What to know in opening your own hot rod shop?

Agreed, money is tight and DIY rules the masses. Just have fun and sell some stuff.

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The whole point is to get someone else to do all the work and keep my day job.

 

Unless you are on the floor, or in the shop working every day, this sounds like the perfect receipe for either you making next-to-nothing, paying somebody else to run your business, or you making money, not paying someone very well to run your business. Think about it, if the person running your business sees you making good money off of his or her work, and not seeing that reflected in his or her pay, he or she could just leave, take the customers and business that has been cultivated, and open another shop, WITHOUT YOU.

 

I like how the automatic reaction is that I'd be in it for the money or to rip off the mechanic.

The point for me would be to see classic cars fixed up and moved on to new homes and have the business support itself and keep a few people employed. I have a well-paying day job so I wouldn't need the place to make a ton of cash for me personally.

 

You are a rare-bird sir. I wish you good luck.

 

Most guys when they open a rod shop repair grocery getters for a living until they build a good reputation and clientel.

Now as for your business venture without even going into the flipping the cars etc it sounds like you want a hobby business. Kind of like an Professional Engineer who owns a few show horses.


Let me give you this advice, if you own a business that someone else runs for you and you are not there you are asking to get it in the butt. The person who is running your business better be someone that you trust to take your wife camping for the weekend.

I know people that own several businesses, that is what they do for a living, they have other people managing them and they have their finger on all of them all the time. They know what comes in and what goes out, they do not allow their employees any leeway at all. Their job is managing their managers.

So the question you need to ask yourself is this, does your day job leave you time to manage your manager? How are you going to keep track of what is going in and out the door and what is actually being paid for such work? How are you going to control quality? And lastly do you have someone lined up that is as trustworthy as the first guy I mentioned?

 

My idea is to buy an existing shop that has a clientele of regular cars and slowly introduce classics into the mix. There are places that have dealer's licenses as well for selling used cars as another income source.

That way it's earning the rent and salaries from oil changes tuneups during the transition.

Yes, that's definitely a key factor.

I work in IT. I might spend an hour a day, tops, actually working because the rest runs itself. Think of it like being a fireman.

Now, obviously it's not as good as being there on the floor, but if I have someone I trust handling the business end of things, working remotely and/or one day a week might be enough to hold the line.

I realize such a venture would do a lot better with me there, but I'm fine with it being a little less profitable because my full-time gig pays the real bills.

That's the real question - I wouldn't want to pump out junk so I'd need mechanics and workers who understand the point and are invested in producing quality. That's the linchpin in the whole idea.

If this intellectual exercise moves forward to the point where I really consider it, I might put a call out on the forums and in my area for someone who wants to make a steady paycheck but also wants to work on old cars and start with the right mechanic, rather than buy a shop and find someone after.

 

I don't think that I've ever heard a better analogy than:

"The person who is running your business better be someone that you trust to take your wife camping for the weekend."

I've had several "partners" in all sorts of things. From simple things like "buying a parts car and splitting the expenses and profits" to "owning a small incorporated restoration parts business", and I've only had ONE partner in 30 years that I'd consider staying in business with!!! He and I were complete opposites and just like a marriage, that's what made it work. I hated the financial end (paying bills, balancing the checkbook, babysitting suppliers who'd "accidentally" charge us COD fees AND put the bill on our credit card...) and he hated the interacting with idiots (my "friends"who wanted things "at cost" since we were "friends") and packing & unpacking & doing car shows and other events... We both got to do what we liked and were good at, and it made it SMOOTH. Of course we argued about whether to spend money on office supplies or another ad in a publication, but again, we each were good at different things. Don't get a partner who thinks exactly like you. Make him/her a 49% partner, and write up a partnership agreement before the first dollar changes hands. We did.

The only other thing that I can credit to our sucess (before I was offered a job out of state with Mo-Par City and we sold our resto parts business) was having a wife who also wanted to see our place become a sucess. If your current wife/GF hates hot rods and how much time and money that you "waste" on them, forget it. You're already doomed. I was working 70+ hour weeks (and loving it) and she'd also stop by the sandwich shop and bring me dinner on her way home from work and would help me unpack boxes, called customers to tell them that their orders were in, cleaned the windows and the bathrooms of the store... And she wouldn't complain when the grass around the house was ankle high and her car STILL needed the oil changed...

Unfortunately, that was before the internet made ordering parts and getting them delivered to your door in two days the norm. I'd try to stay away from any "retail" items and deal more with selling your skilled labor.

We also started the business in the garage after our regular jobs and only when it really started to cook we thought about quitting our day jobs. Luckily for me the government cut defense spending in the early 1990's and I got laid off, making the decision to go full time EASY...

Good Luck!!!

 

Making a business plan will really open your eyes as to what the numbers really add up to.. I just moved back from vegas to tennessee to finish college, and my final project was to design and create a complete business plan.. they sell a program called business plan pro.. its less than 100 bucks and I would say it will be the best money you will spend.. it looks at what your day to day expenses will be.. long and short term assetts, as well as demographics, customer base.. advertising.. ect.. my final project was 47 pages.. and you would be amazed at the real world cost of running a shop

 

And remember, even with that $100 program you'd better reduce the best case scenario by 20-25%. That program can't account for key people having a bad hair day, equipment taking a shit in the middle of an important task, chemical failures like paint or primer that didn't harden either from that bad hair day or old expired product. Also, as good as employees are, even the best of the best, don't count on them calling out in a timely fashion that you're out of X-Y-Z or even toilet paper. You need to keep an eye on inventory and supply as if it's your lifeline...because it is!


Nice one 'beaner, "...take your wife camping"

 

Working for yourself is not an easy process. My advise to you is to bill at an hourly rate. Detail photograph everything you do as in before, during and after shots. Every night document your work including the said photos and send to the owner via email. Every night. Once a week bill the customer for hours spent. Allow 24hrs for payment. If slow or difficult cut the job and start another. Do this every week and stay ahead of the customer. Always. If they can’t pay, you have no reason to support them. Time and space is money. Spell it out up front and rule with an iron fist. They are no friends in business. Only those who will bleed you and those that will feed you. Good luck.