If you had a free choice, in which town and state in the USA would you put a manufacturing business?

The requirements are few.

1. Moderate temperatures and weather.
2. Friendly to a firearm related business.
3. Reasonable prices for housing and industrial premises.

Gun friendly, conservative Georgia. That's one of the reasons why Glock landed here.

And I would bet that the Southeast is where most of your sales will be centered.

New Mexico is a great place to live and work. Lots of different areas from desert in the south to high mountains in the central and north. Good work force all over the state.

Harris county Texas. Not inside Houston City limits.

Especially if you like to fish.


.

Near Dallas/Ft Worth, Ellis, Kaufman, or Johnson counties...lots of cheap labor, lots of tax incentives and no state income tax.

Karl

Henderson County, NC
Good housing, schools and tax rate. Good climate and excellent access to I-40, I-26, Charlotte and even a decent airport next door in Fletcher (AVL)

Considering hunting, tax costs, weather etc I would suggest Northern Nevada, Wyoming, or South Dakota.

Kentucky around Lexington.

Thank you, we will investigate every suggestion given and still to be given. Obviously we are very green when it comes to picking a location

quote:

Originally posted by Gerard:
Thank you, we will investigate every suggestion given and still to be given. Obviously we are very green when it comes to picking a location

Of course, anywhere but here...unless you're going to subcontract some of the work to me.

quote:

Northern Nevada, Wyoming, or South Dakota.

Thanks Gatogordo for the suggestion. I think the lows in winter will rule out going that far North. We are in Michigan at present and the winters are brutal, compared to what we are used to. Old bones do not want to get that cold.

Also, one must think in terms of machinery and raw material expansion and contraction.

Gerard:

I mentioned those because of their location close to or in prime hunting areas. It, of course, depends on how much that means to you at your time in life. It means less to me everyday. Locations in southern/central Nevada is a much warmer possibility (maybe too warm, but that can be adjusted by elevation) that is still not too far from excellent and free hunting both bird and big game. I would consider Boulder instead of Las Vegas if it were my decision.

The main reason I mentioned the above and not others, is taxes, both personal, corporate, sales, and property. They are a real consideration and cost for a business or an individual making money.

If hunting is not a serious concern, I would suggest Florida or Texas. Washington state also comes up. I understand that some of the coastal areas can be reasonably warm in the winter, but don't know much about it.

If hunting isn't all that important and you like fishing, Florida or Texas should be seriously considered.

Take a look at St George, also known as Utah's Dixie...

Florida or Texas

Central Florida is developing a nice little mil spec arms industry.

Mike

Three for Texas so far and TomP's suggestion for St George is also intersting. Just outside of St George is a little place called Hurricane. Anyone know it? There is a shooting park East of it.

Gatogordo,
Hunting is more of a consideration for Gina than it is me now. She visits in South Africa yearly and then fits in most of those activities but, for the future in the USA, it must be considered of course. Fishing I only do with my 12ga so it is not of much concern but, cars and motor racing, now we are talking.

Hurricane is a small town on the road between St George and Zion National Park, nice little spot if a little provincial. Utah is generally firearms-friendly.

For cars, there is a race track on the north side of Las Vegas that I think might be available to rent time. There is an outfit that rents high-end cars to drive in Las Vegas, not sure if it's that track or something else.

There is a planned racetrack and high-end residential community planned for Thermal CA, might be for residents only (Thermal Club).

I lived for a while near Kanab, Ut. and earlier I had rowed tourists in boats out of Vernal. St. George is very nice if you don't mind paying the Utah income taxes and relatively high prices for land, etc. I would but I earn a fair income, state income taxes and the tax structure in general are a big consideration for me. Personally I would choose Central Arizona over S Utah myself.

In addition, the Utah state owned (at least when I was there) liquor stores leaves something to be desired. I really love S. Utah but if you aren't a Mormon, you probably won't fit in as quickly as you might like. That said, S. Ut. is where the outlaws (non-Mormons) are strongest but, in general the Mormons run the show in Utah.

If I was going to move to that area, I would go down the road a ways to Mesquite Nv, solely based on taxes.

If car racing is a big consideration for you, then that puts the Dallas/Ft Worth and the large surrounding area near the top. In addition, if you get off the main beaten paths, you will certainly be able to find a shop, quite possibly with house and land very reasonable. You can put your own shooting range behind your shop.

The multiple interstates will give you good shipping/receiving access.

Boise, Idaho.

Very good on Constitutional Rights. Low tax rates on businesses and individuals.

One of the largest varieties of Big Game to hunt, and nearly unlimited outdoor recreation opportunities for the sportsman.

Rich

quote:

Originally posted by Idaho Sharpshooter:
Boise, Idaho.

Very good on Constitutional Rights. Low tax rates on businesses and individuals.

One of the largest varieties of Big Game to hunt, and nearly unlimited outdoor recreation opportunities for the sportsman.

Rich

Your income is obviously low. Idaho income tax rates suck both for individuals and corporations. Beautiful state, bad taxes.

Perhaps you might want to consider some other things in your location equation...

1. Would you be better off establishing your business headquarters in a tax haven in the Caribbean? Very easy and cheap to do with any decent lawyer's assistance, and any good tax accountant could help you determine if it is financially desirable. Then you could look at opening a manufacturing facility in the U.S as a subsidiary.

In seeking a mainland U.S. locale, the first thing I would look at is where state and local governments are willing to GIVE you money to set up in their area and hire some of their locals to work for your company. Many states not only will give you up-front cash which is NOT a loan, but will negotiate several-year-long "tax holidays" for your business where it would pay little or no state and/or local taxes for the length of the "Holiday". Those same states are often sources of CHEAP, but skilled and/or intelligent workers who are also not transient to any major degree. (Important if you will be training them in the fine points of doing their work).

I would also consider whether the local/state governments are generally strong supporters of unions, or of "non-union shops". For instance, I would not locate MY business anywhere in most states of the U.S. Northeast because of the pervasive power of unions there.

As to weather, all of the west coast states are relatively warm, at least anywhere within 50-100 miles of the Pacific Ocean....like with a winter range of +20 F to +65 F lows & highs, and a summer range of +55 to + 100 F° lows and highs (with the extreme highs and lows being exceptionally few.). Naturally, the further south you go, the warmer it gets both winter and summer. Coastal Oregon and Washington are both relatively wet, with substantial rain pretty much all winter. The more inland states of the west like Idaho have hot summers and very, very cold winters.

One nice thing about the Pacific NW is that you don't get hurricanes, tornadoes, that sort of thing at all. Dallas and pretty much all of Texas except the far SW and West portions of the state are prone to one or the other or both, as is Florida. Idaho sees its full share of blizzards.

Back to taxes for a moment, unlike many countries of the world, taxes are layer upon layer upon layers in the U.S. Where Washington has no personal income tax, it does have a fairly ferocious sales tax. Oregon has no sales tax, but has a hefty property tax and a relatively low income tax...and on and on. There are sites on-line which will calculate for you the least expensive states in the U.S., all taxes combined. Arizona has sales tax, property tax, income tax, and many special project or improvement district taxes levied by towns, cities, counties, school districts, etc...and of course all states also have the burden of federal taxes.

In short, before you start a business of any size, anywhere in the U.S., you need to sit down and do your due diligence and write a business plan.

Valley Head, Alabama, located in NE Ala. with rail and Inter State Hwy access and low cost available space and inexpensive, trained labor PLUS the State of Alabama will foot some of the start up cost. Sounds slam and dunk doesn't it?

Yes, Gato it is. Low six figures. You need to look up the Idaho tax rates, and be sure to look at how much property taxes alone have fallen in the past ten years.

Insurance rates are low too. I am paying less than a grand a year for full coverage on my Jag.

While WA may not have a state personal income tax, their business tax rate is pretty high. And, a 9% sales tax.

Idaho is a state with a total population of less than 1.5 million people and over 82,xxx square miles in size, with 71% owned by the Fed or State Government can't compare with Texas. Heck, the illegals in your state outnumber us here about four to one. There's no such thing as paying to hunt on private land here, it's about all free public access.

We have Bighorn Sheep, Moose, Mountain Goat, Elk, both kinds of deer, wolf, and Antelope to hunt here. No state in the lower forty-eight has more variety to hunt.

We also have mountains to ski on, wild rivers to raft or kayak on, and the Snake River, which runs thru the Capitol City of Boise, biggest city in the state at 250,xxx+/- (only city in the state over 85,xxx), is the site of numerous tubing days by all ages, and you can drink the water.

I researched the Northwest part of the country carefully for nearly a year before choosing Idaho in 1978. I didn't just run out of gas 20 miles west of Boise.

quote:

Originally posted by Idaho Sharpshooter:
Yes, Gato it is. Low six figures. You need to look up the Idaho tax rates, and be sure to look at how much property taxes alone have fallen in the past ten years.

Insurance rates are low too. I am paying less than a grand a year for full coverage on my Jag.

While WA may not have a state personal income tax, their business tax rate is pretty high. And, a 9% sales tax.

Idaho is a state with a total population of less than 1.5 million people and over 82,xxx square miles in size, with 71% owned by the Fed or State Government can't compare with Texas. Heck, the illegals in your state outnumber us here about four to one. There's no such thing as paying to hunt on private land here, it's about all free public access.

We have Bighorn Sheep, Moose, Mountain Goat, Elk, both kinds of deer, wolf, and Antelope to hunt here. No state in the lower forty-eight has more variety to hunt.

We also have mountains to ski on, wild rivers to raft or kayak on, and the Snake River, which runs thru the Capitol City of Boise, biggest city in the state at 250,xxx+/- (only city in the state over 85,xxx), is the site of numerous tubing days by all ages, and you can drink the water.

I researched the Northwest part of the country carefully for nearly a year before choosing Idaho in 1978. I didn't just run out of gas 20 miles west of Boise.

Well, there are two possibilities, either you don't consider personal (any amount over $10,718)(which puts it in the top 10 personal tax rates in the country in 2014) and corporate tax rates of 7.4% excessive or you don't prepare your taxes, don't know how much you pay, and your name should be Idiot Sharpshooter.

Gerard
You should be talking to people that actually have worked in and ran a manufacturing business.

If you are talking about moving your bullet business look at the cost of
1. Acquiring raw materials, shipping to your plant and shipping the finished product. Sierra moved close to the center of the country where the lead is. In the US copper is in Arizona.
2. You might want to be within reasonable distance of air freight and transportation.
3. Stay out of cities with major research universities. There will be other businesses competing for the work force.
4. Beware of the lowest cost work forces. You often find them because the workers with half a brain have already left an economically depressed area.
5. Large states often have less expensive real estate.

The Crosstimbers area of north central Texas has many good sites for a manufacturing business. I like the area south of Austin around New Braunfels, San Marcos and Seguin.
That area is on the eastern edge of the hill country. North you might find smaller towns west of I-35, like Kerrville, Lampasas, Burnet or Marble Falls. My pick of these is Marble Falls.

You are likely to find hundreds or thousands of locations in the DFW, Houston and San Antonio triangle.

6. I would at least stay on high ground and away from the Gulf coast about 40 to 50 miles to avoid the worst of hurricanes. Tornados, though spectacular are not much of threat. Otherwise there would not be 30 to 40 million people in the tornado belt.

The crummy winter weather and all the north winds tail off south of Waco.

In Arizona there are small communities along the Mogollon Rim that would be nice. Payson on the south side, Prescott on the north side.

Some of the above have poor access to a major airport and some are ok.

Thanks SR4759, every suggestion will be thoroughly evaluated. There are now many suggestions for Texas and the only thing uppermost in my mind are those pesky tornadoes. We have probably seen too much of them on the TV... We have been told by people in the know, not to sweat the weather though.

There isn't any perfect weather. San Diego is pretty good. Texas is the most business friendly state we do business in. Avoid NY, LA, IL and CA as they are terrible.

A little bit of searching showed some interesting results.

Florida doesn't score well in one but it does in the other. I'd do Tx before Fla, both have good infrastructure, even thought I'd personally put up with a little snow (idaho) instead of 90/90 temp/humidity(tx/fla). I know some places in Tx are not that humid. If you include crime that probably knocks Tn out of the first list. Depending on how big a building you need and the services you need a real estate deal blows all the stats away.


http://www.governing.com/news/...y-states-cities.html

http://www.forbes.com/sites/mi...ess-friendly-states/

quote:

Originally posted

In Arizona there are small communities along the Mogollon Rim that would be nice. Payson on the south side, Prescott on the north side.

Some of the above have poor access to a major airport and some are ok.

Prescott is in west central AZ, and Payson is in east central AZ.

Payson is actually right up on top of the Mogollan Rim. It does not have splendid access by air, rail, or ground, particularly in the winter.

Prescott has much better air, rail, and ground transport, but to my view is not as great a place to live IN THE SUMMER. Prescott has the bigger work force (Ruger's pistol factory is at the Prescott Airport) and there are numerous other well known gun businesses in Prescott, which could be very helpful to your business.

I would prefer to live in Payson, but I was going to locate a manufacturing facility in one or the other, I'd pick Prescott because of the gun synergy there.

Florida. No state income tax. Weather gets hot in the summer, but that's why the doctor down here invented air conditioning back in the late 1800s. My area (Tampa Bay) has a large number of small mfg businesses in the area, and several large commercial reloaders are within a 50 mile radius. Commercial warehouse space runs $6-12/sqft. A friend and I have ~500sqft shop that costs us $500/month + utilities. We installed our own through-the-wall AC unit. We do Class III/SOT work and such mostly for LEA.

Central Texas. Cases in point =STI in Georgetown, Larue Tactical in Leander. Also the new Tesla plant will be opening in Pfugerville soon. All of these towns are very close to Austin,the state capital.Also if your employees enjoy their off time recreation,Austin is the live music capital of the world as well as having some very superb restaurants.As to the taxes + utilities,one can make deals with the municipalities.For instance,about 20 some years ago I installed a ventilation system for a company called Advanced Custom Molders in Georgetown.They were given a 10 year fixed rate on utility cost just for bringing industry into the city limits.They can work on taxes too on the same principal.The sad part is that usually when the 10 years expire,they move. But they made enough savings to leave the buildings behind. I am NOT advocating rotten behavior,only giving you some cost saving initial ideas.

Texas would be a good place. I agree with all my fellow Texicans on their opinions.

Texas for sure. (I'm CFO of a manufacturer/contractor with operations in most states and quite a few foreign countries.)

I run my business (not firearms unfortunately) in Utah, Wyoming, and Texas.

It's easier to get quality employees in Utah. Also, labor costs are much lower. Utah is very gun friendly and Southern Utah would be a great choice. I'd recommend Northern Utah, where I live, but it does not meet your temperature requirement

Texas is very business friendly and has some very good people. Wyoming is not too bad, but the labor market and weather would be tough.

So, Utah has my vote!! Feel free to PM me and I'd be glad to give you more details.

Check out East Texas.

Say near Tyler, Terrell, Athens, etc.

Not too far from Dallas/Ft. Worth, but far enough.

quote:

Originally posted by Jason P:
I run my business (not firearms unfortunately) in Utah, Wyoming, and Texas.

It's easier to get quality employees in Utah. Also, labor costs are much lower. Utah is very gun friendly and Southern Utah would be a great choice. I'd recommend Northern Utah, where I live, but it does not meet your temperature requirement

Texas is very business friendly and has some very good people. Wyoming is not too bad, but the labor market and weather would be tough.

So, Utah has my vote!! Feel free to PM me and I'd be glad to give you more details.

To be fair, while it's gotten a little crowded, they didn't used to salt the roads and rot the trucks out in Cache County, and maybe still don't. Logan has more expertise than you might expect from a smallish university town, worth a look. And the squeaky cheese is splendid.

quote:

Originally posted by TomP:

quote:

Originally posted by Jason P:
I run my business (not firearms unfortunately) in Utah, Wyoming, and Texas.

It's easier to get quality employees in Utah. Also, labor costs are much lower. Utah is very gun friendly and Southern Utah would be a great choice. I'd recommend Northern Utah, where I live, but it does not meet your temperature requirement

Texas is very business friendly and has some very good people. Wyoming is not too bad, but the labor market and weather would be tough.

So, Utah has my vote!! Feel free to PM me and I'd be glad to give you more details.

To be fair, while it's gotten a little crowded, they didn't used to salt the roads and rot the trucks out in Cache County, and maybe still don't. Logan has more expertise than you might expect from a smallish university town, worth a look. And the squeaky cheese is splendid.

Cache Valley is where I grew up and lived there for 30 years. I have since moved a few hours to the East.

Logan is an outstanding place to run a manufacturing business. Good people and plenty of talent. It is very easy to find employees.

Gerard, I sent you a PM

North Alabama, near Huntsville.

Gerard, if you're still reading here, I think the Mid-South is what you want. It satisfies all your qualifications.

You'll be in good company too. Oxford, Mississippi is where Winchester picked for their ammunition plant. And Lonoke, Arkansas is where Remington picked for theirs. You can bet those old boys researched it carefully first. Those are also reasonably centrally located for transportation purposes and are close to a major national distribution center. And they are both either on or close to major interstates.

Try Tennessee for no state income taxes, a really cool feature which we all here greatly appreciate. There are only seven states that have that (Florida and Texas are two others).

Pro-business attitudes and lack of Lib Dems in control are added benefits. Our state for instance, Tennessee, has two Republicans in the Senate, another as Governor, nearly all the representatives in the House are GOP and Republicans firmly are in charge of the state house and senate. You couldn't get any better in terms of pro-family, pro-business, pro right to work, pro-military, pro-low tax, pro hunting, pro consumptive use of the outdoors generally (we passed the constitutional amendment to protect hunting and fishing), pro gun ownership, pro limited government, along with reasonable prices across the board and temperate weather. We are also in the heart of the Mississippi Flyway and in the middle of as good deer and turkey hunting as it gets. We've also got hogs and bear. And we're well located for trips to the Gulf for deep sea fishing and great seafood and close to the cold water Arkansas trout streams and only a few hours from pheasant country in the Mid-West.

Unlike Florida and Texas, Tennessee is not in any danger of becoming a "Blue" or "Purple" state for a long, long time. No place in the Mid-South is either. And btw, land is also cheap by most standards. You'd like it. Come join us. But leave quietly and don't tell any Libs where you're going...we like it the way it is.

quote:

Originally posted by Jason P:

Cache Valley is where I grew up and lived there for 30 years. I have since moved a few hours to the East.

A few hours east...Riverton, or Big Piney?