OT- SHOp , power struggle

hello good folks

I colud use a little advice on dealing with a business partner . My partner ( dad ) has 1 hell of a SHOp , he has worked his whole life for it & built a SHOp ( in 96 ) that would bring a tear to ur eye .



heated floor , 60' by 40 ' , mezzene & all the trimmings . he spared no expense . I moved away from the age of 15 and returned @ the age of 25 . He had a heartattack & i moved home to be with the old fart .
He had a double by pass & is alive to this day . That is not the only time he has cheated death . He had a leg amputated when he was 21 ( only guy i know that has a dink longer than his leg .......no $hit ) . A diesel wrench for 15 years he is a truck driver for the last 10 & 1 of those real hard ass ( gotta learn the hard way ) dads . But he's kool

If u folks have read my posts ( thanks for all the help fellas ) I have built 1 hell of a machining division in his SHOp for less than $13,000 . HE is gun hoe for it , that & it hasen't cost him a penny . But there is a problem .

My father is a clean freak ( brutal ) ....it gets better , he has a hot water power washer & loves to power wash his Peterbuilt ( coated in salt ) inside ....I know what ur thinkin .


Well I have soaked everything in oil & all is tarpped .....But that still isn't enough , none of my gear is fully operational as of yet . So the idea of tarping & retarpping is not an issue .

I was planning for huge curtain . FORK it ! ..........I came in the SHOp the other day .....the lathe was untarped & rust barnikals had started !!!!!

I was bent ! Up until now i thought i had it under control . I thought i had him under ( damage ) control ....but i must remind myself , this is his SHOp ....not mine . So told him " I am already $12,000 in & u keep that power washer going .....Ur forkin me .

He said " i ain't gonna do it outside " & i replied " If u don't care about what i am trying to do here , then i don't care .....its all up for sale "( he said sell it ) This is not just about me , my dad is mid 50's & driving that rig is slowly klling him ........without a doubt we could turn a resonable living out of that SHOp he worked so hard for , repair , fab & custom machining .

So , i called his bluff .Not to be a dink , but If i don't at soon all my gear will be worthless in no time . Within a day or so i had buyers ( lathe & TIG ) showing up & that seemed to turn the ol'boys head . He called me from the road & said don't sell a thing until we talk .

he was home for a friday night & saturday .....clean freak had to wash his trator but guess what ........He did it out side .

He worked his whole life for that SHOp & i turned it into something that he would have never thought possible & it didn't cost him a dime . Why would he wanna throw all that away ?
all for powerwashing his rig outside ?

tell me what u think fellas

baby boomers just have a differnt way of thinking , i am generation X

Didn't you already ask this a while back?

was thinking deja-vu myself.

ken.

edit:

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/showthread.php?t=139074

There's nothing harder to deal with than an ornery perfectionist truck driver. They're worse than crusty tool makers. Looks like you're in flat country so the site work will be easy on your new shop. First thing to do is get the machines painted and put back together. If you are half as stubborn as your old man you'll probably make it work somehow.

Shop

My dad had a bypass( actually 4) and a few years later had to do again, then had nomore veins to be used. He had hardened arterys and when some arterys are clogged all others are too. He got mad easley and had a hard time to make decisions. SO... Cut him some slack and keep on trying to work with him, you'll both gain from you being more persistent and doing the right thing. Don't give up!!!!!

Send him to the house and wash his truck for him.

Don't build a machine shop, build a wash bay for his truck. Put cat walks along the sides so he can wash the top. It doesn't matter if its uninsulated if you only heat it when he is washing his truck. And it will give him a place to park his truck inside when he is not on the road.

That way you can use the shop as a shop.

thanks fellas , yes i did post something like this a while back

But it has come down to crunch time , i offer to wash it for him . Hes a subborn old fart & likes it done " his way " . To each his own .

As for the curtian , I have the trolleys of barn door track but the cost of the track is killer . Not to mention the heavy tarps that must hang from it . Regular blue tarps are not goning to cut the mustard . The burn & very brightly if hung vertically . As a repair/machine/fab SHOp there will be many sparks flying around . So the big thick fire blanket ( like ) tarps will be needed .

The cost goes on & on , seeing i am footing the bill for it . I have a family & dropping that kinda $ isn't really in the cards right now ( approx $500 + )& something must be done !

A wash bay is a great idea & I wish i could afford it . Thanks ( again ) for the help .

There's gotta be something more to his side of this story. After all, if you were raking in all that cash then he would want to keep you happy so you don't up'n leave and pay someone else rent for his cut of the action.

My dad would've had a quick and easy solution to this problem. It would've involved a big long extension cord and me wearing a parka and gloves when using my machines in his driveway.

"I have the trolleys of barn door track but the cost of the track is killer"

There are a couple of options...there are trolleys built for Unistrut....if you can hang S4 x 7.7 I-beam you can use trolleys by Jervis B. Webb (used in industrial conveyance).

This is one example.

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Webb-Trolle...ryZ42913QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Another option might be to figure out how use the same steel siding that's on the exterior of the building...seems weatherproof enough and I bet fairly spark resistant too.

trolley

Uni strut is the way to go, B-line makes the trolleys, you can buy the strut at Home Depot, thats what I will be doing in my shop, pick up anywhere in the building and put down anywhere. Don't condem the old fart until you have walked in his shoes.

I think Speedsport meant to say "shoe"...

moron, I assumed the oldfart had a prostetic limb and had a shoe on it. Thanks for the chuckle.

HE built HIS shop. For HIS Semi. Simple.
A machine shop in a wash bay is not an option. Simple.

Either you can afford a shop of your own, or you can't. Simple.

You both don't fit in the same shop, due to the wash down issue.
Either or Both of you are fooling yourselves if you think it is compatible.


Either you get your own shop, or you have to build a divider.
If you can't afford either, Then... you can't afford to start your own shop.

It is his shop.
IF he wants a machine shop MORE than he wants a washdown, Fine.
If he wants a washdown MORE than he wants a machine shop, FINE.

It is his shop, up to him to decide. No power struggle involved.
There should be no conflict here...

What was the question again?

Print this message out, show it to him, and apologize if needed.
Then, if he really wants the machine shop in there, let him decide yes or no.

Why are you spelling shop SHOp? I guess I am missing something here.

Can you build an addition or finance one?

WAIT!!!!

You say:

"I have built 1 hell of a machining division in his SHOp for less than $13,000"

Then you say:

"none of my gear is fully operational as of yet"

Have you even started to make anything yet?

I think you should go through the expense of building your own shop, building and all...then maybe you might understand a little about your fathers position.

Good luck.

The real answer here is that you NEVER try to be a partner to anyone but your wife. Somebody has to run the show and the other has to do as they are told. No two people want the same things from a business on the same day every day. One guy wants growth, the other guy wants to take out the profits. One guy wants to wash his truck, the other guy....You get the drift. Years ago, I was a parts salesman for a jobbing house. My sales manager told me right up front. "You'll see a lot of mechanics teaming up to open small independent garages. Don't give them any credit. It's not a matter of IF they'll fall out and go broke, just a matter of WHEN." I saw a lot of lifetime friendships terminate over the following few years for just that reason. The only garage partnership I saw work out had been together since WWII when the sarge and one of the privates went in business after the war and the sarge stayed the sarge and the private stayed the private. You'd have thought that the private was the janitor, but he owned half the outfit. I don't see either of you guys willing to vow to be the PFC for all of your years together, so if you can't put a solid wall down the middle of that place and key the locks different, you'd best rent a building or forget the whole thing.....Joe

You gotta admit that it's your dad's shop and his word is the law, and you'll both be happier if you follow it. BUT...powerwashing INSIDE of the shop sounds awfully silly to me. Even a neat-freak should be able to understand that one. Ain't nothing like wet moly grease being blown 50ft and end up looking like crime scene spatter. If he's running it hot with detergents...his whole shop's going to be a rust bin (?)

Craziest thing I've heard, powerwashing a semi tractor inside a shop.