Going to take a little work but decent shop.

Dave..that is AWESOME...just big enough to do what you need and has the Height for taller vehicles. It will no doubt need some work..but with your work ethic and detailing skills..it is going to be fun to see it develop. I always like your input on all things detailing..this is the perfect setup for you...and so close to home. Looks like good lighting too. One thing you might consider is to funnel in some natural light in the center of the building as it will help level out your lighting. good luck...I wish I had one of those in my backyard!
 
Thanks guys. Pretty soon I'll be replacing the hanging T-12 fixtures with the 2 T-8 fixtures I hung on the sides plus 2 more then I'm going with a 4 bulb T-8 fixture on each side where the new T-8s are now. That should give me some pretty good lighting. It's a bit lacking with the old T-12s over head. I am enjoying having it for sure. I'll have my first black paint correction in there this weekend.
 
Looks like a great start. I had issues with my Black and Decker plastic cabinet with plastic shelving. They sagged within 6 months where bottles would topple over.
 
Nice place you have there Dave. I like what you did with the lighting. You can never have to much light. Would love to see pictures of the corrected black vehicle. Could we find out what vehicle it will be?
 
tuscarora dave said:
I picked up this little cabinet today and put it together in there for my detailing tools and stuff. I want to get the adhesive backed velcro strips and line the inside of the doors with it so I can attach all my backing plates to it. I have 3 more product storage shelves to bring from the house yet.

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Thanks for looking, I'll post another pic in about a week or so when I get a little more done in there. TD
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I have 6 of those Sterilite cabinets in my garage, the exact same ones! I actually was going to mention those to you but ended up figuring they might not be heavy duty enough for your needs. I guess I didn't need to mention them because...great minds think alike haha! :bolt:
We waited for Target to put them on sale, first buying two, then two more, and a couple years ago I bought two more. See how you like them and if the shelves are strong enough for your needs, watch for them to go on sale. I think 70-80 lbs is the most I've put on a shelf. They will bow down in the middle a bit, but I've never had one break.



-Rick
 
smack said:
Would love to see pictures of the corrected black vehicle. Could we find out what vehicle it will be?
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I stopped and checked it out the other day. I think it was a Mazda (some type of sedan) that a local repair shop is selling. It has some heavy scratches from going through an automatic car wash and overall is all swirled out and scratched all over. Just exterior only nothing to be done on the interior at all. I work with a lot of these local auto repair establishments to take care of theirs and their customer's cars. I'll get a few before and some after photos and post them in a different thread.
 
With all the work I have had lately I haven't had much time for organizing things and getting things exactly as I would like them. I spent s few hours this evening doing just that. I added another cabinet and hooked up some industrial grade velcro to keep things in order. I got a free shelf from the day job and also a free 2000 mg. per hour ozone generator from the day job. They threw it in the trash and I asked if I could have it and they said yes. I repaired it the last time it was worked on and know that all it needs is a new capacitor.

Here are a few pics.

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If anyone does this with the velcro, be careful of how you unroll the roll because trust me, you don't want this to happen.

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Here's the free shelf I got from the day job. Not yet sure of what's going on it. I'm going in tomorrow after work to do some more organizing and take more stuff up there from the house.

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and the free ozone generator. This will work very nicely for shock treating stinky cars.

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Thanks for looking, I'll update this thread as I get more done. TD
 
Give us a close up of the shelp next to the cabinet and tell us what's in those spray bottles and gallon jugs.
 
I purposely avoid getting close up photos of that shelf because what's on it is not sold here at autogeek. The stuff on there is labeled with my business name on it and is purchased elsewhere. I don't want to break any rules here at AGO.
 
shoeless89 said:
Awesome Dave! I'm excited for you!
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Thanks Shawn. It's slowly coming along. I have been in that shop for less than a month and I have 12 cars and 2 vans on the books to be detailed and I have 27 brand new buses to clean up for delivery. They are building a few a week at the factory then they're driven here from Indiana and I do the dealer prep on them. They're easy money. Looks like I have some wheelchair lifts to service and repair too. I did three 16 hour days and two 10 hour days this week.
 
Looks like the business is going well - good for you Dave!
 
Glad to hear you're doing so well. Real nice way for it to be.

Score on the ozone generator!! There is nothing better than free, and if all it needs is a new capacitor, easy peasy!
 
tuscarora dave said:
Thanks Shawn. It's slowly coming along. I have been in that shop for less than a month and I have 12 cars and 2 vans on the books to be detailed and I have 27 brand new buses to clean up for delivery. They are building a few a week at the factory then they're driven here from Indiana and I do the dealer prep on them. They're easy money. Looks like I have some wheelchair lifts to service and repair too. I did three 16 hour days and two 10 hour days this week.
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That's Awesome Dave !!! Keep it up man :dblthumb2:
 
Really coming along Dave, Ive been following the thread! WOW what a turnaround. I just got my first fixed location and will be doing alot of the same thing.

I ofcourse am no where near as large as you or some other members, but im happy with what i got going. Threads like these are the ones that tell me if i keep busting my tail, its ganna happen :-D .

So I extend my hand to you sir,
Tory
 
T3 AutoDetails said:
Really coming along Dave, Ive been following the thread! WOW what a turnaround. I just got my first fixed location and will be doing alot of the same thing.

I ofcourse am no where near as large as you or some other members, but im happy with what i got going. Threads like these are the ones that tell me if i keep busting my tail, its ganna happen :-D .

So I extend my hand to you sir,
Tory
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Thanks Tory, hang in there. This takes a while to build a good word of mouth clientele and the only real way to do that is by producing quality, job after job one day at a time. I am not anywhere as big as you might think. Without the full time job I wouldn't be able to keep this afloat yet. Just as the past 5 years of hard work is paying off, this year's will too.

So I added some more lighting this evening. I got these Lithuania Lighting "I Beam" high bay 95% reflective T-8 six bulb fixtures at the Home Depot. They definitely brighten things up a good bit.

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I mounted them as standalone fixtures on their own circuit just as I did with the 2 bulb T-8s I mounted on the walls.

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They are on their own 20 amp circuit, that way I can add 2 more fixtures later if I want.

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Here they are turned on and then a shot of the extra light that they throw off. It's a huge difference from when I first got into this shop.

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I have a black Audi TT to do a paint correction on just one fender (insurance job) then wax the rest of the car this weekend so the new lighting will be nice. One of these days I'll have the place like I want it and have it all cleaned up.
 
Thanks Tory, hang in there. This takes a while to build a good word of mouth clientele and the only real way to do that is by producing quality, job after job one day at a time. I am not anywhere as big as you might think. Without the full time job I wouldn't be able to keep this afloat yet. Just as the past 5 years of hard work is paying off, this year's will too.
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Dave, Thanks for the advice. I must say im still learning tons everyday through trial and error and reading (lots of reading). I still have a long ways to go, i started with nothing, but had always admired clean rides and taking great care of my own cars over the last 10 years! Everything im making right now is 100% pumped right back into business (Thanks to my gf), she makes enough to carry the burden of our finances. After 3 months im 2k invested and still feel like between becoming legit, marketing, supplies, and now my fixed location that there is still tons to be done. Im a one man show and mainly doing quickies by volume right now, id say the hardest thing right now is figuring the process in which order to buy what as money is limited as it comes in. I hope soon i can get some shop pics up, but again all i could afford at this point was to rent my buddys 1 stall garage at $50 bucks a month!!! I couldnt refuse. Thats enough out of me, but keep up the good work :dblthumb2:
 
Hi all, It's been quite a while since I updated this thread. I have been extremely busy with all sorts of new stuff going on at the shop. I've been so busy that I quit my day job to work full time at the shop. Some really nice opportunities have come up in the field of wheelchair lift and ramp service and repair through the landlord at my shop. While I am still detailing, I am shifting the focus of my efforts toward the service and repair side. I've landed some accounts there that give me about 60 vans and buses to service, maintain and repair when necessary.

With all of this going on I haven't really had any time at all to make improvements on the shop, that is until this weekend. A good friend gave me some pegboard and the landlord gave me free reign to rip and tear into stuff and make any changes as I see fit. The first thing to go was that stupid tire rack that was in there. I built a really sturdy shelf to take it's place. There used to be running water in that shop and it was let to go to crap over the years. I basically had to replace every valve and the trap and faucet for the sink that was laying outside in the yard for years. I am no plumber so it took me 7 trips to the local hardware store to get the indoor and outdoor plumbing up to speed.

I hung a total of 7 sheets of peg board in various areas of the shop. My friend who gave me the peg board also gave me a ton of pegs to go with it and I got a variety pack of pegs to add to them because the ones he gave me were mostly 12 inches long. I still have a good bit of stuff here at the house that needs to be taken up there and I haven't done anything to the office area yet. OK on to some photos.

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Looking great man - looks like the shop is turning into a home :dblthumb2: I LOVE the slop sink - one day I will get one my friend - one day! Glad to see the progress man.
 
B&B Tennessee said:
Looking great man - looks like the shop is turning into a home :dblthumb2: I LOVE the slop sink - one day I will get one my friend - one day! Glad to see the progress man.
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Thanks Anthony. A lot of good things are coming my way up there. I am so glad to have been able to quit the day job (with ample notice of course) and free up the time to be more successful in my own dealings.
 
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