Shop opening.
Thread Starter
3rd Gear Member
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 537
From:
Shop opening.
I know it's not classic specific, but I don't post on any of the other boards here so I decided to post.
A friend ( now business partner ) and I are in the final stages of opening ( or re-opening as is the case ) our very own shop.
The story goes...
In the sleepy little town of Fort White Florida ( don't blink, you'll miss it ) sits a 4 bay garage once thriving and very busy. It sits with its doors closed and surrounding 2 acres of land ankle deep in grass/weeds. The owner was injured some 3 years ago and turned the business over to his son. From what I can gather from the local folks and some public records at the clerks office, the son just didn't pay his bills and eventualy the IRS shut the doors. Some how, some way, the original owner has all of the history cleared and can now sell the business, turn key.
Now, mind you, this all came about after several years of my friend and I mentioning that we'd make a perfect business marriage. His ( and my ) knowledge of mechanics and my ( and his ability to be public friendly ) business sense along with the desire to provide a public service and make the money needed to support our families, makes for a solid business relationship. My partner has turned wrenches all of his life, infact, he's only had 3 jobs. 1 at his dads bone yard and 2 with local shops here in town.
About 2 months ago, I was at a local tranny shop diagnosing what I thought was drive train vibration with a builder friend (turns out it was the balancer on the motor). I left there headed home to start tearing down and ordering parts to resolve my vibration. Something told me ( call it what you will, all I know is I followed my hunch ) that I needed to cut back through town and go see my friend. It was friday and I knew they'd be stressing - trying to get jobs out for the weeks end and he'd need to see a friendly face to help make it through the day.
I walk through the office, like normal, enter the shop, like normal. There's my friend with his truck backed up to one bay. I think nothing of it as he uses his welder on the back of his truck all the time. I say howdy to the other tech and the owner and then it dawns on me. My friend is not using his welder, he's loading his tools on the back of his truck! Holy ****, whatever the reason, it can't be good. My friend has been in this same shop for over 18 years. He's been the back bone and main tech here forever.
As I see him appear from over the main box on the truck, he just smiles and says. Turkey season starts this weekend, you coming with me? I laugh and start handing him trays to load back into the box ( his box is the 2 tier Mac box and took a wench to get it into the back of the truck ).
Come to find out, he'd had all he could take of the owner complaining lately. We ended up taking 3 gobblers the next morning and talking about what happen and where he was going from there. He then told me about the shop for sale and that Monday we went and walked through it with the owner/realtor. Tuesday we had a contract written up and 3 weeks later I finished the business plan and turned everything over to the lender. We got a final approval last week and we're on the final stages of closing. If everything falls into place as we expect, we'll be opening the doors in ~30 days.
Things to note - there's not another service shop in a 15 miles radius. You can't even get air in your tire in this town. You have to drive to the next city, some 15 miles away. The section of the county is just now developing. Infact, there's a Pharmacy and a Supermarket going up as we speak. The Supermarket broke ground this Monday.
5 New subdivisions are being built with 1 acre tracts starting at 100k, land only. The Highschool was just finished this year ( new ) and there's several middle schools being built. We're literaly getting in on the ground floor. Just our reputation and quality of work stand in our way. Lastly, we're the only section of land that's still zoned "Industrial/Commercial" inside city limits. With that zoning, we can do whatever we want with very minimal political involvement.
The owner is selling it as is. It's literaly a turn key operation. Everything is there, including lifts, AC-reclaim, Compressors, scanners, office equip, even the tire machine and brake lathes are in near new condition. To top all of it off, NAPA is opening the doors on their new building this month and they're less than a mile from the shop.
Anywho...
Just thought I'd give an update to my where-abouts. I've not made a post in a couple months and now ya know!
Cheers.
A friend ( now business partner ) and I are in the final stages of opening ( or re-opening as is the case ) our very own shop.
The story goes...
In the sleepy little town of Fort White Florida ( don't blink, you'll miss it ) sits a 4 bay garage once thriving and very busy. It sits with its doors closed and surrounding 2 acres of land ankle deep in grass/weeds. The owner was injured some 3 years ago and turned the business over to his son. From what I can gather from the local folks and some public records at the clerks office, the son just didn't pay his bills and eventualy the IRS shut the doors. Some how, some way, the original owner has all of the history cleared and can now sell the business, turn key.
Now, mind you, this all came about after several years of my friend and I mentioning that we'd make a perfect business marriage. His ( and my ) knowledge of mechanics and my ( and his ability to be public friendly ) business sense along with the desire to provide a public service and make the money needed to support our families, makes for a solid business relationship. My partner has turned wrenches all of his life, infact, he's only had 3 jobs. 1 at his dads bone yard and 2 with local shops here in town.
About 2 months ago, I was at a local tranny shop diagnosing what I thought was drive train vibration with a builder friend (turns out it was the balancer on the motor). I left there headed home to start tearing down and ordering parts to resolve my vibration. Something told me ( call it what you will, all I know is I followed my hunch ) that I needed to cut back through town and go see my friend. It was friday and I knew they'd be stressing - trying to get jobs out for the weeks end and he'd need to see a friendly face to help make it through the day.
I walk through the office, like normal, enter the shop, like normal. There's my friend with his truck backed up to one bay. I think nothing of it as he uses his welder on the back of his truck all the time. I say howdy to the other tech and the owner and then it dawns on me. My friend is not using his welder, he's loading his tools on the back of his truck! Holy ****, whatever the reason, it can't be good. My friend has been in this same shop for over 18 years. He's been the back bone and main tech here forever.
As I see him appear from over the main box on the truck, he just smiles and says. Turkey season starts this weekend, you coming with me? I laugh and start handing him trays to load back into the box ( his box is the 2 tier Mac box and took a wench to get it into the back of the truck ).
Come to find out, he'd had all he could take of the owner complaining lately. We ended up taking 3 gobblers the next morning and talking about what happen and where he was going from there. He then told me about the shop for sale and that Monday we went and walked through it with the owner/realtor. Tuesday we had a contract written up and 3 weeks later I finished the business plan and turned everything over to the lender. We got a final approval last week and we're on the final stages of closing. If everything falls into place as we expect, we'll be opening the doors in ~30 days.
Things to note - there's not another service shop in a 15 miles radius. You can't even get air in your tire in this town. You have to drive to the next city, some 15 miles away. The section of the county is just now developing. Infact, there's a Pharmacy and a Supermarket going up as we speak. The Supermarket broke ground this Monday.
5 New subdivisions are being built with 1 acre tracts starting at 100k, land only. The Highschool was just finished this year ( new ) and there's several middle schools being built. We're literaly getting in on the ground floor. Just our reputation and quality of work stand in our way. Lastly, we're the only section of land that's still zoned "Industrial/Commercial" inside city limits. With that zoning, we can do whatever we want with very minimal political involvement.
The owner is selling it as is. It's literaly a turn key operation. Everything is there, including lifts, AC-reclaim, Compressors, scanners, office equip, even the tire machine and brake lathes are in near new condition. To top all of it off, NAPA is opening the doors on their new building this month and they're less than a mile from the shop.
Anywho...
Just thought I'd give an update to my where-abouts. I've not made a post in a couple months and now ya know!
Cheers.
Thread Starter
3rd Gear Member
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 537
From:
RE: Shop opening.
The apprasial came back in our favor. THings are starting to unfold now. We're set for closing on the first of May. Baring any unforseen issues, we should be opening the doors very, very soon.
I've already did my homework and got the business end of things in line. Now all we need is a key to get inside and get things in order. We're planning on a grand opening gig of some sort - not real sure how that'll work out. But the hard part is behind us. Now we just need the red tape to be cut and we're in.
Thanks for all the support - it is appreciated.
I've already did my homework and got the business end of things in line. Now all we need is a key to get inside and get things in order. We're planning on a grand opening gig of some sort - not real sure how that'll work out. But the hard part is behind us. Now we just need the red tape to be cut and we're in.
Thanks for all the support - it is appreciated.
5th Gear Member
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 2,505
From: Wasilla, Alaska
RE: Shop opening.
Good luck! Maybe you can have a local radio station do your grand opening for you. It's usually a small fee. They can broadcast live on the radio and you can have a BBQ for the local folks. You also need to give out prizes.
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