Starting my own shop

MrBreeze90 · Aug 24, 2020

Hi everyone!

I have been working in machine shops for about 10 years now and have worked my way up to programmer. I have been a programmer for about 3 years, so I have a decent amount of experience. I am looking to branch out on my own and start a one man shop doing small runs and odd jobs for shops in my area. I have started doing my homework, as far as, work in my area and machine prices. I have yet to find a good space to call home though. Does anyone have any solid advice or tips for me before I begin. Anything will help at all!

Thanks in advance!

as9100d · Aug 24, 2020

Yes.. don't do it lol

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Scott314 · Aug 24, 2020

Being not a shop owner, the only possibly useful input I have here is from observing shops I've worked at, in, or bought stuff from. The people who did best starting their own shops had the customers lined up first. Preferably customers with high value, specialized, contract work.

Do you have any relationships with potential customers? Local businesses in biotech, energy, aerospace, engineering consulting firms? Got a garage to stuff a machine into to start off as a part time thing while you keep your day job?

Aaaand hot dog cart in 3,2,1.....

wheelieking71 · Aug 24, 2020

MrBreeze90 said:
Hi everyone!

I have been working in machine shops for about 10 years now and have worked my way up to programmer. I have been a programmer for about 3 years, so I have a decent amount of experience. I am looking to branch out on my own and start a one man shop doing small runs and odd jobs for shops in my area. I have started doing my homework, as far as, work in my area and machine prices. I have yet to find a good space to call home though. Does anyone have any solid advice or tips for me before I begin. Anything will help at all!

Thanks in advance!

Do not quit your job to do this! Unless you have a sugar-momma who can easily float ALL the bills, and is 100% on board with your plans?
Work your full-time gig as far in to your personal endeavor for as long as you physically can. This means no sniping work from your employer.
It also means completely turning your personal gig off while you are at "work". Like, don't even think about it. This is way harder to do than you think!
We don't know your current situation. So, whether you should share your plans with your employer or not? Is a tough call.
I would tend to strongly advise against sharing it. As long as your not sniping work, or stealing tooling, it technically should be none of their business.
Unless they would potentially be one of your clients? That seems like a funky situation though.
There are more than one guys on here though who I have seen that did start their own thing with their previous employer as their first customer. So, there is that.......
But, I would think the stars would have to be pretty much perfectly aligned for that scenario to play out? IDK? Adamthemachinist on IG comes to mind.
If you can do this at home, it will be worlds easier than leasing a space. If you do have to lease space, make sure the commute is quick and painless.

Fish On · Aug 24, 2020

Make your own product. As a true job shop, you're competing with everyone who has the best of the best. You probably can't afford the best of the best. You can't realistically expect to compete with them.

And, it doesn't necessarily have to be your own product to the extent that they have a UPC, labeled packaging, and you sell them on Amazon, but as a small shop you do need to find a specialty. I do a lot of 'custom' stuff, but it's almost always a variation on the same products I've made dozens or hundreds of times before, and those people come to me because I'm the guy that makes ____, and they need a variation of ____, not because I'm a fabrication shop.

Oh, and read this. All of it. Then do it again.

B&A Precision

And on that note: Wheelie, your thread needs an update. :toetap:

Rick Finsta · Aug 24, 2020

libertymachine is another one that moved on his own and took subcontract work from his previous employer.

Read though wheelieking's whole shop post to start off. ALL of it.

Mr.Green · Aug 24, 2020

I found it easier to do the things no one else wants to do, the one off custom stuff, the repair and maintenance stuff, the large stuff. Everyone is in the medical, auto, aero industries. It always looks like they are fighting for scraps.

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1953chevB · Aug 24, 2020

shop

all was really cover well, edit
you have to have a good bank roll to stay a float, can you do it for a year with no income and have customers lined up
rent a space in a good location central to prospective customers,
for the cost per square foot,
have a business plan
the advantage you will have is lower over head which = less cost to the customer
try to get over load work were other shops are to busy and need to sub-contract work out
but warning screw up parts and you are out, you will never get work from them again. do it right.

AARONT · Aug 24, 2020

No hot dog cart suggestions yet? Geez, business must be good lately.

AARONT · Aug 24, 2020

Make your own product if possible.
Don't quit your day job until you have a good bank roll and won't lose everything if your light on work for a few months.
Make sure you and your significant other know it's going to be rocky and a PITA. It can really put a strain on the relationship/family. If you don't have one, don't plan on having one for a while.

Mr.Green · Aug 24, 2020

AARONT said:
Make your own product if possible.
Don't quit your day job until you have a good bank roll and won't lose everything if your light on work for a few months.
Make sure you and your significant other know it's going to be rocky and a PITA. It can really put a strain on the relationship/family. If you don't have one, don't plan on having one for a while.

The only ones who have stayed by my side are my 3 kids. My wife (first time married) may not make it that long, great woman, but still can't quite understand the no worky no money thing....

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wheelieking71 · Aug 24, 2020

Fish On said:
And on that note: Wheelie, your thread needs an update.

I can't post pics on here from my shop internet computer any more. And, nothing new since the big re-arrange anyways.

Garwood · Aug 24, 2020

I can make a livable wage now that my building is built and paid for, machines are paid for and I've worked through developing a few dozen mediocre selling products.

On second thought, if my wife didn't have a great job with benefits I'd have no healthcare, credit cards or savings account....

I like doing repair work the most. Everyone and their brother has 4 Haas's making aluminum widgets.

Don't know too many shops around me that can build a class 8 driveline while you wait, angle mill your BBC intake manifold, sleeve the master cylinder for your 1970's POS dumptruck, whatever comes in the door.

I'd swallow a .45 before I made low bid aluminum widgets all day everyday.

Guest · Aug 24, 2020

Rick Finsta said:
libertymachine is another one that moved on his own and took subcontract work from his previous employer.

Read though wheelieking's whole shop post to start off. ALL of it.

I am pretty sure that is a guy who sent me scrap when I posted an RFQ here, hope you are talking about a different Liberty Machine. It was pathetic work, if you PM me I will give you his name. It was a couple years back but his contact info is on my USPS page.

Chip Chester · Aug 24, 2020

Seems like as good a time to start out as any, I guess...

There have been several threads here over recent years about people wanting to sell out and move on from thriving shops. Getting a good transition contract, and pursuing one of those opportunities (if they still exist) would seem like a good head start, especially if you're bringing a skill to the table. The ones I recall were product-based, rather than job shops...

Guest · Aug 24, 2020

As for advice for the OP, start out in your garage, nothing is better than low overhead and a short commute. Also keep your day job as long as possible. You may have to fudge a little with the local authorities on what you are doing, but it is possible to get a business license, be perfectly legal other than maybe putting yourself in a gray area with code enforcement. Just treat the neighbors with respect.

Guest · Aug 24, 2020

AARONT said:
No hot dog cart suggestions yet? Geez, business must be good lately.

I wonder what happened to Gary "Hotdog Cart" E? I hope everyone realizes the guys that make good money with hotdog carts spent some major cash and got lucky with winning bids on permits auctioned off for prime locations. It has been a dozen years or so since I researched the hotdog cart business, but someone with a hotdog cart in front of a museum in Washington DC probably is paying $50k+ a year to park it there and someone with a food truck is paying north of $100k a year.

DouglasJRizzo · Aug 27, 2020

Congratulations!
You're going to have to pull hard, but the victory is worth it.
The biggest nut to crack will be rent. Start poking around Craigs, real estate agents, and looking for signs in industrial areas. Locate a spot, and that will me the biggest hurdle. For machinery, look for shops closing, again Craigs. Also, auctions and ebay, just be careful, there's a LOT of junk out there with big price tags. It's a lot like used cars. You'll see a lot of trash but then a real gem pops up and you have to GRAB it!

Eyes open. Pen and notepad. Study and investigate.

Delw · Aug 27, 2020

wheelieking71 said:
Do not quit your job to do this! Unless you have a sugar-momma who can easily float ALL the bills, and is 100% on board with your plans?
Work your full-time gig as far in to your personal endeavor for as long as you physically can. This means no sniping work from your employer.
It also means completely turning your personal gig off while you are at "work". Like, don't even think about it. This is way harder to do than you think!
We don't know your current situation. So, whether you should share your plans with your employer or not? Is a tough call.
I would tend to strongly advise against sharing it. As long as your not sniping work, or stealing tooling, it technically should be none of their business.
Unless they would potentially be one of your clients? That seems like a funky situation though.
There are more than one guys on here though who I have seen that did start their own thing with their previous employer as their first customer. So, there is that.......
But, I would think the stars would have to be pretty much perfectly aligned for that scenario to play out? IDK? Adamthemachinist on IG comes to mind.
If you can do this at home, it will be worlds easier than leasing a space. If you do have to lease space, make sure the commute is quick and painless.

Thats very good advise above. and learn everything you can before you finally quit

This is the exact same thing My boss told me back in 89/90. it was his Idea I start my own shop. a year later was was totally out of there shop only coming in to program and do set-ups for a few hours. I was still doing them 5 years later but mainly from my shop as favors.
I had a really cool boss, he made sure that I knew how to run everything in that shop I.D. / O.D. centerless grinders thread grinders, including how to fix the machines and deal with there customers in person if there was an issue with a parts or there drawings (the big DOD guys, garrett/ mc donald douglas, sperry flight systems etc etc) funny I was just a machinist. Never been in a machine shop prior till I hired on there which was close to 8 years
Best experience I have ever gotten.

g-coder05 · Aug 28, 2020

You can be a great machinist and a crappy manager and even worse owner. You need to understand the business side. I'll pose a question that I ask all my potential shop managers and let’s see how you do at it. This is a true scenario I did in the early 2K's in my shop in Tennessee.

Sonic Automotive tried to reinvent the wheel on automotive dealership key storage. They wanted 250K 1.875 diameter X 6" long 303EZ SS parts with a 1.687 bore 5.875 deep with a small groove and counterbore near the entrance face for a lock. On the RFQ they put a target price wich was basically the equivalent of the cost of material. Now, my shop was also a large raw material supplier as well so I found two opportunities in this to make a profit. One was increasing my bulk buying power through Phoenix metals but also showing positive on the job itself whilst selling the finished product at material cost made directly in my shop. How did I show profit on a job that was bid at material cost?

This is things you need to be able to do as a shop owner. picking the job apart finding margins that would normally be overlooked.

Starting my own shop

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