What makes you or your business different?
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Well, I’d like to hear what’s working for your business. What are the things that
differentiate you from your competition?I work for free. That’s the secret to a long waiting list of clients. :whistle:
All kidding aside I don’t know how you small shops do it. Seems like the overhead vs. amount of work that a few guys crank out would eat you alive.
im a small small shop an aint afraid of any repair plus i got enuff experience an equipment ta screw up any car if i dont gitter done with my frame equipment i can usually finish er off in the booth :silly: :silly: :silly:
ta be honest im not afraid ta charge top doller for what i do that helps plus i spent 7 yrs rebuilding totals b4 i opened my own shop had my own shop for the last 15 yrs an im kinda the go to guy if ya dont have ins plus i get lots of ins work to boot not to many shops like mine around low overhead but if im doing ins work i charge as much as the next guy but…..if your paying outta pocket i go easy an have ways of still making as much if not more than the ins work just look at that suby thats a cust pay job get the idea
The key to your shop is low overhead…..
[b]bloverby wrote:[/b]
[quote]The key to your shop is low overhead…..[/quote]
yes an no ive chosen ta do things the way i do an dont let anybody tell me otherwise i do alot of differnt things an have spent alot a time thinking about where the moneys at in this buiss trust me the best money a guy makes in this buiss is running a sharp pencil in the office plus being able ta deliver ya gotta always think about what your making on the job an how fast you can make it i based the success of my buiss on the 800$ complete an have never had ta do one :lol1 but im not to proud ta do anything if the moneys in it even mech stuffBut face it, shop rent, equipment payments, power, taxes, insurance, relying on 1 man to do the work while still having enough money to pay a mortgage and feed the family would be tough.
aint that hard if i could do it with 8 kids ta boot ya just gotta want it thats all not rocket science
I would think there would be more money in a one man shop than a 5 man shop. In the body buis there is such a thing as to small to be big and to big to be small. If I owned a shop I would rather have low overhead and make my own money. You have more headaches with employees. Once you get too big you have to worry about filling up the shop and if a slow month hits it will hit your pocket hard.
I have spent alot of time talking to my owner about this and could go on for awhile. It really depends on if you want to do the work yourself or you want employees to do it for you.
totally agree bro …. runnin a shop now and tring to train some workers but I swear some days it would just be easier to do it my self, but one day soon , if i can keep them , they will make some bucks for me :wak
over the years i have never put all my eggs in one basket i.e. having a couple of d.r.p ‘s who may drop you like a hot potatoe, i have work coming in from quite a few different directions.
My shoe box size shop is bought and paid for so i have no rent, i dont use high end paint i use middle of the road akzo nobel lesonal, so i can make a profit on paint.
I dont know how the big boys do it using some of the high price paint might make a little profit, but if they have to do it agian for any reason i imagine the job will go into negative equity.
If i was a bit tighter on materials i could probaly genarate a little extra yearly profit but i like to spoil myself with materials always pretty well stocked, i hate :cens running out of stuff, thats when you lose money if people are standing around doing nothing.
My guess is that the big, big, big shops aren’t paying the same $$ that a small guy is for that high end paint. Or maybe the paint cost ’em close to the same but the paint company bought the big shop a booth,,, etc.
bloverby, that is right. there is a huge shop that opened a year ago down the street. they use all premium ppg line. ppg gives them 25% discount plus the jobber gives them another 25% so they are paying 1/2 price for all the paint. now the owner who i know said to break even they have to bill $70g each month. he said he has no problem doing it to date but it is a big stress and nut each month. me, i keep my overhead low, use premium base but save alot of money using spi clears and primers. the spi stuff makes a huge difference for me since in custom work you are using way more clear then color. paying $300 or more for a gallon of clear would make things real hard when every small job has 15-20 coats of clear which usually amounts to a gallon or more. its real hard for me to compare what i do different that a collision shop. its much easier for me to “wow” a customer and have them tell and show all their friends. for you guys, some woman dents her car, you fix it, its the same color and looks like it did before. she ain’t so excited she need to run on out to show everyone what an awesome job you did. not downplaying collision work at all, its an art all its own but its just different and i think its harder for you guys to get your name out there as “the place to goto”. i do agree with nick though. one thing that i have learned is to diversify a little. i know many custom painters and all they do is paint custom bikes and harleys or other guys just paint sportbikes. most are out of business right now or very slow and do it part time. i get into alot of different markets so when one slows down or even all of them, everything balances out. i try to push the sportbike market, harley and custom market, classic car and hotrod market and even the casino sign market. this year the casino stuff has just about stopped and the bikes have dropped slightly but i expanded and got my name out there more in the restoration field so now i probably have enough cars to last me the next 2 years or so. everything just fills in the gaps of the others and keeps me and my 2 guys working steady. besides having a good reputation and keeping the overhead as low as possible i think this is the most important part of creating a more stable business.
If bondomerchant can make it with 8 kids, then I have no excuse… I’ve got tons to
learn. And now that I have a few years under my belt, I have a better idea about a
bunch of things… Mainly, I need to be a better businessman. And I’m on it.Keeping the overhead low is obviously critical. And being a small timer, I’m not
tied in to any brand. Tried quite a few low to high-end stuff, and quite frankly,
the base hasn’t been all too important; it’s about the primers and clears. And, like
Jim, SPI is it.What works for me? I’m very good with people.
[b]Han wrote:[/b]
[quote]If bondomerchant can make it with 8 kids, then I have no excuse… I’ve got tons to
learn. And now that I have a few years under my belt, I have a better idea about a
bunch of things… Mainly, I need to be a better businessman. And I’m on it.Keeping the overhead low is obviously critical. And being a small timer, I’m not
tied in to any brand. Tried quite a few low to high-end stuff, and quite frankly,
the base hasn’t been all too important; it’s about the primers and clears. And, like
Jim, SPI is it.What works for me? I’m very good with people.[/quote]
sounds like ya got alot going for ya han 🙂 im good with people 2 an treat em like family repeat customers are all a guy needs an ya can do what ever ya want an forget the competition plus learn ta take time an have fun on the weekends an enjoy what ya do an dont let the stress get ta ya that just takes time you already got the hard part behind ya now the fun begins 😉
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