Start Your Own Address Marker Business

You may already be familiar with the curb address painting business, or at least you have seen the black squares with the white reflective numbers painted on curbs. The concept with that business opportunity is that rescue services often have a difficult time finding the correct address because house numbers may be hard to read, obscured, or not there at all. Having the house number painted directly on the curb in reflective numbers can shave minutes off of an emergency response, and those precious minutes can save lives. In my area and many areas across America there are millions of homes in neighborhoods that don't have curbs, so there is nothing to paint. That creates a terrific business opportunity for you.

These homes are often on larger lots and sitting far back from the road, making identifying the correct home even more difficult. There may be a mailbox in front with numbers on it, but often these numbers are small and hard to read, especially at night. Also, it is not uncommon for many mailboxes to be grouped together, so they offer no help at all. The solution is to put a small concrete slab at the property edge with the numbers painted on it.

Here's how this business opportunity works. It doesn't take anything fancy to make good money. Most home centers sell a 16x16 inch concrete patio block for about 3 bucks that works great. Paint half of the block face with black paint. You will want to use interlocking brass stencils to space numbers evenly and make the job easier. Two set of 6-inch numbers will cost about $125. With your stencil taped in place paint your numbers onto the black area of the block using Krylon Glowz® glow-in-the-dark paint. Carefully remove the stencil and immediately sprinkle glass beads onto the wet paint to create a reflective coating. Let dry and brush excess glass beads off into a pan for reuse. You will now have easy to read numbers that both glow in the dark and will reflect in vehicle headlights. Now it's time to place the block.

Using a flat shovel or a lawn edging tool, create a thin trench about 18 inches long and 5 or 6 inches deep. Set the bottom of the block into the trench and pack the soil around the block making sure it is vertical and secure. You are done.

Each address block will cost about $5 in materials for the block and paint. You can usually get $20-$25 for a block. It's a small price to pay when people realize it could save their lives. That's $15-$20 for your labor, gas, etc. I recommend making a couple of sample blocks. Make one to take with you to show customers, and one to set in the ground and take photos of. Be sure to get night photos showing the numbers reflecting and glowing.

Take your sample block door-to-door in neighborhoods to collect orders. (Always check local laws about door-to-door sales requirements.) You can create the blocks the next day and come back to install several at a time.

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