Thread: Thinking about opening a small engine shop.

Originally Posted by 1stmale

I work for a Medical Center currently repairing medical electronics. I went to college in electronic repair however my passion is repairing mechanical stuff.

Medical equipment repair is a lucrative business

One time I was in Colorado visiting my wife's grandparents. Her grandfather could not get his lawnmower to run very well. I cleaned his carb and he was ever so thankful. He is a former machinist who also thinks I should go for it. Another uncle who is an entrepreneur says I need to start a side job doing something I already know how to to and do it well. I am an excellent trouble shooter and I know I can find the problem and repair thing in a short time frame.

Most of the time to get a small engine to run good, is by cleaning the carb.

When I see someone hasn't run their small engines for a while, 80% of the time it won't run right after it fires up on the start cycle.
The primer did inject the fuel but the main metering jet isn't providing fuel due to it gumming out or clogged up and needs a teardown and a good cleaning from a can of carb cleaner or starting fluid.

And for 2-stroke, you need to tell them to drain the fuel and run the engine til it dies to clear the fuel lines and carb of the remaining fuel.

I tore down and rebuilt a 5hp 4-stroke lawnmower engine when I was 12 yrs old. Why?
Someone poured engine oil into the tank that had the cap marked for fuel

I already have most of the tools as I have already rebuilt several small engines including a Robyn golf cart engine. I will need to get the specialty tools but I can get thin one at a time as the need come up.

I would invest in a 220v air compressor with a oil sump. The capacity size will be determined by your workspace size and how many air tools you want to run off of it at once. Those impact guns will come in handy in removing stubborn bolts and mower blades bolt.
Also various flywheel pullers, crankshaft splitters, hydraulic presses, kits for measuring oil content in fuel, heavy duty battery chargers with 'engine start' feature for those that have electric starters... And depending how big small engines equipment you may run up to...ie mid sized John Deere tractors and uility tractors, I would get a engine hoist or a forklift truck with attachments for removing heavy arms and wheels from the tractors.

And you will be dealing with annoying problems more than once in a while, ie no 2 stroke oil mixed, explaining that it requires 2 stroke oil and not plain gasoline alone..and the engine is damaged for extenstive repairs...those are the idiots.

And yes once in a while you will get a generator that won't start... only to find out the oil level switch is defective and unplugging it will cut the ground to the engine block and igition will fire on the start stroke.

I don't know much about your area...but here alot of spanish 'landscapers' or lawn 'service' come in and talk spanish and try to tell you it won't start or run. Or like a belt is not tight?

if you,ve got a saw in for service do all you listed but we always put in new plugs what ever, new air and pre filters in mowers always new fuel filters check all drive belts for wear/ heating up spots etc. those robin engines are renowed for the vale tip clearance to close up so if it wont run right thats the first thing we check. but boy i hate them battery carts just hate them .and the battery checking procedure requires you to have the correct charger/tester for them before you have a chance of finding the fault and how much are those batteries wow what a pita, we stay well away from them- can spend hours trying to find fault!!
ps. have full easygo manual if you need any info.

777ER,

I have most of the tools you mentioned including the air tools.

I have a 24 X 40 garage to work out of.


ned coed,

I found the ezgo service manual in PDF on teh internet when I tore the engine down.

Here is a financial question. I need to net $400 a month to free up my budget. Does anyone think this is possible working evenings and S aturdays.

Dewaynep,

Glad to here you have 5 kids I my self have 4 but 5 is not on the way yet.

I do have a good mind for business. Like I said my father had a successful business and now my brother runs it. My father taught me a lot. Esp dealing with customers. Well most of them. One time a customer called him back because there ware 2 weeds in their yard and they paid for weed control. When the customer showed him the weeds my dad bent down and picked them... he never took care of that lawn again. There are some customers that you do not want back. My dad did learn a lesson from that and never did that again and tole me never to do that.

Originally Posted by 1stmale

777ER,

I have most of the tools you mentioned including the air tools.

I have a 24 X 40 garage to work out of.


ned coed,

I found the ezgo service manual in PDF on teh internet when I tore the engine down.

Here is a financial question. I need to net $400 a month to free up my budget. Does anyone think this is possible working evenings and S aturdays.

Dewaynep,

Glad to here you have 5 kids I my self have 4 but 5 is not on the way yet.

I do have a good mind for business. Like I said my father had a successful business and now my brother runs it. My father taught me a lot. Esp dealing with customers. Well most of them. One time a customer called him back because there ware 2 weeds in their yard and they paid for weed control. When the customer showed him the weeds my dad bent down and picked them... he never took care of that lawn again. There are some customers that you do not want back. My dad did learn a lesson from that and never did that again and tole me never to do that.

saturdays a big plus most dealerships are closed saturdays

so during the week most folks work during the day so afternoons and weekends is when they are free so yes saturdays should work out for you

i just emailed a company in PA about me selling there product line on my store if they say yes then i may be selling Kerosene heaters and wicks

and grill accessories

have you ever hear of flying fisherman polarized sunglasses and sportswear ?
thats one of the new items i will be adding next year

Plantbiologist: I live in Chaffee NY, just over the wyoming county line. 44,000 people in wyoming county, and over 47,000 cows last time I checked. We used to have 5 or 6 John Deere dealers within a 20 mile radius, that's down to just one now. JD changed their dealer program and knocked out the small dealers that couldn't afford it, a shame really, those small dealers were great to work with.
1stMale: Yeah, kids are great, feeding them isn't much fun though (man can they eat). I think you will definitely be able to clear $400/month as you start out. Especially if you are advertising. I don't advertise at all except my website and that doesn't get any hits. I have about 5 or 6 families that I do all of their vehicle maintenance and small engine repair. I could easily drum up more business by putting a small ad in the local paper, but at this point I really don't need the extra work. So I would say you could skip the website and use that money to place a small ad in the local paper and you will be busier than you want to be. Also, remember what I said about inventory: don't get too much at the start. People really do understand that you can't stock everything and are OK with waiting a day or two. In most cases, i have completed repairs the next day and called the customer to pick their equipment up and the customer doesn't come for 2 or 3 days.

Word of mouth is your best advertisement the average bill for a first customer
for us is about 100.00 dollars they are checking you out.But a word of mouth
or someone who tels a buddy about us is over 400.00 because they trust
that person and they already have a big problem.If you treat people like
you want to be treated you will get the whole family and friends biz.granted
i am in the auto repair end but in the end all your selling is service.and if you
only need 400.00 a month man seems you could do that with a dozen good
customers.If you pay your bills on time for parts they will beg for your biz.

if enough people know your there then $400 a month should be within reach. the trick is to get enough people to use you to start off with. until then this is why you need capital. to get people to use you you need good advertising to do this you need capital. to get people to know who you are you need reasonable presentable premises so they come and check you out to do this you need capital. then when thats done you need to raise your profile and get dealer ship accreditation for the home owners and the like can see at a glance you,ve been factory trained on their products, to do this you need capital. all these steps will have to be taken to build up the business to pay you and your overheads but this is what you have to do to be a success to do it small time in your garage is 2-3yrs of lost time and struggle before you give up and have to work in someone elses repair shop. back to my original post - YOU NEED CAPITAL TO MAKE IT WORK. with out it you'll wither away. sorry to sound so negative but that is the reality of what your facing.

I'm starting a new business, it's terrifying.

Make sure your cashflow works out. Plot money in and money out for the first two years, and see if it's viable.

Target professional users who have expensive kit that they'll want fixed. Homeowner kit has competition from chinese junk gear that lasts a year and dies but is so cheap it's not worth fixing.

Have a think on getting a website together and find out about SEO: upload videos to youTube, put your business on Google Maps, etc. This is all free and adds to your site's search engine ranking. loads of tricks here.

Plan for rainy days and don't overstretch.

Hope it works out - sounds like you know your engines, that's the main thing.

Originally Posted by Crofter

Unless you have a fair chunk of capital or a good line of credit you will not have a setup that will give good service either. Unless your business fills a demand that is not presently being met, you will be fighting for a portion of the existing business. One thing to know is a given that amongst the first customers you will get is the ones the competition considers deadbeats. If the other shop genuinely has poor management you might be able to take advantage of the situation but it is easy to misjudge the real cost of doing business to arrive at proper markups. Inventory is expensive to support. If you are doing it just for the fun of it, it will get old quick. Get some good financial advice and be aware of the amount of thankless paper work that is involved with a business. A lot of people that are mechanically inclined are not the best paper pushers or customer relations. It is possible to be the Jack of All but often there are some hats that Jack does not wear well.

Size it up well, but be cautious; make sure you are not wearing rose tinted sunglasses.

Good post. The only thing I'd ad is to have a real good idea of your operating costs before you start your business. If you don't know what it costs you to do business, and that means every penny, right down to the toilet paper, You can't figure a profit margin or even an acceptable level of profit/loss. A good accountant can be your best friend on this.