs or drink alcohol with or without permission. An inmate who fails to comply with the rules will be discharged and sent back to their family.
St. Mac Anthony® Sober Living Homes, Inc. is owned and managed by Mrs. Sarah Daniels and her immediate family. Mrs. Sarah Daniels is a licensed therapist, and psychiatrist with over 25 years’ experience working for leading brand in the industry.
She has a Master’s Degree in Public Health and is truly passionate when it comes to rehabilitating and reintegrating drug addicts and alcoholics back to the society.
3. Our Products and Services
St. Mac Anthony® Sober Living Homes, Inc. is set to operate a standard facility in Chicago – Illinois. The fact that we want to become a force to reckon with in the industry means that we will provide our residents with conducive and highly secured accommodation.
In all that we do, we will ensure that our residents are satisfied and are willing to recommend our facility to their family members and friends. We will offer the following services;
- Providing safe housing and supportive, structured living for people who want to recover from alcohol, drug and other substance abuse
- Providing detoxification services
- Providing intensive outpatient services
- Providing medication-assisted opioid therapy services
4. Our Mission and Vision Statement
- Our vision is to become the number one choice when it comes to sober living home facility in the whole of Illinois and also to be amongst the top 10 sober living home facilities in the United States of America within the next 10 years.
- Our mission is to build a sober living home facility that will meet and surpass the needs of residents in our facility.
- We want to build a business where all our ex inmates will become good citizens in the society.
Our Business Structure
St. Mac Anthony® Sober Living Homes, Inc. will be built on a solid foundation. From the outset, we have decided to recruit only qualified professionals to man various job positions in our organization. We are quite aware of the rules and regulations governing the industry which is why we decided to recruit only experienced and qualified employees as foundational staff of the organization.
We hope to leverage on their expertise to build our business brand to be well accepted in Illinois and the whole of the United States. When hiring, we will look out for applicants that are not just qualified and experienced, but homely, honest, customer centric and are ready to work to help us build a prosperous business.
As a matter of fact, profit-sharing arrangement will be made available to all our management staff and it will be based on their performance for a period of five years or more. These are the positions that will be available at St. Mac Anthony® Sober Living Homes, Inc.;
- Chief Executive Officer
- Facility Administrator (Human Resources and Admin Manager)
- Rehabilitation Specialist
- Sales and Marketing Executive
- Accounting Officer
- Security Officer
- Cleaners
5. Job Roles and Responsibilities
Chief Executive Officer:
- Increases management’s effectiveness by recruiting, selecting, orienting, training, coaching, counseling, and disciplining managers; communicating values, strategies, and objectives; assigning accountabilities; planning, monitoring, and appraising job results
- Creating, communicating, and implementing the organization’s vision, mission, and overall direction – i.e. leading the development and implementation of the overall organization’s strategy.
- Responsible for fixing prices and signing business deals
- Responsible for providing direction for the business.
- Responsible for signing checks and documents on behalf of the company
- Evaluates the success of the organization
- Reports to the board.
Facility Administrator (Admin and HR Manager)
- Responsible for overseeing the smooth running of HR and administrative tasks for the organization
- Design job descriptions with KPI to drive performance management for clients
- Regularly hold meetings with key stakeholders to review the effectiveness of HR Policies, Procedures and Processes
- Maintains office supplies by checking stocks; placing and expediting orders; evaluating new products.
- Ensures operation of equipment by completing preventive maintenance requirements; calling for repairs.
- Defining job positions for recruitment and managing interviewing process
- Carrying out induction for new team members
- Responsible for training, evaluation and assessment of employees
- Responsible for arranging travel, meetings and appointments
- Oversee the smooth running of the daily home activities.
Rehabilitation Specialist/Psychiatrist
- Providing medication-assisted opioid therapy services
- Develop a treatment plan in consultation with other professionals, such as doctors, therapists, and psychologists
- Create rehabilitation or treatment plans based on clients’ values, strengths, limitations, and goals
- Arrange for clients to obtain services, such as medical care or career training
- Assist clients in creating strategies to develop their strengths and adjust to their limitations
- Monitor clients’ progress and adjust the treatment plan as necessary
- Advocate for the rights of people who are just coming out of addictions.
Marketing and Sales Executive
- Identify, prioritize, and reach out to new clients, and business opportunities et al
- Identifies development opportunities; follows up on development leads and contacts
- Writing winning proposal documents, negotiate fees and rates in line with organizations’ policy
- Responsible for handling business research, market surveys and feasibility studies for clients
- Responsible for supervising implementation, advocate for the customer’s needs, and communicate with clients
- Document all customer contact and information
- Represent St. Mac Anthony® Sober Living Homes, Inc. in strategic meetings
- Help increase sales and growth for St. Mac Anthony® Sober Living Homes, Inc.
Accountant/Cashier
- Responsible for preparing financial reports, budgets, and financial statements for the organization
- Provides managements with financial analyses, development budgets, and accounting reports
- Responsible for financial forecasting and risks analysis.
- Performs cash management, general ledger accounting, and financial reporting for the organization
- Responsible for developing and managing financial systems and policies
- Responsible for administering payrolls
- Ensuring compliance with taxation legislation
- Handles all financial transactions for St. Mac Anthony® Sober Living Homes, Inc.
- Serves as internal auditor for St. Mac Anthony® Sober Living Homes, Inc.
Security Officers
- Ensure that the facility is secured at all time
- Control traffic and organize parking
- Patrols around the building on a 24 hours basis
- Submit security reports weekly
- Any other duty as assigned by the facility administrator
Cleaners:
- Responsible for cleaning the facility at all times
- Ensure that toiletries and supplies don’t run out of stock
- Assist our residents when they need to take their bath and carry out other tasks
- Handle any other duty as assigned by the facility manager
6. SWOT Analysis
St. Mac Anthony® Sober Living Homes, Inc. is set to become one of the leading sober living home facility in Illinois. We want our facility to be the number one choice of all residents of Chicago and other cities in Illinois who are eager to overcome their addictions.
We know that if we are going to achieve the goals that we have set for our business, then we must ensure that we build our business on a solid foundation.
Even though our Chief Executive Officer (owner) has robust experience in the industry, we still went ahead to hire the services of business consultants that are specialized in setting up new businesses to help our organization conduct detailed SWOT analysis and to also provide professional support. This is the summary of the SWOT analysis that was conducted for St. Mac Anthony® Sober Living Homes, Inc.;
- Strength:
Our strength lies in the fact that we have a team of qualified professionals manning various job positions in our organization.
As a matter of fact, they are some of the best hands in the whole of Chicago – Illinois. Our location, the Business model we will be operating on, well equipped and secured facility and our excellent customer service culture will definitely count as a strong strength for us.
- Weakness:
St. Mac Anthony® Sober Living Homes, Inc. is a new business which is owned by an individual, and we may not have the financial muscle to sustain the kind of publicity we want to give our business and also to attract some of the experienced hands in the industry.
- Opportunities:
People covered by private health insurance are likely to use healthcare services more frequently. Government initiatives toward mental health parity, through which insurance covers mental health-related services such as clinical rehab, also affect the potential for people to seek treatment.
The number of people with private health insurance is expected to increase in the coming year, representing a potential opportunity for the industry.
- Threat:
Medicare and Medicaid are programs that provide free or subsidized medical and health-related services. Federal funding and reimbursement levels affect the affordability and subsequent demand for rehab clinics. Federal funding for Medicare and Medicaid is expected to increase in the coming year, but the surrounding political uncertainty remains a threat to the industry.
7. MARKET ANALYSIS
- Market Trends
A notable trend shows that the revenue and wage of rehabilitation centers have largely been affected due to the recession and also a slight fund drop in 2012 from federal funding of Medicaid and Medicare as a result of a rise in premiums, but the effect is wearing off as the industry has largely recovered.
Also, the economy which is constantly improving is expected to boost revenue for the rehab center industry from 2015 to 2022. More companies entering into this industry are doing so due to the fact that there is an increasing focus on outpatient services, which are considered less costly than inpatient care, and which is also more desirable for insurance providers.
The demand for rehab centers is largely driven by the availability of new drugs and treatments, funding policies as well as insurance programs. Profitability for individual facilities depends on controlling costs as well as referrals.
Large scale rehab centers usually have more advantage when purchasing as well as marketing to sources that would provide these referrals. However, small scale companies have more leverage in competition by providing superior service to patients, integration of treatments with follow-up procedures, and specialist treatment.
8. Our Target Market
The fact that we are going to open our doors to a wide range of customers does not in any way stop us from abiding by the rules and regulations governing the industry in the United States. Our customers can be categorized into the following;
- Drug addicts
- Alcoholics
Our Competitive Advantage
To be highly competitive in the drug and alcohol rehabilitation industry means that you should be able to secure a conducive facility, deliver consistent quality service and should be able to record testimonies of former drug addicts and alcoholics who became good citizens.
St. Mac Anthony® Sober Living Homes, Inc. is coming into the market well prepared to favorably compete in the industry. Our facility is well positioned (centrally positioned) and visible, we have good security and the right ambience.
Our staff are well groomed in all aspects of correctional cum sober living and all our employees are trained to provide customized customer service to our residents. Our services will be carried out by highly trained professionals who know what it takes to give our highly esteemed residents value for their money.
Lastly, all our employees will be well taken care of, and their welfare package will be among the best within our category in the industry. It will enable them to be more than willing to build the business with us and help deliver our set goals and objectives.
9. SALES AND MARKETING STRATEGY
St. Mac Anthony® Sober Living Homes, Inc. will ensure that we do all we can to maximize the business by generating income from every legal means within the scope of our industry. We will generate income by offering the following services;
- Providing safe housing and supportive, structured living for people who want to recover from alcohol, drug and other substance abuse
- Providing detoxification services
- Providing intensive outpatient services
- Providing medication-assisted opioid therapy services
- Getting financial support in form of grants from government and philanthropists
10. Sales Forecast
One thing is certain, there would always be people who are addicted to drugs, alcohol and other substances who would need the services of a sober living home facility.
We are well positioned to take on the available market in Chicago – Illinois and we are quite optimistic that we will meet our set target of generating enough income/profits from the first six months of operation and grow our business and our residents’ base.
We have been able to examine the sober living home facility services market, we have analyzed our chances in the industry and we have been able to come up with the following sales forecast. Below is the sales projection for St. Mac Anthony® Sober Living Homes, Inc., it is based on the location of our business and of course the wide range of related services that we will be offering;
- First Fiscal Year (FY1): $250,000
- Second Fiscal Year (FY2): $500,000
- Third Fiscal Year (FY3): $700,00
N.B: This projection was done based on what is obtainable in the industry and with the assumption that there won’t be any major economic meltdown and natural disasters within the period stated above. Please note that the above projection might be lower and at the same time it might be higher.
- Marketing Strategy and Sales Strategy
The marketing and sales strategy of St. Mac Anthony® Sober Living Homes, Inc. will be based on generating long-term personalized relationships with our residents. In order to achieve that, we will ensure that we offer top notch services at affordable prices compared to what is obtainable in Illinois.
We know that if we are consistent with offering high quality service delivery, we will increase the number of our residents by more than 25 percent for the first year and then more than 40 percent subsequently. Before choosing a location for St. Mac Anthony® Sober Living Homes, Inc., we conducted a thorough market survey and feasibility studies in order for us to penetrate the available market and become the preferred choice in Chicago.
We have detailed information and data that we were able to utilize to structure our business to attract the number of customers we want to attract per time. In summary, St. Mac Anthony® Sober Living Homes, Inc. will adopt the following sales and marketing approach to win customers over;
- Introduce our business by sending introductory letters to residents, prisons, psychiatric facilities and other stake holders in and around Chicago – Illinois
- Advertise our business in community based newspapers, local TV and radio stations
- List our business on yellow pages ads (local directories)
- Leverage on the internet to promote our business
- Engage in direct marketing
- Leverage on word of mouth marketing (referrals)
- Enter into business partnership with prisons, government agencies and NGOs that work with drug addicts, and alcoholics.
- Attend drug and substance abuse related seminars / expos.
11. Publicity and Advertising Strategy
We are in the sober living home facility business to become one of the market leaders and also to maximize profits hence we are going to explore all available means to promote St. Mac Anthony® Sober Living Homes, Inc.
We have a long term plan of building sober living home facilities in key cities in the United States of America which is why we will deliberately build our brand to be well accepted in Chicago – Illinois before venturing out. Here are the platforms we intend leveraging on to promote and advertise St. Mac Anthony® Sober Living Homes, Inc.;
- Place adverts on both print (community based newspapers and magazines) and electronic media platforms
- Sponsor relevant community programs that appeals to the former prisoners
- Leverage on the internet and social media platforms like; Instagram, Facebook, twitter, YouTube, Google + et al to promote our brand
- Install our Billboards in strategic locations all around Chicago – Illinois
- Distribute our fliers and handbills in target areas with high concentration of addicts
- Ensure that all our workers wear our branded shirts and our facility and all our vehicles are well branded with our company’s logo et al.
12. Our Pricing Strategy
Prices vary for staying in sober living home facilities, but most of the time it costs about the same as it would cost to live in a hospital and other medical facilities. Sober living home facility residents must pay rent each month. The rent usually amounts to between $450 and $750 per month, depending on where the home is located.
St. Mac Anthony® Sober Living Homes, Inc. will work towards ensuring that all our services are offered at highly competitive prices compare to what is obtainable in The United States of America. Be that as it may, we have put plans in place to offer discount services once in a while and also to reward our loyal residents especially when they refer clients to us.
- Payment Options
The payment policy adopted by St. Mac Anthony® Sober Living Homes, Inc. is all inclusive because we are quite aware that different customers prefer different payment options as it suits them but at the same time, we will ensure that we abide by the financial rules and regulation of the United States of America.
Here are the payment options that St. Mac Anthony® Sober Living Homes, Inc. will make available to her clients;
- Payment via bank transfer
- Payment with cash
- Payment via online bank transfer
- Payment via check
- Payment via Point of Sale Machines (POS Machine)
- Payment via bank draft
- Payment via mobile money
In view of the above, we have chosen banking platforms that will enable our client make payment for rent and treatment fee in our sober living home facility without any stress on their part.
13. Startup Expenditure (Budget)
If you are looking towards starting a sober living home facility, then you should be ready to raise enough capital to cover some of the basic expenditure that you are going to incur. The truth is that starting this type of business does not come cheap.
You would need money to secure a standard residential facility big enough to accommodate the number of people you plan accommodating per time, you would need money to acquire supplies, pay your workforce and pay bills for a while until the revenue you generate from the business becomes enough to pay them. The items listed below are the basics that we would need when starting our sober living home in the United States;
- The total fee for registering the business in the United States – $750.
- Legal expenses for obtaining licenses and permits – $1,500.
- Marketing promotion expenses for the grand opening of St. Mac Anthony® Sober Living Homes, Inc. in the amount of $3,500 and as well as flyer printing (2,000 flyers at $0.04 per copy) for the total amount of – $3,580.
- The cost for hiring business consultant – $2,500.
- The cost for the purchase of insurance (general liability, workers’ compensation and property casualty) coverage at a total premium – $3,400.
- The cost for leasing a standard and secured facility in Chicago – Illinois for 2 years – $250,000
- The cost for facility remodeling – $50,000.
- Other start-up expenses including stationery ($500) and phone and utility deposits ($2,500).
- Operational cost for the first 3 months (salaries of employees, payments of bills et al) – $100,000
- The cost for start-up inventory (stocking with a wide range of products such as toiletries, food stuffs and drugs et al) – $50,000
- Storage hardware (bins, rack, shelves,) – $3,720
- The cost for the purchase of furniture and gadgets (Beds, Computers, Printers, Telephone, TVs, tables and chairs et al): $4,000.
- The cost of Launching a Website: $700
- Miscellaneous: $10,000
We would need an estimate of five hundred and fifty thousand dollars ($550,000) to successfully set up our sober living home facility in Chicago – Illinois.
Generating Funds/Startup Capital for St. Mac Anthony® Sober Living Homes, Inc.
St. Mac Anthony® Sober Living Homes, Inc. is solely owned and financed by Mrs. Sarah Daniels. She has decided to restrict the sourcing of the startup capital to 3 major sources. These are the areas St. Mac Anthony® Sober Living Homes, Inc. intends to generate startup capital;
- Personal savings
- Loans from family members and friends
- Loan from the Bank
N.B: We have been able to generate about $200,000 (Personal savings $150,000 and soft loan from family members $50,000) and we are at the final stages of obtaining a loan facility of $350,000 from our bank. All the papers and documents have been signed and submitted, the loan has been approved and any moment from now our account will be credited with the amount.
14. Sustainability and Expansion Strategy
The future of a business lies in the number of loyal customers that they have, the capacity and competence of their employees, their investment strategy and the business structure. If all of these factors are missing from a business, then it won’t be too long before the business closes shop.
One of our major goals of starting St. Mac Anthony® Sober Living Homes, Inc. is to build a business that will survive off its own cash flow without injecting finance from external sources once the business is officially running.
We know that one of the ways of gaining approval and winning customers over is to offer our services a little bit cheaper than what is obtainable in the market and we are prepared to survive on lower profit margin for a while. St. Mac Anthony® Sober Living Homes, Inc. will make sure that the right foundation, structures and processes are put in place to ensure that our staff welfare are well taken of.
Our company’s corporate culture is designed to drive our business to greater heights and training and retraining of our workforce is at the top burner. We know that if that is put in place, we will be able to successfully hire and retain the best hands we can get in the industry; they will be more committed to help us build the business of our dreams.
Check List/Milestone
- Business Name Availability Check: Completed
- Business Registration: Completed
- Opening of Corporate Bank Accounts: Completed
- Securing Point of Sales (POS) Machines: Completed
- Opening Mobile Money Accounts: Completed
- Opening Online Payment Platforms: Completed
- Application and Obtaining Tax Payer’s ID: In Progress
- Application for business license and permit: Completed
- Purchase of Insurance for the Business: Completed
- Leasing of facility and remodeling the facility: In Progress
- Conducting Feasibility Studies: Completed
- Generating capital from family members: Completed
- Applications for Loan from the bank: In Progress
- Writing of Business Plan: Completed
- Drafting of Employee’s Handbook: Completed
- Drafting of Contract Documents and other relevant Legal Documents: In Progress
- Design of The Company’s Logo: Completed
- Printing of Promotional Materials: In Progress
- Recruitment of employees: In Progress
- Purchase of medical equipment and vans et al: In Progress
- Purchase of the needed furniture, racks, shelves, computers, electronic appliances, office appliances and CCTV: In progress
- Creating Official Website for the Company: In Progress
- Creating Awareness for the business both online and around the community: In Progress
- Health and Safety and Fire Safety Arrangement (License): Secured
- Establishing business relationship with players in the prisons, community centers and third – party services providers: In Progress