Torque Precision Auto Business Plan — Implementation Roadmap

The five phases from establishment to consolidation, critical dependencies, conditions precedent to drawdown and what stops if each phase fails.

Implementation Roadmap

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14.1 Development programme
14.2 Critical dependencies
14.3 Conditions precedent to drawdown
14.4 What each phase costs and what stops if it fails

Figure 24. Implementation roadmap — fill the bays you have before you build the bays you want.

14.1 Development programme

Phase	Months	Activities	Gate
1. Establish	1 to 5	Register the company and secure tax compliance; sign the lease on correctly zoned premises; fit out four bays; install diagnostic platform and management system; recruit the workshop manager and first four technicians; apply for RMI and MIWA membership	Four bays operational; accreditation application submitted
2. Build the book	4 to 12	Open with retail servicing; launch local marketing; pursue first two fleet accounts; establish parts supply terms; begin measuring utilisation, efficiency and leakage weekly from day one	Utilisation above 55%; first fleet contract signed
3. Scale to six bays	Year 2	Add two bays and two technicians; register apprentices through merSETA; add wheel alignment; obtain insurer accreditation for mechanical claims work	Utilisation above 65%; efficiency approaching 100%
4. Reach operating profit	Year 3	Expand to eight bays; grow in-warranty share; commence principal repayment; formalise the efficiency bonus scheme	Positive EBITDA; debt service cover above 2.0
5. Consolidate	Years 4 to 5	Complete build to ten bays; drive utilisation and efficiency rather than bay count; evaluate a second site only once the first exceeds 80% utilisation	Sustained profitability; cumulative losses recovered

14.2 Critical dependencies

Dependency	What it gates	Why it cannot be accelerated
Correctly zoned premises	The lease and all fit-out	Industrial or approved commercial zoning is confirmed before signing. A workshop on incorrectly zoned premises can be closed and its lease improvements lost
Workshop manager recruited	Opening	The single most important hire. The three ratios run through this role from day one, and the plan does not open without it
Diagnostic platform and data subscriptions	In-warranty work	Manufacturer-level diagnosis and electronic service-book recording are the in-warranty proposition. Without them the workshop is an ordinary independent
RMI and MIWA membership	Fleet and insurer work	Applied for at opening; a precondition for the accounts that lift utilisation from the mid-fifties into the seventies
Two-year capital moratorium	Surviving Years 1 and 2	EBITDA is negative in both years. Principal cannot be serviced and the term must be agreed at the outset
First fleet contract	The Year 2 bay expansion	Contracted work stabilises the diary. Expanding on retail demand alone is expanding on the least predictable part of the book
Utilisation above 80% for two consecutive quarters	Each subsequent bay	The only trigger for capacity. A waiting list and a full car park are not evidence the diary is full

14.3 Conditions precedent to drawdown

14.4 What each phase costs and what stops if it fails

Phase	Cash committed	Cumulative	What is recoverable if the project stops here
1. Establish	R3 278 000	R3 278 000	Lifts, diagnostics and tools have a second-hand market; installed fit-out, solar and the WMS recover poorly. The largest sunk position in the programme
2. Build the book	R2 210 000	R5 488 000	Two years of operating losses. Nothing recoverable except the customer book and the accreditation standing
3. Scale to six	R924 000	R6 412 000	Additional lifts and alignment equipment retain value; the workshop is now a going concern with a track record
4. Operating profit	R264 000	R6 676 000	A profitable eight-bay workshop with fleet contracts and RMI standing is a saleable business
5. Consolidate	R264 000	R6 940 000	A ten-bay accredited workshop with five years of records and a technician team. Valued on sustainable earnings

The shape of that table is the reverse of most capital projects. The recoverable value is lowest after Phase 2, when the equipment has been bought and two years of losses have been carried but the diary has not yet proved itself, and it rises steadily thereafter as the workshop becomes a going concern with a book, a team and accreditation. That is why the utilisation triggers in Section 13.3 fall at Month 12 and the end of Year 2: they are the points at which the plan can still stop adding capital to a diary that is not filling.

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