Thinking of actually opening up shop...

my best wishes towards your endeavor. there's no question how talented you are, but top quality work and customer service are key. all your customers should receive the same quality of work no matter if they're well known or your average joe from down the street. people like a shop that answers the phone, but if you can't answer it make sure you have an answering machine and you get back to them later on. just a couple thoughts. good luck!

not only do you have to worry about everything else. on top of that you have to have security a big ass solid wall so no one can peep whats in the yard, and a couple cameras. if nothing else just to see whos at the door.

get a partner that shares the same interest as you do in vehicles and always get money up front. at least half. that way you dont waste your space on non payment vehichles. find that one guy that has too much money on his hands and no good idea what to do. hell if i could do that i would be set. i pay half of everything at my shop, it comes up to about 600 a month but we got satilite internet a washermachine n dryer, and run the ac constantly.

seth, move here to middle TN!

gas is only 3.39 a gallon. my 3400 square foot house on an acre was only 350k and rent on a building is cheap as fuk! my dads friend is begging someone to rent his 4500sf place right now for only about 1200.00 a month (thats WITH utilities!)! HA! plus you wouldnt have the trouble of shipping my shit to me either...

seriously, i dont know how you cali guys afford that shit. i follow stocks, our economy, politics and all that jazz very closely and it must be tough to afford to live out there!

anyway, you know that i did fancy painting in custom homes for years. running your own biz is a challenge to say the very least...

my advice, make sure you have ATLEAST 3-6 months worth of expense money stashed in a high interest account! and never-ever invest in the yellow pages or any type of contract for advertising up front!

anyway, GOOD LUCK!

definatley go with the nicer shop for a lil more coin! in the end it will all pay off and having other auto businesses around will really benefit you!

Good luck on your venture, I look forard to see were this all goes for you!

I say go with the nicer shop,, being that close to the other business's will help also. plus if you need a hand pushing a vehicle around, i bet they would be willing to lend a hand..
Piece of advice, don't hire anybody, maybe get a few guys that can help part time on the side, you will be much better off..

Originally posted by WhyNotFab

When I first read your post the first thing that came to my mind was "Can you live in it too?" haha.. since I've always thought it'd be cool to rent a shop with an apartment upstairs or something..

Lol.. i'm sitting on a computer in my appartment above my shop.. The mortgage is about what it would be for the average house around here,, it's a nice setup, but i still struggle from time to time,, nothing is easy, it it we're everybody would do it..

Well I sent out my letter of intent to lease. Just waiting on the lease to be drawn up.

hope everything works out good for you seth you do some quality work. good luck

Well I hope everything works out and that you can get the work coming in and going out.

A couple words of advice for my two cents, is first and foremost you need to cover your ass! What I mean by that is you need to get an insurance policy, not just insurance to have insurance but insurance that will cover modifying and customizing vehicles (I found very hard to find a company to write). I wouldn't touch someones car without that because when they pull out of your lot and something happens and they run over a pregnant lady on the sidewalk and kill her you might as well kiss everything goodbye.
The second thing you definately need is a security system with monitoring because when a couple crackheads break in and still equipment it makes it hard to work on vehicles.

After doing this thing for 5 years and starting my shop when I was your age, these are some of the hardest things to find that I never even thought of needing.

Any other advice or questions you have, you can always call me. Heck your so close, you can even come on by the shop and see how we're set up here and I can give you more tips, advice and go over things I've learned throughout the years.

As far as advertising goes, I say a website is the best. Thats pretty much all I have is a website, friends and word of mouth. For the low cost of the internet and much better looks of a url on a truck then a rolling business card with phone number address, etc, its easier and looks better and probably more people would be willing to run a logo with a url. Then people can also go online and see your work instead of stop by the shop and call which will waste a lot of time throughout the day on tire kickers...

I know you've already said you've found a building to lease, but I would've recommended looking for a building with 3 phase. The building I'm in has it and it saves quite a bit running a compressor, welder and saw on it. My utility bill runs about 120 a month or so with it.