Just wondering if there's a big enough market for restoring equipment (appearance wise, not mechanically) to be worth investing in. I've seen a couple of companies advertising products that restore the appearance of equipment with corrosion and/or faded paint. I think it would be a nice business if there's enough demand for the service to make decent money. Thoughts?
most likely not..by the time the machine needs a repaint and rust or corrosion repair, there will be plenty of mechanical issues that need tending to, so unless you can do both.....and it doesnt matter what a machine looks like, if it will do the work and be in mechanically sound shape, most dont get extra money for a clean machine working, so where is the economics for it for a commercially used machine..if its someones pet project for personal use, thats a different story, but most people can do the paint and rust along with the mechanical..
Good points. Thanks for the insite.
for restoration i would go with Hobby his point off view, or you gotta a big excavator or dozer that is worth rebuilding, then the paint comes in mind too. how ever here in the Netherlands and Europe we have got a lot off business who have their own company colours on there machines. from only different counterweight colour to a total blue or white CAT.. the whole machine is painted in there special colours and sometimes even after 10.000-15.000hrs brought back in the Original colours to sell it again. i know in the states its not really popular to do it, but on this side off the pont is a business on his own. Helps companies to stick out and its a big advertisement when you can notice your equipment from far... All i know is its not real cheap, and the guy who has a special paintshop for it is just a few miles from me. He paints quite a few machines a month (excavators, trucks, dozers, tractors etc etc) sometimes you got to create a market for it i guess.. good luck
Thanks BuMach
The main reason to repaint or "doll up" machinery is resale. In that case it would always come down to lowest cost. I think the answer is no.
Repainting stuff has been on the down side here for a few years now. If it runs it is being used. If it doesn't run no one can afford to fix it and newer stuff is not hard to find. You can sometimes find people that have more money that they know what to do with and want a keepsake or yard ornament but there are not enough of them to make a living off of.