[ironworks]

Really at the end of the day you have to want to build cars more then anything else. If you get into this business thinking your going to rake in the dough, Your extremely mislead. There are very few shops that make great money. I could count a 1/2 dozen that might. And they are not Foose design and Radrides ( parts and T shirts is where it is at). The margin on your labor in this industry is very low, the amount of money it takes for skilled workers is very high and you have to take it in the shorts on the big dollar builds. They have an even thinner margin. Anytime your profit is built into the hourly rate, meaning you have to work x amount of hours times your margin to make good money, you will always run out of time before you make good money.

Now if you can figure out how to estimate quality work and make money on every estimate, you might make great money, but there is not way to estimate perfection.

Tom Hanna of drag race fame was a master metal man. I asked him this summer why he got out so many years ago to sell pet collars, Yeah dog cat and horse collars. He said the only way to make money is to close your tool box. He realized that time was not on his side to build hot rods and make money. So now 20 plus years later he makes so much money from his pet collar business that he can build whatever for whoever and not have to get some customer to pay for it. That is my dream, I just wish I was as smart as that guy.