Greenpeeps, I agree with Illegal Avian on the success of your venture hinging on MARKETING SKILLS -- and only secondarily on the quality of the product you are selling. (Look at the inferior product your local feed store is selling, even though people could do much better with YOUR product.) Incidentally, do you think Illegal Avian was imbibing anything when he/she wrote that great reply???
So there's a niche there just waiting to be filled by DH and his impressive skills. So here's what I'd do (dredged up from vague memories of getting all A's in my long-ago marketing classes):
1. Determine your target group and get the word out. Photos, photos, photos -- each step of the building process, right up to the installed end product with its happy residents. Plaster your beautiful color flyers at feed stores (hee, hee), the county Extension Office, farmers' markets, canneries, gardening shops -- you get the idea.
2. Duplicate this effort in the virtual world -- Craigslist,
Ebay, You Tube, your own website, etc.
3. Overcome the initial inertia of possible customers thinking, "Jeez, that looks so complicated and heavy, and I don't have a truck to get it to my place, and I couldn't afford it, anyway, blah, blah, blah..." by having DH consider building the coop in partitions that anybody with a screwdriver and a hammer could put together -- a KIT like this:
http://www.pineharbor.com/how_to_build_a_shed_1.htm
(Most people have at one time in their lives purchased and eventually assembled one of those cheapo furniture pieces from Wally World with "some assembly required.")
4. Offer a payment plan with a paid deposit and credit references. Or consider trades and bartering for what you're looking for. Offer free delivery and setup for an additional fee.
5. Present your new venture as a possible interview on local radio and television stations.
These ideas are just the first ones to come to mind, and I think your DH should GO FOR IT. Good Luck!
