I could go for days about this topic. Thank God for Roger!!! He knows how to put the words down. Everything he's said I coincide with down to the t's crossed and i's dotted. It's not easy one bit. Roger and I are in our early 30's and for us to know and understand how things work and what it takes to do what were doing say's alot about a good honest hard working Hot Rod Shop.
I opend my doors in August of 2000 and was sweating at how I was going to pay my $550 rent and $100 bucks in utilities. For the first 4 1/2 years I worked a night job which pretty much paid for my tools. Start work at 7:30 pm work till 4 am or later if overtime. Go home sleep from 4am till 9am wake up get to my shop at 10 or so. Work till 6pm go home shower eat and be at work 20 miles away by 7:30 pm. I was late(by 5 minutes) about five times in those years. I left a $85,000.00 a year job for my passion. Five years later I don't regret it. There are plenty of days where I wish I worked for someone else.
Shop rates vary not only on ones quality of work but also location. I'm in the heart of California where the cost of living isn't cheap. If I could tell you guys what it cost to live a so called blue collar lifestyle you would probably fall over where you stand. Shops that do the same level of work might have different cost cause of location.
This is a great topic but is only the tip of the iceburg on what it takes to run a Hot Rod Shop in this day and age.
The key to any succseful shop is honesty,good work, responsibility,and will. And like I said before Doing better than your best and never letting it rest !!!!
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