My name is steve isabelle, and i am from savannah, ga usa. I have been working on a similar idea as your shop for my local area. If you would please, i would just like to ask a few questions. I am only in the research stage, and am looking to see how feasible this concept is. Your response would be greatly appreciated.

How receptive are people willing to work on their own vehicles?
How you seen an increase in the DIY market, or decrease?
how big is your shop?
about how many people come through your shop a week?
how many bays do you have?
how much do you charge for bay time?
do you offer local technical schools access so that they can be trained to work on vehicles?

I know i am asking alot, but i would really appreciate your response. Thank you and have a great day!

sincerely,

Steve Isabelle

I am pleased to answer your questions, we have been established 20 years now, the amount of D I Y has actually decreased over the years but the amount of education has increased via our training videos and our evening classes, and yes we allow local schools to use our facilities, we have had over 4000 school children through a DIY hall since we started.

We have a total of 9 bays 6 of which are equipped with Lifts, Air, Water, and Electricity, 2 have bodywork preparation equipment, one which is equipped with a Blackhawk Body Jig (though only our specialist uses that.

We also have a Low Bake Spraybooth and Oven, and we are a Government approved vehicle testing station.

we have a parts and accessories shop, and we also carryout repairs and servicing on our customers cars.

The only way we can keep the community based DIY project is by doing the more commercial aspects of the business, that way we can employ qualified engineers and make sufficient money to run the business and stay afloat.

Truthfully, DIY will not stand alone, you cannot get the return for the investment necessary.

We charge £7 sterling per hour, or by paying a membership fee of £15 per year the member gets a discount of £1 per hour making it £6 per hour. We charge £17.50 per hour for the use of the Spray Booth/Oven, or £15 to members.

For Tools we charge a basic £2 per tool hired, and that is for as long as it's hired i.e.; a socket set cost £2 per hour even if the user has it 4 hours while he's on the bay.

The size of our building is 6000 square Feet, 1200 of which is the shop the rest is the workshop and DIY Hall, the Spray booth is outside the premises.

There is a lot of information there for you, I hope you find it helpful, if I can be of further help, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Good Luck.

Regards Bill