Good idea / bad idea? - Sandblasting business question...

People drop stuff off to me to get blasted.
Streetwerkz does the werk for the client, at a rate of $60 pr hour.

I think your price needs to be lower than $100 pr hour (in Ohio anyhow, I realize your in Texas)

 

Good idea, I would consider using a service like that. I did see a advertisement for
such a service that included a soda blast option as well. It was in the Detroit area, to far for me to haul stuff but a good idea anyway. MickeyC

 

I'm very happy with my current arrangement. No need to change anything. Can't see it being successful. People could get hurt and sue you for Millions! You have better things to do besides baby sit. All those strangers coming and going? Can't be good for security! What about Haz-Mat? You never know what they may have had in that container that they are now blowing all over your property. People suck. They'll be really slow. It will just be irritating to watch them half-ass their way through it. Do you really have that much patience?

 

I tried that one already Scotty, when he told me he was getting out, didn't work. BTW what arrangement do you 2 have, I want part of it. Ssandblasting is hard work. How about this, we hire someone to use Chris equipment and to blast our stuff?

I was thinking about that last night. I hire someone, Chris supervises me while I supervise my worker..... yeah that sound like a plan hahahaha

 

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No....no copout.......I totally understand. If you had someone you could trust to run the business, you still could keep your real job and deal with your business by phone or after hours. I know the issue of finding someone you trust..... it is tough.

If you opt to go with the rental idea.....I hope you have insurance for that. Even in good times, these do it yourself things get into trouble, with times being as bad as they are....people might do something or an accident of some kind happens and normally nothing would be happen but people are sue happy and lawyers are promoting and winning all kinds of stupid lawsuits. Cover all your bases......and I wish you the best of luck

 

ROFL... yeah, I BET you like our arrangement hahahahaha...

Rey... you WISH you had Scotty's arangement... that all i'm going to say. I'm not sure you're willing to do what he does for "free" sandblasting though... most guys would run the other way screaming... but Scotty doesn't mind.

 

WTF is this?

 

Just random sexual favors and I let him sandblast my parts

Wait... Not sure that sounds like I wanted.. umm... Nevermind.

reported

 

Uhhh.... "the run the other way screaming" thing I was talking about was you working on that Honda Trail 90 I dropped off...

hahaha

sick bastage!

Yeah, what a douche.

 

I would use a "rental booth" like this in a heartbeat..and $65/hr is reasonable to use good equipment /abrasive...The person I use for large pieces does a good job for me ,but there's always the edges,corners,etc that he misses...not complaining at all,he does a good job but nobody does a job like I'd do myself...I have a small unit for all the little stuff and thats all I want to invest in, so a "rental booth" would be something I'd have a use for..

 

I'll pass on the "arrangement"

 

Have you asked your lawyer about your liability?

 

I haven't read every post so this may have been suggested already.

I would modify your plan as follows; It sounds like the job requires both skilled tasks (the actual blasting of the part) and non-skilled tasks (heavy lifting of media, cleanup, etc.) Additionally it's the non-skilled tasks like lifting that are taking their toll on your back. So why not make the grunt work the self-service part of the business. Essentially people come in with their parts and 'help' with the blasting. You get to keep up the quality of the finished product, are still in control start to finish but can minimize the physical aspect of the job. It's still a reduced rate in exchange for a sweat equity and the efficiency of a 2 man operation.

I think with enough thought and lessons learned from trying different ideas you can get the logistics of the plan worked out. However,it seems like the liability issues are going to be the limiting factor in letting a non-employee into a hazardous environment.

Another con to think about is this. Your schedule of days off from you regular job may not line up with most peoples schedules. Most people have 2 days on the weekend. That means at least 1/3 of the days you have to devote to this business is not a time when your potential customer are available.

I hope this helped a little, and good luck if you do pursue your ideas.

 

for 25 bucks an hour you can do it for me since your going to be there the whole time

 

The blaster we use in northern Ohio is Newberry and i would love to use his 100hp or so to do my parts. My cabinet blaster is fine for small parts but we use them for the big stuff