Thinking of laying ground for a new shop to open in KC. Running it out of my SHop then eventually opening a showroom if it takes off.

Boat/4x4 shop? Stick to one thing IMO. And truth be told, I'm not sure how much business a performance 4x4 shop would have in KC. Not much demand here in STL I know.


TEX

There are alot of people that wheel around here, but no organized clubs, (KC4WD is not organized!) and everyone is fairly spread out, I think a well ran, envolved shop would do well. I know tons of guys buildin rigs, the thing is, you will have to be mud oreinted also, cause I am sure most your customers would be mudders, or poser street trucks.
I think involvment with the customers is key, organize runs, have trail rides, show and shines (yea they are gay, but good advertising and gets people together) The only 4x4 place around here is Chux trux, and they are way overpriced, dont carry shit except fiberglass lund crap, and they have no clue what wheelin is! :mad: I fawkin hate that place !!!!

If you are gonna do a combo business, my suggestion is to pick a companion business that is stable, and offers a constant, dependable income. That way, if the 4wd shop is slow - you still have money coming in.

Originally posted by DRM
If you are gonna do a combo business, my suggestion is to pick a companion business that is stable, and offers a constant, dependable income. That way, if the 4wd shop is slow - you still have money coming in.

I have a buddy up this way that does custom fab stuff as his business. That's his intent, but the bulk of his work comes from general automotive repair & maintenance. His intent was mainly to specialize in Toyota trucks, in particular for the severe off-road market. But, I've been by there on days when he was putting different engines in GMC Safari vans, or fixing shifters on Tercels. That's what he's able to fall back on when the specialty stuff isn't enough in demand to keep him busy.


And you'll definitely want to cater to the mud crowd in KC. KC is probably the mud BOG capital of the World. But, a lot of the trucks out there are poorly constructed, even for mud. Tall, stiff, leaf-spring suspension is the norm. And that crap doesn't work any better on a mud truck than it does on a rock crawler. It's fine for posers, and you'll definitely want to have their business as well. Actually, that's where MOST of your business would come from.


TEX

I have see this one work:


Off road shop, and exhaust business. The exhaust business is pretty simple as far as what is required to run it, but the constant income can do wonders to float a slow 4x4 business.


BTW - I am all for "hardcore" stuff, but it is the poser and "soft core" crowd that PAYS THE BILLS. So even if you lean more towards hardcore, you dang well better put that smile on and treat every poser truck and Jeep driver like a KING - and it WILL pay off.l

Our local 4x shop is the same way.Most of 'us' do all our own shite, but the posers want everything done for them. I ended up buying my new swampers from him. yeah, I could of gotten a better deal on-line, but I cant mount and balance (well, I can mount them), but by time shipping kicked in etc, etc, it was just as easy to get them from him.

He would love to build hardcore rigs, but there just isnt enough interest, I couldnt believe what he charges for a body-lift install, but he is booked up all the time!!


Hard-core sells the mags, but soft-core pays the billz

rob