The Market

Amramp® is used by four sections of the population:

1. Healthcare: is the LARGEST growth industry of the decade (U. S. Commerce Dept Summary). Residential Care is the #2 ranked growth industry. In case you haven't noticed, it seems like they want you home from the hospital the day before you arrive at the hospital.

It costs approximately $1,000 to $2,000 per day to keep you in the hospital. The healthcare system wants to provide care for lower cost, from the home. From the home, you can be scheduled out for therapy, dialysis, etc. The Amramp system can be purchased or RENTED for low cost, and quickly installed, thereby enabling the discharge and ongoing access from the home to visit healthcare facilities. 32% of home healthcare stays are less than 60 days

2. Aging: As we age, we incur infirmities, which can require us to use a wheelchair. According to the NY Times survey, 86% of persons 65 or older who own a home feel they want to remain in their homes and never move. This age group will DOUBLE to 70 million by 2030. 4% of homes in this age group now have a ramp. Today's level of home ownership is greater than ever (32.5 million homes are owned by people over 65.) According to a Harris Survey, the fastest population growth rate is in the 85+ age group. In 1998, 1.8% of the population was over 85 years of age: about 50% have substantial disabilities (climbing stairs). It is projected that by 2010, 21.1% of the population will be over 85.

There were 35 million Medicare beneficiaries in 2000, and the number will rise to 62 million by 2025. Despite an 18% rise in the population aged 65 and over between 1985 and 1995, the number of nursing home residents was up only 4% in the same period. There are several factors supporting this economic choice to remain at home. The baby boomers are financially able to provide special services like the Amramp® for their aging parents. New products (like ours), such as lifts, scooters, special bathroom and kitchen devices are emerging to make this choice possible.

Yet another Amramp benefit is the temporary modular structure. Old fashioned wood or concrete ramps are permanent home modifications. Homes permanently modified are worth less in resale than homes, which have not been modified. Removal or replacement of such permanent wood or concrete ramp structures is a costly reduction in the asset value of the home. Older folks are sensitive to the value of what they will leave to their children. Amramp® not only saves that expense, but Amramp ramps® have resale value when the family no longer needs the ramp. Permanent home modifications such as the wood or concrete ramps frequently require local building permits before construction. The building permit process frequently triggers a re-evaluation of the property and related higher (never lower) taxes.

3. Children with Disabilities: Modern medicine seems to deliver new life-sustaining miracles almost every day that allows newborns to survive. Many of these children will use a wheelchair all their lives. Our ramps will assist these children at home, in church, school, restaurants and all manner of public places. The accessibility of people in public places, by the use of ramps and the like, is documented in a civil rights law called the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act).

4. Rental Opportunities: The fourth market (approximately 45% of franchise sales) for our ramps exists with rental opportunities. This is a marketing opportunity superimposed on all the markets described above.

For example:

• When grandma comes to visit for the holidays, we can provide a ramp for the visit.
• Christopher Reeve rented three times one month as he traveled about the country for speaking engagements.
• Harvard and schools all over America rent ramps for graduation to allow students who use wheelchairs to get their diploma at the same time as other students.
• The US Navy rented a 244' ramp for the weekend to allow on-board access for former sailors of the JFK aircraft carrier who use wheelchairs, to join a reunion of their comrades. There was not a dry eye in the house.


Often times, people need wheelchairs for a short amount of time. If you rent the Amramp for less than 5-6 months, it will save significantly over the purchase and construction of a conventional wood or concrete ramp. If you break your leg skiing or have a knee or hip replacement, the period of wheelchair use might only be a few weeks. A permanent ramp makes no sense.

You should also consider these features of our franchise offering:

• Amramp® has received US Patent # 5,740,575.
• We believe we are currently the low cost provider of ramps with rails and turns in
the US today.
• We will endeavor to remain in this position.
• It is our intent to vertically integrate new products or distribution of existing products into our franchise system. This will give you the opportunity to increase your revenue and profits to our franchise organization.

A Dignified Career

This is a business opportunity that will allow you a dignified career.

Your partnership with us will have a meaningful impact on people's lives. Do you really consider being another sub shop operator, burger flipper, donut or pizza person or a janitorial service a respectable, meaningful career?

The Amramp® franchise partnership offers you a career with a real future. See the U S Dept of Labor statistics attached. We are addressing the #1, #2, # 4, #8 and #9 growth opportunities identified.

Competition. Ours is a unique patented product. Food based franchises occur on every corner. There are at least 3,000 opportunities in franchising. How many are unique and universal in nature? The Amramp® is distinct from the 3,000.

The need for what we offer is extremely stable. You can't say that about many franchise offerings. Consider the following:

• Fast Food is subject to the changes in America's health consciousness.
• Could hamburgers and meat in the fast food industry be impacted if mad cow disease shows up in the USA?
• We hear warnings about star marked corn. Is milk (ice cream and cheese - pizza) that is produced from cows with altered genes to aid production, going to be an issue in America's consciousness?
• Remember cigarettes and liquors? Who would have imagined that change in people's perception?
• The automotive repair industry has been affected by the new development of ABS brakes and better bumpers; ask you body shop.
• How about an employment agency franchise during a prolonged recession when no one is hiring?

The most assured trend imaginable is based on our aging and our condition as human beings.

Many patients live alone, often veterans in rental properties where a permanent ramp is not possible. In these cases the Amramp® systems provide a lifeline for emergency egress in case of fire. Because we fill this need we have been awarded a pre-negotiated national supply (no bid) contract by the VA (Veterans Administration).

Multi unit rental housing sometimes has to accommodate tenants with special needs. Permanent wood or concrete ramps once were the only option. Now any housing units can become immediately available when necessary. Any housing unit can immediately become wheelchair entry accessible with the easily set up Amramp®.

• There are 16.3 million people who are non-ambulatory in the USA (2000 The Wall St Journal)
• According to the Boston Globe (June 2002), 1 in 200 people in the USA uses a wheelchair.

The Emergence of Federal Regulation.

In August of 1990 the federal government passed the Americans with Disabilities Act. The act insures that all public facilities be accessible and barrier free to all individuals.

Known as the Americans with Disabilities Act or ADA, it has the potential for far reaching impact on building owners, managers and tenants.

The ADA is not a building code: rather, it is a civil rights act. The owner, landlord, or tenant of a building or other party found to be in violation may be required to compensate the injured party, to correct the non-conformance, and may be subjected to fines up to $50,000 for the first violation and $100,000 for subsequent violations.

The public accommodations and commercial facilities portion of the ADA became effective on January 26, 1992. The public accommodations section specifically applies to any person who owns, leases to, or operates a place of public accommodation, and applies to both landlords and tenants. It is up to the landlord and tenant to come to an agreement regarding an allocation of responsibility.

Our ramp production facility has specialized in the manufacturing technology used in the Amramp® and has responded to the requirements of the ADA.

Consider these Amramp® franchise partnership advantages:

• Most franchise formats offer an intense sales effort, one weeks training, an operations manual, phone support, sales and advertising advice and maybe one or two visits per year.

• That is not a partnership.

• The Amramp® business opportunity is a franchise format that is an ongoing partnership. We offer all of the above plus the following: the entire national Amramp® marketing effort is done through our customer prequalification program and national toll free number.

Understand that many disabled individuals are Medicare supported and have no other income.

Many of the Amramp® users will have many questions about rental, availability, budgets etc. Our routing of these inquiries though our group of estimators and customer service department will handle these questions. We ask the callers key questions to determine which ramp configuration is correct for their situation. We then offer the caller both a rental and purchase budget estimate.

If they faint at the cost, we send them a brochure and your name so that if they come up with funding at a later date, they will call you. On the other hand, if our estimate fits their budget, we send you a report of the discussion and the client information so you can follow-up with an appointment. Our marketing study reports a 43% close rate on these prequalified calls.

We then offer you the ability to call us from the client 's home so that you can describe the actual situation, and we will then develop the proper ramp layout together. We will send the estimate to you with a design layout (no prices) and a price spreadsheet showing list price, your discounted cost, freight and our estimate of labor to install the ramp and a rental option.

This partnership support assures your success. Further, you avoid hiring one or more persons to handle these calls. These functions are part of your ongoing franchisee payment. When you sell Amramp® , the royalty on the sale pays for our support. You pay us nothing if the layouts and estimates are done and no sale occurs. We have refined this partnership support and it works.

In addition, consider the following:

• Your client interactions are done by appointment, usually nine to five. Fast food and other franchises are 24/7 with all types of ongoing trauma and stress related to multi-shift staffing of minimum wage employees.
• There are no food spoilage issues, daily deliveries or hygiene concerns or mind-numbing competition...which seems the case in almost all franchise opportunities.
• You are likely home based. Free standing fast food locations can take 2 to 2 ½ years to remodel or open a new location due to local code restrictions.
• We have proven franchisor new product development capacity. The home medical equipment industry is expanding exponentially with new technology breakthroughs.

The best part about Amramp®!

Understand that clients do not keep their ramp forever. Parents move to Florida, enter a nursing facility, move in with family members for support or pass away. The family will call you indicating they no longer need the ramp you sold them. They will be pleased to donate the ramp or accept payment of between 10-30% of the initial material cost.

Typically, nothing bad happens to our ramps.

Some of the Amramp® systems returned are hardly used and appear new. Someone has rolled up and down the ramp with rubber tires and only some minor touch up is required to make these ramps part of your rental inventory. This reuse is truly unique and a means of reduced ramp purchases and increased profits.