Charmed Playhouses

Tyson Leavitt, Audrey Leavitt and Emmett Leavitt of Lethbridge, Alberta asked for $200,000 for 10% of Charmed Playhouses. The company builds custom designer playhouses for clients and celebrities, with projects reaching a quarter-million dollars, and had $875,000 in sales in 2017 with a projected $1.5 million for the current year, plus $500,000 in bookings over the prior two months. Profit on the $875,000 in sales was only $40,000. The founders were pivoting to a new line of ready-to-assemble playhouses to be sold online and in retail, planned to retail around $1,200 and cost about $650 to build in-house, though they had not yet identified a third-party manufacturer, calculated shipping costs, or approached retailers despite interest from Wayfair.

All five Dragons declined to invest. Jim Treliving and Vincenzo Guzzo wanted to see a year of sales and cost data before investing. Manjit Minhas felt the metrics did not support the valuation. Michele Romanow said she would need 30% to 50% of the company to make the deal work, which she felt was too much to ask, so she passed. Arlene Dickinson felt there was too much still undone and the numbers were not ready. Lane Merrifield said basic questions about shipping costs and margins remained unanswered, and no deal was made.

We haven’t confirmed whether Charmed Playhouses is still operating.