Anyone get the April issue of Hot Rod magazine with the article "Your Own Shop?" What do you think about it? Anyone with the guts to try this? The dreams and realities of owning your own shop..sometimes it is more of a nightmare. Mikey www.motorvating.com www.mikeyspinstriping.com "Living a Strange Existence"
I thought it was interesting that all they talked about was shops in California, I think that a lot of the info would be different in different parts of country. Not all of us idolize and envy the California lifestyle.For instance,real estate,Government and local reg's,utilities,labor and many other day to day costs. Running a Rod shop is a lot like bracket racing, looks real simple from the outside,a whole big new world from the inside. Just my opinion, I could be wrong!
Joe Cool you are right. Cali is not the only place where the shops exist but I guess they are close to the magazines. Not all shops are equal. Here in Texas they seem to be doing good. I talked with one the other day and he said they got 10 in the shop, a waitng list of 8 with 10-12 more waiting to get on the waiting list. About half of them fly by the seat of their pants but make it. The job is about what you love to do, making the bills, go to car shows, burn rubber, and a good pizza every now and then with the kids. It ain't just about the money. Oh, and burnin' more rubber. Mikey
I have to admire guys with their own shops. Somehow making 'work' out of something that somebody does because they love it doesn't appeal to me. Watching the old Boyd C. show with all its deadlines, personality problems, etc. just seemed to take a lot of the fun out of it (at least for me). Props to those who can do it.
The article was better than I though it would be. Might not have stressed the "you gotta be crazy to do this" thing enough though
I had a shop in so. cal. in the 70's .. made a ok living at it .. quite a few problems with keeping it going .. cash flow is too sporadic ..long hours ect.. BUT i would do it again if i could afford it.. great payday when you finish a car or bike .... but it may be 2-3 months without one ... make sure you have some steady jobs to keep you going .. dougs headers was a good gig . .. steady work... and doing motorcycle parts also helped .. did a loy of 2nd op work for aero-apace industry ,, these jobs kept me going... had to close doors after my first child was born .... needed insurance and a steady income ...
If California didn't have to financially subsidize states like Arizona, our business climate would be better. According to the Tax Foundation, California receives 78 cents of federal spending for every $1.00 in federal tax paid. Arizona receives about $1.20 for every $1.00 tax paid. It's fine that you don't like California, but can we please have our money back?
Iowa receives $1.10 per dollar spent in taxes. The other 10 cents per dollar comes from states that subsidize states like Iowa. California has its problems, don't get me wrong, but they are not all self-inflicted..... If states like Arizona and Iowa would instead subsidize California, I'm sure California would be better off too.
Yeah that sounds about right. I had an oppourtunity to buy into an existing shop here in town. Trouble was getting the work in the door. Last time I checked all the employees are down to part time! Kinda glad I didn't bite on that one Personally, I'm over "Owning a (hot rod) shop". I'll still have cars on the brain and projects in my shop regardless where I work, Automotive industry or not. Different strokes for different folks.
I work a regular job that pays the bills and has health care for the wife and kids. I build cars in a small shop that I built in my yard and do lots of side work to keep the builds funded. I think thats is how its going to stay. Getting bigger means more overhead. More overhead means that you need to work even harder to make it at the end of the month. I had a shop quite a few years back and it was lots of fun. Its just trying to keep the money coming in is what the problem was. It is rewarding when a project is finished,But you can go without alot before that happens.
I admire the guys that can make a go of it. You have to be totally committed to your customers and your business or you will fail. I had a small scale motorcycle shop many years ago and the one thing I remember is I always had my checking account balance on my mind 24/7. I decided to go for a job with benefits and good pay and keep my hobby a hobby. I'm retired now and I'm glad I took that path.
It's easy to have an over-romanticized view of running a shop. I always picture the shop where Milner backs out of the garage as something I would have, but then reality kicks in and truthfully most of your customers will be ***holes in minivans and Hondas. No thanks to serving the general public.
Owning a shop and depending on it to make a living is a lot more work than anyone on the outside looking in will ever imagine. It's also nowhere near as fun and as rewarding as most are lead to belive. If you add all of the hours you spend to make a shop work, and after figuring in over head....a minimum wage job starts to look good.
I took a cl*** At UVU. they have a street rod program. In One of the cl***es Chris talked to the kids about what it's like running your own business. dealing with the big money guys cause they pay the bills but are a pain to deal with. E mail pict's every week with an invoice. If they don't pay that week roll it outside in the snow. A lot of customer's don't realize how much it's going to cost. I have 120 X 40 shop that my son tried to make pay .doing custom auto and farm repairs but things are slow.
I have to agree with most, it is a ton of work to make it work. I have a small shop that I work out of nights and weekends but I am a Superintendent for a union metal framing company for a steady pay check, health Ins. and retirement. I have been doing steady work for customers for about 4 years solid now (except when I sneak my own in their) and it has payed for a lot of tools that I need for metal shaping and all out general fabrication. What is nice about that is I almost have all the equipment I need to go full time but with out a monthly payment. What this really means is I am almost at the point were I stop doing customer work and start hand building hot rods from scratch and not need to worry about money coming in until I finish the rod, drive it and sell it for a profit so I can start another one. My shop is currently 1200 sq and right in my back yard. I am zoned residential/ commercial and have the business lic. for doing what I do with no complaints from the neighbors. So far it is great but I know going full time with a wife and 2 1/2 year old son would add tons of stress and even longer nights than I already do. But it can be a blast especially when you are able to pick and choose what you work on and for who. A 9-5er does not always get that option. Kevin LFD Inc.
I think a lot of us have thought about it at one time or another and then see others with the headaches they have. I worked in enough independent repair shops on regular cars and saw the h***les that they went through and decided that it wasn't for me. I can imagine that is twice as tough with rod or custom shops where discretionary dollars are involved. I've seen a couple of friends do fairly well by building a rod at a time while still holding a "day job" with the idea of selling it when it is finished. Neither of those guys desired to work on other peoples cars though. One built interesting cars that most anyone would want in his or her garage that tended to run along theresto-rod lines. Great ch***is and drive train, very nice body that was almost always bright red with a nice but no way over the top interior.
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