Hi,

I've had a new business idea, a specialist concierge service.

Does anybody have any experience or know of any demand levels for concierges.

Seems quite a small market but i'm sure it's do-able.

Very low start up costs etc so perhaps worth a stab.

Your thoughts appreciated!

It's not a new idea, there are such services around particularly in London. I'm not sure how successful they are but it's an idea I've always liked.

First thing is no one can spell it so I'd go for something like Shareabutler, virtual butler service. Modern butlers do all of things that you might be thinking of. Maybe something like "Call Jeeves". Something you can imagine a company director saying to his or her secretary when he or she needs something domestic dealt with.

It's a high end market. You'll need to target very busy, well off people who are hard to get at. You'll probably need to keep it local too in order to provide the fantastic and amazing WOW! standard of service that you'll need to. It's a great idea though with lots of potential.

You'll need some very reliable sub contractor tradesmen to call upon.

There was a story on the news earlier this week about someone on holiday in Spain. He had motion sensors at home in the UK that rang his mobile if breached. He then logged onto to the internet and watched his house being burgled over a web cam. This was recorded. He phoned his local police from Spain and the burglar was caught. You could offer this service to your clients.

I envisage high flyers who travel a lot with their job ringing you and saying "can you see that my lawn is cut whilst I'm away. I'm expecting a parcel on Tuesday morning, there's a basket of ironing needs doing, I need a plumber to service the boiler and can you make sure there's fresh milk in the fridge when I get back. Could you also find me a good flight to Budapest a week on Friday".

IMHO, yes.
There are lots of services around. Due to pressure of work I have an ironing lady, a cleaner, a window cleaner, an oven cleaner a lawn treatment firm and I have Tesco deliver basic groceries.
I might like my gardening done, cars washed and occasional maintenance jobs too. It would be great to have one telephone number to ring to get it all done. A one stop shop.

You have a point Ampalian.

I was just thinking that cars are a bit more complicated than ironing and painting etc and so perhaps require a more specialist concierge company.

IMHO, yes.
There are lots of services around. Due to pressure of work I have an ironing lady, a cleaner, a window cleaner, an oven cleaner a lawn treatment firm and I have Tesco deliver basic groceries.
I might like my gardening done, cars washed and occasional maintenance jobs too. It would be great to have one telephone number to ring to get it all done. A one stop shop.

Well my idea is along those lines but is specialising in motoring.

Basically, there are a lot of things that people have to do with cars - i.e. find a new one, find competitive insurance, tax it, servcie it, clean it, new tyres etc.

I've got a lot of contacts through my website that i could use and could offer 3 levels - one off, regular (i.e. per month all inclusive) and premier (per month all inclusive including a weekly valet and oil/water/levels check etc).

What do you think??

Too specialised??

IMHO, yes.
There are lots of services around. Due to pressure of work I have an ironing lady, a cleaner, a window cleaner, an oven cleaner a lawn treatment firm and I have Tesco deliver basic groceries.
I might like my gardening done, cars washed and occasional maintenance jobs too. It would be great to have one telephone number to ring to get it all done. A one stop shop.

It's not a new idea, there are such services around particularly in London. I'm not sure how successful they are but it's an idea I've always liked.

First thing is no one can spell it so I'd go for something like Shareabutler, virtual butler service. Modern butlers do all of things that you might be thinking of. Maybe something like "Call Jeeves". Something you can imagine a company director saying to his or her secretary when he or she needs something domestic dealt with.

It's a high end market. You'll need to target very busy, well off people who are hard to get at. You'll probably need to keep it local too in order to provide the fantastic and amazing WOW! standard of service that you'll need to. It's a great idea though with lots of potentia