graham jumps ship!

[Dave]

Good luck

[Graham]

Good luck on this.
Will you have your lathe there too? as i have some.
work that needs doing on a lathe.

The bike breakers you mentioned in a previous post is that the one on black bank drove???

yes my lathe will be there, im hoping to get a bigger one, yes to black bank drove

[Graham]

small update, just got back from checking out a 2,200 sq ft unit,

it looks like the one i will be having, doors opening april. it will take a lot of pinto builds to cover the £17,750 pa cost of it though!

[Graham]

terms of lease has been signed, solicitors are doing expensive things with bits of paper now, but it looks like i will have the keys 1st of march, once i have the keys wil work out exactly when i leave my job.

the unit is just an empty shell, which is both good and bad, good because its an almost clean sheet of paper, bad because i will have to do some building work and electrical inside before its practical to use

[RS Yod]

Good luck mate I'm sure with your rep you will drum up lots of business and make it good

[chatteris]

good luck,if you need some help moving stuff I have a van.

[savvi]

Good luck, it seems units have gone up in price recently, im back looking after having my house because of divorce, they are a lot dearer then 3-4 years ago that's for sure !!!


I've realised that with a professional looking place of work the better customer you get, im sure you will make it pay.

[Graham]

I've realised that with a professional looking place of work the better customer you get, .

very true i think,

when we had a look at the unit i got the mrs to drive past my mates unit which is literally just around the corner, his place looks like a scrap yard to look at, karen took one look and said never go there in a million years, no matter what! and thats despite her having met him and thought he was ok as well as knowing he is one of very few that i trust.

[savvi]

I've been looking at one in a village up the road, although it's on a farm it's right by the side of the road with a decent drive, im hoping it looks pro enough but the rent is less then yours it also has been used as a vehicle workshop before and has a Mez floor with storage and a office upstairs.




Last guy has done a runner leaving all his crap behind so the landlord is going to clear it all 1st, he's also going to tidy up the front and fit a new personal door etc..

[Graham]

yup tidy up new door, a good lick of paint and nice sign will do wonders for it

im lucky externally my place looks smart, only the personnel door and window beside it are a bit scruffy, but knowing the landlord have replaced a lot of doors in other units of the site i got them to agree to changing mine as well

[savvi]

Yeah he said today he's happy to fit a new door like he has on the one next to it.
I don't mind painting the front, think it should be ok, just hard on the head knowing my mortgage at present isn't much more per month then this !!!!

[Graham]

just hard on the head knowing my mortgage at present isn't much more per month then this !!!!

i guess either you have a small mortgage. or have had it a long while. thinking about it my rent will be 3 times my mortgage repayment

[CrazyPolak]

I'm also on a farm in a village but have a great unit and good price on the rent it doesn't really matter where you are reputation and as already said how the business is presented (doesn't look like a scrap yard brings in new business) here's a couple of pics of my workshop.

[wepeeps]

Best of luck mate you always give decent advice to folk on here self employed has good bits and bad bits but the good outweigh the bad for me

[5tox]

Once your up and running it may be worth popping down for a quick chat, im sure that once the bodywork is finished on the escort and im starting on the engine ill be bringing a bit of business your way

your literally just 20 mins down the road

[savvi]

i guess either you have a small mortgage. or have had it a long while. thinking about it my rent will be 3 times my mortgage repayment

I've done 3 houses up to get what I have now ............. current mortgage is £850 per month as I have a fair amount of equity in my current place, im a tight git and don't drink or smoke work twice as many hours as many of my mates and always have done, im sure as we used to do the same job you probably have done the same, 12- 16 hour shifts were common when I was doing rescue & recovery, finishing a 8 hour shift then picking up a trailer and recovery to Devon or Wales and getting home early hours of the next morning was common for me but I always thought id do it while young and relax a bit as I got older !!!!

This is mine currently for sale due to divorce !!!

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-...-28834824.html

[Graham]

nice pad you have gutted for you having to sell.

you were a topic of conversation this morning when watching telly in bed as i suddenly shouted, theres savvi!, well your van and old unit anyway.
dave was on showing what else but top gear reruns.

[savvi]

Haha

That wasn't my unit, that was one of the units by the top gear track, they put my van there to block out on lookers whilst filming the workshop scenes, you can also see me working on the car if your quick when we stripped it all out to make it lighter !!!

You would have been watching the episode about this one ..........







Yes I am gutted having to sell up been trying to raise £140k as that's what she wants for me to keep it but cant borrow on the earnings being self employed and also my business has paid for the workshop to be renovated which has made my actual earnings look very low, bit like people buy a new van or tools to keep the tax bill down.

[Graham]

small update.

solicitors are doing whatever they do for £205 an hour plus vat, all being well, i will have possession of the until by march 1st.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/commercia...-33000409.html

we have the remortgage on the house agreed, although that has no baring on the business as such, that had to be sorted before i left my job. like everything else it took a bit longer than expected. the upshot of that is i didnt give my employers notice until thursday evening, so i may have a unit march 1st, but am likely to be in full time employment until mid march, oh well

[Jimmythedimmy]

Unit looks good graham, I hope you fill it with work soon

[david_white]

Place looks great, will be a very nice workshop. Best of luck with the move, let us know if you need a hand with anything

[Graham]

gboutsidepeng.jpg
20140303_124631peng front.jpg

as you might guess i got the keys today
the inside is a blank canvas, there is a small office to the right just out of shot

[RS Yod]

Congratulations mate, fingers crossed for you but you can do it

[Steve]

Looking good

[Dave]

Wow!
Lots of space there to fill. No doubt it will fill up all too quick.

[Graham]

looks a lot of space, but wont seem as big when you start filling it with cars and lifts which swallow up a lot of room, its just under 10 metres wide and just over 20 metres long, i will loose a bit of floor space because i will have to more than double the area the current office/reception takes up. to avoid loosing too much floor space, im planning on putting staff/tea room toilets above the office. but will still have enough room for 4 lifts and a bit of spare floor space.

im a bit short of parking space, officially i only have two outside the unit and three more in a very close by gravel car park, unofficially theres room to park a few more outside without getting in the way of the other units, there are two other units that exceed their parking allocation by about ten times so i should be ok

[tom burgess]

that looks an excellent unit Graham.i wish you the very best of luck with youre venture.im sure it will work out with youre knowledge and skill

[Graham]

thanks tom and everyone else for the good luck wishes

[rallyrob]

Good luck with it all Graham.
It looks a good space, but as you say will soon fill up with ramps an everything.

Rob.

[fmarie911]

That unit looks very smart indeed, well done.

I am sure you already have but make sure you spend time thinking about your layout and where everything will go.
When I did mine, I had it all mapped out only to change it all around while we were putting things up as quickly realised there was a better way to use the space (once you start putting things in you get a much better idea). And having now been in it for a couple of years, I would still have done it slightly differently to maximize the space even more).

Good luck, I am sure you will do very well.

Franck

[Graham]

That unit looks very smart indeed, well done.

I am sure you already have but make sure you spend time thinking about your layout and where everything will go.

Franck

yes lost a few hours doing that already, when the lifts are installed i will have to get the sparks to leave some spare cable so i can move them around a bit

im complicating things because im trying to leave enough room for an mot testing bay, mots will be in the future, but having worked in places that both do and dont do their own mots i know which ones easier, and also makes more money!

[turbo m]

Great unit you have,
will have to pot over when you up and running for some lathe work.
Good luck with the venture iam sure you will make it a great suscess..

[Marcm]

Best of luck...try and earn some loot from the mots and don't be shy about pressing the swerve button on certain things that have all the ingrediants of a monumental headache..

[mk1yb]

Best of luck with it Graham and like everyone else has said I'm certain you will make this a successful business,

Stevie.

[goldy]

Graham have you looked into any software programs for general running of the garage ?

[steerfromdarear]

good luck with this adventure i wish you all the best.one bit of advice dont let cars leave the street without getting payed it may sound harsh but if you start this way it will save you allot of stress .

[robt100]

Graham, i know it was mentioned in another thread that youre not allowed a dyno at the garage.....could you not disguise it into your MOT roller brake tester? Hope the new venture goes well!

[mario r h santos]

I wish you the best of luck Graham. I'm twisting my fingers for you.

Cheers,

Mário Santos.

[Graham]

thanks guys, not been too many updates, been too busy down at the unit, having no internet access there helps productivity.

amongst all the other stuff im slowly working my way through two engine builds which have to be done very soon.

most of my kit is down there now, lifts are due to go in shortly, been doing a bit of carpentry making serving a counter/desk unit.

BT are really peeing me off, who would of thought in this day and age it would take weeks to lay on phones and broadband? but once they are in, the computer etc. can go in and i will have a properly functioning garage, that said i have already done a couple of jobs. although i will need to bring proper work in soon, im running out of cash! if you average it out i,ve spent £1000 a day since leaving the AA

[Graham]

Graham, i know it was mentioned in another thread that youre not allowed a dyno at the garage.....could you not disguise it into your MOT roller brake tester? Hope the new venture goes well!

i just dont have the space rob, if i did im sure i could build a well enough insulated dyno cell to keep the noise tolerable. actually thats a lie, i just about have enough space, but that will become a mot test lane, id love to have my own set of rollers but business wise mots make much more sense, when we expand into the building next door..............