if u could own your own shop.....

[qxfosgatesvt 10+ year member]

if u owned your own shop what would make you different or better

then other shops in your area? what brands would you sell? would u do

only custom or everyday installs? thought this would be a entertaining post.

Click to read more...

 

[jbl_marshall21 10+ year member]

i'd sell ED, JL (for a reasonable price), adire, alpine, respl, pioneer, kicker.

i'd do some custom installs and alot of everyday installs. The custom ones i'd charge a bit but the everyday ones would only take me about hour so maybe 20-30 bucks for every amp that i would install. i'd have 2 competions every year. I'd also have some car audio education classes for the retards and explain and show what good subs have for parts and then show the **** subs parts.

i think i would have the best shop in town.

 

[Aurorav8 10+ year member]

If you'd want to make any money you would have to do everyday installs. It's not very often that people come into a shop with a custom install, but quite a few people will go in looking to get a HU installed, or a sub and amp...

 

[jer_stud56 10+ year member]

It would deffinatly be better than other shops, probably not very different though. I'd sell these if they'd let me:

Elemental Design

Adire Audio

JL Audio

RE Design

Infinity

Boston Acoustics

Image Dynamics

Eclipse

Pioneer

Kenwood

Alpine

Rockford Fosgate speakers

JVC

Panasonic HUs

Clarion

Kicker

Polk Audio

Audiobahn

Profile

StreetGlow stuff

KnuKonceptz

Second Skin //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

MB Quart

US Amps

Optima Batteries

US Acoustics

It would probably be both custom and everyday installs, since from the above post. Probably 2-3 comps a year. It would be called "Audioable Highs" //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif What a pimp name...

- pe@ce

 

[delvryboy 5,000+ posts]

i would like to carry some brands that r not readily available to the others in my area...ED, adire, RE, BA....i would definatly carry pioneer and kicker....i stand by them and IMO make great products

 

[mgaidica 10+ year member]

im guessing if your planning on a shop business and audio school are equally important? also, ide think working around a reputable shop for a while would help build some business skills. I'de have a shop and drop all my money into it at first, make it real nice.. Me and my friend were talking about little **** shops and how if we just started off big, the big time money spenders would come in. Probaly need to hire a lot of pro's, in every aspect.. installers, sales, fabricators.. I think that its an awsome idea but it would take maybe a couple years to get your name out, and a lot of money.

 

[hihoslva 10+ year member]

I would try to carry lots of high-profit items, along with the GOOD stuff.

We can all dream, but money is where it's at - you can't run a business just selling what you want - you have sell what the customers want - and that includes all the stuff we know is crap. But there is a big market for modest priced equipment.

$20-$30 for an amp install will run you out of business pretty quickly. You need to charge $60 per hour minimum to make ends meet. If an amp install takes an hour, and say you can do 10 a day, $300 a day won't even begin to pay the bills. A well run business should make at least $1000 profit per day on average to survive, especially if you have employees. If you have three non-installer employees, your big $300 daily is gone before you get it.

Maybe it sounds like a lot of money, but it's not.

Quality work deserves a quality price. I would charge $75-$100 an hour, plus materials for any install. And I'd hire people who know what they are doing, so a car never has to come back with install problems.

I would also have a well-run demo section (not like the crap rooms Circuit City and other shops slap together), including one really BAD setup, so people can hear what a crappy, distorted system sounds like, and learn why.

~HH

 

[mgaidica 10+ year member]

yeh, as bad as i would feel, i would have to recomend things like capacitors and stuff like that if i didnt carry alternators.. I dont know if i would hold a "learn about audio" class as stated above, that leaves u with kids like me, that call or go into a shop not looking to buy but waste time talking, not good for a business. All employees MECP certified, along with showcase's of skill on hand.. Possible have a show car on floor, doesnt even need an engine, just some batteries and a sick looking install.

 

[MA_Boomin' 10+ year member]

Originally posted by qxfosgatesvt if u owned your own shop what would make you different or better

then other shops in your area? what brands would you sell? would u do

only custom or everyday installs? thought this would be a entertaining post.

One I wouldnt bs customers into believing only my brands are good no one elses. Two, I would list current prices every week from local shops and places like Circuit City, Best Buy etc., and also keep a strong eye on what online prices are each month. Probably would carry brands maybe most aren't used to seeing all the time. Eclipse, McIntosh, XTant, MA Audio, Crossfire, etc., and a few usuals like JL and Alpine.

Everyone around here is all RF, Alpine, Kenwood, and Pioneer.

 

[wesleysh 10+ year member]

i would definatly carry pioneer and kicker....i stand by them and IMO make great products

I'm a Kicker man and would carry it no matter what, but if you don't carry Pioneer your just plain CRAZY! Thanks for standing up for a company that knows it place and excells at it.

There's a shop here in Lansing that does free installs for everything you buy there. If you don't buy it there, you pay $50/hour. They've been in business for a very long time, so you must live in a very high rent area if you think you can't make it charging those rates.

It costs roughly $300-400/day to run the baseball academy I work at. This is with a large dome with heat, atmosheric pressurizers, batting cages, huge lights, employees...If your paying more than that for a little car audio place you really need to find another location.

I would like to carry RE, eD, Dynaudio, Focal and Adire, but I wouldn't want just any idiot to be able to buy it. I would make it a "priveledge" to buy it at my shop, you'd have to qualify some how. These aren't high volume items anyways, so I shouldn't lose to much money doing it that way. And the stuff would only be in 'expert' installs, so it would sound great everytime. People will be scratching and clawing to buy it too, I'll make millions!!//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crazy.gif.c13912c32de98515d3142759a824dae7.gif Just kidding.

To offset my car audio business I'd sell something else as well. Don't know what it would be, but I definitely add something extra. Heck, I'd sell Krispy Kreme if I could!//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[qxfosgatesvt 10+ year member]

I am glad i started ths thread this is good stuff...

 

[hihoslva 10+ year member]

Originally posted by wesleysh There's a shop here in Lansing that does free installs for everything you buy there. If you don't buy it there, you pay $50/hour. They've been in business for a very long time, so you must live in a very high rent area if you think you can't make it charging those rates.

It costs roughly $300-400/day to run the baseball academy I work at. This is with a large dome with heat, atmosheric pressurizers, batting cages, huge lights, employees...If your paying more than that for a little car audio place you really need to find another location.

$300 - $400 a day? Are you including the taxes? Or the mortgage/rent on the structure itself? What about insurance? Supplies? Repairs?

And BTW - where I live is a very expensive place. Not trying to say it's nicer than anywhere else - but the cost of living is quite high.

Example: The house I just bought (3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 50 years old) was a shade under $300k - on 1/4 acre of land. And the taxes on the property are $7 grand a year. For a little more than a postage stamp. My car insurance alone (two newer vehicles) is almost $4000 a year (with not the worst driving records for me and the wife).

So it's a pricey place to live, and business have to charge more to survive.

But nonetheless - I can't believe for a second that it costs $300-$400 TOTAL to run that camp you were talking about. There must be costs you have not taken into account - lots of them.

~HH

 

[wesleysh 10+ year member]

If the place your in costs too much, MOVE! It's not hard, lol.//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

Problem is I'm from the lower Virginia/North Carolina area. Things are just cheaper around there. My parent live in a $300,000 house and its brick, 2.5 acres of land, 4 bedroom/3.5 bath and its 4,200 square feet. The house is about 6 years old, and the property tax is $1,500 every 6 months (or maybe a year, I can't remember). But that's not overly typical, since they live in the county its a little cheaper than in the city. I can't ever live in New York or California, cause the culture shock would be too much for me, can't relate to a $500 heating or power bill, or $150,000 only getting me a run down shack or something near the projects.

I was told by the owner just the other day that that is what it costs to run the place. There is no rent, he built his own building. What kills me is people that pay more in rent than they ever would to own the building. I remember some dotcom companies who were paying $20,000/month for a basic office, just because it was in "the valley."

I can't comment on supplies and such, cause that's the cost of doing business. You have to start accounting for what kind of a day it was and all that then. If we did no business in a day, it would cost us roughly $300-400 he said.

 

[jbl_marshall21 10+ year member]

Originally posted by wesleysh /3.5 bath

how???????????

 

[hihoslva 10+ year member]

Well, again - it's not everyone who can own the building in which they do business. In fact, it's not all that common.

And generally, when people DO own the building, there is a mortgage to pay.

Your boss is in a very good position - something that a start-up business without a million capital is not going to have.

However, taken into account that it costs him $300-$400 a day to run the business, he still needs to make considerably more than that to put food on his table. Nobody runs a business just to break even - people are in it to earn a living.

I think we're talking about different situations here - and I understand that it's all hypothetical. But I still stand by my comment that $20-$30 amp installs wouldn't last for very long - especially if there is rent/mortgage to pay.

~HH