dfrisby

Summer was great for me in Minnesota, but so so going into winter. We will see what 2021 brings, but I'm trying to be prepared for an almost guaranteed downturn in the economy going forward. I'm probably insane, but I'm adding equipment to my shop for fabrication work vs. repair equipment. Trying to expand into other markets as my repair work seems to be pretty stagnant even with added equipment such as the alignment machine and another lift. We shall see what happens going forward, but it's my boat and I'll either float it or go down with it.

I despise a salary pay plan..... even as a former employee. Just meant they expected 80 hours a week for the same pay. My only advice though is that if you have multiple techs, you have an extremely similar pay plan for them all. I started out just paying flat rate. I had some issues with employees that didn't feel they were getting paid to clean up (after their own work) and therefore adjusted my pay plan. I now have an hourly rate for the hours they are there as well as a flat rate for all booked hours. This has worked best for me and my employees. It has stabilized their paychecks quit

What does age have to do with it? Add value to your business and if you decide to sell, it's worth more. Otherwise grow till you can afford the staff to run it for you and send you a monthly check. I'm 48 and 7 years into my shop ownership, and if all goes well, I'll still own it when I'm 102. I just will have been absent for 40 years while somebody sends me a check every month. That is if everything goes well..... but either way, I'm making my own way and even if I'm still turning wrenches at 102, I will go out happy and know I made my own way in this world.

No. I have medical experience from the past as an EMT. Training is required to know properly how to use a mask. What I've seen in mask wearing is counter-productive and only going to further spread covid. I do everything in my power to stay distant, but I believe the masks are causing a greater problem from what I've seen. They are tequila and make people feel invincible, which in turn makes them believe going into walmart 13 times a day is safe. I've had customers pull up in their car with a mask on, walk in my shop door and pull it down to talk to me all while getting closer and closer...

Nissan Frontier has been out since 1997. Info on year and engine would be helpful here. ECM could be culprit, but probably not. It's a communications error and there are wires between the modules that data is transmitted on. With a scan tool, check if there are any modules you can't communicate with. If you have an oscilloscope, data issues can be chased fairly easy. I've found wiring connections to be the problem far more often than an actual ECM or other module.

About 70% of my business is powersports (ATV's and UTV's). I also do automotive work. I have 2 techs and myself as well as part time service writer. I can't even imagine operating this business without some sort of shop management program. I started out with baymaster and was extremely happy with them until they were transitioning to online only. The price was reasonable. When they transitioned I panicked as there were alot of flaws and I ended up switching at that point to AllData. I probably would have been better off to stick it out with baymaster, and if they would have held off their

@RickD Thanks for the very thorough information. I'm in Northern Minnesota. A/C repair isn't of quite as high demand here I'm sure. Probably just as often as repairing A/C problems, we need to recover to perform other work on the vehicles easier.

I use this kit on every system. The one I had that proved to have sealant I asked the customer about it and he was sure he had never put stop leak in the system. They had added canned refrigerant themselves several times, but the leak had gotten bad enough it only lasted a day or two. He wasn't aware that about half those walmart cans have stop leak in them. I don't trust the customer with my equipment investment, and even if they meant no harm, there is no way to know if my customers kid or husband or even another shop had ever added the stuff. I highly recommend this kit. https://rotund

So far, Lawson. They set me up with bins. The hardware is expensive, but still cheaper than running to the nearest hardware store 20 miles away. Their sales guy quit stopping by, I think because of health reasons. But I just replenish online and refill my own bins as needed now.

Well... I thought I had ordered one. Just got notice that they don't have them in stock and have no idea if or when they will be able to get them. Will try to contact the company directly in the morning. Robinair shows a similar product, but it lists as discontinued everywhere I can find.

Thanks for the information. I've ordered one of the Recycle Guards. Can't be to safe with my investment in equipment.

I sell tires. my wholesaler doesn't have Goodyear anymore. No love lost here. But I do find it kind of funny that "Goodyear" is in a scandal in one of the least "goodyears" of my lifetime.

I recently bought an A/C recovery machine. I've heard plenty of horror stories of these machines being destroyed with stop leak. I spent the money on a "stop leak" detection kit. Just had a car come in my shop that is full of stop leak. Didn't even move the ball in the test kit. Asked customer about it and they have been putting in cans of freon from every source around for months. I'm sure some with stop leak. Obviously it's not working as the system is still leaking. My question is how do other shops handle customers that have tried this cheap do it yourself fix, failed... and then put

No. Not gonna happen in my place. It's just another surface to clean. Before doing that, I'd set up a service writing kiosk on my sidewalk and conduct my business outside. But I'm in northern Minnesota in an area where we already did social distancing even before it was cool.

Two years ago I cut out Saturdays and reduced our open hours from 8-6 to 8:30-5. I live on site and am still often working till midnight or later, and almost always work Saturdays and some Sundays. But I let the answering machine get the phones and I keep the doors locked when I'm not open. Those are my most productive hours. Every once in awhile I think I should reopen on Saturdays, but I don't think it will ever actually happen. It either was so busy I couldn't get anything done without more staff, or so dead I was paying for staff that didn't need to be there. Either way it wasn't wort