well guys i am throwing the towel in

[Bret4207]

ok let me respond to everyone,,, yes,,yes,,no,,yes,,no,,yes,,yes:msp_biggrin::msp_biggrin::msp_biggrin::msp_biggrin: there is only 3=4 tree services around here and those guys might have 1-2 guys working for them,,,,, I am lucky to have 2 saws a week in the shop for anything and 99% of them are poulan wild things,,, I have very few decent saws or even weed eaters come through,,,, 1 out of 10 is decent quality wise,,, except for the big cutters and theres only a few I get all of the low grade home owner saws,,,, so that should say something for what people can afford,,, I did pick up an independent cutter the other day,, I have his business now,,, the best saw he has is a 455 rancher,,, I agree guys about raising the prices,,, I really think i need to do that,,, this is something I love to do but I wish it was a lot busier,,, I have tried running adds,,, got business cards,,,, and done posts every place I can think of,,,,, I guess people would prefer to pay the 80 an hour

I'm in the same boat as you. Little part time shop out of my garage. Live in a very poor area, not a lot of people, but the ones that come here I attend church with or are other farmers I do business with. I don't charge a lot because they all know I get to it as I can, but they also know I don't cheat anyone and it will be fixed right or not at all. It just seems like there's so much going against anyone trying to start a business today. You don't get the discounts until you have the signs and ID #'s and the CPA and all that. And then they want sales tax money for sales you never even made! Oh yeah, and my favorite- an additional tax you have to pay because you're "self employed"!!!

How about I borrow that towel after you're done with it?

 

[roundhead]

Sorry to hear about the direction of your start up. I think you should focus on modifying your MS 170's. You could probably do that full time and make a killing based on your previous posts. market these to the local guys, they could save money in fuel and you could sharpen the chains.
On a serious note, everyone likes you here and you put up with a lot of stuff. I agree, change your handle and avatar. what repairs I do just fall into my hands, which is not much cause I dont really have the time, I would rather hang out with my family. if you can volunteer your skills to some they may refer your to others. also, stop buying all those junky saws and buy a decent saw that you can rebuild and then resell. no one wants to buy poulan or anything, only Stihl (at least here in my area and I have tried to sell Husqvarna).
I wish you the best, I really miss KY and really love the western part, especially land between the lakes and kenlake. blessings to your business

 

[Mastermind]

I get 3 per chain,, other local shops are 8-10 per

It should be $8 or more to do one. They way they bring em in all full of oil combined with dirt and cutters so dull the ends are folded over to where you need to run them round the grinder 3 times to get the cutters back to usable. Then you have to take the rakers down because you had to take the cutters down so far.

They then ##### because they only have half of there chain left. LOL.

You have been doing them for $3 and undercutting real business that have been charging a fair price to begin with. You need a good swift kick in the butt to wake you up.

Like :msp_wink:

 

[justtools]

Bottom line: Charge more, take a shower and change your avatar.

Cheers![/QUOTE]

Change His Avatar. I have had a few women look at it and they believe it is SEXY!!!!

 

[casual cutter]

First off o8f150, you don't run a business to help people. If you want to help people, you can volunteer your time at the food bank, etc...

Now, I am of the opinion that small engine repair can simply never be a viable income generator anymore. People will throw away their Wild Thing's and buy another before paying the same if not more to repair them, so they don't have them repaired. It's a disposable world now, and a business has to embrace this fact.

You have to simply offer more services than just small engine repair. You have to think of a potential need that clients may have, and be able to offer that service flawlessly, every time.

Do you rent out saws on an hourly or daily basis? Do you have rental agreements printed up?

Does every construction company, arborist and even the city works yard know you offer this service?

Do they know you can deliver a fueled up saw, ready to go, within one hour?

Do they know you have a cutoff saw available also?

This is just a small example of potential income revenue, but the list could go on...

 

[AKDoug]

If the other guys are charging that much per hour, and surviving in your market, then you need to rethink what you are doing.

Everyone has overhead, from cleaning supplies, to the lights above your head, the WD40 on the shelf. That's all overhead and you HAVE to charge for it. I charge a basic $5 in shop supplies to cover the paper towels and whatever cleaner I have to use on a customer's saw. The guys that complained about it, I looked right in the eye and tell them to bring me a clean saw next time. Funny thing is, these guys now accept the $5 fee without complaint once they saw how much trouble it was to clean up a saw. Bring me a clean saw and you save the time I charge to clean it AND the $5.

Chains...$10 is a fine price. Pretty much everyone is charging too little to sharpen a chain. If you do a good correct job, there shouldn't be an issue getting this much to sharpen a chain. I bet you wouldn't lose a single dime if you charged this much (if you do a good job). You might lose a couple customers, but the guys that can't sharpen know it and will pay to get it done. If you have to, you shouldn't be less than anyone in your market.

Keep a clean shop. I have won over customers simply on the spotless condition of my bench and work area. There are customers I have now that wouldn't take their saws to the old local dealer just because his place was a mess. You will never lose a customer over a too clean shop, but you WILL lose customers over a messy one. Couple a messy shop (not implying your's is) with too cheap of shop labor and folks won't have confidence in your operation.

Charge markup on your parts. You have to charge for your time to research and order parts.

Just a few observations on shops that I've learned so far.

 

[jtracy1223]

Just start selling wild things. Weld a couple together and put out ads "double the power at only twice the price" sounds like the ppl in your area (and mine) will be braking. Down the doors to get em or you can send the rest of your tools and extra saws and parts to me so I can start loosing money......... more so than I am already, working on my own junk home owner saws.