Desperately looking for more money these days as a retiree, and Ive been turning down requests to make, restore and repair boards and other surfcraft.
Finally the penny dropped and just for a wheeze I thought Id start a repair business.
Cant think of a good name but Phil and Sandies' - cheap and cheerful ding repairs. sounds good...
Anyone got any fun or interesting names?
My cunning plan is to place flyers under windscreen wipers in the local carparks. Any other business tips ?
Thanks.
go with “wet dreams”. cheeky but not TOO cheeky. and you can do something like “we’ll fix your stick” as a tag-line.
Dingo
My best advice is prepare to be frustrated and… put up this sign for all to see
Cheers
Mooneemick
All good names guys !
, Dingo is a good one on Terra Australis, thanks Mick.
Only surfers would geddit.
Brett
Good luck with your repair business. Set your prices and stick to them , charge extra $$$ for colour matching and epoxy repairs , they can be the black hole of time.
I passed my repair work over to my good mate ( Silverbak on this forum ) and he’s found this to be true. You will do truckloads of fin plugs so get all the install kits and make a heap of jigs and get into it.
There are a lot of imported boards flooding the market that are put into the hands of beginners. They don’t go back to Asia for repairs so they will keep you in business.
Cheers
Mooneemick
Another thing you would have thought of I’m sure is find out what the other guys charge. If you do better work don’t be afraid to ask for more.
If you are a perfectionist it’s going to be hard on you , lol.
Mick
There are a few glass shops that price list their repairs online. Figure out what your prices are and post them in your shop. If anyone inquires about what you would charge to do a certain repair; hand them a price list. Be sure your name and # are printed on the price list. As someone said above; charge enough! Be prepared for an occasional return. Either fix it or give them their money back and send them down the road. There are some people you will never satisfy. Especially color matches. Always provide a disclaimer like; " I'll get it as close as I can." Find an auto body supplier who can match the Surftech type boards color wise. I used spray cans and got paints compuer matched at the auto body/paint store. I used "Omni" for custom matches and spray cans for everything else. You probably don't have a Home Depot in your area, but they were a good source for spray cans. Lots of variety in color and sheen. I'm telling you this because you will be suprised at how many Surftech and Boardwork epoxies you will have in for repair. UV polyester is the quick turn around resin for repairs. Good luck with your little venture. Oh and be wary of "Bro Deals" for a six pack etc. You can't make any money that way and they will expect it every time.
Lots of good advice guys, I think Im going to specialise in smaller dings and set a 24 hr turnaround.If I get the board by noon, you can pick it up at noon the next day.
The bigger dings, that can run over days to fix and require multiple processes can go elsewhere and be someone elses headache. What do I care, Im running a business.
It sounds impossible to keep organised, but if I only take on as much work as I can handle then I wont end up with a shitload of boards all over the place and masses of unhappy customers.
I think its all about being organised to begin with.
Im not doing it for fun, so if I can stick to a 24hr repair service then its worth more money to get a board fixed overnight. Im happy to charge more.
And there'll be no 'bro deals....if you were really my brother, youd pay full price because you want to see me prosper, not get short changed.
Good advice from you guys !
Howzit surffoils, Don't do the 24 hr thing since you are setting your self up for some real trouble since what might seem like an easy repair can turn into nightmare and the customer will bug the crap out of you to get it done. As someone who has done it all in our field of work I find that if anything rush orders should pay extra. As for a name just make some crads up on your computer that say Ding Repair and print them and put them on bullitin boards and as they say build it and they will come, especially with this recession thing more people are getting boards fixed instead of buying new ones. I always had more than I wanted and they still just kept bringing me more til I got tired of all the Q-sel sanding dust everywhere's and could never get my shop clean. That's when I decided to go back to making boards instead of fixing them and by the way there is so much more money in repairs. Have a minimum price and go from there, the word will get out and you will be over run and stay away from the really bad ones even if you know you can do them. I can remember oneguy bringing me a board that I counted 28 dings just on the rails and more on the rest of the board and when I quoted him a price he fell over so I told him to take it to the dump where it belonged.Aloha,Kokua
Thanks for that Kokua, Ive already had a similar fiasco where a guy was trying to bully me into doing a board with lot of dings and I didnt like his style, or my chances of being paid. So I told him no.
Less than a week later my shaping shed was broken into and the lights and shelving were stolen.
Ive just done a Security upgrade.
I have actually told people that I had a bad feeling about that I just didn't think I was capable or good enough to do such repairs. They can't say much more about it. Otherwise I price myself so high that they will leave and go somewhere else or pay the price. Sometimes those types of repairs are NEVER worth it even when they pay the price. Remember; Always use an applicable disclaimer.
Howzit McDing, I like that tactfulness for getting out of doing a nightmare board, good for you. I was considered the Ding King on the North Shore and fo some reason people think that means I was a magican and I saw more boars that were wrecks than ever. Sure the money is better in repairs but the nightmares are worse also. Then i just told the ones with the bad doards that I didn't have room since the new boards were taking up all my space. Of course there are always friends and family to take care of but that is life and they usually knew what to bring and what not to bring. Aloha,Kokua
A shop in Ventura, Ca has a cool 'price list.' They just took an old board and massacred it with every type of ding you can imagine. Everything from little shatters to the ripped out fin box was clearly priced along with a minimum charge per board.
I usually quote a rough price per ding... and it isn't 10 bucks per. I then hand the owner a Sharpie pen and tell them to circle eveything they want fixed. Once they know the price per ding, they are less likely to just say 'make it water tight' and then get grumpy when the repairs add up.
If someone brings me a piece of crap with duct tape, dirty wax, etc that requires a complete strip down before I can even assess the damage, I charge for that too. Dirty wax jobs should be cleaned off once in awhile to check for hidden damage.
Have them leave the leash at home. I always take them off during repairs anyway .
If it's a brand new board with it's first ding, I am extra careful about cosmetics. If it's a thrashed piece of shit, I accept a point of diminishing returns. No sense making a ding repair the prettiest spot on the whole board.
Charge a good solid price for reinstalling fin boxes. Charge even more for buckled or broken boards.
Keep your shop locked. It would be difficult to explain to a guy that his vintage Brewer gun was stolen out of the workshop while it was in line for repair.
I like to think repairs are better paying then shaping and building boards. Plus, there is less at stake. Build a nice board and you still suck if the owner takes it out on a crappy day and can't get a decent ride. Deck dents? You glassed it too light. 6 ozs heavier than his friend's board? You glassed it too heavy. Easy to blame the board and it's maker. No such risk doing dings.
Material costs are practically nothing plus it gives you an excuse to get rid of all those glass scraps you've been saving for years for god knows what.
I think I've talked myself in to it. Maybe it's time to start putting biz cards on some windshields?
Howzit John,Totally agree on all but if they would bring me a real beater I basically would tell them it needs a restore and to take it to Clyde, didnt' really like working on beaters since it seemed the dings never stopped. Example, Had a guy bring me a buckled board that had been buckled once before and to close to thenew buckel so I had to redo them both since the first repair was a hack. When the guy came to pick it up he wwanted to know why so much and I told him the reason and then it hit him to have dind=gs done correctly and just pay if it is done right. Also agree that the money is way better with lots less materials, but doing new boards is a lot more satisfying. Hope to see you in Oct.Aloha,Kokua
Lots of good tips, thanks guys. Ive never done dings before (apart from my own) so its still interesting and creative work to tackle. Thanks, Brett.
I’m not a shaper I’m more of a customers who fixes (badly) his own dings - from the sound of it you want to be enjoying life while making a few bucks on the side - why not do repairs for shops and let them deal with the customer and take few bucks for it. If an old beater comes in then send it back saying beyond econimical repair. Let the shop be a buffer between you and Joe Public.
Or run classes on shaping / ding repair for people like me who will get their hands dirty.
heyall i love doing dings picking up from shops on monday doing in week drop of sat then count the cash its amazing if its a colour match and buff then its always £20 pound more on top i do a lot of restos but there has to be a limit the weekend warriors want miracles and have no understanding then the worst thing is
ill pick it up on tues defo
guy turns up two weeks later … all charged on bill he knows he done wrong and its a good ice breaker as he feels embarassed and im pissed with him spes if late night was involved but it allends cool and he always comes back
keep on dinging em ill keep fixing em … for a price! hehe
Well, if you are a perfectionist maybe “Perfect Dings” as a name…Good one Mick
Well, if you are a perfectionist maybe “Perfect Dings” as a name…Good one Mick