Its the great american dream to own a business. I would love to own my own business and have been looking into oppurtunities for years. This seems like a pretty risk free gamble for me. And okay the owners dont own a yacht but they have big *** houses and 7 series beamers. I hope you can realize your dream and open a business. If you try and fail at least you can say you tries
hahah... obviously this was a waste of bandwith. Im going to bed, Mods feel free to delete. Thanks for some of tips I got catcha on the flipside
I totally feel ya man.....I hope it pans out...but I also know I have probably 6 months of work before I even think about dropping money into an idea...if it does take off, I will be one happy fella.....Once I have my marketing part ready, I am going t post a small 5 question survey on here in hopes to get good insight on feasibility.....
Greetings! Glad to see you are doing your homework before getting involved with the project, in the past the three most important business needs were "location, location, location", in today's world what you need the most is a good banker, a good bookkeeper, and a good lawyer. You should also insist that the business be incorperated to protect everyone's interests in case of a lawsuit, and I would also avoid "frontage" properties as there isn't much "walk-in" trade in the car-building business but that big sign sure lets the thieves know where they can steal some quality stuff, a good friend of mine has a shop on a busy street and something comes up missing almost daily to include shop equipment, trailers, cars and parts. You are doing what most of us dream of doing, I wish you the best of luck.
My 2 cents, I was once part owner of a very profitable shop. My ex and I had a "great thing" and we really had a chance to turn a great profit. From my experience, there are a few things you need to make sure you have to protect everyone involved. 1. A good lawyer...if the lawyer is willing to trust your partners, or if their lawyer is willing to trust you, get a new lawyer. 2. Permit from the local jurisdiction...If the current owner says everything is cool and you don't need to go to the LJ, dude is LYING!!! Anyone with a permit with no contingencies is not going to care who you talk to. 3. Get the utilities in your name...... If the landlord wants to keep all of the utilities in his name, question his motives!!!! If you want any other horror stories that you can learn from send me a PM
I don't know what the laws are in your state, county, city, but you need to find out. I have to carry about two-dozen permits and certificates to be open to the public, and to operate. Waste oil tank, air compressor, fire extinguishers, fire-proof storage, lifts, forklift, sheetrock thickness, signage, number of toilets, etc., plus the building, electrical, and earthquake codes. Everything is regulated. I can't imagine a place where there aren't regulations. Maybe not as extensive as California, but certainly not none. Finding out the hard way could be extremely expensive.
Factor at least 2000 for setting up an s corp, you should have that done to cya and set the disbur*****t of profit, shares and any partner exit clauses.
I hope this works for you. Though this has nothing to do with a shop but everything to do with good (small) business: 1) GET A GOOD LAWYER 2) Implement a pre-approved, buy-out/exit strategy for all of the partners Knowing how to get out and what you'll get out with is SO important. Basically, work out the divorce papers before you get married. Had I known and then followed this advice twenty years ago, things would be very different...
partners ****! been there twice and never again. if they are your friends now, soon they won't be. something seems to always goes to their head and make them forget they have a partnership. do as 2x4 said if you do! don't know about your part of the country but gimpyshotrods is right on here in komifornia! they like to permit you to death, and now taxes aren't looking much better.
lol, that was fun reading that. i read it half a dozen times looking to see where he said 6000 per week and couldnt find it. fab32 must be tired or something. i read over it so many times i forgot what the thread was about. you do good work for a fair price you stay busy if they already have a good customer base they have a head start. you can look up on the net what is requird to set up shop in your area. usa.gov or something in every commercial shop you have to have a rainbow insurance policy you have to call the local fire marshal and they will inspect the building for up to date fire code some states require that you are licensed in what you are doing if it was me i would just open shop do no advertise or put up signs. if they have that much business already word of mouth will keep them going. then again i would rather pay a fine once every 6 months then pay the government all the damn time. but insurance would be smart. you never know when **** will happen. look what happen to the king of customs.
It was post #6. It was edited to change week to month. Nothing ever truly goes away in the web, even if you edit it.
$1500/month, 3 bays and 2 lifts. does this meet your needs? will you have all space being used?. you need phone line for charge cards, insurance for property, insurance that covers customers cars if something happens to them. heat, electric, advertising-brochures, gas and wear and tear for running around and getting parts and most important-just what type of jobs you're going to be doing? are you doing just repairs, are you welding, fabricating, working on anything besides cars? when will be your slow season?-Nov-Feb??don't forget parking and LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! how many other shops and compe***ion in the area??
Having run a fab shop the thing that caught me off guard was the small things drill bits grinding discs ,welding gas , gloves , hand tools ,nuts and bolts etc . All of these add up to alot more than you think . Make a big allowance for this in your planning .
I never had an auto shop, but I did have a business and have some experiences from that. If you're doing cash business it's one thing, but once you have a commercial space there are permits and licenses involved, not to mention taxes. The government needs it chunk, and you'll probably have do deal with local, state, and possibly federal. If you're good with bookkeeping, that can be a huge bonus - you really need to do***ent everything. Additionally from my experience you want to make sure you have any and all agreements clearly understood with any partners in the business up front. I lost a best friend due to a business venture that had issues, and it's still a sore spot today. I can also give a bit of thought based on my ex-brother-in-law's auto shop venture - invest in security. Rampant theft was one of the factors that killed his place. And if they're doing any sort of quality custom, they'll be a target for those high-end parts. Good luck with it!
yup, now figure your bills,insurance, and figure 40%+ goes to the governmet for "self employment taxes" , nobody ever thinks about that.. (i didn't either)>>then try to make it.. let me know how that works out for ya. also, figure you're gonna give up any hobbies, and any stuff you do now for fun, because you will live at the shop if you're even gonna have a shot at making it.. I used to build hot-rods at home, hang out with my buddies,go to the races,and carshows..and go to the lake as often as possible.. now the boat just sits, hot rod is "on the back burner" for 3 + years waaaaay to much pressure.. than figure about 5+ hours a day wasted because your buddies want to stop by and hang out.. then you'll have to stay really, late to make up for that.. after doing it, i would say you are out of your mind to think about doing it.. it's a struggle every day, to get enough money in the door to pay the bills.. my insurance is 800 bucks a month for the shop, and about the same for health insurance for my two guys working here.. also, figure in, shop supplies, and stuff you forgot.. adding newer equipment constantly.. good luck, may the force be with you. keep you job,have a life.. you'll thank me later.. the only thing good about owning your own business, is: NOTHING unless you have a huge pile of money you really need to get rid of.. keep your job. bottom line....reality ****s, and our government does everything they can to make it just about impossible for the "little guy" to make it in the small business.. do more research than i did, about the taxes, insurance, etc.. that i did, then think really,really hard ,and long about it.. if i could , i would get my old job back,and be the ****ing "employee of the week" every week..
When I had a legal 4 bay shop, I had to turn 3200 per day to break even. Anything over 3200 was profit. Anything under 3200 was a loss. Based upon P/L statements.
Sounds like some very good advice being in the Concrete Industry -and in business -its ****s keep your day job
WOW! You guys are scaring me, by what your saying, I'm thinking I shouldn't have started my little business 15 years ago. I better close the doors tomorrow and get a real job. Only problem is, I was a horrible employee 15 years ago, and since I've been on my own for 15 years, I think I'd be a lot worse now then I was then. Then again, I don't have any partners, and I don't have any employees. If I don't make enough money, I have to blame the guy in the mirror. Figure 40% of your gross for tax & permits. 10% of your gross for shop insurance, $1,000 for health insurance per person, per month. 20% for equipment upkeep, and at least 10% to buy new equipment. From whats left, you have to pay the help, put some away for slow times, and save for retirement. Anything left is your profit. Still wouldn't trade for busting my **** for someone elses profit. Gene
This is about right, the shop that I managed for eight years had to do about the same amount of business. This was a shop that had two general techs, and a trans builder and me in the office. It sounds like a lot, but with the dedicated trans guy, was fairly easy to accomplish as long as you have cars coming in the door.
Dude, If youre running some big corp operation why are you asking us how to run a mom and pop? If I were one of those 2 guys and caught a wind of this thread I would seriously wonder why I was gonna give you a piece of the action, It dont sound like they need you.
One man welding shop. I do the small stuff most don't want to mess with, and strange and unusual projects. Gene
I did that for a while myself, but I had a lot of strange and unusual customers, hard to make that happen in Chi town, people just dont respect a quality weld.
ohhhh. i thought this question was about opening a hot rod shop.. so i'm the stupid ***, your right, i'm wrong... your pretty, i'm ugly.. your nice, i'm mean.. my point was about a shop pertaining to hot-rods.. sorry. yes, a shop doing anything EXCEPT your hobby, would be good..
The tread started out with opening up a hot rod and OT repair shop. I've built a few hot rods at my welding shop, though not the big buck prize winners, they were great driver cars, so I guess maybe, I can call my shop a "hot rod and OT shop" too. Most of the time its OT, but today there was a dirt track race car in the shop getting the front end put back on, so today it was a race car shop. I am building a hot rod outside because it won't fit in the shop. Business is business. Any business that requires product liability insurance, commercial property insurance, a collection of permits and licenses, and tax liability understands the expenses other related businesses are going to have. Doing things legally always costs more then a side job that skirts the responsibilities does. Besides all that, I never said you were wrong. From the original poster, the shop had a profit of between $5000 and $15,000 per month. I would presume (since it wasn't stated) that profit did not include paying the two guys. Most people with a "real" job simply won't subtract an income from a side job, so that would show a greater net profit. I'm thinking the cash flow to support 3 people and the expenses ***ociated with 3 employees is going to be pretty slim during those $5,000 months. We know they didn't have insurance coverage, and one has to wonder what else they didn't have or do (pay taxes?) I'm thinking once the actual operating expenses are subtracted from the profit, things will get a bit light even during the $15,000 month. Gene
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