***Oakes' Shop Build***

Oakes

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Oakes Detail's Garage Build!

We moved into our new permanent location here in West Chester, PA back in April of 2011 after searching the winter for a suitable, much larger space than our three car one in the south end of town.

After crossing treacherous terrain, enduring harsh winters and hot summers fighting off swarms of Scuderias and Aventadors...we found a home we could make "ours." Quick summary on the unit...

-3,000 square feet on the ground floor, roughly 900 square feet for the second floor.
-Three 10x12 overhead doors and one walk in

...Other than that a basic industrial box. When we got here, it used to be a cabinetry business that left behind a ton of stuff, including some random paneling and more 220 lines than I have ever seen.


So we stripped it down, and cleaned it up within about 4 days since we already had a packed itinerary lined up. Some rough photos of when we moved in:

How it looked when we started:


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What we've done up until now is replaced the paneling with drywall in the existing wall structures, painted all the bare wood to give it a cleaner look and just set it up to run shop. Here's what it looks like as of last night, August 19th 2011.


How it looks now:



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I somehow manage to get work done even with this set up here haha! My official desk is due in anyday. Who can spot the other L4P sponsor in the photo?! :D

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Our plans from here on are plenty, however with 10-15 cars through here a day it doesn't allow for much to get done otherwise.

Here are the plans:

- Ground floor epoxied slate gray - we considered Race deck, however I'd rather not spend a week playing puzzle pieces with 3k sq feet. :lol:
- Second floor loft is getting extended to the wall in the left rear corner to add approximately 225 sq ft.
- Two offices, kitchenette and lounge being added on the second floor with shop view windows.
- Aluminum "L staircase" inplace of the ever so classy wood setup.
- Waiting for our order of lighting to get in for the "correction tunnel."
--- Five 8ft light strips.
--- Two 4ft light strips.
--- Two 6 light "pods" with swivel mounts.
- Tunnel also receiving an exhaust system to help with humidity and dusting.
- Tunnel gets drywall and paint.
- All three garage doors replaced with new insulated power doors.
- More sweet pieces of furniture to store all the supplies and build components for the personal cars.


We will update as we do more, and anyone is more than welcome to stop by anytime! It's no dream garage yet and still has a ways to go, but fortunately we're too busy to allow any more construction or downtime just yet. It'll do for now, but trust me, if I'm going to be here everyday its going to become droolworthy ;)


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Thanks for looking!

-Oakes​
 
That place is awesome. I love it. And a nice set of cars you have rolling through there.
 
You really know how to make a guy feel bad...... :drool: :laughing:

Absolutely gorgeous and a well thought out design...:dblthumb2:
 
Looks amazing Nick. I can't wait to see it in person.
 
That's pretty awesome. Have you thought about polishing the floors to a high gloss? No pun intended.
 
Man what a dream!!
Congratulations! Looking forward to the updates :D
 
Thanks everyone!

I honestly prefer the slate gray floors because I think it will help brighten up the place and be easier to keep clean. These floors are by no means bad, except for in the correction tunnel since it used to be a spray booth, so it's not a HUGE concern. Also the week long downtime for them to cure before driving is a big factor too.
 
What an awesome shop and some awesome cars to go along with it.
 
sweet! very nice setup there. im over here working out of my two car garage at the house.

i would like to hear your story of how u got started. im too lazy to search of u already have or not on this forum.

how many employees do you have?

where in the pics is the tunnel?
 
I've been doing it for about 8 years now, started working for Jaguar/Aston Martin and learned a lot when we had to re-wetsand a lot of the DB9s that were coming from the factory with unfinished fenders and quarters. I've been on my own officially for just short of two years now.

The tunnel is where the G37 Coupe is in the photos, it's very unfinished right now because I'm waiting for my shipment of lights to get here so I can finish the wiring and start the walls and floors. Until then it remains a bit of an eye sore.

As of now I have 2 additional employees that assist me daily, I have a few dealer contracts so they help maintain that work. I for the most part manage all the corrective work and occasionally have a friend assist me who is very good with it when I'm slammed.
 
nice! thanks for taking time to share. seems like u are doing very well with 10-15 cars a day. im assuming alot of these are weekly jobs. quick im assuming since with 3 people that is 5 cars a person. how many correction jobs do u do daily weekly?

i one day would like to quit my job and do detailing full time. right now i do it on my mondays off and whenever i can fit it in. i would be worried about being able to hire picky people.

cant wait to see what u do with the new shop. it seems to be coming along great!
 
I get a minimum of 3 corrections a week...down to 3 remaining from this week, 4 corrections and a full wetsand next week. The rest is either weekly maintenance, one steps, wash and waxes or dealership cars and auction cars.
 
Very cool, I need to stop in a meet you, love the shop! Well done!
 
GTR!!!!!! This is a BIG score specially in PA. You are one lucky guy!!! I might stop by real quick just to check it out on my way to NY on Dec!
 
Very nice shop you have!!! I like your future plans as well!!:dblthumb2:
 
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