What did you do to your non-G body project today? [2020]

[Supercharged111]

Yeah... my Dad was a mechanic and fixed irritating people's rusty sh*tboxes pretty much everyday until he died. That isn't happening here. LS swaps and tuning up here are very rare (even less so done well), especially in a government town where no one really turns their own wrenches but have money (recession or not) - so it doesn't matter that there are (LOL) plug and play options now (as potential clients aren't wrenching for themselves). I figure that I've built enough ground-up rolling business cards to know what's what. So committing a few hours once in a while to tune a car isn't that much of an imposition.

The rub is that I am still about 15 years away from retirement, so who knows where the hobby will be in that time. Chances are we will still have enthusiasts, and most shops won't know how to service/tune an early 2000s Corvette - much less be willing. But, as long as there is a desire, money will follow.

I'd rather do the performance stuff as it suits me, being that the Mrs and I expect to have two full pensions I'll have the liberty to do what I want at my own pace and on my terms. If it doesn't facilitate my learning and experience or building out the property/equipment I won't touch it.

I am going to have some very specific directions laid out before accepting any work - especially having a retainer in hand for the eventuality of a flaky POS.

fleming442 it is less about getting rich, and more about staying busy. 😉

Rust is definitely a concern along with broke asses looking for a deal or wanting me to half-*ss something. I guess if you're not totally dependent on the income, what about the market for such a thing? Maybe have a powdercoating hustle on the side or something along those lines? Sounds like your location would have the right kind of people for a market to exist at least.

 

[motorheadmike]

Rust is definitely a concern along with broke asses looking for a deal or wanting me to half-*ss something. I guess if you're not totally dependent on the income, what about the market for such a thing? Maybe have a powdercoating hustle on the side or something along those lines? Sounds like your location would have the right kind of people for a market to exist at least.

Let's put it this way: If I accept a client to tune their car, it is cash up front - if I have to fix anything on the car it is going to be $200/hr for my specialized labour and aggravation (overhead and taking me further away from my priorities); one hour minimum charge. So it should serve to weed out the riff-raff. I've never had an issue to turning away money to save a bunch of *ss-pain.

 

[Supercharged111]

How's $200/hr compare to repair labor rates there? Around $120/hr here for regular fixing of junk. Dealers are probably more.

 

[motorheadmike]

How's $200/hr compare to repair labor rates there? Around $120/hr here for regular fixing of junk. Dealers are probably more.

Mechanic Salary Canada – Living in Canada

Well if the paid rate is around $35/hr; 5-6 times that figure accounts for overhead (electricity, wear on tools, insurance, legal fees, etc), profit, and nonsense (the includes time explaining crap to clients they can parrot at Car's and Coffee.)

I think the highest I've seen is $180 locally.

 

[Olds G's]

Too much house work & destroyed the yard.

Wife and I bought the house last spring and although its solid & straight, there was some water issues in the basement. Water was seeping near the bottom of the foundation in one of the closets and although it didn't really matter in there, it's not going to get better. With the basement being finished (and too nice for us really) if it leaks significantly its going to need carpet, drywall, insulation, ect so might as well get at it. The cost of this is less than fixing the basement if it does get wet. Plus, we wanted to get an egress window put in one of the basement bedrooms to make it "legal" and add some light & air downstairs and make it less of a dungeon.

Doing it ourselves cost about 1/3 to 1/4 of hiring it done. Wife grew up with her dad flipping houses and I am rarely afraid to tackle a project so we said why not. House was moved to this lot in the mid 80's and it is cinder block basement. Just had some hairline cracks in the block and the house is on real sticky clay so there really wasnt anywhere for the water to go when it down poured. Wife's family friend is an excavator operator by profession and waterproofs basements for a living so we hired him last weekend and we excavated around the basement, sealed the walls, installed drain tile & pearock. Used about 5 yards of pearock, 150ft of drain tile, and 30 gallons of tar to seal the walls.

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Rented a mini skid yesterday and finished back sloping the yard and put the rest of the dirt back in the holes.
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Still have to demo the old concrete steps and build some new wood ones for the front of the house along with till the rest of the yard and replant grass, but hopefully it will solve our water issues. The yard was all crabgrass from decades of lack of management from the previous owners along with being lumpy and having some old stumps scattered throughout so we aren't loosing anything. Just a lot of work to bring it back to usable state.
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Time and money well spent there sir. Seems like you know how much of a headache you just saved yourselves down the road should you get some significant rain. The basement is the first hole the water will try to fill.

 

[Supercharged111]

Mechanic Salary Canada – Living in Canada

Well if the paid rate is around $35/hr; 5-6 times that figure accounts for overhead (electricity, wear on tools, insurance, legal fees, etc), profit, and nonsense (the includes time explaining crap to clients they can parrot at Car's and Coffee.)

I think the highest I've seen is $180 locally.

Sounds like $200/hr is a reasonable figure then. Would you be leasing/renting space somewhere or move to the sticks and build a shop? I'm a bit torn there. I could buy property and build a shop big enough to do customer work and have really low overhead/risk, but then I'd have people coming to my house to get their stuff worked on. Maybe a separate driveway or something.

 

[motorheadmike]

Sounds like $200/hr is a reasonable figure then. Would you be leasing/renting space somewhere or move to the sticks and build a shop? I'm a bit torn there. I could buy property and build a shop big enough to do customer work and have really low overhead/risk, but then I'd have people coming to my house to get their stuff worked on. Maybe a separate driveway or something.

I have the property and separate shop already, we do intend to expand mostly for storage. I have had people coming here for years when I sell stuff - if I am being targeted I am already being targeted. But, separate insurance for business losses is going to be required IF I decide to go that route. I've done this before for Turbo Regals and it was one bad experience that drove me away. No more "ham and eggers", come with cash or f*ck right off.

Tuning has very little overhead and can be done away from the house to avoid the potential BS. Also, building a gate and putting dragon's teeth at the bottom of my really long driveway should be deterrent enough.

R&D/motorsports is mostly just a means to write-off my hobby and creative bursts.

 

[Supercharged111]

Hell you could write off repairs to your DDs as well. Your scenario is pretty ideal keeping things separate, especially because procuring said separate shop won't be part of the startup costs. You can just walk right into it for the most part.

 

[fleming442]

Are there zoning restrictions in Canadia? The county I live in brought some hotshot enforcer broad in to start cracking down people running "businesses" out of their residences. A buddy of mine got hit pretty hard- had to move his butcher shop, rebuild a 10' retaining wall, and tear down a pole building (weren't permitted). Ironically, the state health department inspected the butcher shop regularly.

 

[motorheadmike]

Are there zoning restrictions in Canadia? The county I live in brought some hotshot enforcer broad in to start cracking down people running "businesses" out of their residences. A buddy of mine got hit pretty hard- had to move his butcher shop, rebuild a 10' retaining wall, and tear down a pole building (weren't permitted). Ironically, the state health department inspected the butcher shop regularly.

It is all zoning. Many neighbours have large garages doubling as shops, probably side job deals. I know one for certain does a lot of auto repair work two doors down. Across the street I have one who has a "coal rolling" operation going with lots of trucks coming and going. Across the road is a landscaping/commercial excavation company and an autoparts recycler on the other side of the subdivision. I am just going to be one guy making no more noise than I ever would have sooo...

Tuning, first. "R&D", second. Heavier work, maybe.