Thinking of starting a buisness feedback

[jeepcj7304 10]

I have been kicking around the idea for years of starting a buisness of DIYers. basically the idea is to open a building with several garage bays. probaly start around 6-10. Each bay would have a floor jack, jack stands, basic sockets, screwdrivers, ratchets, etc. there would be a tool room as well that would hold the more expensive tools like pullers and things. basically you would pay an hourly rate or daily rate to come and work on your vehicle. Parts would be able to be delivered to you as well free of charge from local parts suppliers. Would any of you use this? If so how much would you think is fair to charge? I know most of us that are older have a garage and our own tools but when I was younger this would have been great. Also plan on having a senior mechanic on site to point people in the right direction but not acutally do work as well as have a welder on site to handle welding for anyone at an extra fee.

[Fordrevhead 29]

These places are extinct due to liability I imagine. Cool though! In college we had a student garage and a Motorsports Club. Amazing they let us do what we did until 1990 the schools insurance company shut it down. We had drag races, road course races in the parking lots, I personally did an engine swap, a rear end swap and some pretty heavy body work in there on three different cars.

 

Most people that have the skills learned from a friend or relative and use their place. But thing change and people move and lost their place to wrench. I would suggest a serious business plan, a good talk with a lawyer and a commercial insurer. The business plan woul require some poles of local college kids for example to get some real numbers. I would also consider different rates based on terms. Hour, weekend, week, long term, etc. Better to have a full bay at a lower rate that pays the overhead then an empty bay.

 

I love the idea but I would never run one or use one at this point in my life. I would rent a paint bay however! All the best

[JTG 10]

Sounds kinda like the setup for the guy in the movie Christine.

 

I think the recommendation from FordRevHead about taking a poll and asking around is a good idea. I'm not in a position to use that type of place and I'm not sure if there would be enough interest in my area. You should probably inquire with some local car clubs.

[70mstang 11]

There's a guy here in GA that does that. Get a big deposit to cover theft of tools cause after every visitor you know things are gonna get "lost". The fella I know down here, runs it as a side business to his restoration shop. They are the sr mechanic and go to guy. And then anything the renters can't do them selves they can hire out to the owner to finish up. So he gets income from DIY & when they get it too fouled up they hire him to finish.

[RogerC 136]

Have contemplated the same type of business myself. My city has an ordinance against working on vehicles in your driveway but I've been doing it for 20+ years. I can see cities toughening up on ordinances like this to boost their budgets with so many cities going through tough financial times. I have a business plan and have talked with an insurance rep and cost wasn't too bad in my area. Even consulted with a friend who buys, sells and invests in businesses. Also consulted with my local SCORE office. Big sticking point for me is setting fees to cover overhead and make a little money and reconciling that with what someone could pay someone else to do the work either at a commercial garage or on the side and reasons driving that choice. Tough call.

[JTG 10]

A market I didn't think about before would be guys who work on other people's cars on the side but want to do it in a better setup or guys who can't afford their own shop but working out of yours can make them some money.

[69boss408 11]

We had a similar set up on each base I went to while in the Marine Corps we called it a hobby shop you left your id at desk they gave you tool tags you could take out tools and such but when left to get id back all tools had to be returned along with any unused tool tags this kept theft out. They also had mechanic on duty for advising and he worked small machine shop for doing valve jobs etc... worked very well even had a paint booth to be rented for a small fee also along with paint guns

[69gmachine 15]

I had the same idea but never acted on it. One thing that would make this attractive even to those of us who own a good assortment of tools and a garage is the specialty tools the average gear head won't have like a lift.

 

With a lift, a compressor and a welder you can do a lot of jobs yourself. I agree that you need to offer different time packages for different projects and maybe even different rates for specialty bays like a front end alignment bay. I would start small, 4 bays max and see how that went before committing to a huge amount of overhead with 6 bays. Like any business location will be key. You need to be in a fairly affluent area with enough population to support a specialty business like this.

 

Best of luck with this idea!

[Big Secz 26]

Places like that are already out there:

http://www.diygarageca.com/

http://selfservegarage.com/

http://handsongarage.com/

[jeepcj7304 10]

The Marine Corps Hobby shop was the place that gave me this idea I loved it in Camp Lejeune when I was there. I am in York, PA and Harrisburg is with in 25 minutes. I am almost positive that I could fill the bays easily on the weekends but not sure if that would be enough money to carry me through the week and pay all the bills. I need to find an investor.