If you have made the decision to build a new business from scratch, you are going to have to have a place to operate. Is there any vacant property in the service area? There are so many things to consider when selecting your location, including, but not limited to:
- Easy access for customers
- Easy access for test driving and diagnosing vehicles
- Safety and security of the neighborhood – day and night
- Easy access to parts stores and suppliers
- Exposure, so potential customers can see your new business without expensive marketing
Each of these things are basic requirements and I listed them in order of importance. You might think of other geographical things, like:
If you live where a cold winter wind blows much of the year, do the big main doors face north?
If you live in the hot southern part of the country, do the doors face west so you get baked by the sun every afternoon? These are little things, but they make a difference.
Let’s talk about qualifying a building that you may have found.
Are you on a boulevard with a beautiful divider between lanes? That can make it easy or hard for customers to get in your driveway, depending on the way they are headed. Is it going to be easy for a 30 foot long-rollback to get in and out when they bring you jobs? Think about delivery trucks. Occasionally you might have a tractor trailer arrive with a piece of equipment you bought, or a shipment of torque converters. Can they turn around, and can they back out if necessary without causing major problems?
You will be taking many test drives. Is the street smooth and straight without lots of stop signs, or is it rough and hard to get up to lockup speed within a mile of the shop? Rough streets are great for diagnosing noises and rattles, but not so much for a subtle drivability issue when you and the customer are feeling for the shudder or intermittent jerk.
How safe is the neighborhood? Plenty of street lights? Are you surrounded by commercial property or is there low-income housing nearby? Do other businesses in the area have fortified windows and doors, security cameras and fences with constantia wire on top? These are red flags and a warning that anything you can’t protect may be gone in the morning. How far away are the police and fire stations?
You are going to need parts, probably several times a day. How close are the parts stores, and are they a brand that you like to deal with? In our town they all seem to be clustered together. Time is money, and the longer you have to wait on parts the more money you aren’t earning on that job. It is more important that you realize to have suppliers close and handy.
Does this building sit on a high traffic route where folks driving by can see you exist? You will likely spend some of your budget on advertising, you can take advantage of your location by putting clever signage where they can see it. People like to do business where they frequent, folks that drive by your place every day are your best potential customers. It is far more effective to market to these folks than casting a wide net hoping someone will remember your ad when their car stops shifting.
Is the ceiling high enough? You’ll probably need at least a 12-foot ceiling height to use a lift. How many doors does it have? Can you drive straight in, or more importantly, if you are pushing a car or truck in, do you have to turn it to get onto a lift? A 4-WD truck that isn’t running can be a bear to steer. Is the floor flat? Older gas stations tend to have drains in the middle of the bays, and the cement is sloped toward that drain. It is hard to set up a lift on a sloped floor, and it’s even harder to move a tall transmission jack around over a grate; even if you put a flat piece of steel over it to cover it up.
Is there room for parking scheduled vehicles as well as finished vehicles on pavement? Some towns have restrictions and parking on gravel or grass is not allowed.
Storage. You are going to need far more than you can imagine. Is there room for expansion, or can you put a CONEX or similar storage container on site? Will the city allow it? Without proper storage, you will quickly clutter the facility which looks terrible and kills productivity. Two things a new business does not want.
I would like to suggest you apply this criteria to the shop you are working in right now. Take your time and look around for a location that meets your needs and then take a hard look at where you are now. If where you are now is working, it might be just one of many good reasons to buy the business and stay there.
I look forward to feedback and am easily found on Facebook where I participate in the Transmission Brotherhood and on my own FB page, Kits Speed Shop.
