Dad"s worked on construction and farm equipment for over 40 years, and I spent a few years in the Navy working in the engine rooms, a few more doing industrial maintenance, and have worked on construction and farm equipment since I was old enough to turn a wrench. We both also do welding and fabrication, portable line boring, as well as some machine work to support everything else we do.
That all said, after reading all of the other replies, there really isn"t a lot to add to what the others have said. Given my and Dad"s experience, pretty much everything stated so far you can take for gospel when it comes to the attitudes of the folks coming through the door so far as what they expect you do, as well as what they want, or don"t want, to pay.
About the only thing I can add, and it has been sort of covered, but not necessarily in the way I look at things is this. Don"t forget the walk in customers that have a thirty minute job they need done right away. In my experience you can usually tell if their serious about the need or not, and those that are don"t mind paying a little extra to get pushed to the front of the line. Yes, you might have another job going on that is going to take you a full 10 hour day, but if your working for yourself it"s not that bog of a deal to just keep working til that job is done before calling it a day.
I say this because those folks are the best kind of advertising you can ever get. I know I was working out of town the other week and needed the end of a push-pull cable machined down a little bit and threaded. Not getting it done right away would have cost me/the customer another 200 mile round trip, or another night in a motel, along with the wasted day not having the needed part. I figure it took the guy maybe 15 minutes to do what I needed, and he charged me $40 to do the job. Frankly I was expecting at least $100, and given the alternative would have gladly paid it, so I didn"t bat an eye at the $40. That said, I may never work in that area again, or need his help, but I will gladly tell anyone else I know that"s working in the area to see him if they need something done.
As far as scheduling in those 30 minute jobs, working on equipment myself I run into the same kind of thing on regular occasion. Heck my day Tuesday went from 8AM til nearly 11PM because I had things already planned that I had to do, but also had two customers needing problems taken care of on their equipment so they could use it the next day. The way I see it, as long as I get the things I am committed to done, anything else that comes along is just something you have to learn to work around as part of being in a business like this.
In the end it all comes down to keeping as many customers as happy as possible. Never will they all be as happy as we"d like them to be, but I"ve found that if you help a guy out of a jamb today, he"s going to be a little more understanding the next time he needs something done and the situation is reversed. Heck I"ve got one guy that"s been waiting on me for several months to repack a cylinder for him. It"s costing him a little extra due to the oil lost, but he also knows I"ve had a really pressing situation, with a deadline, I"ve had to get handled over the past few months, and that if it was a true emergency, that I would find a way to get him taken care of right away even if I had to work 24/7 to get everything done. Customers like that are hard to find and are ones you want to hang on to. They are also the kind that will get your name out there into the community and bring more work to your door. In that regard Dad went on his own in "86, and I started working with him in "97, and did so until about 6 years ago when Dad called it quits. In all those years I am the only one that has ever done any advertising, and that was a few years back when times were really tight. It brought me in one machine that is still sitting outside, with the guy owing me over $2,000 dollars for labor toward it and another machine he had me work on. Beyond that every other job I have done is from customers brought to me by word of mouth. One awhile back heard about me from a customer up in the mountains that I did work for over 10 years ago. In other words, do a good job and people don"t forget, and the work will come. Do people wrong and people don"t forget, and you"ll be working for someone else really quick.
machinery wise, you can get some CNC machines if you want, but never forget that most repair jobs require one off parts that usually aren"t profitable to do on a CNC machine, so don"t forget the manual lathe and mill. Too, keep a good supply of steel stock on hand. It really helps to have a piece on the shelf when someone needs that 30 minute part and you can pick up the piece and go to work, without a trip to the steel supplier for a 20 foot stick of material to get the 6 inch piece you really need.
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Today's Featured Article - History of the Nuffield Tractor - by Anthony West. The Nuffield tractor story started in early 1945. The British government still reeling from the effects of the war on the economy, approached the Nuffield organization to see if they would design and build an "ALL NEW" British built wheeled tractor, suitable for both British and world farming.
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