How to Start a Water Refilling Station Business

It’s easy to start with this kind of business, here’s the procedures how:

1. Look for a supplier or seller of water refilling equipments and ask for the price list of different equipments that you can choose, if possible, ask for the feasibility study too to know how much the cost or total investment needed to put-up this type of business.

2. After studying the quotations and the total cost which you think is enough for your budget or capital, then you can start negotiating with the supplier. Ask for discounts and know the after-sales support you can get from them like maintenance and warranty. Don’t go for cheap equipments as this will not be worth in the long run. Always compare and check carefully what you can see on the photos they give against the actual equipment.

3. After choosing the right equipment to purchase, look for a good place to put your refilling station. Some local municipals require a minimum of 25 sqm. total area for this type of business, but oftentimes 20 sqm is enough. If you don’t want to rent a place, you can use your own house. Sales will not be a problem even you’re inside a subdivision.

4. If you already found the location for you refilling station, you can now contact your preferred equipment supplier for your final negotiations. Ask for a typical layout of a water station from them that you can copy for your own water station. Some suppliers will check and evaluate the place for the best design and layout.

5. Oftentimes, the supplier will ask for a down payment before starting to prepare your equipments. The lead time for complete assembly is 2 to 3 weeks. Ask for a receipt or letter when paying for a down payment.

6. After closing the deal with the supplier, you can now start the construction of your water station that will take 3 to 4 weeks to finish. Start also making the deep well if this will be your preferred water source. Let the supplier check your water station during the construction to so that the lay-out will be strictly followed. It is very important that the carpenter follows the lay-out carefully especially on the washing area, pipings and drainage layout. While the construction is on-going, you can apply for a business permit to save time.

7. Go to the nearest DTI in your area and bring your residence certificate and barangay clearance. It’s advisable to list 5 to 10 names you choose to name your business to avoid delay when your preferred name was already taken.

8. After getting the registered business name from DTI, go to your local municipal office and apply for a Mayor’s business permit. The process takes 2 to 3 weeks depending on the area. Some municipal office will require you to submit (a) water analysis of potability (physical, chemical and bacteriological test) from your raw or source of water. (b) Engineering drawings (building and electrical plan) signed by a sanitary engineer at other common legal requirement when applying for a building permit.

9. After getting the business permit and operation permit from municipal office, go to BIR and fill-up form 0506 and pay at the counter. After processing at BIR, you’re now ready to make and print your receipts from the printing press. Some printing press will require you to show the approved form 0506 issued by BIR before printing your receipts.

10. It’s now time to buy other supplies you will need like water containers, seals, heat gun, sanitizer soap, etc. You can also start doing your store’s signage and sticker labels for your products.

11. Once the construction of your water station is finished and the water source is ready, you can now schedule the installation of the equipments (it’s better to do it at night not too many people are roaming around). Complete installation takes 1 to 2 days only.

12. Allow the machine and equipments from 1 to 3 days to dry-run before selling the product, or get a sample for a water analysis. Go to the nearest DOH office and ask the procedures on how to test the water. Tip: it’s better to get a water sample after a month of operation to make sure that the result of water analysis is good.

13. Wait for the result of water testing. If it passed, then good luck and welcome to the club! If it failed the test, call immediately the one who installed your equipments and let them check and analyze why.

Other Frequently Ask Questions

Q: What are the different types of water you can sell?
A: There are four types of water that can be produced from the available equipments in the market today.

1. Mineral Water = Less investment but the disadvantage is shorter shelf life.
2. Purified Water = Equipments are more expensive that Mineral process with the use of “Reversed Osmosis system”, the water will last up to 6 months.
3. Alkaline Water = Current fad because of positive write-ups about health benefits for people, but like mineral water, the shelf life is short.
4. PI Water = Started from Japan, known to have good effects in people’s health but it’s still quite expensive and not that popular in the Philippines. The customers are mostly Chinese. The selling price is about P200 to P250 per container (5gal.)

Q: What is the best source of water, Nawasa or deep well?
A: Either of the two is fine, but deep well will give you a long term savings compared to Nawasa’s costly monthly charge for commercial use.

Q: How many personnel is required to run a water station?
A: At first, 3 is enough, 1 driver, 1 helper and 1 refiller/washer. The number of personnel is relative to the demand of your products.

Q: What are the consumable items with this type of business?
Answer:

• Sediment Filter = replace every month or depending on the quality of the water source.
• GAC or Carbon Filter = usually 6 to 8 months average but if the water source is not good maybe 4 months only
• Carbon fillings = 8 moths to 1.5 years average lifespan, or will be replaced if broken or the water starts to smell
• Daily use of seals
• Stickers

Q: How true that this business is profitable and fast ROI?
A: All business is not instant magic, the potential is good simply because water is a necessity. But this type of business, as with other business requires hard-work, patience, and ability to sell your product.

Basic Feasibility Study

A. Capital Investment

1. Water Refilling Machine – P 250,000.00
2. Renovation or new store at least 20sqm size – 75,000.00
3. Delivery vehicle (motorcycle with carrier or multi-cab) – 75,000.00
4. Business permit & other legal docs (DTI, Mayor’s permit, Water testing, etc.) – 10,000.00
5. Initial Supplies /miscellaneous – 31,750.00
   • a) 150 Bottles slim – 18,750.00
   • b) 50 Bottles round – 7,500.00
   • c) heat gun- 2,500.00
   • d) Stickers – 3,000.00
6. Others – 8,250.00

• Total = P 450,000.00

Note: Actual investment may increased or decreased depends on your actual resources, example:

• a.) less amount for the delivery vehicle if you already have existing or you can buy 2nd unit.
• b.) less amount for the store building if you have existing.
• c.) increase or decrease amount on refilling equipment, depends on what type of water product you wants to sell ( e.g. Mineral is only P150,000.00 etc.)

B. Sales Income

Check market price per 5 gal. container. Price may vary depends on the area what type of water product you want to sell:

• Mineral Water – P20 ~ P25 per container
• Purified Water – P30 ~ P35 per container
• Alkaline Water – P45 ~ P50 per container
• PI Water – P200 ~ P250 per container

B1. Monthly Sales – P39,000.00

• 1ST 2 Months: Target is at least 50 containers /day (50 containers x P30.00 selling price x 26days)

B2. Monthly Expenses – P15,600.00

1. Manpower/salaries – P 500/ day or P 9,100.00 /mo.
   • 1 driver – P200 /day
   • 1 re-filler – P150 /day
2. Electric bill – P3,500.00
3. Phone bill – 500.00
4. Transportation / gas allowance – 1,500.00
5. Consumables and others – 1,000.00

B3. Net Profit- P23,400.00 (Gross Sales – Gross expenses = Net Profit)

Note: You cannot compute your monthly sales based from your machine capacity (GPD Gallon Per Day) like other vendor’s computation, simply because you cannot sold 200 bottles a day in the first 2 months operation of your business unless you’re already operating for a year and you already established your customers in your area.

source: www.equizone-enterprise.com