any techs out there working own garage?

[daris]

I'd like to know if anybody out there's working out of the garage only, and how many average repairs are possible per day, and the population of the area they work in. I'm interested in working stationary because the winters here in Windsor Canada can be colder at times and I don't want anything to interfere with my work quality. Thanks in advance.

[daris]

Rephrase "Any techs out there working own garage"

Any techs out there leasing a garage, windshield repair only, and how many jobs they get per day, and the population of their market, city.

[mrchip]

getting involved in a lease when you are just starting out can be very risky because you are locked into a time frame..i leased a bay from a body shop for the winter and paid the guy cash weekly ..no strings attached..check out .any business that has a lot of bays..if they are slow they won't mind making some money on the side.. plus they can plug your business ..

[toab]

Still fixing my commercial garage up so I am just doing some repairs on the side out of my residential 2 stall garage but I will be hopefully rolling fulltime next spring at my commercial facility.I have a service van ready to go..Just need the lettering done.Layoffs are iminent at the factory I am at and I am hoping to catch one out the door of that awful place.Daris I am only about 2 hrs from you and this market is full of small 1 dealer towns so I am going to have to go get some of my business.I will also be offering paintfree dent repair mobily as well as headlight resurfaceing.

[toab]

Daris.. By the way fellow member Kenb81 does w.r. out of london ont. also so get in touch with him for some pointers.

[screenman]

Toab have you done you PDR training yet. As for fixed site location we have one on a busy road well signed up etc and we get about 1 drop in job a day.

I must add at this point that we do many other things at the unit as well, otherwise we would have shut the door on it.

[toab]

screenman..I have extensive autobody experience so I am self teaching/learning the finess required to perform the service useing 2 different dvd courses that I recently bought online from the p.d.r. sites.I am also making some of my own rods out of trunk torsion rods so that I don't have to buy as many.I am also fabbing' my own lighting system for the shop so that I just have to buy the mobile lighting and boards.I will also be doing rustproofing andsmall spot ins at the facility.

[screenman]

Toab have you spent any time looking at http://www.doording.com fantastic pdr site. I have been doing PDR for many years now its one hell of a lot different from a hammer, dolly and bondo don't you think. The schools you have over there have avery bad reputation taking money off guys without installing much in the way of PDR skills. Its a bit of a longer learning curve compared with screen repair. Are you going to offer all the skills yourself or are you employing people. Rustproofing went out over here in about 1987 since then I do not know of any places that do it, hell it is a messy job, would not tinting fit in better and cleaner for your working enviroment. If you are going to do spot repairs make sure you are not in one of your no spray counties.
I dropped painting at the beginning of this year and farm it all out now. I found although it is very easy to be busy with it compared with screen repair and PDR you spend longer to earn less per hour. Does not make for good business sence.

Any way best of luck all the way.

[daris]

Thanks for the advice. I just thought that I would have gotten some advice on starting a commercial service garage, but if I didn't give you's any info about my territory It's hard to give such advice.

I'm the only "repair only" tech in a border city with tons of trucks.
City's population about 200 thou. There's a few replacement companies like Speedy, Standard, Apple auto glass, and a couple of private glass installers. Nobody in my area has heard of crack repair, and the word "free" is a bad word around here. I wish there would be another "repair only" tech here to help me teach the city about the advantages of repair, and spread the word.
If I could be assured with 3 repairs per day In a comm. garage I would be happy for the winter.
So I was wondering If anbody is working repair only, and if my situation has any simillarities and how many repairs they're getting per population of their territorry.
Thanks in advance for any advice...

[kenb81]

There used to be a repair only kiosk set up in Windsor Canadian Tire store and it used to average 15-18 repairs a week. It was called Chip King and then the name changed to Xpress . I believe it was closed down in 2000.