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New member in Minnesota.


dfrisby

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I bought a small engine and power sport repair business a year and a half ago. We have been aggressively adding auto service to the mix and downsizing the unprofitable small engine work. Anyone have any idea how difficult it is to maintain a high average on repair orders when working on $75 weed eaters? We have an interesting mix in our shop at any given time and that keeps life interesting. Last week we did a head job on an international dt466 and a 14.5hp Briggs and Stratton on the same day. Glad I found this forum and have been getting lots of great ideas so far.

 

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Brainerd - besides general auto repair, we do performance. Retail store for aftermarket performance parts & performance services, auto repair on collector & classics, restorations, custom alignments, fabrication, engine building, chassis dyno services on cars, trucks, motorcycles & atvs, tuning, and ask if we don't list it.

 

Read your post about boats. We work on inboard motors and tuning. Not our favorite because they want it done now and the tech is doing yoga in a tiny box, but it is very profitable.

Edited by PAPShop
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Brainerd - besides general auto repair, we do performance. Retail store for aftermarket performance parts & performance services, auto repair on collector & classics, restorations, custom alignments, fabrication, engine building, chassis dyno services on cars, trucks, motorcycles & atvs, tuning, and ask if we don't list it.

 

Read your post about boats. We work on inboard motors and tuning. Not our favorite because they want it done now and the tech is doing yoga in a tiny box, but it is very profitable.

Looked up your website. Looks like what I'm trying to create for my shop. We do the regular day to day work on cars and wheelers, but it's the classics and "something different" projects I really enjoy doing. Been looking at moving to a bigger shop and trying to grow, but finding top notch techs has been a challenge here. I'm on the third day this week being the only person here.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Anyone have any idea how difficult it is to maintain a high average on repair orders when working on $75 weed eaters?

I can imagine. If it helps at all, my friend is in charge of the power tool department of Home Depot. I had no idea that you could bring a weed eater to Home Depot and get it repaired, but apparently you can. Anyway, his main complaint is exactly the same as yours. The guys at the counter gave away repairs, did not charge for small tune ups, etc. It was a giant profit loss center for Home Depot for years. He remedied this in two ways... First, he made a standard menu price for all repairs. This was not difficult, because there are probably ten total repairs you can do on a weed eater. The front counter guys were not allowed to deviate from this list. Then, he changed their employee pay plan from hourly to commission based. While they still don't make a killing in this department, these two changes did bring them out of the red.

Edited by ATLAuto
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Looked up your website. Looks like what I'm trying to create for my shop. We do the regular day to day work on cars and wheelers, but it's the classics and "something different" projects I really enjoy doing. Been looking at moving to a bigger shop and trying to grow, but finding top notch techs has been a challenge here. I'm on the third day this week being the only person here.

If you are ever in the Brainerd area drop by (hard when you're working all the time). I'd be happy to give you a tour and a little history about our shop.

 

When looking for a tech, try doing a working interview. It tells a lot about the prospect. We did that with the 3 guys we have now, which we feel are rock stars.

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  • Have you checked out Joe's Latest Blog?

         5 comments
      I recently spoke with a friend of mine who owns a large general repair shop in the Midwest. His father founded the business in 1975. He was telling me that although he’s busy, he’s also very frustrated. When I probed him more about his frustrations, he said that it’s hard to find qualified technicians. My friend employs four technicians and is looking to hire two more. I then asked him, “How long does a technician last working for you.” He looked puzzled and replied, “I never really thought about that, but I can tell that except for one tech, most technicians don’t last working for me longer than a few years.”
      Judging from personal experience as a shop owner and from what I know about the auto repair industry, I can tell you that other than a few exceptions, the turnover rate for technicians in our industry is too high. This makes me think, do we have a technician shortage or a retention problem? Have we done the best we can over the decades to provide great pay plans, benefits packages, great work environments, and the right culture to ensure that the techs we have stay with us?
      Finding and hiring qualified automotive technicians is not a new phenomenon. This problem has been around for as long as I can remember. While we do need to attract people to our industry and provide the necessary training and mentorship, we also need to focus on retention. Having a revolving door and needing to hire techs every few years or so costs your company money. Big money! And that revolving door may be a sign of an even bigger issue: poor leadership, and poor employee management skills.
      Here’s one more thing to consider, for the most part, technicians don’t leave one job to start a new career, they leave one shop as a technician to become a technician at another shop. The reasons why they leave can be debated, but there is one fact that we cannot deny, people don’t quit the company they work for, they usually leave because of the boss or manager they work for.
      Put yourselves in the shoes of your employees. Do you have a workplace that communicates, “We appreciate you and want you to stay!”
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