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Re: Ed's Shop Build Thread
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Super Member
Re: Ed's Shop Build Thread
Originally Posted by Ed Abbondanzio
Lastly, here's me waiting for all the people that said they'd call me right back after I gave a price over the phone.
Looks like you could use this ...
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Re: Ed's Shop Build Thread
Maybe I should share my origin story of how the shop / business came to be. It won't be a fairytale of grit and pulling yourself up by your bootstraps that paid off. It's more about making a ton of mistakes and still coming out okay somehow lol.
Consider it like a prequel that'll finally fill some of the voids that should have been explained at the beginning.
It all begins back in May of 2019. Only a year out of college, and working my first office job I was desperate to get out. No disrespect to anybody that works in offices but I really enjoy hands on work. My entire run at college I worked part time in the recon department of dealerships (I've left most bad habits behind) so the office was a total change in pace. I was basically ready to go for any hands on job and had been eyeballing mechanic job openings and was looking at applying for a RV mechanic position. I finally told my parents how bad I disliked my job and my Dad joked that I should start a detailing business.
I should preface this by mentioning my parents own a touchless self serve car wash. My Dad was offering to let me work behind it doing my own thing detailing as a side hustle until I figured out a plan. They had an electrical line ran to a light post in the back that I could use for power. They also let me use a self bay to wash cars in (mainly for water, I used my own buckets not the foam brush I promise). I would be the most stationary mobile detailer operating out of my Jeep Cherokee.
It took some convincing for me to do it but I ended up taking the plunge and they offered to let me stay with them rent free to keep expenses low.
One free basic website (perks of being a developer), a $40 sign, and some business cards later the business was operational. Well it was 2 weeks later when I finally got my first job
Equipment wise I already had a gg6, Ridgid shop vac, microfibers and more due to being an enthusiast. I spent about $900 in smaller supplies + chemicals to prepare.
The first job went well and only took me 11 hours lol. I was doing wayyyyy to much but the customer was happy with the job and they scheduled two more details with me the following week. I took the entirety of the funds from the first 3 details and went and bought a 5 gallon Husky compressor, a 50ft airline, and a blow gun. I couldn't go much bigger in tank size due to it needing to fit in my Jeep.
Behind the compressor is a Bissel big green carpet shampooer my Mom let me borrow. The folding chair / table were my camping gear.
The main reason I bought a compressor was because I wanted to run a Tornador as I was tired of hand scrubbing carpets so much. At my last dealership job they were gonna throw out an old Tornador and they let me take it home instead. It had the chemical tank on it but I removed the tank since it the feed tube failed.
Surprisingly the business picked up and I was doing 2 - 4 jobs a week. Probably helped that I had the lowest prices of the area charging $180 - $200 flat for a full detail, or $100 - $120 for interior, or exterior work.
I don't have many pictures of the initial set up as I only ever took pics of the cars. Note the fancy canopy. It was my parents and they let me borrow it. It served me well until a strong wind storm obliterated it. The camper was my parents, and I stored some of my heavier stuff in it since my Cherokee has a saggy butt and wasn't happy about all the weight.
I was really proud of this picture.
My Jeep.
Surprisingly busy lol. Hard to beat my prices at the time. This pic shows the new canopy that I had to buy after the first one was destroyed.
Business was good enough that my parents had been mentioning I should build a shop so I could keep detailing over the winter. I didn't have the funds on hand but I was able to get a business loan. At the time I was averaging $14 - $18 hour per job BEFORE expenses...
They let me use part of their land next to the car wash and the diner. This was the day the machinery showed up.
A month or so later here's the frost wall being poured.
Foundation done.
Got a banner to let the public know what was coming. If you recognize the banner it's because the other side has the business name + phone number and it's currently in use as my make shift sign on the shop. I had a hunch I wouldn't be able to afford a real sign for awhile so I prepared ahead of time.
First day all four walls went up
We had a retaining wall put up by the edge of the diner's parking lot. Before the shop was here people would use the dirt portion as additional parking for the diner.
Got the chance to sneak up on the 2nd floor when the floor was put in.
The shop is crazy tall due to the 10/12 pitch roof. The very tip is about 28' high.
My workstation at the time. The trees were changing colors because at this point it was fall and the temperatures were dropping. The awning doesn't have the cloth portion installed because I learned to take it off to prevent wind storms from destroying it. I was also lazy and didn't want to bother with set up / tear down so I ran the awning like this for several months.
The inside of the shop all strapped for panels. This was about mid November.
Detailing outside lost it's joy around this time. There's about a 2 month gap in pictures at this point because I stopped taking them. Remember how my prices were so low? When your not making much per hour, you can't really afford to save up for time off. So you keep working. But that's a little difficult when you don't have a shop, and you live in Maine and it's the beginning of winter.
There were days when my workspace was literally a sheet of ice and I worked on top of it. Some days a flurry of snow would hit here and there. My chemicals would freeze if I left them in my Jeep overnight so I had to bring them inside everynight. The Bissel extractor broke because it froze up with water in it.
My compressor would act up when temps went below 25* as the pressure regulator in it was failing. You ever try using a blow gun in the cold? The metal tip literally freezes up due to the moisture in the air. I had to remove the metal tube just to get some air out of it. Tornadors don't like the cold either as they stop spinning so nicely below freezing.
I remember trying to clean a door panel and every time I'd spray it with APC and try to wipe it clean the APC would freeze up and my microfiber would do nothing more than smudge up with ice shavings leaving the panel still streaked up in more ice.
It was absolutely miserable being in the cold for 8 - 9 hours a day. My Jeep doesn't have heat due to a clogged heater core so I couldn't warm up in it. There was a heater in the camper that I could turn on but at one point the power cord to the camper melted due to water shorting it so there was nowhere to warm up for awhile. I bought a bulk pack of hand warmers and would stuff my nitrile gloves with a few of them in a desperate attempt to keep my hands from going numb.
But the shop wasn't done.
On the really bad days when temps were below 20* I was able to take over a car wash bay and work in it. I could shut one or both of the doors and it would heat up to about 35* which felt hot. One of the few pictures I have of the set up was captured when I was trying to take a picture of a windshield chip at 10:30pm. I was working late one night because I was desperate for money and wouldn't turn away jobs.
This literally continued up until the middle of December when I finally had enough and shut down for 2 weeks (it was all I could afford). I honestly think that was the worst experience I've had in a long time.
Thankfully the shop was finally approaching completion. It had heat and electricity. I bought a bunch of cheap Amazon led lights to set up. I estimated by the time they failed I'd have enough money to do a proper set up. I spent much longer than I'd like to admit planning the light layout.
I was able to start working in one bay while the builders worked on the other side.
We painted the back wall gray, and the bathroom / lobby a light blue.
A few days before Christmas the shop was finally done.
Like most construction the shop went over budget by about 20%. That drained up my savings I had saved from my office job, and just about any profit I had made detailing. On the plus side my loan isn't as high as it would have been had I added a buffer to it to cover the overage.
Upon completion of the shop I had $300 to my name. It was a few days after Christmas and business was DEAD. Thankfully some work started to trickle in and I was able to scrape through to February thanks to a large surplus of chemicals I had stocked up on.
Oh and at this point I was still charging the low prices. In February I smartened up and reached out to another detailer buddy asking for advice because I finally realized how bad things were looking. Honestly the business wouldn't have survived at those prices.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
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Re: Ed's Shop Build Thread
Cool story.
Wish you all the best.
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Re: Ed's Shop Build Thread
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Super Member
Re: Ed's Shop Build Thread
Love the documented journey, Ed.
It is no coincidence that man's best friend cannot talk.
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Re: Ed's Shop Build Thread
The best way to get revenge? Teach them how to detail. They'll spend the rest of their life worrying about the condition of their car.
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Super Member
Re: Ed's Shop Build Thread
Great story.
It’s important to remember where you came from and always great to hear about when hard work and determination finally pays off. Congrats on your success.
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Super Member
Re: Ed's Shop Build Thread
Great story!!! Enjoyed reading---keep them coming!
Tom
Mr Tommy's
Wash, Buff, Wax
Website: mrtommyshine.com
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