home Success stories The owner of the graveyard. Profitable business: how to open a private cemetery

The owner of the graveyard. Profitable business: how to open a private cemetery

The Antimonopoly Agency proposes to make the market for funeral services competitive, moreover, to begin creating private graveyards as an alternative to prestigious state cemeteries, where the sale of plots has long been on stream.

All these proposals are contained in amendments to the law "On burial and funeral affairs"

Private cemetery of Baidagunov.

Director of LLC "Funeral Home "Requiem"" Rafael Latif ogly Baiduganov (for not the closest acquaintances Rafael Ivanovich) was born in Kirovabad, moved to Tolyatti in 1976, after the army, and until the early 90s worked at a factory - he did as and most of the city's residents, "Zhiguli". And then somehow he suddenly became an undertaker.

“I took up this business out of indignation,” he explains his extraordinary choice. “I saw what chaos was happening in the city: only one municipal funeral home, terrible wooden coffins, paper wreaths, satin fabrics...” He praises his goods like a master Bezenchuk from “The Twelve Chairs”: “We have only velvet on the coffins, decent wreaths, we organize funerals of the highest level.” High-level funerals in Tolyatti in the turbulent 90s turned out to be so in demand that by the mid-2000s, former worker Baiduganov was able to take his business to a fundamentally new level.

He became the first owner of a private cemetery in Russia. “Actually, this idea - to take a long-term lease of a cemetery - was not mine, but the administration’s. We have this Primorskoye cemetery, it was completely abandoned, and they began to pester me with requests: you, they say, are still nearby If you live, take it and put it in order." Baiduganov agreed. In 2005, he entered into an agreement with the local administration on the maintenance of the cemetery and the provision of funeral services for a period of 49 years, and since then, he says, he has already invested 29 million rubles in Primorskoye. “I just took out 220 cars of garbage, installed electricity, water, tiled the paths, built a chapel,” Baiduganov lists. Since the cemetery is in fact private, but formally municipal, he cannot sell the land for burial as such and continues to make money from providing funeral services (the average cost of a burial is 19-25 thousand rubles). There were even more plans: Baiduganov wanted to build the first crematorium in the region, but then the administration demanded that it be transferred to the ownership of the city, and the project did not take place.

“There is a lot to fight in this business,” Baiduganov complains. “I have been fighting against trafficking in dead bodies for many years - this is when doctors and police take bribes from funeral services and leak the necessary information to them.” Baiduganov himself does not need such methods of work thanks to the successful marketing move he came up with - the creation of the non-profit partnership “Unified City Ritual Information Center”, which, however, provides information specifically about the Requiem funeral home.

“For this, my competitors even attacked me once and beat me severely. There is a lot of crime in business, and the methods are appropriate,” says Baiduganov. He does not consider his business particularly profitable, believing that the money invested in Primorskoye will return to him only in ten years. Now, if the plots could be sold, then it would be a different matter. Nevertheless, the profit from this business has already allowed him to build another - a tile and brick production plant. Part of the tiles is used, again, for the arrangement of the graveyard.

Divide and bury

The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has been dreaming for many years to eradicate the evils of the funeral business, making this business more market-based and less state-owned. Among other innovations proposed by the department is the creation of private cemeteries. Amendments to the law with the gloomy title “On Burial and Funeral Business” were recently submitted to the government.

The entrepreneur Baiduganov was ahead of his time with his cemetery, and this, of course, has a deep philosophical meaning, which is what we are telling him about. Rafael Ivanovich promises to think about this at his leisure (while he was working on garbage and tiles, there was no time), but says that these amendments are “like a poultice for a dead person.” The FAS sees the main recipe for ridding the market of crime in the division of areas of activity between companies: some service cemeteries, others provide funeral services. But Baiduganov has everything together, and he doesn’t want to share it at all.

Officially, according to special government regulations, only outstanding citizens can be buried at Vagankovsky, but in fact, anyone can be buried for $150 thousand

Photo: Vasily Shaposhnikov, Kommersant

Obviously, other market players don’t want this either. The Moscow market, for example, since Luzhkov’s times has been moving precisely in the direction of merging the state with the existing very specific business. The former head of the Moscow consumer market and services department, Vladimir Malyshkov, told Dengi that it was thanks to the strengthening of the role of the state that crime was eliminated from cemeteries. This role was strengthened in the following way: two dozen funeral agencies were obliged to transfer blocking blocks of their shares to the State Unitary Enterprise Ritual, and this State Unitary Enterprise manages all cemeteries belonging to Moscow (59 of them inside the Moscow Ring Road, 12 outside), in addition, it owns crematoriums and workshops , own transport fleet.

“There is no more crime in this business,” says Malyshkov. “And what did they do before us? They sat in cemeteries... They identified where the graves were ownerless, where relatives were not caring for them, and resold these plots. We stopped all this, trained professional personnel "We are in complete control of the situation."

The current head of the State Unitary Enterprise Ritual, Egorov, assures that control has not become weaker since then: “Due to the density of burials in Moscow cemeteries, digging graves can only be entrusted to professionals: only State Unitary Enterprise employees do this. We have changed the approach to both people and working conditions - there is no longer a drunken navvy with a gold chain around his neck."

But no one really seems to believe in the victory won by the state over crime in cemeteries. Even the State Unitary Enterprise “Ritual”, designed to symbolize this victory, posted on its website an article by Archpriest Gennady Belovolov, which states that only the church can defeat crime in cemeteries. For a cemetery monopolist, a church is certainly preferable to a market, but the Moscow authorities seem to be gradually leaning towards the market.

Last week, the Moscow City Duma adopted a law obliging the State Unitary Enterprise Ritual to sell the shares of ritual companies obtained through Malyshkov’s efforts. Of course, such exotic innovations as private cemeteries are still a long way off, and there is not yet much interest from business in this topic. “Investment in the creation of a new cemetery in a large city will amount to about 400 million rubles. And the return on money will take decades. Few people will want to wait for its payback. Companies will skim the cream and declare bankruptcy,” says Andrei Tsvetnov, director of the Corporation of Funeral Enterprise Managers. But significant changes in the market will still occur. There is a high probability that, thanks to the initiatives of the FAS and the Moscow authorities, next year in Moscow the management of cemeteries and funeral services will be separated.

Zhirinovsky's grave

This is certainly a good thing for Muscovites. The shadow trade in land in cemeteries has grown to gigantic proportions in recent years. According to expert estimates, the annual turnover of the Moscow funeral services market is 10 billion rubles, and market growth exceeds 10% per year, and not due to an increase in mortality (it is decreasing by a couple of percent per year), but due to increased prices . “We have everything turned upside down,” says Timofey Nizhegorodtsev, head of the department for control of the social sphere and trade of the Federal Antimonopoly Service. “All over the world, the main money in the funeral services market comes from the maintenance of graves, and in our case it comes from their sale.”

The official position boils down to the following: places in cemeteries are provided free of charge, but in reality burials are only possible in related graves after the sanitary period has expired (13.5 years). Free burials at the moment, according to the information of the State Unitary Enterprise "Ritual", are possible only at one Perepechinsky cemetery (Solnechnogorsk district of the Moscow region) and generally impossible at Novodevichy and Vagankovsky (the ban is lifted for the burial of prominent people by special government orders). However, on the black market, anything is possible.

The creation of an SRO in the funeral services market should lead to a civilized market and a reduction in the number of its participants

The cost of the cheapest plots in regional cemeteries starts from 5-6 thousand rubles. (Novobogorodskoye cemetery, Noginsky district), and on Khovanskoye (1.5 km from the Moscow Ring Road) the plot is already sold for 150 thousand rubles. The most expensive ones are on Vagankovsky. The price of a grave here corresponds to the cost of an apartment - from $100-150 thousand for a plot closer to the fence. The purchase of plots occurs under the guise of payment for services. For example, State Duma Vice-Speaker Vladimir Zhirinovsky, as he himself claims, completely free of charge obtained a resolution from the Moscow government to allocate a plot of land at the Troekurovskoye cemetery (“I really wanted to go to Novodevichye, but they didn’t allow it, apparently I don’t belong to the elite,” bitterly Zhirinovsky joked), but he officially paid 2 million rubles for the “services”. The grave was decorated with marble, and the vice speaker intends for now to rebury the remains of his father Wolf Eidelstein from a cemetery in Israel and his grandmother, buried in Kazakhstan.

“In the simplest cemeteries within the administrative borders of Moscow, the price starts from 700 thousand rubles, but they will write you a receipt, of course, for fifteen thousand. Everything will go to the black cash register,” one of the funeral agencies explained to Denga. For resale, the Moscow government and the State Unitary Enterprise Ritual have come up with a complex system of euphemisms that quite officially allow one to bypass existing burial restrictions. The same "Ritual" does not sell land in the cemetery - it sells the arrangement of future graves: work on landscaping the burial site, installing a plinth, fencing, etc. "Our land is free, people buy services - drainage, cleaning, preparation for the installation of a monument" ,” Egorov clarifies the complex terminology.

Another official way to obtain a place in a Moscow cemetery is guardianship over an abandoned burial site. Such burials in old cemeteries range from 7% to 15%. The new owner must restore the monument, and write the name from the previous burial on the back side, so that relatives, if they suddenly show up, can find the grave.

Finally, the graves of relatives are sold. For this purpose, a completely legal mechanism has also been developed for transferring the right of lifelong lease or transferring the right of responsibility for the burial place - this is especially true for prestigious historical cemeteries in the center of Moscow.

You can't buy peace

While the market conceived by the FAS can theoretically correct the situation with the sale of places in cemeteries, the main problem—“trade in dead bodies”—seems to be impossible to solve with any amendments.

“Recently, a woman complained that in the first hour after her husband’s death, 15 agents called her. The calls began immediately after the ambulance doctor arrived and ended only when she turned off the phone,” says Alexey Suloev, deputy head of the department of consumer market and services of the Moscow government.

““Black agents” graze not only in morgues - financial relations connect them with the police, doctors, firefighters, and the average cost of each “drain” is estimated at about 10 thousand rubles. It happens that each of the departments involved in these relations lobby the interests of their agents: doctors in their own ways, the police in their own,” one of the market participants describes the mechanism for selling information.

“In addition to causing moral suffering to relatives, the commercial sale of information from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and from ambulances is one of the reasons for the increase in the cost of funerals,” says Alexander Egorov, general director of the State Unitary Enterprise Ritual. According to Alexey Suloev, the price inflated by “black agents” is 200%, and they occupy up to 30% of the market.

However, the FAS still has hope that market mechanisms, although not completely and not completely, will correct this imbalance - mainly through the emergence of self-regulatory organizations (SROs). “To begin with, legislative requirements for participants in the funeral services market will be spelled out,” says Andrey Tsvetnov. “Each funeral agency must have a certain number of premises, transport, qualified personnel. Today there are many such players who deliver loaves to stores in the morning, then "They carry the dead in transport, and draw up contracts on the windowsill. They will leave the market. This, of course, will not stop the entire system of selling information, but there will at least be fewer buyers."

To organize a funeral quickly, taking into account all the details and paperwork, the easiest way is to contact a funeral agency. There are specialists working there who know exactly the procedure, will offer to organize a funeral dinner, book a place in the cemetery, transport relatives, select a coffin and wreaths, and prepare the body of the deceased. This is precisely the opinion formed by ordinary people who, in grief, turn to professionals for help.

But if you look at the situation from the other side, is it so difficult to organize a funeral business? And how soon can you receive income? If these questions interest you, then you will be interested in reading the business plan for a standard funeral home. The starting investment will be 1,920,000 rubles. It is planned to receive these funds on credit. Full payback of the business is expected within 24 months. Payment of interest on the loan will be made from the first month of operation. Repayment of loan funds will also be paid monthly from the date of opening. During this time, the business will reach a stable level and make a profit.

Possible risks

When planning the organization of your agency, you should not focus on the economical option. The most budget burial will cost around 6-8 thousand rubles. This amount includes a minimum range of services. Such a plan of action will lead to minimal profits, which will allow paying the salaries of a few employees, rent and will not allow the business to develop in the future.
When recruiting staff, special attention will need to be paid to mental stability and the ability to communicate with inadequate clients. People who have lost loved ones or relatives behave somewhat unusually and require special attention. If personnel are selected incorrectly or are not trained, there will be staff turnover, which will ultimately have a negative impact on operations.

The business will be able to make a profit if clients are offered additional services, such as the production of monuments, wreaths, coffins, photographs, funeral dinners, etc. If, in the process of work, the bureau can independently provide the full range of these services, then the need to contact there will be no need for competitors. Which will ultimately increase profits.

An interesting discussion of the realities of the funeral business in Russia can be seen in the video:

Pre-opening plan

Preparing for the opening may take one to two months. During this time, it is necessary to resolve financial, organizational and personnel issues.

You need to start with . You can choose a form (simplified taxation system) with an interest rate of 6% of annual profit. By registering with the state registrar, registering with the tax office and reporting your activities to the administration, you can begin your activities. It is worth considering that an LLC, as a legal entity, must have letterheads and seals. Without them, it will be impossible to conclude an agreement with the client.

№	Event name	Completion time (number of days)
1.	Entry into the state register, registration with the tax and administration	30
2.	Getting a loan	1-30
3.	Finding suitable premises, concluding a lease agreement	1-30
4.	Room design	40
5.	Search and training of personnel	45
6.	Purchase of equipment and consumables	30
7.	Equipment installation	10
8.	Conducting a marketing campaign	20

Selecting a location

After registration begins, you should begin searching for a suitable premises. In a city with a population of about 700,000 inhabitants, it is better to look a place near a cemetery or morgue. If this segment is busy, pay attention to the central part of the city. A detached building with an area of at least 200 square meters is suitable. m. In this space it is necessary to equip an office, a showroom, a farewell hall for the deceased, and a room for preparing the body.

The premises must comply with sanitary and fire safety standards, must be equipped with communications and a good ventilation system. The building must be located at a distance of 50 m from residential buildings, hospitals, schools, kindergartens, etc.

It will be convenient if there is a small parking lot nearby that can accommodate clients’ cars or a hearse.

Financial plan

It is planned that the bureau will provide services for organizing funerals and selling its own products, such as coffins, wreaths and monuments. The average number of services provided per month in a city with a population of 700,000 inhabitants will be within 100 units.

The cost of services provided in the second year of the project will be slightly higher than in the first year. This is due to the promotion of the enterprise, the expansion of the list of services, as well as the natural increase in market prices for consumables.

Project implementation time	Services list	Cost, rub.)	Number of services per month	Amount (rub.)
Result for 2 years:				35 491 392
1 year	Funeral arrangements	8000	100	800 000
	Sale of funeral items	1000	100	100 000
Gross income for the year:				900 000*12=10 800 000
Income including taxes (6%)				10 152 000
2 year	Organization of funerals, provision of hearse services	10720	120	1 286 400
	Sales of coffins and monuments of our own production	8000	120	960 000
Gross income for the year:				2 246 400*12=26 956 800
Income including taxes (6%)				25 339 392

Start-up costs

To start a business, you need an amount of 1,920,000 rubles, which is planned to be spent on purchasing equipment, renting premises and other organizational events:

Expense item	Quantity	Cost, rub.)
Total:		1 920 000
Rent of premises 200 sq. m.	1 building	50 000
Deposit for rent for 1 month.	-	50 000
Room design	2 rooms	400 000
Paperwork	-	10 000
Purchase of equipment	10 pieces.	1 370 000
	-	150 000
Website development, hosting payment	1 PC.	50 000
Purchasing a hearse	1 PC.	313 000
Payment for fuel and lubricants	200 l	7000
other expenses	-	20 000

Fixed expenses

Loan repayments will be made from the first month of operation of the bureau and will be the same for 24 months. The monthly contribution amount will be 101,512.51 rubles, 1,218,150.12 rubles will be paid for a year, and 2,436,300.24 rubles for two years. The overpayment of interest will be 516,300.16 rubles.

Also, a constant cost item will be the payment of salaries to 10 employees, which with insurance contributions will amount to 390 thousand rubles. per month. In total, fixed expenses for the year will amount to 8,345.35 thousand rubles.

Expense item	Per month (RUB)	per year (rub.)	for 2 years (rub.)
Total:		8 345 350,12	16 683 700,24
Loan payment	101 512,51	1 218 150,12	2 436 300,24
Payroll 10 employees	390 000	4 680 000	9 360 000
Including insurance contributions on wages	103 350	1 240 200	2 480 400
Payment for rent of premises	50 000	600 000	1 200 000
Purchasing consumables	50 000	600 000	1 200 000
Purchase of fuels and lubricants	7000	7000	7000

Equipment

It is planned that the bureau will provide the following services:

organization of burial of the deceased;
production of wreaths;
preparing the body of the deceased for burial;
production of coffins (second year of operation of the bureau);
provision of hearse services;
digging a grave and installing a monument;
organization of musical accompaniment and funeral dinner.

Services such as the funeral dinner and the work of musicians will be paid for according to the contract for the work performed. The production of coffins is planned to be established in the second year of operation, wreaths will be produced from the first year.

1,370,000 rubles will be spent on the purchase of furniture and special equipment.

To produce wreaths, you will need to purchase the following equipment:

breaking machine;
winding machine;
irons;
scissors, needles, awl.

The list of standard equipment will include office furniture, air conditioners, tables, and bayonet shovels. There are also plans to buy your own hearse. Bus rental will be paid separately and included in the total amount of the order.

To organize a workshop for the production of coffins, you will need to buy carpentry tools and agree on the supply of materials.

If the business expands, it will be necessary to rent another premises to organize a workshop for the production of monuments and tombstones. This option is possible after achieving self-sufficiency and two years of profitable operation of the bureau. Purchasing specialized equipment for making granite and concrete monuments will be quite expensive.

Personnel

Recruitment will be carried out without the involvement of specialists. The staff will include 10 people:

The monthly wage fund will be 390 thousand rubles.

Project Summary

Start-up costs amounted to 1,920,000 rubles and were obtained on a loan at 24% per annum. The loan will be repaid within two years and the total with interest will be 2,436,300.24. The loan repayment is included in fixed monthly expenses, which over two years amounted to 16,683,700.24 rubles. Total 18,603,700.24 rubles will be spent on organizing and running a business over 2 years.

The profit received over two years, taking into account taxes, will be 35,491,392 rubles. Taking into account all expenses net profit for two years will be 16,887,691.76 rubles. This amount will allow us to expand the bureau’s fleet of vehicles, as well as purchase new equipment for making monuments.

Now in Russia , alas, there are often problems with burial. Namely, it can be difficult to bury our loved ones the way we want. And the point here is not only about material capabilities (although that too), but also about the fact that in our great and truly huge country there is beginning to be a catastrophic shortage of convenient areas for cemeteries. It started back V the middle of the last century. By the way, it was then that, due to problems with good burial sites, the now very persistent tradition of fencing off designated family plots arose. So they began to visually separate “ours” from “theirs,” thus saving the issued land from anyone’s claims to it.

The problem of lack of good (and convenient) burial grounds has been and continues to be particularly acute. V cities, even relatively small, county ones. Here is a very real example. Some of my relatives live from one of my deceased grandmothers V a small town in the Voronezh province. They have 2 there cemeteries – both are out of town But V relative availability. The old one, located next to a residential neighborhood, is already closed to new burials. They bury people there only in existing family plots. The new, operating one was opened further away - near the landfill for processing household waste. The place, frankly speaking, is not trump card at all. But now the townspeople are happy that there are still places on it. However, they are filling up at an alarming rate.

Private cemeteries V Russiaand other countries.

My brother told me that he had recently buried a friend. Just six months ago there was emptiness around the fresh grave - only a dirt road passed there. A week ago, my brother visited the grave and was amazed: around it there was literally an area densely “populated” with the deceased. Apparently, invisibly fresh graves. They say that in just a year the area for new burials will be completely closed, and the next cemetery will be opened very far away - 28 kilometers from the city. It’s terrible, but nothing can be done: there are simply no lands closer to the sanitary standards. How to get there if you don’t have a car? How much time and effort will people have to spend visiting and caring for expensive graves?

And this is the story of a small town. A V regional centers and even more so in megacities, old prestigious cemeteries , located within the city, have been overcrowded for a long time and are considered closed. That is You can bury there, but only very close relatives Vold family graves, and even with special permission. Or for quite a lot of money, and the amount is set (legally or not) by financially interested persons from the administration cemeteries . It is often determined completely arbitrarily, so it is difficult to calculate and plan in advance. IN In Moscow, the cost of a place in a prestigious churchyard generally starts from 150 thousand rubles. These circumstances explain the great interest of Russians in the idea private cemeteries , which could solve at least some of the emerging problems.

What do they callprivate cemeteryand what it might look like.

Actually, uh that's quite normal cemetery, but much more civilized and well-groomed than most municipal. At private In churchyards, crematoriums, columbariums, and complexes for funeral ceremonies are often built; chapels and other temples are always erected, V where you can sing the funeral service for the deceased and pray for his soul, light candles, and order a liturgy. These work cemeteries in accordance with burial legislation and other regulations of the state in whose territory they are established.

From neighboring countriesprivate cemeteries

is on Ukraine and VKazakhstan, but they not quite traditional. I mean, their existence and work cannot be considered completely legal. This is especially true for Ukraine, on whose territory such graveyards arise spontaneously. There are them near Kiev, Zaporozhye, in the west of the country. And here V Their presence and operation are not regulated in any way by state legislation. The Rada (Ukrainian legislative body) is just about to adopt law on private cemeteries. However, this does not prevent these Ukrainian necropolises from looking luxurious, since only wealthy people can buy places on them from the owners of the territory. Such pleasure is quite expensive, and an annual contribution for improvement is also required. But the graves are provided with year-round care, they are guarded, you can buy a place for a family tomb and even a ready-made crypt.

IN Kazakhstan in last years state cemeteries are transferred to privatehands - to the companies that won the relevant tender. Of course, businessmen are not interested in the mazars (graves) that are located V bare steppe (such cemeteries in majority in the country), and city churchyards V Almaty, Aktobe and so on. New owners bring territory V order, they set prices for renting plots and for all sorts of services - organizing funerals, arranging and cleaning the territory, ensuring security and other benefits. By the way, prices are rising significantly, which causes V Kazakh society is indignant. After all Former city cemeteries are becoming private, where everyone used to be buried - both rich and poor. Now people with low incomes are suffering due to the exorbitant costs of maintaining graves.

IN European Union sameprivate cemeteries– it’s quite common. There, municipalities ensure that a certain social justice reigns in their territories. For example, my second cousin from Riga, Latvia, recently buried her husband at the first funeral in Latvia private churchyard. It was opened there at the beginning of the two thousandth. So it has premium and VIP class areas with luxurious monuments, crypts, smooth lawns and plants from the botanical garden. And there are economical areas where there are standard steles, but the same cleanliness and well-groomed conditions reign. You can even buy expensive places V installments for 2 years. Payment for the maintenance of the grave is made every year. But if V After 5 years of no money being received for the plot, the monument is removed and the mound is leveled. Business – and nothing personal.

IN Russia

unfortunately, for now legally and officially open such cemeteryit is forbidden. This no idea at all in the Federal Law“On burial and funeral business” (No. 8-FZ of January 12, 1996), which today regulates everything. But it is known that the Duma has long been discussing (with varying success) the new bill “On burial and funeral business.” It suggests the possibility of opening private cemeteries . This initiative is still V In 2003, it was submitted for consideration by the Antimonopoly Committee, concerned about the unimportant state of affairs V ritual Russian business.

However, the adoption of the law is constantly postponed due to all sorts of disagreements and emerging contradictions. For example, legislators fear that graves located on private lands may actually become the property of the owners or tenants of such cemeteries . In addition, many amendments need to be made in parallel V Land Code of the Russian Federation and many other legislative acts. So V in the best case, licensing for funeral business and the opportunity to make investments to cemeteries some individual entrepreneurs may receive (and not soon) V Moscow and St. Petersburg. This will be like a pilot project that will show in practice all the pros and cons of existence private cemeteries in Russia.

About rumors.

It is known from various sources that, according to the new bill, to open private cemetery in Russia It will be necessary not only to obtain a license and win a bid for a plot of land suitable for a churchyard. Besides, a number of agreements will be required: with environmental services, with sanitary and epidemiological supervision, with morgues and municipal funeral services. IN in general, to collect a huge package of documents and approvals.

These graveyards will be located on lands specially designated for burial. Their the arrangement must also comply with the specified standards. There it is necessary to provide economical and expensive areas for people with different financial capabilities, as well as places for burying ashes in the urn (including columbar wall), and for traditional funerals. Mandatory criteria for opening such cemeteries there will be a ritual hall and appropriate amenities (paved and landscaped alleys, water supply systems, lighting, and so on). Sami burial plots are supposed to be given to those who wish Vlease for a period of 25 years with the possibility of subsequent extension. A certain amount of money will be charged for rent - a one-time fee. And for maintaining the territory - another, annual fee. And, of course, such cemeteries will offer all kinds of ritual services: burial, making and installing a monument, additional improvement of the grave, and others.

Despite the absence of the necessary law, V Russia still has several small cemeteries, which can also be called private in a certain sense.. Although they are presented as municipal enterprises. One of them is located V Kostroma region. It was still open V 2004, the owner of a funeral home. He got the land V lease for 49 years from the local municipality and operates in agreement with all city authorities. Second private cemetery in Tolyatti It is part of the city churchyard, given to an individual entrepreneur. He invested significantly under the terms of a public-private partnership. IN As a result, the businessman gained control over the old territory cemetery, which he brought to order, partially redesigned and equipped the VIP category family plots there. Not free, of course. However, those wishing to rest the remains of their relatives there are not transferred.

IN In general, our horse (as usual when it comes to entrepreneurship) goes before the cart. But what to do if the cart slows down, and the demand is not only there, it’s literally enormous? Of course, different opinions can be expressed on this topic. On the one hand, illegal business is bad and leads to chaos and corruption. On the other hand, we already have enough corruption in this area. It simply cannot but exist given the severe shortage of good cemeteries and places on them. Representatives of all kinds of municipal unitary enterprises and state unitary enterprises take advantage of these circumstances and pump money out of them. Bribes, bribes, bribes. So I am for private cemeteries appeared with us as quickly as possible, and I consider the existing versions of their work to be a good thing.

How the project was launched

The history of pomnim.pro began in 2007, when his grandmother came to Mikhail Sverdlov, a student from Nizhny Novgorod, and said that she could not find her aunt’s grave. Mikhail tried to find the burial place himself, but he was unsuccessful. He turned to the cemetery staff for help, but it turned out that the records they kept were difficult to correlate with the actual layout of the area. Then Mikhail had the idea to create a catalog of burials and give users free access to it.

Together with a group of like-minded people, he walked around the Jewish cemeteries of Nizhny Novgorod, and a year later the database included 7.5 thousand burials. Mikhail launched a website with which one could find out for free where a particular person was buried. The project was called “Le Dor Va Dor,” which translates from Hebrew as “from generation to generation.”

To develop the service, funds were required, but Mikhail did not want to attract sponsors, so he began offering grave care services to site users. It turned out that it worked: the visitor found the desired burial for free, and then for money he could order cleaning, painting of the fence or repair of the monument. Just two months later, the project, in which 20 thousand rubles were invested, reached self-sufficiency and covered all start-up costs.

By 2014, the Le Dor Va Dor database contained hundreds of thousands of records of Jewish burials in 44 cemeteries in the CIS, and Mikhail received several hundred orders every month. The founder of the service decided that it was time to cover all cemeteries without religious affiliation. It was then that he met Alexei Volodeev, who at that time was hatching the idea of the Rip 24 website, an aggregator of reviews about ritual goods and services. Two entrepreneurs teamed up and in 2015 launched the pomnim.pro service - the “Uber” for cemeteries, as they call it.

How does it work

The basis of the project is the burial database, which is open to all visitors to the site. During the winter of 2015/2016, Mikhail’s team cataloged three large metropolitan cemeteries: Vostryakovskoye, Kuzminskoye and Lyublinskoye. (Another 10 Moscow cemeteries will be available on the website until the end of 2016.) The database partially includes graves in Russian cities with a population of over a million, as well as cemeteries in Belarus and Ukraine. In addition, the project is now starting to work in Hungary and Latvia.

The founders of pomnim.pro claim that they publish information on the site legally, since the inscriptions on grave monuments are publicly available information. As for the ethical side of the issue, Mikhail is sure: his site only helps people better know their roots.

Having found the desired grave in the database, the user can order care for it. However, if the burial is not listed in the catalogue, but you still know where your relative is buried, the service staff will be able to find the grave. According to Mikhail, they work throughout Russia, where there is access to the Internet.

The service offers several service packages. A one-time cleaning in Moscow costs 2,900 rubles: for this money, pomnim.pro workers will water the flowers, wash the fence, clear the area of debris and leaves and give you recommendations for further care. The most expensive set (9,900 rubles) adds to all this planting flowers and painting or polishing the fence.
In addition, some services can be ordered separately. As practice shows, the greatest demand is for a subscription for several cleanings, restoring the letters on the monument, painting the fence, ordering a memorial prayer and laying flowers. If the client is not interested in caring for the grave, but in installing a monument or fence, pomnim.pro employees turn to service partners for help.

The company promises that the order will be completed in 14 days, although the work usually takes less than a week. So that the client can control the process, he receives a letter with photographs and a report with comments and tips for further care.

Now the creators of the project receive several hundred orders a month. They are often approached by those who live in other cities or countries and cannot come to care for graves. About 30% of users are people who do not have enough time to monitor the burials of relatives. In addition, the company receives orders from elderly clients who find it difficult to come to the cemetery.

The pomnim.pro team hires performers on a piecework basis. As a rule, students, pensioners and freelancers do the cleaning. The project has already formed a core of workers in cities, where there is always a large flow of orders. In other parts of Russia, graves are cared for by partner services or people found through message boards, YouDo and advertisements on social networks.

The founders of the service position it as a project that primarily helps preserve the memory of loved ones. In addition, part of the profits is spent on caring for abandoned graves and socially significant initiatives. This year, pomnim.pro launched a campaign to clean up the graves of veterans and home front workers. On the website you could select a grave that required care and then publish a report. Mikhail hopes that in this way the project volunteers will be able to save abandoned burial grounds from destruction.
As for the b2b sector, the pomnim.pro team has developed the “Open Cemetery” system, which allows ritual organizations to automate their business processes. In addition, the service team is engaged in inventorying cemeteries for municipalities.

Income and expenses

2 million rubles of own funds and 800 thousand received from the Internet Initiatives Development Fund were invested in the project. Now Mikhail and his partner are finalizing a deal to attract investments, but they have not yet disclosed the details.

Typically, the company receives about 70% of the profit from the check amount. The remaining 30% goes to attracting a client, paying for the office and directly paying for cleaning. If the client contacts pomnim.pro not for the first time, then the profit is 85–90% of the check amount. The service has not yet reached self-sufficiency: according to the project founder, this should happen early next year.

Plans

The creators of the service hope that by 2018 the database will be replenished with data on all cemeteries within the Moscow Ring Road, and by 2020 the project will cover the entire Moscow region. As for the provision of grave care services, the company plans to receive 3,000 orders per month by the end of the year.
In addition, the pomnim.pro team is going to open offices in Ukraine, Moldova, Kazakhstan and Belarus and expand through franchising.

Business rules of Mikhail Sverdlov

Money spoils

“In order to test an idea, make a minimal product that can be sold, and set up channels, you don’t need money. You don’t need to hire a crowd of developers, sales staff, or pay yourself hundreds of thousands in salaries. All you have to do is go outside and talk to someone you consider your client. If you sell the idea, understand who your buyer is, then the product will sell when you make it.”

Organizing your own business will allow you to gain not only financial freedom. There will be no dependence on the authorities. Any person who becomes an entrepreneur is responsible to himself. You just have to think about what is the best thing to do.

Private cemeteries in world practice

On the one hand, the idea of creating a business to provide a final refuge is very logical. However, world practice shows that the solution to this issue is ambiguous.

Even in the New World and Europe a hundred years ago, the existence of private cemeteries was common.

At present, such an idea is clearly not welcomed by the authorities. Why is this happening? The fact is that many years of experience in running such a business have shown that privatization inevitably entails many problems associated with landscaping, as well as the right of ownership of graves located on a given territory.

Private cemeteries in Russia

Currently, the places where the final resting places are located are under the authority of the municipality. How to open a private cemetery? Today in Russia such business is contrary to current legislation. However, the Antimonopoly Federal Service has already made a proposal to change regulations.

There is a possibility that a number of legislative acts will still be amended, and private graveyards will appear on the territory of the Russian Federation. It is assumed that land plots will be allocated for them, leased for forty-nine years. According to experts, this will reduce the cost of funeral procedures. Once the lease expires, the cemetery will not be demolished. The authorities will conclude a new agreement on the use of the land plot for another forty-nine years.

Burial of pets

How to open a private cemetery until amendments to existing legislation have been adopted? Currently, a business idea for burying pets is being implemented in Russia. This problem is relevant not only for city residents. It also worries the population of rural areas.

Today, an increasing number of people keep animals in their city apartments. Pets often become practically members of the family. However, their life expectancy is much shorter than that of humans. The death of an animal turns out to be a tragic event for the owner. In addition, the burial of the animal becomes a big problem. It is impossible to do this within the city limits, and hardly anyone would dare to throw a dead pet into the trash.

Business idea

Currently, private cemeteries for pets exist near the capital. However, in the regions there are still many empty niches for such activities. Using this idea will not be difficult. At the same time, you can receive good dividends.

First steps

In order to organize your own business for burying pets, you will need to draw up a business plan for the cemetery. This document should develop basic provisions regarding the provision of such services. First of all, a cemetery business plan is a document in which it is necessary to reflect the criteria for choosing a land plot.

This should be an area located either within the city or on its outskirts, but away from residential buildings. This stage is the most difficult, because it is necessary to select a site that is not of particular value to the city authorities. After this, you will need to sign a lease agreement.

Landscaping

The business plan for the cemetery should include putting the leased plot in order. Landscaping will consist of marking the area for buildings. For advertising purposes, you will need to arrange four to five graves.
The cemetery where pets will be buried must have the following:

A wall for cremated pets, which will be a brick structure divided into square meters -
- “Walk of Fame” for especially distinguished animals, who during their lifetime were rescuers, circus performers, etc.-
- economy and VIP class areas for clients with different financial capabilities -
- a service center for those owners who want to order a coffin, photo medallion, cemetery monuments and other ritual accessories for their deceased pets.

Initial Investment

How to open a cemetery? You will need a certain amount of initial capital. Cash investments are needed to pay for the rented land plot. The amount of this amount directly depends on the region in which the private cemetery is located. There will also be costs associated with landscaping the area. Their size can range from one hundred fifty to three hundred thousand rubles. To promote your business you will need advertising (prepare about ten thousand rubles).

What documents will be needed?

A pet cemetery business plan should include all the preparatory paperwork. A license to conduct this activity is not required. However, before starting work, it is necessary to conclude a number of agreements with environmental services, with sanitary and epidemiological supervision, as well as with the animal disease control station.

A deceased pet is subject to mandatory examination by a veterinarian. In addition, all services must be provided in compliance with existing anti-epizootic measures. Even transportation carried out in special vehicles requires special certificate number three.

A prerequisite for this business is the daily disinfection of vehicles providing zoo-ritual services. Once a month, a specialist from the veterinary station should be invited. He will carry out a complete disinfection of vehicles.

List of services provided

Foreign experience shows that you can earn a good income by opening a pet ritual business. A pet sematary should make a good profit. Its specific dimensions will depend on the list of services provided. The main income of such cemeteries is generated from the amounts paid for rented cemetery space. A significant portion will be payment for the funeral services provided.

Cemetery prices in Moscow for one grave start from five thousand rubles per year. Owners whose pet's ashes are placed in the wall contribute a little less. The annual fee for a place is three thousand rubles. A grave located on the Walk of Fame is much more expensive. Here you will need to pay fifteen thousand rubles a year for one place.

If your company delivers animal corpses to a cemetery, you will need special transport equipped with a refrigeration chamber. The transportation fee will vary depending on the mileage.

You can build a building on the territory of the cemetery, equipping it with a cremation oven. If there is no financial opportunity, this can be done by a veterinary clinic, with which an appropriate agreement must be concluded. The cost of services provided by the crematorium will be about eight thousand rubles. This rate is set for individual burning of ashes.

The profitability of your business will also depend on the range of services of the service center, which can produce monuments and portraits of their beloved pets upon the owners’ orders.

It would be advisable to open an animal shelter not far from the cemetery. In it, the owners will be able to find a new friend. A veterinary hospital could also be built at the cemetery, which would provide services for euthanizing old and sick animals.

Now you can calculate the profitability of the pet ritual business. By renting burial sites, an amount from three hundred to five hundred thousand rubles per year will be received from every hundred clients. Providing funeral services will bring income from 0.5 to 1.5 million rubles. The services of the service center will allow you to charge clients from two hundred to seven hundred and fifty thousand rubles. Thus, the annual income will be from 1 to 2.75 million rubles.