Thinking about starting my own mechanic business. Advice?

[stephen4785]

My employment was abruptly terminated on Friday. It was a bullshit deal all to get a previous employee his old position back. Anyway I started doing a cylinder head job(contract labor) on a Cat D6 dozer on Saturday. I was talking to my brother in law thats a heavy equipment mechanic about getting my own truck and wrenching on Fleet equipment, trucks, fleet cars, heavy equipment, etc... and he said that there's more work than service techs right now. Iv never been happy working for someone else because of various reasons and one of them is that I think I could manage to do it better. I'v got the ability to go buy a service truck and I have almost every tool I would need. What I dont have is customers lined up already so Im unsure on how about to go out and get some work? I can contract some work from my b.i.l. but thats it.
Do any of yall have any experience with starting a mechanic business and if so how did you start getting customers?
And to those of yall that are familiar with mechanical service is this the best field I should shoot for? I have experience with automotive, diesel, big rigs, compressors, fleet repair, natural gas compression,and small engines. Im not sure what would be the most profitable for me to do.

[appelingogt]

Have a buddy who wrench's heavy equipment on the spot...straight ballin!!! But he has to be sober and on call ALL the time...I love beer too much

[talisman]

Independent owned shops have a very high failure rate, especially in the first year. You will want to have as little overhead as possible, be able to survive without personal insurance likely (I'm not up on how Obamacare effected all this shit since they keep moving the goalposts on it) and be able to survive the first few months with little to no customers. If I was going to do it myself, I would look at the model Cooter used to get up and running. Overhead just kills most of these places.

[dee]

Heavy equipment is booming these days. Do you have all of the various software need to work on the newer teir of engines? That can add up fast if not.

[phaux]

I can't comment specifically on being a mechanic, but as far as being self employed:

Have a nice chunk saved up for the beginning. Startup for tools, truck and various other overhead costs are pricey, plus, many times you will be sitting around twiddling your thumbs.

Treat it as a full time job. Just because you don't have a customer you're doing work for at the moment doesn't mean you need to be sleeping in til noon and watching TV. Find something to do that betters your business or has you prepared to rock and roll when that customer calls

Be prepared to work, a lot. Long hours, at crappy times, on holidays, and be willing to give up much of your social life. When you break it down to the pay per hour, there's a good chance it's going to be crap for the first several years.

Don't pay for advertising. I spent a ton on yellowpages and other avenues of advertising, all to learn that google maps and craiglist netted me more business than anything.

Don't work for free. Unless you just absolutely need the experience, don't work for less than what you want to make per hour after overhead is deducted. It jacks up the market and after all is said and done, most of the time you'll be pissed once you put pencil to paper and realize that you just provided volunteer work.

Customers are miserable I do welding full time and 95% of the time I love my customers, but that 5% of the time, you're going to have a customer that can't be pleased, haggles you down, and is just miserable to deal with. Drop those customers and when they call again in the future, don't answer.

I could go on, but I'll let others chime in with their words of wisdom

[Whiteboy]

I can't comment specifically on being a mechanic, but as far as being self employed:

Have a nice chunk saved up for the beginning. Startup for tools, truck and various other overhead costs are pricey, plus, many times you will be sitting around twiddling your thumbs.

Treat it as a full time job. Just because you don't have a customer you're doing work for at the moment doesn't mean you need to be sleeping in til noon and watching TV. Find something to do that betters your business or has you prepared to rock and roll when that customer calls

Be prepared to work, a lot. Long hours, at crappy times, on holidays, and be willing to give up much of your social life. When you break it down to the pay per hour, there's a good chance it's going to be crap for the first several years.

Don't pay for advertising. I spent a ton on yellowpages and other avenues of advertising, all to learn that google maps and craiglist netted me more business than anything.

Don't work for free. Unless you just absolutely need the experience, don't work for less than what you want to make per hour after overhead is deducted. It jacks up the market and after all is said and done, most of the time you'll be pissed once you put pencil to paper and realize that you just provided volunteer work.

Customers are miserable I do welding full time and 95% of the time I love my customers, but that 5% of the time, you're going to have a customer that can't be pleased, haggles you down, and is just miserable to deal with. Drop those customers and when they call again in the future, don't answer.

I could go on, but I'll let others chime in with their words of wisdom

Just because you don't have a customer you're doing work for at the moment doesn't mean you need to be sleeping in til noon and watching TV.

works for me lol

[JC316]

Finding customers is an issue? I turn down a good 5 jobs a week just by talking to people. All I have to say is "I'm a mechanic" and people practically throw money at me. If I wasn't up to my ass cheeks in my car lot, I would be cashing in on that.

[snacksnack]

Stay away from the auto world. Heavy equipment and semi work is where its at.

[Cooter]

have all your ducks in a row (LLC, quick books, invoice system, etc. etc.) before you take your first job

and yes, I think heavy equipment is a good focus!

[TRAILBLAZER]

Should be a instant hit , Craigslist ad maybe ?

[FastFox]

Self Employment

Yes, it is tough to get started, but I promise you that if you survive a year without going broke, you will never work for anyone again. A friend once told me to look around and find a service that nobody did and learn to do it well and profitable. Examples......Porta Pottys and The Roter Rooter guy.

[beefed88]

Seems like you have gone through a lot of jobs.

[stephen4785]

Seems like you have gone through a lot of jobs.

A lot more than most. Hence why I think u should start my own gig. I think I might not be cut out to work for anyone else.

[BP]

There is big money in it but there is also a lot of pressure. Personally I've thought about getting into RV repair. It's no different than medium duty truck/bus work but there aren't generally published labor times or parts prices for anything. That and generally it's 100% discretionary spending, meaning you aren't dealing with dead beats trying to wing it on a shoestring budget.

I used to work for a warranty company that had RV contracts and we were raped ALL THE TIME. Things like a roof unit condenser fan going out would cost 10 hours labor and $1500 in parts, for something that I know probably cost $49 at Grainger and took 10 minutes to swap. Slideout actuators stop working and it's $5k, to replace a $300 part. Heaven forbid one of the refrigerators go out or it need plumbing work. You'd have to pay someone 20+ hours to take apart the whole side of the thing, even though realistically it was probably a dozen sheet metal screws.

[snacksnack]

There is big money in it but there is also a lot of pressure. Personally I've thought about getting into RV repair. It's no different than medium duty truck/bus work but there aren't generally published labor times or parts prices for anything. That and generally it's 100% discretionary spending, meaning you aren't dealing with dead beats trying to wing it on a shoestring budget.

I used to work for a warranty company that had RV contracts and we were raped ALL THE TIME. Things like a roof unit condenser fan going out would cost 10 hours labor and $1500 in parts, for something that I know probably cost $49 at Grainger and took 10 minutes to swap. Slideout actuators stop working and it's $5k, to replace a $300 part. Heaven forbid one of the refrigerators go out or it need plumbing work. You'd have to pay someone 20+ hours to take apart the whole side of the thing, even though realistically it was probably a dozen sheet metal screws.

Worked on rv's for about 8 months and no thanks. First off a pusher with a side mount radiator, where does it come out you ask? well its sitting on top of the frame and the motor is in the way so the next best thing to do is remove the body, Sawzaw away. Working on a greasy motor? ok put on your surgical suit and walk thru that 500k bus to the bed to work under it on the motor.

Theres a reason they cost more per hour in the first place While I am sure you could make a fortune working on those I would take a piece of off road equipment any day over it.