Me and two other guys are starting up a fab shop in October. Mostly doing motorcycles and imports. We are gonna be doing some 4x4 stuff as well.

I was wondering what you guys and girls thought would be some nice tools to have around. We are gonna have all the normal fab tools I.E. welders, english wheel, power hammer, etc. Is there anything else you think might be a good idea? We are gonna have around $7000 left for tools as best we can figure it. We are not gonna have a dyno just yet because they are UBER expensive, but I would love to get one a few years down the road. LOL


Just let me know if there is anything you ave found that makes things easier. Thanks guys and girls.

 

computers
good luck on the shop!

 

plazma cutters are cool to use
or get one of thoes louver stampers ,you can punch them into hoods & body panels

 

yea get a press and plasma cutters are ftw ( when they work that is ) hmm saw-zalls obivously, if I think of anything else I will tell you. a scan tool would be nice too, ours comes in handy soooo much! a nice scan tool I mean that you can get codes from and can pinpoint them and whatnot. we have a genysisit works good think it was like $3000 but well worth it

 

It's my dream to own my own shop. Me and a friend play the lottery, and we tell eachother every week our plans for when we win.

The number 1 plan is to open a custom car shop and street bike dealership. I love bikes, and i love working on stuff. We want to hire some good mechanics, pay them out the ***, and have some quality business, build a name for ourselves give or take. He loves "dub" cars, like the chrysler 300 with some 22's and custom paint and all that, and SUV's with body kits and rims, hard core car stereo, that type thing. We would make a good team if we had money, lol.

Anyway I wish you all the best. If you lived closer I would probably come in and give you some business. Maybe I will take a road trip and you can do my suspension for me.

 

Sounds good, i hope we all get discounts when we go to you

 

We got a sweet deal on the land. We got it given to us. 2 acres for free!!! Now we are getting everything together to build the shop. We have most of the tools we are gonna need and then we are gonna build anything else we need in-house. I am working on a loan from my grandfather that way I don't have to pay interest. LOL!!! We are just working out the contract. The way I figure it, its gonna be rough for the first year, but after that it should be smooth sailing.

The only two things I have up in the air are the business license, and the what to name the shop. It should work really well because we have a bike guy, a car guy and me welding. We can all do a good bit of it all, but we each are really good at one thing. So I have my fingers crossed. And yes anyone from the HCF will get a discount! I wouldn't do it any other way!!! LOL

Thanks for all the support guys. I will be posting pics and everything as we are building the shop. I am gonna see if I can do it in the HCF projects section.

 

Best of luck bro. 3 owners is going to make it crazy hard to make any serious money. Even if the shop brings in $200,000 profit youve still gotta split that 3 ways. Thats 66,666 before taxes. Last time I checked, a familiy cant live off of that. Not trying to bring you down just sayin you need to think HARD about investing into something like this. Profits in the above region are very very high. The best thing you can do is have a shop that does everything. The more services you offer, the more revenue you will generate. Do everything from basic oil changes and tune ups, to complete engine overhauls and swaps. Offer warrentees and 100% customer satisfaction. Think about it. Would you take your car to some joe shmoe shop? Probably not, so youre going to need to give them a reason to want to bring it to you.

 

As far as tools go, you have to have your basic mechanic's tools. For fab, i would have a MIG and TIG welder. If your going to fix cars, get a scan tool. There is one that hooks up to a laptop that is pretty cool. And you better know your ****, because when you have your own shop there is nobody to ask when your stuck.

 

Pete, I know what you are talking about. I am gonna own the shop and pay everyone. We are gonna make most of our money by doing 100% Customs. But we will do anything we can. Fix cars and bikes, custom welding stuff. Our plan is to do custom bikes and cars though.(in fact we have two bikes in the works now) And as far as welding goes, I am charging $85 an hour when I weld for someone now. Once we start the shop we will still do onsite welding when someone needs us to. And to boot we are all single and have no debt right now. LOL

Agent, Yes we know our stuff. And if we do get stuck or something, we have a fall back plan "Our grandfathers". ROFL. No for real, we are really good at our own fields. I think we will be good enough for what we plan to do.

And hell if it doesn't work, we are all certified pipe welders. So we have a good paying job to fall back on if this doesn't work. LOL