FAQs
Who are House of Play?
A private limited Company trading for nearly twenty years with expertise in all aspects of developing and operating children's play areas.
Why should I choose House of Play?
You should choose House of Play because we will take your project to a 'live' status free of charge and commitment. We will assist with your business planning, premises selection, terms negotiation and planning application. Only once we have taken you to this point will we ask if you want to buy our product. If you confirm that you will buy our product then we open up all or our operations expertise to you. Choosing House of Play really is the only sensible choice!
Some things for you to think about - There will be no restriction on your access to our time and/or expertise - You will have access, on request to each and every element of our extensive support packages - You will secure a product of excellence in all regards, compliant with industry and statutory standards - You will pay a price for the product supplied equal to or less than the industry norm - You will receive post supply operational support as required - You will never receive a bill for any service used only product supplied - The Company and its staff will always act professionally and discreetly in the support of your project - We will not pursue you relentlessly seeking to procure your order - We do not employ reps or salesmen - We will never contact you other than to discuss a project relevant matter or to seek a project status update - We will never discuss or comment upon any other Company.
Do you offer any advice notes?
We can send you a 'Business Plan' for the size of premises you seek and 'Site Selection' document detailing relevant selection criteria and processes. We also have a 'critical path' which advises what you need to do and when.
Beyond this, we have lots of templates that will be used to assist with business planning, lease terms negotiation, the required planning application but there is no need for you to worry about all of this. We will not issue you with reams of 'advice notes' trying to turn you into an accountant or a lease terms negotiator or planning consultant or a buildings regulations expert overnight!
What is the point when we actually apply our expertise to undertake all of the tasks required?
What is the first task?
House of Play offers an initial 'project viability' service which helps you assess the likelihood of you being able to raise necessary finance. This is a twenty minute telephone discussion with our finance director who is a Chartered Accountant. This is the absolute first stage in the project. There is no point looking at premises, having site meetings, evaluating competitors or doing any project development work until you have a good idea that you can finance a project and broadly what scale of project you can finance.
If I think that I will be able to finance the project what then?
Once you have established that you should be able to finance a project, to understand our range of services we recommend that you consider visiting Astrabound in Doncaster which is our 13500 sq ft show site and will be your training ground. Please call +44 (0) 1302 846876 to arrange this or enquire through the on-line enquiry form.
Note that visiting Astrabound will empower you with significant intellectual knowledge about our support services and is recommended at the earliest possible time but if you are unable to do this initially we can send you a 'critical path' to follow in the project development process. This will identify the process of taking your initial enquiry through to being a 'live' project.
To have a fully 'live' project you need to have researched your proposed location, evaluated any competition, drafted a 'Business Plan', secured finance, sourced premises, negotiated commercially viable 'terms', drafted and submitted and had approved a planning application for 'Change of Use'.
How do I do my 'Business Plan'?
During your visit to Astrabound you will be shown the 'Business Plan' and will need to do some research on catchment and competition following which you will be able to work with House of Plays accountant to provide a 'Business Plan' for your project.
How do I finance the project?
The 'Business Plan' will be the tool that you use to seek third party finance. The funding profile for most new operators includes a lump of their own cash, some form of bank loan perhaps supported by a Government scheme with any shortfall being perhaps topped with asset finance. All of this will be made clear during your visit to Astrabound.
What size premises will I need?
Once you have understood the scale of project you are able to finance you can then consider the other factors which determine the size of the building, for example, catchment, income ambition, existing competition and others. We will help you to evaluate these factors in order to determine some search criteria so that you know, for example, that you are looking for a site of say, 6000 – 8000 square feet or 8000 – 10000 square feet.
How do I find my premises?
This is the hard bit and only perseverance will find an appropriate site. The local commercial estate agents are a key source of sites. Contact the property department of your Local Authority and see if they provide a property register. Contact the Education department to see if there are any old schools available. Check to see if there are any vacant church halls available. Talk to your local Councillor as they may have information or contacts that could help. Also, very importantly, get into the habit of looking for opportunities as you drive around. This is how House of Play found the site for Astrabound!
Have a look at our information sheet 'Site Selection'. Call 01302 846876 to request a copy.
House of play can also issue a property requirement notice to commercial agents operating within the postcodes you are interested in.
Note that the 'Business in a Box' service that House of Play offer is now well known amongst landlords and estate agents and having our Company sat behind your project does help to open doors.
Can you assist with site evaluation?
We offer a complete site assessment service enabling you to make a properly informed decision about the appropriateness of your selected site.
If we do not believe that a site is viable, we will tell you!
How do we negotiate with the agent/landlord?
You can if you want and we will offer guidance but nearly all clients prefer House of play to undertake negotiations for them, after all, we do it every day!
Your personal financial circumstances may influence how the terms are negotiated as there are many different ways to set up a deal and we looking for the deal that suits you best!
'New start' businesses are not generally favoured by landlords but with the House of Play service package behind you and access to our operational expertise, your project is likely to become more attractive to them. Often, the very fact that you are being supported by House of Play is enough credibility for the landlord to consider your proposed use.
How do I go about securing necessary planning permissions?
You can appoint a planning consultant at anything up to £5000, perhaps more OR you can try and become a planning expert yourself OR you allow House of Play to do it for you! This is all part of our service and you do not pay any extra for any of our 'Business in a Box' services.
You will, of course, have to pay the fee, usually £335.
How much will the play equipment cost?
This is entirely dependent upon the size and content but it is absolutely crucial that you do not over or under spend on any aspect of the set up costs. As a play centre operator, House of Play can advise with some expertise based on experience on the size, shape and content of the play equipment as we know what actually works.
Also, your product mix may well be influenced by your competition and the age range of your proposed catchment and this may well influence the required capital costs. At all times you are in complete control of the budget and can spend as much or as little as you wish.
At any time you can benchmark our product price in the market.
Will you send a rep out to see us?
Do you really want to see a rep, a salesman who is going to try and sell you product? Surely all you want is expert advice on how to get the project going. House of Play do not employ 'reps' so you will never be hassled or harried by someone trying to convince you that their 'bash bags' are the best!
Also, 'reps' get paid based on what they sell. Can you be sure that their advice about a building is wholly genuine? With House of Play you can be absolutely secure in the knowledge that you will get expert opinion and guidance. If you want to prove this ask to talk to one of our clients who are still trying to find appropriate premises having had House of Play advice against many they have already considered.
There is a sensible and tried and tested process for developing your project and seeing a 'rep' at the front end of this process is not part of it!
When do you send someone to see us?
We will send one of our experts to site whenever this is required. The person/persons that attend any meetings will be determined by the agenda of the meeting.
If finance/business planning is on the agenda then our accountant would attend, if equipment design then a designer, if site analysis then our buildings expert. Each and every meeting would be attended by someone with the necessary expertise... never, a 'rep'.
Do all play equipment suppliers offer a service similar to House of Play?
No, definitely not. They may well claim that they do, particularly on their website but asking a few key questions will enable you to see through the 'smoke and mirrors'! We can even tell you some of the questions to ask if you want to test this. Here are a couple of examples: will you do my business plan?...will you negotiate premises terms for me?...will you do my planning application?..............our answer to this and every other question is 'YES'.
Also, ask to see their staff structure. Why should you ask this question? …..It would be absolutely impossible for any Company without a significant number of employees with dedicated expertise to offer an holistic support package.
Consider any other business set up, any at all. They all require some or all of the following; catchment analysis, demographic analysis, competition analysis, business planning, funding, premises selection, terms negotiation, planning approval architects plans for Building Control approvals, supplier selection, logistics analysis, interior design, supplier/contractor selection, risk assessments, operations manuals, recruitment procedures, staff rota management………we could fill the page with all the disciplines that require specific expertise……..and your project is no different and House Play have the necessary in-house expertise to deal with all of these matters.
The expertise that House of Play delivers to clients is through a team of people each with their own area of expertise. If you want to test this, come and meet the team!
Read below to understand the structure that we use to support your project!
...on viability assessments, finance and business planning will be our in-house Chartered Accountant who has worked for House of Play for 17 years!
...on negotiating terms for your premises and do the planning application will be our in-house expert in these disciplines who has worked for House of Play for 17 years!
...on achieving optimum spatial allocation, layout and product mix will be a lead and support designer looking at the project from an operators' perspective which only an operator can do! The design team at House of Play has combined experience of over 40 years!
...on planning the critical path for your project, programming necessary works, introducing suppliers will be one of our operations managers who have worked for House of Play for over 12 years!
... on delivering the project to time and to cost will be another of our operations managers who specialises in contract management and has worked for House of Play for over 10 years!
...on delivering an appropriate pre-opening and ongoing marketing strategy and operations support package and training will be the operations support team who have the benefit of years of experience through 'Astrabound', House of Plays training site.
We are sure that you will agree that there is a great deal of expertise required to develop, market and manage a play centre! Only a team can offer the necessary level of support and House of Play offers precisely that!
If you are liaising with another supplier and you keep talking to or seeing the same face then you can comfortably conclude that they do not have the breadth and depth of expertise to support the project at every level.
ALL other suppliers are simply that, they supply play equipment. No other Company offers an equivalent service to House of Plays 'Business in a Box'.
How do I know which Companies are established?
There are not many and you are quite right to ask this question. One of your main requirements should be for your selected Company to have a long trading track record! There are quite a lot of small newly formed suppliers as there always is in any industry and these come and go over time. You might well consider buying bits and pieces from such a supplier but as you are probably going to be spending tens of thousands of pounds on play equipment and running your play centre for, say, ten years, do you really want to pick a supplier that has not got at least a ten year track record? House of Play has nearly twenty years!
It can be difficult to sort the 'wheat' from the 'chaff' as every Company seems to claim to be the 'market leader', websites can look very similar and may claim that they offer a service which they actually don't! You may come across Companies who advertise '25 years experience in the industry'... sounds good doesn't it!... but is it really... At House of Play we have a designer who has been with us for 17 years and project manager for 15 years. So, if these two people wanted to set up a Company they could claim '32 years experience in the industry'!!... but how misleading would that be as the implication is the Company has that length of trading experience! Anyone can set up a Company and claim anything and in this industry many do. You need a Company with a good long provable track record, You just need to check.
It is very simple to find out basic information about a Company. Check Companies House free 'webcheck' service http://www.companieshouse.co.uk/ to see how long the Company has been trading and if they have not been trading for at least ten years, discount them. Also, go and see any Company you are interested in. Indeed, you are welcome to visit House of Plays trading show and training site, Astrabound to fully understand the scope of our service and expertise. This will give you a benchmark against which you can compare any other Company.
Can House of Play deliver a turnkey project?
Yes. Following granting of planning approval, hand us the site keys and following the agreed works period, we will hand them back, project completed! Of course most people want to be involved in the execution of the project development so retain overall control of the site, tapping into our expertise as required.
How do I know what works to do to the site?
During the process of negotiating 'Heads of Terms' the condition of the proposed site together with any agreed landlord works will have been clarified, therefore you will know the extent to which you have to execute leasehold improvements. House of Play's design team will draft necessary drawings or layouts and mechanical & electrical (M & E) to enable you to get budgets for building works. You can also get a price from House of Plays own contractor, if you wish.
What operational support can you offer?
Everything. As an operator of an iconic play centre Astrabound House of Play is the only play equipment supplier with the necessary expertise to [Have a look at the 'Business in Box' schedule! If we do not offer it you don't need it! Should be changed to Everything. As an operator of an iconic play centre 'Astrabound', House of Play is the only play equipment supplier with the necessary expertise to offer an all encompassing operational support package.
House of Play will provide a 'Gantt' chart which will tell you everything you need to consider and provide a program of works. We have at least one supplier for everything you will ever need and many of them are linked into the House of Play buying group so we are using our buying power together with that of lots of other operators to procure you products and service at the best price.
How do House of Play decide how to design my project?
The fundamental difference between House of Play and other suppliers is that we design both the equipment and the building to optimise your profit. We do not design or present designs in a manner designed to be aesthetically appealing to you to maximise the likelihood of a sale.
Those Companies that have nothing to offer but product often embellish designs with theming and features which look good on paper but which cost money and add no value to the business. Remember, you will not generate profit from the play equipment but from the overall business. Try to avoid being sucked into choosing a design based on the 'prettiness' of the design presentation.
