Originally Posted by
John
I see your point here Craig but I disagree. Look at all those "specialty" shops that specialized in S chassis (DC, XAT) - once people figured out they weren't tough to work on, the market went backyard and the shops belly up.
I think the key is flexibility. Cars are cars, and if you want to be here for the long term, you have to be able to adapt to a changing market. The last shop I worked for, worked on Evos, Vipers, WRX's, S2000's, Mustangs and just about anything else that came through the door.
This aint the same market it was 4 years ago. You don't refuse business in this economy. Hopefully, this market correction will teach people how to earn a dollar again
Have you ever bought one of those "all in wonder" kind of devices? Something akin to a microwave that is also a refrigerator, can opener, autoclave and pressure washer? Ever notice how a device like that doesn't do anything particularly well? Sure, cars are cars like beers are beers; to the layman, it is all the same. To us, it's different.
Yes, one should be flexible within your realm of expertise. However, accepting any old thing that comes through the door is asinine, even if it is money. So what if some dude wants a turbo on his Taurus and pays cash up front. It's not worth the R&D time to do it, it really pays to be selective as you can get more volume out the door when you stick to what you know.
I worked for a guy who would just let anything in the door. It cost us time and money again and again. It's not like we were a convertible top shop doing tube-frame race car builds but it might as well have been that way. As an import performance shop, we had no business doing Lumina, Taurus and Blazer transmission rebuilds. That was a job for specialists within the field: a transmission shop. When I worked for a transmission shop, sometimes we'd get roped into these custom motor builds and whatnot instead of doing our bread and butter.
Excel at several things instead of being mediocre at everything.