Starting a chainsaw repair buisness

[Simondo]

I have a mate who is worse.

He took up motor bike riding as a hobby and ended up as Australian superbike Champion.
Then he took up gunsmithing as a hobby and just look at what he now has set up as a business in his shed.
This is half of them and yes that is a restored WW1 Maxim machine gun down the end along with bren guns, etc etc.

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I took up home brewing (brewz) and won state and national championships for my beer.
I took up shooting as a sport and have national competition gold medals and hall of fame points.

Its all about dedication, commitment and doing anything you do to the best you can!

You know what....Something tells me you might just end up doing the saws full time and jacking in doing a 9-5 !! ....You couldn't own that number of guns over here !! Man thats a lot .

 

[Brewz]

Keep the 026. The 090 will take some work but doable.

Yes the 090 will take some work but I have a mate with a TIG and passion!
I am thinking repair, tidy up, sand blast and cerakore.

Why would you pick the 026 over the 034 super?

 

[Brewz]

You know what....Something tells me you might just end up doing the saws full time and jacking in doing a 9-5 !! ....You couldn't own that number of guns over here !! Man thats a lot .

This will never earn what my regular job earns so I will just stick with it as a side for now.

Maybe one day

 

[CR888]

Instead of buying all these old worn out saws you could walk into an Ozzy Steal dealer and buy a new MS261 for $1599msrp. Good idea doing saw repair as a side show, keep a consistant income and buy/sell/fix ope to pay for tools and feed your saw addiction. Keep wife happy and keep stress away from your hobby. Good idea not bringing the 365 home....when trading, saws are blocks of metal worth $xx amount. When you 'have' to buy something is when rational thinking stops.

 

[Brewz]

Going for another drive on Friday to pick up a few saws.
On the list so far:
Husky 2100CD
Stihl 064
Husky 372xp
Husky 575xp
Stihl MS660
A couple small Stihls of unknown model (owned by the same logger as the 3 saws above it on the list so I doubt they will be bad)
A freebie "really old" stihl of unknown model

I cant believe the caliber of saws that are coming in.
Not one MS170 yet

 

[Brewz]

A question for those who already do saw performance modification.

What sort of markets do you find are the ones that bring in the most porting work?
Is it logging/tree service business or just general public with saws that want to run better?

Tracking down cheap junk saws and fixing them can make some profit but I think modifying them is where the money is.
Minimal parts outlay and specialized work demanding a good rate.

 

[VinceGU05]

That's a tuff question. Aussie market a bit different from the US. So far I have found working for a tree loper the best. I haven't ported but I do all the other tricks and they have loved them. Paying to the "extra" performance of porting I think is pushing sheet up hill with a sieve; something they don't want to pay for.

 

[Brewz]

Sounds like an untapped market.

I know there are a couple other Aussie blokes on here that run performance/porting businesses.

I would love to hear from them but I totally understand if they dont.

 

[countryhog]

A big mistake a lot of people make when starting out is charging too low of a labor rate. It's hard to charge someone $10 an hour for a job and then 6 months later it's $30...

I'd recommend a labor rate appropriate to that industry in your area and then give "discounts" early on to compensate for your inexperience. It won't take long to acquire speed and skill if you're doing it weekly so don't undersell yourself.

Something along the lines of "I'm not really that familiar with that model of saw so it took me longer than it should have, so I'm knocking $25 off your bill.

So fear, what would be a decent rate in the Midwest/southeast? I was recently forcibly retired. Drawing SS but need to bring in some extra. Ballpark is fine

 

[fearofpavement]

So fear, what would be a decent rate in the Midwest/southeast? I was recently forcibly retired. Drawing SS but need to bring in some extra. Ballpark is fine

I have no idea what OPE repairs cost around this region as I've never had any done. I know that $80 to $100 per hour to get a car worked on is about typical. Call a few shops and ask them their labor rate. One problem I hear commonly with OPE repairs is that it can take forever to get something back from the shop. Especially in grass cutting season as all the little stuff sits while mowers get fixed.
It may be feasible to just specialize in saws if that's what you like because it's hard to be good at everything. Easier to stock a few common parts too. I don't see myself ever doing OPE repair as a business because I don't think the market will bear a high enough price to make it feasible. ie, someone will spend $600 to get their $3000 car fixed but they don't want to spend $130 to get their $200 chainsaw repaired. When I was in the mobile mechanical repair business some years ago, I rarely worked on push mowers because I just told the customers that they would be better off buying a new one.

 

[Brewz]

When I was in the mobile mechanical repair business some years ago, I rarely worked on push mowers because I just told the customers that they would be better off buying a new one.

You would get a job at any OPE dealership in Australia in a snap talking like that!

When it comes to rates, I believe that it really depends on what people in your area will be willing to spend and what you feel your time is worth.
At this stage, I am only doing the odd job for people but if I am rebuilding a saw that will cost a lot to replace, you can make some money. If it is a cheaper low cost saw, as said above, the owner is not likley interested in paying a lot to fix it.

I know the local shops charge you $20 to $30 just th have a look at it, then $80+/hr
As a home repair person you dont have the business overheads like rent and wages to pay so you can charge far less and probably make more than the professional business.

I recently repaired an old Echo for a local bloke. He brought it to me saying it would start on choke but died and would not rev up.
I spent an hour or so cleaning it out a bit, stripped the carb, pulled the jug, popped he muffler off etc etc and could find nothing wrong.
It was not a big money saw so I was conscious not to spend too much time on it.
I ended up pulling the carb limiters and re-tuning it till it ran.

I charged him $60 for my time and told him it was not perfect and may have leaking crank seals that would cost a bit more to fix but I left it to him to decide.
He got back to me and said it goes great and is very happy.

If it was an MS660 used by someone who needed it regularly, I would have changed the seals and charged appropriately as it is a saw worth fixing

 

[Onan18]

We charge $70.00/HR and are kind of on the low end around here. A few of the old time mom and pop small shops still charge $60-65/HR but most places charge more now. The John Deere dealer I used to work for charges $88.00/HR for OPE ($98.00/HR for tractor and heavy line) and the local Kubota place charges $135.00/HR flat rate.

Joe

 

[lwhaples]

Stihl dealer here,is $72.00

 

[VinceGU05]

$75 where I am.

 

[Stump Shot]

For me, a special tool that is invaluable, is the pressure/vacuum tester. It's probably the most important tool I use. I would recommend acquiring one very highly, if you haven't done so already. You will use it on every saw job you do, and will be money well spent.

 

[Brewz]

I just bought a lathe
Comes with stand and tooling
A mate has boxes of tooling and chucks etc he is going to give me

 

[CR500]

We charge $70.00/HR and are kind of on the low end around here. A few of the old time mom and pop small shops still charge $60-65/HR but most places charge more now. The John Deere dealer I used to work for charges $88.00/HR for OPE ($98.00/HR for tractor and heavy line) and the local Kubota place charges $135.00/HR flat rate.

Joe

69 per hr here on anything from a saw up to 4R, 5 and up is 86 per hour. Cheaper than most in the area, and still people want to argue what they want to pay.

Sent from my non internal combustion device.

 

[DanburyTreeCT]

You don't happen to be in the connecticut, usa region do you?

 

[Mattyo]

I'm in farmington. ...ct.


Who were u referring to?

 

[MustangMike]

You don't happen to be in the connecticut, usa region do you?

Welcome to the site, I'm in NY, but right next to you.