Building for my island

[belovenow]

Originally Posted by jaypaw300

Hello, I'm a student and I'm doing a project at school called the "Million Dollar Project". I would buy a private island about a mile off the coast of Florida where people could go snorkling and rent snorkle gear. I would need to build a building on this island where people could sign up to go snorkling and rent snorkling equipment. That building would be two stories - 800 sq. ft. upstairs and 800 sq.ft upstairs. The upstairs is a living space and the downstairs is a public area. I would also need a small unisex bathroom downstairs. How much would that cost?

p.s. I also need a dock where I can keep my 18 ft. boat. How much would that cost?

Jaypaw

There's a lot of real-world problems with your scenario. I love the idea - but you're going to need more money and there will be logistical issues you haven't thought of that will put you out of business.

#1 - buying an island will cost a lot more than $1 million. Building on an island will cost a lot more than on mainland as well (expect 10-15 times the cost due to having to ship all materials, heavy equipment, and workers - as well as setting up your own power system for electric, heat, water filtration, and cooling). Insurance on your assets will be very expensive as well - especially if your island is considered a barrier island for hurricanes and harsh weather in general.

#2 - You will have a hard time getting people to boat that far just to go snorkeling. Hard time meaning that you will have to advertise a ridiculous amount to reach out to potential customers (big $), provide regular transportation to the island (big $), provide food, entertainment, and accommodations for when people are there as well.

#3 - You will not want to be just a one-person operation - for both practical reasons and for security you will need to have additional staff to help or be there for emergencies (both minor and serious).

#4 - Your island better have some fantastic coral or fish or both to attract snorkelers. Snorkelers don't typically want to pay very much for their experience, and since snorkeling is free most everywhere, you'll need to justify the time and expense out to your island.

#5 - Something which people will pay more to do is SCUBA diving. Scrap the snorkeling idea, and do a SCUBA operation.

#6 - More reasonable than buying an island would be identifying a Caribbean island with people and landlords already there, and then leasing space for your business. You don't need to buy an entire island, you can just set up your business somewhere there are already tourists, where there is already infrastructure, and where there is already transportation as well.

[motormaker]

I think the OP is long gone.