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Originally Posted by NJSPEEDER
most good resto/custom shops charge 150-200 an hour + a 15-25% mark up on all parts.
your major investmenst are gonna be knowledgable man power and a ton of research tools like assembly manuals and data bases.
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That depends on how much effort someone is willing to put into the business on the front end. There's the cheap, easy, and self-made way of organizing a SQL or Access database to keep all the accounting, sales, inventory and billing information. There are lots of home business software out there (like Quickbooks) that can accomplish this. Not very expensive.
Getting ahold of the tech manuals can be tricky. I agree with you there. More and more manuals are being put on CD for around $40 per CD. Depending on what kind / how many cars the shop plans to work on, that can get pricey.
As for hourly wages, that depends on how much value the business owner (maybe sole proprietor) places on the labor. Just marking up parts gets a small profit through the door. Charging -something- for labor is where the money is at. New businesses would do well to value their personal labor low, covering costs or making a small profit on parts to begin with, then work off the building reputation to charge a little more within 1 quarter of opening (3 months). It becomes a sort of grand opening special. Once theres a solid reputation, stick with whatever the market charges to remain competitive, and enjoy more profitability.
Now, I'm no expert. These are just my opinions. These posts are more of an attempt to get a thousand-count of posts on this forum to look cool or something.
