Jon

rpllib, You are spot on with this, I can't thank you enough for passing this information on, I have been trying to create and plan just like this and your choice of words could not have been better. I assume you are giving permission for others to use this outline?

I agree with the shop views, really neat to see how others configure their shops and offices. I also have found the magazine to be a great learning tool and look forward to reading the articles every month, thanks Joe for your contributions.

I agree, I preferred using the MORE OEM site, the repair link site is unpredictable sometimes it works and sometimes in doesn't, what annoys me the most is it will not accept the VIN if you copy and paste it in, you have to type it out. Overall it is a great tool to have hopefully it will become more dependable.

I have never worked at a shop that had a shop foreman or lead technician. I am now in the postition where I need a shop foreman to help releive some of my duites in the shop for solving hard problems, training the younger technicians etc. so I can spend more time with customers and growing the business. I feel my current master tech is quailfied for this postion and very capable, he also on board with the idea. My issue is trying to find a way to compensate him for the time he spends on the other technicians but I still need him to be a producer in the shop to be able to afford it. I assume they way to handle this would be with a base salary (with expected number of hours to be produced) plus a fag hour rate for anything over x amount of hours. Any idea of how other shops set this up would be greatly appreciated.

www.corbsautorepair.com Any suggestion would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks for responding, I feel better knowing I'm not alone in dealing with this issue.

Hello all, I have a issue that I'd like to see how other shops handle. Currently I have not been able to find someone to hire for shop cleaning/maintenance but I am actively pursuing one. In the meantime my one master tech has not been very helpful in cleaning up his own area. He is a very good tech and amazing at what he does but works very dirty and I am becoming concerned with someone slipping and getting hurt. I completely understand that is getting paid flag hour and does not get paid for the time to clean his area, but I feel if he would just take the time to grab a catch pan and make sure the fluid falls into it instead of just sliding it under car and not looking at where the fluid goes he'd save himself a lot of hassle. Most of the time he'll just leave the coolant to run all over. I want my techs to be productive and I know the need for a cleanup person of which I do intend to hire, but would most shop owners request more responsibility of a tech to at least help keep a mess to a minimum? When the tech was hired he was told and he agreed that he was to wash and vacuum his two bays at the end of every Friday, of which lately he hasn't been doing. Every time I see him cleaning something I make sure I immediately show appreciation and tell him thank you, doing a good job etc.. But I guess it hasn't caught on because he still isn't working cleaner. I really do not want to search for another master tech, but I know I can't afford tech who feels the shop revolves around him. Any ideas or advice on how other shops handle cleaning and these types of issues? Hope this was posted in the correct section Thanks, Jon

Oil prices I'm sure will very by location, but I just purchased two barrels of regular 5/30 & 5/20 for $428 each comes out to be $1.98 for a quart. I purchased from Jones Oil company which has a local branch here in Houston. My quart prices got up to 3.50 a quart, so it saved me a lot. The brand is just their house oil similar O-Reilly brand type oil. I just started calling oil companies asking for prices.

David, I'm sorry for the loss of your father I too work with mine and could not imagine losing him. In some ways I am in the same situation, I have not lost my father but have taken the shop over at 26 and understand the challenges a young shop owner/manager faces. I'd urge you to find someway to keep your business classes going you'll need them in the road ahead, I know that the college classes I have had has made it easier for me. Like you I came to this site to gain more knowledge and wisdom and so far it has been very helpful.

I just recently switched to drums after using quarts for 20 years. All i can say is I should have convinced my father to do this sooner. I did not want to make a large investment in equipment (tanks & dispensers) to find out that it wasn't what we wanted so what I did was purchase a drum cradle that you can lay the barrel on its side and use like a beer tap. This gave me a way to move the barrel and dispense it, and it only cost $135.00 from Granger. You can see the product here My link. I first only purchased one cradle and one drum of 5/30 oil and found it to fit my needs perfectly and now i am going to switch all of my oil to drums Hope this helps.