Opportunity

[gradymotorco]

Hey guys,

I've never posted much on this site other than tech related questions, but an opportunity has come my way and I wanted to hear some opinions about it. My grandfather owned a 4 bay shop in the next town from where I live, and my grandmother is offering to let me use it since the man she was renting it to left. He used it as a place to work on his race cars, but I was thinking of opening it up as a lube & minor repair shop. I'm very mechanically inclined, and there aren't too many things on a vehicle that I'm not able to do. I'm currently in college, but I'm a semester away from graduation and have a lot of time on my hands, and since the shop is so close by, it would be easy for me to drive back & forth once school starts back in the fall. Thoughts?

Thanks!

 

[spasm3]

I think your biggest obstacle will be meeting epa regulations.

 

[gradymotorco]

Originally Posted By: spasm3
I think your biggest obstacle will be meeting epa regulations.


I'm not really familiar with what regulations EPA has placed on garages. Can you enlighten me?

 

[sciphi]

I'd start out by working on your own car, and doing small jobs for family/friends. Then decide if it's for you.

 

[daves87rs]

Originally Posted By: sciphi
I'd start out by working on your own car, and doing small jobs for family/friends. Then decide if it's for you.


+1

 

[gradymotorco]

Originally Posted By: sciphi
I'd start out by working on your own car, and doing small jobs for family/friends. Then decide if it's for you.


Well, that's sort of what I've been doing for the past 8 years. I started by tinkering on my own beater before I got my license, and eventually wound up doing all my own work plus repairing and servicing my family's cars (there's about 3 cars for each of us, so that's a full time job in and of itself lol) as well as working on vehicles that belong to my fiance & her family, and some other friends. I enjoy the work, I just wonder what sort of surprises would pop up in doing it for other people.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: spasm3
I think your biggest obstacle will be meeting epa regulations.


+1. Lots of folks in business like to blame their inability to succeed on the EPA. Some of it may be true, some not.

What I'd try to do is spend some time with a shop owner in a place far enough away to not be a threat for business. See if you can get some leads. Pick his brain.

Then try by starting small, working by word of mouth, and seeing how it goes.

 

[cmorr]

Working on other peoples property for pay would IMO present some immediate obstacles that you need to investigate first. Example, can you obtain the proper insurance for yourself and the shop. Are there any zoning restrictions for commercial business and can you obtain a business license without and evidence of training/certificates. Do you have the funds required to start the business (startup cost, fixtures,tolls, parts,professional fees for a lawyer and accountant etc) and carry its overhead for 6 months to a year without drawing a salary

 

[yonyon]

My three cents:

Don't cheap out on the insurance! Half the mechanics I know have stories about when they had their own shop and made so much more money than they do now. Every one of them either:

-Lost the shop and a lot more (in some cases even losing their house) because they didn't have good insurance.
-Sold out after a couple of years and had a nice nest egg because it was too much stress and caused marital or health problems.

 

[SS1970chrysler]

The upside is you will see firsthand some repair blunders previously thought impossible.
The downside is you'll have to correct these blunders.

 

[mrsilv04]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Originally Posted By: spasm3
I think your biggest obstacle will be meeting epa regulations.


+1. Lots of folks in business like to blame their inability to succeed on the EPA. Some of it may be true, some not.

What I'd try to do is spend some time with a shop owner in a place far enough away to not be a threat for business. See if you can get some leads. Pick his brain.

Then try by starting small, working by word of mouth, and seeing how it goes.


This. I couldn't have written it any better.

Spend a half a year working under someone else. Be a real "go-getter" and absorb all that you can. Then decide.

 

[01rangerxl]

Let me know if you are hiring! Sometimes I think it would be good to get out of this dump though I have an aversion to the eastern half of the state.

 

[bretfraz]

My advice is to either look at this opportunity as a chance to open a business, or just use the shop as a nice garage to tinker with cars on the side.

If you're planning to open it as a legit business, you need to start with a business plan. Research all regulations, laws, and ordnances regarding a retail business in your area. What licenses, permits, inspections, or certifications do you need? For example, does your city/county/state require some kind of hazardous waste materials handling process for stuff like old engine oil or antifreeze? Better find out.

When you are done you should be able to determine how many cars you need to repair in a month, and how much revenue you need to generate, to keep the shop open and legal. At this point you will need to decide if you want to become a real life businessman or a backyard shadetree car tinkerer with a nice, old place to work on cars.

Good luck. Hope it all works out for you.

 

[gradymotorco]

Y'all are leaving me a whole lot less interested in doing this than I was before I placed the post. I just intended to open up a shop 25-30 hours a week to do oil changes, brake jobs, and minor repairs. I know most of the folks who own shops around me, and I'm pretty sure that very few of them have consulted with many lawyers or accountants, much less contacted the EPA. But I appreciate you 'opening my eyes' to all the possible difficulties that I may encounter.

Thanks.

 

[yonyon]

There's a certain risk involved, but if you do a little homework and take the basic precautions (work clean, buy insurance) it doesn't have to be that bad.

Don't forget that you get a reward for taking that risk. You have a certain amount of freedom as far as how much time you want to spend working, what your hours are, what kind of work you want to take in, and all that. There is a potential of making a lot of money and also have better job security than if you were an employee at another small business.

Basically, you can have three likely outcomes:
-You fail and lose a good portion of what you put into it.
-You have a good job for a few years and sell out while the gettin' is good.
-You have a business that pays your bills for a lifetime and easy access to everything you need for a hobby or two.

Two out of three of those possibilities are very good. One of them can make you "important" in the community if you're into that sort of thing and also gives you something of value to pass on to your kids when the time comes.

 

[Shannow]

I like your idea, and when I was younger, used to do work on people's cars for money...pretty quickly dropped that back to detailing only, after it became apparent that "the last person who worked on it" was responsible for everything that happens thereafter.

Insurance and liability is a big thing.

What happens if you make a mistake on a brake job ?

What happens if you are under a car,and a "customer" wanders in to check progress and slips/falls/cranes neck/whatever. A sign "authorised persons only beyond this point doesn't protect you.

Silly little examples, but they are real cases. Council owns the footpath, you put up a sandwich board, person walking down street on phone trips over board and breaks elbow...who's liable ?

Person using phone was distracted, however is walking on a footpath...here the courts would treat that 50:50, and the person only get half a payout...and the council would sue you to get the rest.

So to put up a sandwich board, you must demonstrate that you carry insurance that covers your board on Council's property, OR pay a licence to the council per year to be covered by theirs.

It sounds silly, and little, but it's real, and could wipe you out in the wrong circumstances.

EPA is an easy target, as "everything green is bad" according to some people on this site, but it's all part of our regulatory environment (everything regulatory is bad too according to some).

EPA stuff is "what have you got on site", Do you have a manifest", "do you need to notify fire department", "what wastes are you accepting, and how do you handle them".

A whole lot of stuff that you wouldn't expect to need to know, but once again, based on past history of people intentionally or otherwise doing the wrong thing.

A guy dumping a drum of PCBs in the waste oil tank can cause huge issues to you and downstream...once you own it, through accepting the waste, you own it.

I can't see a "hobby" maintenance business being viable, if you are doing everything right, and protecting your interests.

silly little examples

 

[Mr Nice]

I would skip the idea of running a repair shop / quick lube.

 

[Pop_Rivit]

Originally Posted By: gradymotorco
Y'all are leaving me a whole lot less interested in doing this than I was before I placed the post. I just intended to open up a shop 25-30 hours a week to do oil changes, brake jobs, and minor repairs. I know most of the folks who own shops around me, and I'm pretty sure that very few of them have consulted with many lawyers or accountants, much less contacted the EPA. But I appreciate you 'opening my eyes' to all the possible difficulties that I may encounter.

Thanks.


Starting and owning a business like that isn't something you do on a 25-30 hour/week basis. On such a small scale, are you able to pay utilities (electric, gas, trash, water, etc), insurance (liability, unemployment, health), maintain credit lines with parts suppliers, pay taxes, and the dozens of smaller costs associated with running a small business? And still turn a profit?

Think about it-would you be willing to take your car somewhere that may or may not be open that day? A business that only works "part time" and may not be there to back up their warranty?

Opening a business requires at least some legal guidance (that requires a lawyer). Is yours going to be a sole proprietorship, or will you form an LLC (are you even aware of the difference?)? Do you know how to estimate and file quarterly taxes (that may require an accountant)? Or were you planning to just leave it all to chance?

Owning a small business is great if your are willing to put the time and work into it. But it's clear that you are not willing to do that.

 

[TooManyWheels]

I suggest she simply rent it to another racer.

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted By: TooManyWheels
I suggest she simply rent it to another racer.


This! Keep the property in the family.

I'm probably a little further than you, my ultimate dream is a used car lot, as I have a left brain/ right brain thing going for machines AND people.

I worked two months busting tires then broke my ankle on the job. Thank god for worker's comp insurance!!! Usually even sole proprietorships you have to buy it for yourself. With all your fixed costs like insurance you are going to have to push a lot of work through.

OTOH immigrants show up here, lease some dingy hole in the wall, put their whole family to work, and are rolling in it in two years or less. So the dream is possible.

If you work for someone else, you'll network, and know who to fix your lifts, who you can steal away from your former boss with a better offer, etc.

My state has a "permit o matic" website where you tell it what kind of operation you're going to run and it helps you through the authorities having jurisdiction.

And remember your customers will expect you to fix anything. There's a huge fog that forms when it's not your own car, you get a work order with problem "translated" by a writer, and they want X done.