I moved (again)

[Rivets]

“ parts prices aren't that important to me”. I hope you take a second look at this idea. If you want to stay around for reasonable amount of time you need to make anything And everything which bRings in money very important, and anything that removes money even more important. The old timer who got me interested in this business had a saying. “ Labor puts meat and potatoes on the table, but sales buys the table “. In the past 50 years I’ve learned that this is even more true today, unless you don’t need a table.

 

[Hammermechanicman]

Since I don't have a lot of mark up on parts, parts prices aren't that important to me. Of course, I'll always spend a couple of minutes looking up the best price. But the customer is going to pay it anyhow. Unless it's just outragious. But they already know beforehand, about what the cost of the repairs & parts are gonna be, before I order anything.

You looking to make it a real business? No offense but worrying about your profit is pretty important. You need to figure what your parts markup should be. If you have a stens account you get a certain. Price. You then mark it up to cover certain expenses and privide a profit. The time you spend on the computer looking up parts needs to be compensated among other things. How and how much you markup your parts is up to you but giving the customer parts at or near cost is a sure way to go out of business. People bring things to you because either they don't know how to fix it, don't have time to fix it, don't have the tools to fix it or just don't want to bother fixing it. That costs real money. You need to charge a fair hourly shop rate plus a parts markup that makes you profitable enough to live. The local JD/Stihl dealer charges $98/hr and a huge parts markup and is always busy. You need to charge what you need to stay in business. If the local economy won't support that you have a problem. Are you paying sales tax on parts? Are you charging sales tax on parts? At $40/hr most folks don't get the cheap string trimmers and chInsaws fixed. One guy asked me "do you want to make a little money or no money?" When he brought in a cheap string trimmer and wanted it fixed for $20. "You have a nice day sir."

 

[khr76]

best of luck, wish you a happy life

 

[bertsmobile1]

Since I don't have a lot of mark up on parts, parts prices aren't that important to me. Of course, I'll always spend a couple of minutes looking up the best price. But the customer is going to pay it anyhow. Unless it's just outragious. But they already know beforehand, about what the cost of the repairs & parts are gonna be, before I order anything.

I price match on parts.
There are 2 big on line dealers down here & I charge around 90% of what they list on line.
This is regardless of weather it is an original part or a pattern part so on some things I make a 100% mark up.
The logic behind this is if the customer checks the prices on line mine appear to be cheaper.
When I have to pay full retail I include the invoice with their account so they can see I did not add anything to the price but there is always a "Delivery Fee or Courier Fee " as the last line to cover the cost of going to the shop to get their parts and it is never ever a whole dollar amount so $ 14.75 , $ 22.52 etc and you tell then that is what the courier company charged you for delivery.
I use a price that will round the bill to an even 50¢ ad a lot of my prices end with numbers that are not multiples of 5¢ which is the smallest coin we have
As for tools they come from distributors bought on a company order & I ask for wholesale rates.
Most will give you one if you have the appropriate tax numbers ( down here an ACN or ABN ) and some have even asked me to distribute their products which I try to do if I think I can sell them.
I shifted 144 air dusters with a 5' tube over 3 years or 10 sump pumps or 144 grease guns as an example so those meant that my dusters, grease guns & sump pumps were effectively free.
Get lots of oil in retail packages in when Stens have their pre-season sales then put them where customers have to walk past and write a price on each bottle with a paint pen in big number so they can see it is for sale.
The oil I use in the shop I buy in 44's so it costs $ 3.95 / liter, I charge it out at $ 10.00 / liter and retail it in bottles at $ 11.00 / liter.
Same thing with grease, always bought in 5 gallon pails because the Tricor guns are refillable as well as being leak proof .
Shop fittings & other tools all come from auctions.
Sunday evening is auction time & I scour the 3 major trade auctions and put very low bids on things like tool boxes , loose tools , parts bins , peg board, etc etc etc.
Treat them as you would a garage sale, one low bid, if you win fine if you don't who cares so one bid then don't go back till after the auction closes.
Often a "pallet of used tools & sundries " will make me hundreds because I take out what I want then sell the rest at the gate as "surplus used tools "
Better still these are done in my name, cash only so they do not appear on the books.
The workshop has 6 rolling tool chests and I have not paid more than $ 50 a piece for any of them and sold another 1/2 dozen at well over $ 100 each .
Occasionally some one comments on them & they get an answer along the lines of " I was thinking of getting some nice new Sidchrome ones but I would have to put up my labour charges & the tools really don't care "
The other things about old looking tool chests is it makes it look like you have been around for a long time

 

[PTmowerMech]

Sounds as if you have a regular store & shop. Like a dealership. That would be nice to just hang stuff on the wall and make money off it, without really touching it. Oil, filters etc etc
As far as parts mark up goes, when I get everything I have now, in order, I'll change my mark up prices. Just getting used to things now. I went an bought a 590825 AF from the competitor yesterday and paid nearly $15. It was a prime line. I could've gotten the same stens one for $7.50 (single). I lost $7 on the deal. But the customer got their equipment back the next day. And bragged about it on theirs and mine facebook page. Which got me another customer that I picked up, fixed and took back the same day. Which he bragged about on Facebook. Which lead to scheduling two more pick ups today.
I spend roughly $5 per day on facebook ads that run locally. My first customer paid for the week. And got me three more customers.

All of which have used the shop I used to work at, but complained it took so long to get their equipment back.

So it seems, the other two shops will just look at the date on the work order, and pick the one that's been there the longest. So even if it's a 20 minute repair or service, it's still not going to get done soon. I do all my easy stuff first, regardless of other equipment that came before it.

 

[PTmowerMech]

You looking to make it a real business? No offense but worrying about your profit is pretty important. You need to figure what your parts markup should be. If you have a stens account you get a certain. Price. You then mark it up to cover certain expenses and privide a profit. The time you spend on the computer looking up parts needs to be compensated among other things. How and how much you markup your parts is up to you but giving the customer parts at or near cost is a sure way to go out of business. People bring things to you because either they don't know how to fix it, don't have time to fix it, don't have the tools to fix it or just don't want to bother fixing it. That costs real money. You need to charge a fair hourly shop rate plus a parts markup that makes you profitable enough to live. The local JD/Stihl dealer charges $98/hr and a huge parts markup and is always busy. You need to charge what you need to stay in business. If the local economy won't support that you have a problem. Are you paying sales tax on parts? Are you charging sales tax on parts? At $40/hr most folks don't get the cheap string trimmers and chInsaws fixed. One guy asked me "do you want to make a little money or no money?" When he brought in a cheap string trimmer and wanted it fixed for $20. "You have a nice day sir."

At my last location, BFE Arkansas, I was $35hr. Here, I'm $50. My rent is 20% up to $1000 a month. So far, I'm not charging tax on anything. Cash only for the time being. When I get more settled and used to things, I'll get the tax ID, business permit and do things by the book. I'll need to tax ID to get in with Rotary.
A customer came in with a trimmer and said if you can fix it for $20, I'll do it. He said the only thing it needed was a 3 hole primer bulb. So I got one from Stens, put it on. And determined it was going to need carb work. Customer thanked me and said keep it. Now I have a carb kit coming for it. Since it has good compression (it's a 4 mix), I'll have $20 in it, and resell it for around $75. It'll probably take me 1/2hr to get it running. So I end up with about $50 profit on it. Same as if I'd repaired it for the customer.
I have no probably selling used equipment. It's all as is, no warranty. But, that being said, if someone returns something they just bought, that doesn't require a lot of work, I'll probably make the repairs. Being new to this shop, I don't wanna get a bad rep right off the bat for selling junk. It would make me look like I don't know what I'm doing.

 

[PTmowerMech]

“ parts prices aren't that important to me”. I hope you take a second look at this idea. If you want to stay around for reasonable amount of time you need to make anything And everything which bRings in money very important, and anything that removes money even more important. The old timer who got me interested in this business had a saying. “ Labor puts meat and potatoes on the table, but sales buys the table “. In the past 50 years I’ve learned that this is even more true today, unless you don’t need a table.

I hear ya. And am rethinking that this morning. Thanks to you and the others who have commented and gave me some good advice on this. Why waste good money, right? Besides a few bucks extra to each bill, will ad up.
I guess I just didn't want to be the reason some people shop Amazon/Ebay. A customer told me yesterday he stopped buying from the local dealer because his prices were too high on filters and blades. I bought a filter from the competition yesterday and my jaw nearly hit the floor when he told me how much it was.

Remember the movie "Josey Wales?" The ferry operator says "In this business, you have to be able to sing the "Battle hymn of the Republic" and whistle Dixie, all with the same enthusiasm.

 

[StarTech]

Boy are you taking a chance without the license. Fines are not cheap besides they can close you down. Here minimum business license is only $15 and that good up to 10K in transactions. My current license was only $22.

Personally I keep nearly thing in storage bins using a bin location system to find what I have on hand. Kinda need to use that system of storage for a few reasons. One is mice. A couple others dirt and the ability to find things later.

The system works find as a long as part pn sku don't get superseded for right on auto supersedes the software does transfer previous bin locations. Every thing work fine for 10 yrs until a recent software update. I am most of the way back to knowing where everything is again though I got the air filter and hardware counts to go through.

When you got $57,000 retail in parts and stored in a 24 x 24 garage it is a necessity. besides tracking of 14,000 plus parts is a pain otherwise


Cost list doesn't include shipping charges which are wrote off at the time of expense then the parts cost is wrote off as parts are sold. Actual sales are blank out on purpose. No one but me and the IRS need to know that. I do shoot for a 25% net profit with part of that reinvested in the company and rest pays my personal bills. This year has been a little with the shutdown .

Boy that recent software error had me with $750K retail in inventory but I got it back to more normal now.

As for local shops yes some are rather high on parts. That why I shop around just like anyone else does. One of the local Stihl is definitely too high on parts. Switch dealers and things are more reasonable. And business relationships with other shops is a pain here. All they are interested in is all or none of the business. I have warranty new parts out my own pocket as none will honor the dealer manufactures' warranties; unless, they sold the part or equipment themselves. If I ever decide to become a dealer they will regret it. No one customers would rather pay me for repairs on new equipment then deal with them.

BTW I got to return nearly all of my HFT jackstands as just I received a recall notice, what a pain. Collapse risk and here I have been cwaling underneath big ZTRs while were holding them up. Not too stands just four 6tn and 8 3tn stands.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Sounds as if you have a regular store & shop. Like a dealership. That would be nice to just hang stuff on the wall and make money off it, without really touching it. Oil, filters etc etc
As far as parts mark up goes, when I get everything I have now, in order, I'll change my mark up prices. Just getting used to things now. I went an bought a 590825 AF from the competitor yesterday and paid nearly $15. It was a prime line. I could've gotten the same stens one for $7.50 (single). I lost $7 on the deal. But the customer got their equipment back the next day. And bragged about it on theirs and mine facebook page. Which got me another customer that I picked up, fixed and took back the same day. Which he bragged about on Facebook. Which lead to scheduling two more pick ups today.
I spend roughly $5 per day on facebook ads that run locally. My first customer paid for the week. And got me three more customers.

All of which have used the shop I used to work at, but complained it took so long to get their equipment back.

So it seems, the other two shops will just look at the date on the work order, and pick the one that's been there the longest. So even if it's a 20 minute repair or service, it's still not going to get done soon. I do all my easy stuff first, regardless of other equipment that came before it.

I am berts MOBILE mower repairs so I do a lot of work on site
The workshop is a 3 car garage which currently has 3 lathes, 2 mills & a shaper in which take up about 1/2 the space.
I bring the customers into the workshop & show them the bin with all of their old parts in and offet them to the customer, particularly belts where they might like to keep them as am emergency back up
Then they get their account, w settle & they get taken round the back so they can try their equipment before they take it home.
IF it is a mobile job, that of course changes everything.
The street out the front is very busy so the stuff I don't wan sits just inside the fence with the "For Sale" sign on it.

As for service scheduling every one gets told a week turn around , longer if it needs parts to be ordered in as I get weekly deliveries ( slight lie there ).
That way I always have time to do urgent repairs and when some one gets the job back in 2 days they think I am God.
Generally they get told " I was waiting back for a customer to pick up ????? so did yours while I was waiting as it was right there & I had all of the parts " or some thing similar.
If the customer wants a while they wait type of job they get charged extra so regular blade change is charged out at $ 20 + blades.
A while I wait blade change is $ 60/ hr for however long it takes and 1/2 hour $ 30 is the minimum hourly charge.
Doing the quick stuff first is goos cause you get quick money in your pocket but all of a sudden you find yourself with 10 x 2 day jobs + parts waiting time that have been in your shop for a week.
Then when you are nearly finished you notice a worn brake pad or find a lump missing from a belt which add another couple of days to the job.
A full service on the 2038 I picked up today will yield around $ 300 in profit , I will never make that in a single day doing quick & easy small jobs.
You don't want to have a reputation for fixing things on the spot because the first time you don't you become a bastard.
But you can get a reputation foe being "quick" by quoting a week & finishing 2 or 3 days early.
I made the mistake a few times of fixing " I have replaced everything but I can't get this !!!!! mower to start ": - valve lash jobs right in front of the customer in 15 minutes & charged the $ 15 + gaskets
It did not make me any friends so the next one that came in I told the customer "Sounds tricky I will see what I can do " fixed it while they were gone, waited 4 days then sent it back & charged $ 120 for 2 hours work " sorting it out" + gaskets & oil . They thought I was a miracle worker & good value as they has spent $ 400 on parts & still could not get the mower to start.

There is a little bit of shownmans ship required if you are going to prosper and better still make the customers your friends.

 

[PTmowerMech]

Boy are you taking a chance without the license. Fines are not cheap besides they can close you down. Here minimum business license is only $15 and that good up to 10K in transactions. My current license was only $22.

Personally I keep nearly thing in storage bins using a bin location system to find what I have on hand. Kinda need to use that system of storage for a few reasons. One is mice. A couple others dirt and the ability to find things later.

The system works find as a long as part pn sku don't get superseded for right on auto supersedes the software does transfer previous bin locations. Every thing work fine for 10 yrs until a recent software update. I am most of the way back to knowing where everything is again though I got the air filter and hardware counts to go through.

When you got $57,000 retail in parts and stored in a 24 x 24 garage it is a necessity. besides tracking of 14,000 plus parts is a pain otherwise

View attachment 52390
Cost list doesn't include shipping charges which are wrote off at the time of expense then the parts cost is wrote off as parts are sold. Actual sales are blank out on purpose. No one but me and the IRS need to know that. I do shoot for a 25% net profit with part of that reinvested in the company and rest pays my personal bills. This year has been a little with the shutdown .

Boy that recent software error had me with $750K retail in inventory but I got it back to more normal now.

As for local shops yes some are rather high on parts. That why I shop around just like anyone else does. One of the local Stihl is definitely too high on parts. Switch dealers and things are more reasonable. And business relationships with other shops is a pain here. All they are interested in is all or none of the business. I have warranty new parts out my own pocket as none will honor the dealer manufactures' warranties; unless, they sold the part or equipment themselves. If I ever decide to become a dealer they will regret it. No one customers would rather pay me for repairs on new equipment then deal with them.

BTW I got to return nearly all of my HFT jackstands as just I received a recall notice, what a pain. Collapse risk and here I have been cwaling underneath big ZTRs while were holding them up. Not too stands just four 6tn and 8 3tn stands.

Baby steps brother. first and foremost, I gotta make sure things at this location is going to be permanent. As you know, in the last year, I've moved from my home in Tx, to Arkansas and now back to Texas. I'm a little scared of the "what if's" at the moment. And with all the covid-19 stuff still around, the local government offices are closed, from what I understand.
And then there's the money situation. I should have money coming in this week, but it'll still not be in the black yet. So far, I've collected about $100. Although there's about $400 worth of repairs ready to be picked up, that still won't cover much. I'd say there's about that much in repairs waiting for parts/repairs. Still in my 2nd week at this location.
With each Stens order, I've bought at least 1 extra of everything. If it was something I think I might use again. I'm finding ways of organizing those parts, but running out of room to organize. At the moment, I have 3 different Zama carb kits in on bin. 4 difference 2 cycle air filters in another. And several other mix matched parts mixed in with each other. Need some peg board to separate all that. But I'm not going to dish out any more money on things like that, until I'm making more money.
The points that were made to me about profit (earlier in this thread) really put a hold on what I buy for the time being. That includes permits, tax #, insurance etc etc. Those things will come. Hopefully soon.