Opening shop full time in January... ideas and tips?

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PostPosted: Thu Oct 13, 2011 9:15 pm
So...
I am going to open a shop on a full time basis starting in January. This is a personal shop (1200 sq/ft with a 14'x28' positive pressure booth). I am in a very rural area about 20 miles from a town of any size. I have done jobs on the side for several years, but never made a go of doing it on a full time basis until now. The upside is that my overhead will be extremely low (I own the shop, tools, etc...) just increased electric usage and of course materials. I am in a good position of having a decent amount of income from another source of part-time employment that gives me a decent cushion if I am unable to generate much business. My thought is that I would like to primarily rely on minor collision work and custom motorcycle paint, but would also take on restorations from time to time (on a time/materials basis, or with a HIGH bid). I am business minded and very good with money, but I have never done this before so I am looking for any tips that may help me. With all that said, I have a few questions that I would love to get some responses to:

1. Being that I am in a rural area and won't generate any business from drop-in customers, what are some effective ways to generate business. My thoughts were: Car Shows, radio ads, signage, and things of this nature. What are some other effective ways of reaching new clientele?

2. I am fairly certain I don't want to deal with insurance jobs... should I rethink this? Pros and cons appreciated.

3. How much time/effort should I put into developing a quality website? This is something that I can do, but I don't want to "waste" time if the consensus is that it doesn't generate much of any business.

4. What is the best option for a small shop when it comes to estimate generating software? I know nothing about this, but I know that I will need it eventually.

5. My shop will be located in central Missouri (near Columbia), and my thought is to charge $35 hour labor rate and 20% markup on parts. Does this sound ok... or should I look at other rates. Most of the shops in Columbia are $55 hr labor (and the dealerships are $70 hr).

Ok, so lets hear some ideas, tips, and anything else that could be useful. I sure appreciate the help in advance. Cole

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PostPosted: Sat Oct 15, 2011 12:17 am
coletrain777 wrote:So...
I am going to open a shop on a full time basis starting in January. This is a personal shop (1200 sq/ft with a 14'x28' positive pressure booth). I am in a very rural area about 20 miles from a town of any size. I have done jobs on the side for several years, but never made a go of doing it on a full time basis until now. The upside is that my overhead will be extremely low (I own the shop, tools, etc...) just increased electric usage and of course materials. I am in a good position of having a decent amount of income from another source of part-time employment that gives me a decent cushion if I am unable to generate much business. My thought is that I would like to primarily rely on minor collision work and custom motorcycle paint, but would also take on restorations from time to time (on a time/materials basis, or with a HIGH bid). I am business minded and very good with money, but I have never done this before so I am looking for any tips that may help me. With all that said, I have a few questions that I would love to get some responses to:

1. Being that I am in a rural area and won't generate any business from drop-in customers, what are some effective ways to generate business. My thoughts were: Car Shows, radio ads, signage, and things of this nature. What are some other effective ways of reaching new clientele?

2. I am fairly certain I don't want to deal with insurance jobs... should I rethink this? Pros and cons appreciated.

3. How much time/effort should I put into developing a quality website? This is something that I can do, but I don't want to "waste" time if the consensus is that it doesn't generate much of any business.

4. What is the best option for a small shop when it comes to estimate generating software? I know nothing about this, but I know that I will need it eventually.

5. My shop will be located in central Missouri (near Columbia), and my thought is to charge $35 hour labor rate and 20% markup on parts. Does this sound ok... or should I look at other rates. Most of the shops in Columbia are $55 hr labor (and the dealerships are $70 hr).

Ok, so lets hear some ideas, tips, and anything else that could be useful. I sure appreciate the help in advance. Cole



I am also in central missouri just south of columbia I normally charge 45$ paint and body and 50 mechanical/frame.

1. my biggest return has been word of mouth, if you can locate a good used car dealer that moves a good volume knock off a few $'s a hour and that will keep some more steady type buisness in till bigger jobs pop up.

2. Insurance work is great you have to communicate with a few people...to get the job sometimes but it pays great! The bad part about insurance is direct repair i recently researched making my facility a drf but after research decided against it... you can still do insurance work without being direct repair.

3.The Net seems to be good for a few things you can register for free stuff like google locations so you can be found online when they type your name in... but i've never seen it do anything from my local pal's in the buis.

4. Cant help you there ... i hand write most of mine... in coll. we used auto dex i believe


addtl. rebuilders (salvage) and clean title can be a good source of "side income" and great busy work during the winter when/ if things slow down.....
MissouriPaintSlinger

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Enjoy it for twice as long



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PostPosted: Sat Oct 15, 2011 11:49 am
IMHO, your advertizing plan as stated sounds good. I doubt that a website would help much for the collision repair end, but it might help for custom bike painting, or if you expand the resto end. If you do go with a website, maybe joining unrelated forums would help, and add a link to your website in your signature.
For example, if you look in "The Break Room" you'll find threads by Captain Rick about his fishing trips. If I'm ever in SC, I'll charter a trip with Captain Rick for sure, and I'd recommend looking the captain up if any friends plan a trip to SC.
If there are any local bike builders, drop by and introduce yourself and bring a gas tank and/or fender to show your work.
I have to agree with "word of mouth" being one of the best generators of business. I was a home improvement contractor for over 20 years, and never advertized. I worked for an older guy, who later made me a partner. I kept the business going when he retired. He started in 1954, and also never advertized.



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PostPosted: Tue Oct 18, 2011 9:46 am
some advice for you guys. Dont cut the rate call to other shops in your county and everyone needs to stick to it and go up every year or 2 or the insurance co will use that to keep the rates down. dont let them pay you less than a mech shop for mech work call some of them and charge the same why should you make less money for doing quality work all your doing is saveing them money.
Restorations I recomend time plus matirial and them paying at least bi weekly that way you dont get stuck if something happens to them
Always get a signed work order without it you have no ground to stand on even from freinds.
Dont be afraid of insurance work just make sure your getting paid fairly you dont deserve less than any other shop you will need a tax ID.
Job cost every job and document with detail it will give you a way of tracking diffrent types of jobs dont shoot from your hip get an estimating program right away.



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PostPosted: Tue Oct 18, 2011 6:40 pm
Good point on the rates. There are other reasons for keeping rates up.
Keeping rates low attracts people who will try to take advantage of you. They figure if you're rates are that low, you'll go lower. It also keeps some good paying customers away. They figure if you're that cheap, how good can the work be? And both of those kinds of customers think you must be cutting corners to be that cheap.
I always charged for time and materials, and my estimates always took possible hidden obstacles into consideration.
If no snags were encountered, my final payment due reflected that. Made a lot of people happy. In the auto body business, I'm guessing that would apply more to restoration work than collision repairs.
In any business, you'll always get the people who say "another guy gave me an estimate for half that price". I always said to go to McDonalds and tell them someone is selling hamburgers for a dime. Then added, hire the other guy, and let me know what he finally charged you.
Sometimes that's hard to do in bad economic times, but what happens if a good customer comes along while you're in the middle of doing something else? If you drop the cheapskates job for a few days, chances are they'll give you a hard time, complain to a government agency, or file a lawsuit. I've seen those things happen.



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PostPosted: Fri Oct 28, 2011 11:25 am
what i have done. is to put in your budget a parts runner or show car so to speak. drive it everyday as possible with your information on it. etc. The best advertisment is a rolling billboard. Does not have to be over the top. but something diff. and fun. will show your skills and your attention to detail. I always do free estimates.
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 09, 2011 7:57 am
coletrain777 wrote:So...
I am going to open a shop on a full time basis starting in January. This is a personal shop (1200 sq/ft with a 14'x28' positive pressure booth). I am in a very rural area about 20 miles from a town of any size. I have done jobs on the side for several years, but never made a go of doing it on a full time basis until now. The upside is that my overhead will be extremely low (I own the shop, tools, etc...) just increased electric usage and of course materials. I am in a good position of having a decent amount of income from another source of part-time employment that gives me a decent cushion if I am unable to generate much business. My thought is that I would like to primarily rely on minor collision work and custom motorcycle paint, but would also take on restorations from time to time (on a time/materials basis, or with a HIGH bid). I am business minded and very good with money, but I have never done this before so I am looking for any tips that may help me. With all that said, I have a few questions that I would love to get some responses to:

1. Being that I am in a rural area and won't generate any business from drop-in customers, what are some effective ways to generate business. My thoughts were: Car Shows, radio ads, signage, and things of this nature. What are some other effective ways of reaching new clientele?

2. I am fairly certain I don't want to deal with insurance jobs... should I rethink this? Pros and cons appreciated.

3. How much time/effort should I put into developing a quality website? This is something that I can do, but I don't want to "waste" time if the consensus is that it doesn't generate much of any business.

4. What is the best option for a small shop when it comes to estimate generating software? I know nothing about this, but I know that I will need it eventually.

5. My shop will be located in central Missouri (near Columbia), and my thought is to charge hour labor rate and 20% markup on parts. Does this sound ok... or should I look at other rates. Most of the shops in Columbia are hr labor (and the dealerships are hr).

Ok, so lets hear some ideas, tips, and anything else that could be useful. I sure appreciate the help in advance. Cole


Car Shows, radio ads, magazine ads printed ads in general, stickers with your website on them or contact info e.t.c. make a research on which could be your potential customers and focus on them, target them through advertising. Also if you are going to advertise make sure you don't do it sporadically you have better chances when you advertise a lot for less time. You could also use your car as a show/demo car and put your contact details on it although I don't recommend it.

If you are going to build a website you don't need to have a good layout just keep it simple with a lot of text with keywords for targeted SEO , business cards and leaflets is a must, you must also invest in word-to-word advertising since it's the best form of advertising in short words keep your customers happy and use an easy to remember AND SPELL name for your shop.



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PostPosted: Wed Jan 04, 2012 1:22 am
so how did the opening go?
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 6:32 pm
I am not a pro and by no means to a point where I could open a shop, so take that into consideration when reading my response. I worked for 4 years at a small body shop doing grunt work.

We got some radio time by doing work on the station's van. If you are doing custom paint this may work out well for you unless their vehicles are clapped out piles.

We have a couple rural shops that sit out about 10-15 miles from any real towns. One of them operates a tow service and that generates a lot of business for them.

We got a lot of business by being VERY friendly to tow companies and the local police/sheriff's departments. Many people in an accident do not have a "go to" shop and will just have the vehicle towed to whichever shop the officer or tow driver recommends. That is another reason to do insurance work. They can pass a lot of business to you. Check with the agencies in your area though. Some may require iCar certifications or something similar in order to be on their preferred list.

I enjoyed doing the restoration work but the owners hated it. They said that it was hard to make money on them because of all of the extra work that is involved which is hard to estimate.

Anyways, good luck with the shop. Hope I may have said something somewhat helpful.

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