Repair shop needs advice

[Zue]

To all small engine repair shops. I’ve run my shop for 10 years and still trying to find ways to optimize profits. If you are willing to share your ideas, please comment. My rates are similar to other brick and motor repair shops near me. I work from a home shop. In my service I specialize in getting customers back their equipment in 10 days or less. Because my wife works we can survive but I cannot seem to make enough profit to exist. I clear about 32k a year and that’s not enough to keep going. If you don’t want to share specifics publicly then email me at dzue@att.net

Ps: I don’t do retail sales at this time, only repairs.

 

[sgkent]

We are a throw away society. People in general are not willing to pay for repairs - how do I say it politely - they believe they are worth $100 an hour but the other guy isn't. To me, I see it in how people treat each other all the time when I am out in someone's shop listening to strangers talk. My guess is that unless you are a shop in a large area with lots of gardener services, it probably is not going to get any better. If you raise your prices, people will go to another home mechanic. That said, some mechanics have resorted to making videos of their work, posting them on YouTube to make additional money, and to get their name out there.

 

[ILENGINE]

Service only has its limits as far as carrying capacity. You maybe topped out at this point for your area. Need wholegoods retail sales to drive up revenue past a certain point that you may have reached.

 

[Zue]

I guess I’m more interested to know if having a brick and motar with good visibility would yield more profit than working from home. When I go to other shops to buy parts they have more customers while I’m there for 15 minutes than I see in a week. What kind of profit could I expect in the DFW area from a B&M business? I want to go from 32k to 100k profit in this move.
I know I’ll have more expenses, need more people, etc. Will I have make enough to survive this move, or just stay in my garage and keep humping.
What are other B&Ms yielding?

 

[sgkent]

IMHO consider building a business plan for you in your area, and see how the math works out. It is all about the math. Include the cost of how people will find you. Price in the cost of rent, store fixtures, insurance and what you think the profit margin / labor rate will be etc.., what it will cost you to put in someone to cover the place when you can't be there. Figure in utilities. Include the cost to deal with disgruntled workers and customers, potential legal fees and licensing costs. There are lines at some of the shops here and some that have no lines. It all depends on what parts they carry, and what brands are commonly used here. IMHO, no one in DFW who has a shop is going to post their secrets of success for someone to compete against them. If I opened a shop today here, the first question would be how do I let others know I am here? Send flyers and letters with a coupon for a few bucks off to all the gardeners listed in the area? Buy a marketing list of people who have bought certain products and make calls to them? Post your services on facebook marketplace or craigslist? All of the above?

 

[Skippydiesel]

Two years ago (In Australia), I had a nice little trade going, in refurbished mowers, generators, compressors & brush cutters. Completely dried up. No one wants an old machine, no matter how well it runs/does the job. I think it's a combination of the "throw away" generation and oddly a down in the economie. You would think the later would increase the demand but no!

 

[Auto Doc's]

To all small engine repair shops. I’ve run my shop for 10 years and still trying to find ways to optimize profits. If you are willing to share your ideas, please comment. My rates are similar to other brick and motor repair shops near me. I work from a home shop. In my service I specialize in getting customers back their equipment in 10 days or less. Because my wife works we can survive but I cannot seem to make enough profit to exist. I clear about 32k a year and that’s not enough to keep going. If you don’t want to share specifics publicly then email me at dzue@att.net

Ps: I don’t do retail sales at this time, only repairs.

Hello Zue,

You are falling victim to the times of a dying trade. I've been working small engine equipment since the 70's off and on but never relied on it as a primary means of survival.

I only perform small engine equipment repairs as a "sideline" to minor automotive repair and diagnostics.

As it is all the mechanical repair industries are also suffering due to poor parts quality.

The B&M shops survive mainly on new equipment sales, but that is a huge investment requiring you to sell a minimum number of units each year. Even the B&M folks are being overwhelmed by the makers requiring them to keep larger inventories.

We have become a throw away society and the flood of cheap import box store equipment as made things much worse. People don't want to spend the money, especially with labor and parts cost being so high.

Even repairing better quality older equipment then reselling it has tanked in recent years. Everyone wants "new" so they can keep repeating the same "throw it away" cycle.

 

[Hammermechanicman]

As others have said service alone if a one man shop won't pay the bills. Dealerships make their real money on equipment sales and service makes up a small part of their business. I run a shop with almost zero overheadh and make decent money but i have a comfortable retirement income also. I looked into starting a B&M business years ago but would have required about about $75-$100K to rent space, hire employees, buy tools, stock partys, insurance, advertising, etc. Plus becoming a dealer. Didn't project making a profit for 2 years. Due to all the changes in technology, parts, society and economics the one man repair shop making a decent living is hard. I can charge over $100 an hour to do small business IT work and make more money but i enjoy working on equipment and IT work sucks. All depends on the demand for a skillset. Small engine mechanic is not in that big of a demand anymore.

 

[StarTech]

You can't be a honest person and make it in today's business environment. Customers are wanting to have the work done for very little. I even had customer to try to tell how much I was going to charge to do the work.

I ran one off last year that argued with me over the estimate. I finally just told him to come, get his mower, and do the work himself if knew so much about it.

I even got this week that wanting to rebuild his deck with parts he purchased somewhere else. Well his labor part will be 50% more as the normal profit on the parts is what kept the labor part down. Thinking that I am stupid doesn't cut it here.