Homestead Moneymaker - Small Engine Repair

Yes, count yourself lucky. Some of us city folk who have moved to the country and are trying to be homesteaders are seriously lacking in "know-how". I've learned an enormous amount since moving to the country, but still feel dumber-than-a-rock about many things - especially small engine repair.

I took up small engine repair as a hobby about a year ago, knowing nothing except "air, spark, fuel" with a Briggs & Stratton book. My wife canvases for broken lawn mowers now, and I turn them around as fast as she can bring them in. I have a really basic pricing scheme for repairs and maintenance and a standard maintenance package I do (Air filter, oil change, blade sharpening, cleaning and general tweaking). Whenever someone brings me an engine type I haven't seen before, I do the job for free just to have the chance to learn a new engine. Doing this, I've expanded into chainsaws and weed eaters.

I'm not sure I could make a living at it, and I feel like an amateur, but it's a pretty good supplemental income. When my FIL found I was doing it, he had his equipment waiting for me the next time I visited, and since then, he has customers lined up for me when I come to visit. He believes I could make a living out of it where he lives.

My bet is that fully 90% of the repair work is carburator related, and probably 90% of that is because of water in the gas, or varnish in the carb from the cheap gas being allowed to sit.

I have a neighbor (about 1 mile as the crow flies) that is in his 50's. He took over the small engine repair business from his dad, so they have been doing it for about 60 years, combined, plus farming. The guy is swamped and has a hard time farming. He is always knee deep in parts, and back logged about 6 weeks. I'd say that most of his jobs are NOT fuel related, but rebuilds and a lot of transmission work/ modification. He works on a lot of chainsaws - from sharpening chain to complete tear-down/rebuilds. Sure, there are gonna be tune-up related stuff, but I would say that if you are going into it thinking on a lot of carb work, you will be suprised. Most people are gonna want someone capable of doing the "whole enchilada" as opposed to a tune-up artist.

My neighbor has a small engine repair shop. Has done absolutely no advertising other than word-of-mouth. Gets referals from the local Farmers' Co-op on anything they don't want to repair. Has all the business he wants.

However, will note he is EXTREMELY lean on pricing his services and, when he has a used part which will work, he doesn't charge much for it. On new parts, his mark up isn't much.

His wife does work in the school cafeteria, but he does seem to have a nice sideline income from the shop.

He is set up on a fairly well traveled country road. When he has used mowers for sale he just sets them outside without even a For Sale sign. They go pretty quickly.

I'm told country recycling centers are a good source of old lawnmowers for parts and such. Some might just need a tune-up and blade sharpening.

Well, I actually worked at a 4-mechanic, very busy small engine shop to put myself through college (that was PART of the work, anyway; I had another fulltime job, too).

I can tell you that many, many people have small engine shops in their home garages or someplace. I see the crudely lettered signs all over. Sidelines. But the real way to make it in the biz is to get yourself a brand affiliation, where you can sell new products and repair the rest. If you can get warranty approved, you are another step ahead.

You don't have to do this all at once. I would recommend you start by repairing riding mowers and garden tractors, snowblowers if applicable and chain saws. And yes, do pick up the mowers people don't want and make them run for resale if you can. There's a guy in my community that has a rip-roaring biz now who started like that just 5 years ago, with no brand affiliation.

There are a lot of niches in this business that a sharp entrepreneur can find. One is to court the commercial business. If you can show a guy who needs the equipment fast for his commercial yard business that you can fix it, fix it fast, fix it right and stand by your work, you will soon be able to leave the greater hassles of dealing with the general public behind -- if you wish.

Oh BTW, you need to stop thinking like you are, that you will simply replace the parts needed, and think more comprehensively. A mower that comes in with bad gas automatically should get a package including new oil, oil filter if applicable, air filter, carb kit, compression test and valve or head gasket work if needed, and a new spark plug. You should price by the package for basic "tune-up" work if it won't run, then add other services should you find something more serious.

The reason is not to gouge the customer, but to keep comebacks to a minimum. When it comes back, the labor is on you, if you want to stay in biz. No comebacks is the goal. In the shop I worked in, if it did not start in 2 pulls, it wasn't right yet.

Do clean the machine, either with compressed air, a pressure washer, or some combo.

Also, mark your work. Do repairs in a certain fashion or otherwise tamper-proof it by marking it. There are a variety of ways. Then when the person shows back up and says it won't run and it's your fault, you can say, "No, see how this is here? (Or, see how these marks don't line up anymore?) We don't do that, so someone else has worked on it meantime, and it is now out of my warranty."

You have to be very diplomatic with folks. Man, they get hot sometimes.

I've been there on all this stuff, hope it helps. The idea is not to be the cheapest, but the best.

__________________
Jim Steele
Sweetpea Farms
"To avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing." -- Robert Gates

I think just the education alone for your own stuff would be worth it. Then you could do a little on the side. One thing to remember is that if you are getting more business than you can handle you need to go up on your rates or have a seasonal rate to smooth things out a bit. I know several people with service based business who work themselves to death trying to keep up, instead of upping their fee, if they did they would make the same money in less time.

While I wish I knew a good, local small engine repair man ... I know I'm in the minority. And I only have two small engines which I've learned to repair myself. Most people right now prefer to just buy new stuff, which is what they've been trained to do by society and the manufacturers.

Do I think it's a good useful skill to pick up? Definitely. Can you make a living off of that one skill alone? Highly doubtful. People who think "repair" instead of "replace" are in the minority, and those same people also think, "do it yourself".

We have a guy in our neighborhood who fixes small engines but I hate to have him work on any of our things because he won't charge neighbors more than $5. He has as much work as he wants to do and there are several brands of things he won't work on at all since there aren't parts for them anymore. I don't know if he makes all that much money doing it, but he likes it and he's already retired.