I'm new to this forum but wanted to hear a few opinions. I'm currently going to school (UTI) for diesel and then Cummins power generation. I'm no spring chicken. I served 5 years in the Marines as a rifleman and then for the last 10 years I was a production manager at a machine shop making parts for everything from atmospheric testing instruments to race boat rudders and everything in between. In that time I maintained the cnc machines and worked on there pneumatic, hydraulics, and electrical systems. I have troubleshooting experience and consider myself a very good problem solver and mechanically inclined. My question is with the experience I have and this school on top of it would it be wise to start my own business right out of the gate or work for someone first before starting my own business. I'd like to work on generators (troubleshoot, repair and matainace)
Do you have any clientele to start a business?
I'm still in school so no not yet. The school is in Arizona and I will be moving back to Florida when I'm done. I have alot of contacts in various industries that might help with work references.
I know it may be a hard niche to carve out. Every hospital, nursing home, grocery, and most police and fire stations have emergency generators so the business is there, getting a piece of it might be tough. I've thought about maybe finding a county job so i could do side work with a conflict of interest.
Without a conflict of interest*
All depends on what dealers are covering your area. CAT, Cummins, Generac Industrial and Kohler dealers will usually be rotating through the contracts for the larger medical, government, industrial, and telecom contracts. It seems like most areas are short on companies to cover home standby gensets and smaller or more rural equipment (farms, local gas stations, grocers, etc). There's usually an opportunity to pick up the leftovers, but a lot of those won't be worth your time and might leave you chasing money (RVs being the worst of the bunch). The industry is really cutthroat and desperate for folks that can do the work. If you're any good, you'd have no problem hopping on with a dealer and probably being poached by a competitor 6 months later. If nothing else, you'd learn WAY more about the industry and business side than school could ever show you, and it looks good on a resume.
Steelepower, You really need 5-10 years dealership experience for the training, certifications, and inside knowledge. Plus, for the customer list and inter-personal relationships you will create.
I had a graduate, whom retired from the USMC, then finished a second career in finance. He’s an old guy like me. He stumbled from shop to shop. Injuries from the USMC kept him from succeeding on the shop floor. He then purchased the most successful independent Ford diesel shop in the state and is crushing it. Manages the business. Really enjoys it. His finance background was key in securing the capital.
I really appreciate the information. I really want to be self employed but I will probably work for cat or Cummins first. I know you learn a lot more working than in school but I wanted to use my GI bill.
If you still have GI benefits, and you want to work for a Cat dealer, apply for ThinkBig. Look it up. Earn & Learn. Work that yellow iron. Don’t forget the College ladies, yoga pants, tight sweaters, the entire campus experience. While getting paid by Uncle Sam and the dealer at the same time. I had a student that hustled. He made enough money working full time, school full time and used his GI money to buy a house that he flipped after graduation. Works for Pape’ in Spokane now.
Welcome to the Forums Steelepower!
Look into TAW Power Systems as well. Kohler makes some of the best products out there. Always plenty of opportunities with rental outfits as well (although dragging cable SUCKS and sales will guarantee every job is a shitshow).
Fixing the power systems will be the easy part of getting your business started, and making it successful.
I can't really add anything that hasn't already been said. Starting a business is the easy part. Keeping it going while making a profit and trying to keep Uncle Sam from taking your profit...........is the difficult part. As suggested above, you really need dealership experience. You can develop good customer relations during that time which would greatly help you get started. I'm in my 33rd year of self-employment and had 9 years of dealership experience before that.
No. What they teach in school ain’t nothing compared to the real world experience and like every trade wrenching in this industry has plenty of “how it’s done In the real world” skills and tricks to learn. Season yourself first. You’ll also learn who the players in your area are and who to avoid when you do go independent.
Its easy to knock schooling over " real world" however schooling will give you experience in all aspects of the buisness. For example in the " real world" you may work in a shop that does not rebuild transmissions, but in school you will, and when you are troubleshooting a problem in the real world you will have that base experience to draw from, in the end making you a more rounded and experienced technician. Also agree on the work for a dealer 5-10 years, and the Cat BIG program.
You will find out, that if you want a hands on job, the machine shop would be the better cleaner safer bet. Not managing it but machinisting. The cost of the machinist tools versus mechanic tools is huge. You may think you want a physical job now but as a few years go by you will not so much look forward to jumping about like a monkey. Actually rereading your post you worked on the machines. Why the move to Gensets? The powers that be want all the mineral fuel burning devices to be nonexistant. You could make more $ with less work with your own machine shop you have the experience. Oh and to be competitive in the genset field you will now need 4 years of electrician apprenticeship, to get your electricians license. With out it you can not install them ( or may want to bid on an installation),you would have to either hire an electrician or pay some independent or business to do that for you, there goes some of the profits.
Electricians are good for pulling wire and installing generators they won't service. Generator techs get the dealer start up and all the service and maintenance that follows. Anything utility side of the ATS isn't our problem.
I appreciate the responses. I'm leaving the machinist world for several reasons. I have all the tools to service just about anything. I've accumulated them over the last 20 years. I want to be self employed and the machinist world is too expensive to start from nothing. A good lathe and bar feeder is 200k a mill is 150k. With tooling your another 50k. Too much for me to gamble. Not to mention I hate being stuck in one location every day and breathing in that soluble oil mist and the coolant.
I love the smell of oil mist in the morning. You know, one time we had a lathe running for 12 hours. When it was all over, I walked up. We didn’t find one of ’em, not one stinkin' unmilled part. The smell, you know that coolant smell, the whole shop. Smelled like victory.
You could start a small machine shop for under 50k if you have the land and building already. You don't need brand new machines, just like in the heavy equipment construction world. If you don't use some of the crap coolants, and have a nice evacuation system there is zero mist problems. Diesel exhaust leaks in marine and or site applications, as well as any cleaners used will rival and beat the mists from the good coolants used in machine tools. Personally I have had enough traveling to jobs and fighting traffic. Working on mission critical machines like a Genset, especially for the fishing industry could end up with huge law suits as well as the hospital emergency genset world. For that matter most Gensets fit into the mission critical role.
That’s a good point, chidog. The insurance and liability concerns for working on health care backup systems would be intense for a small biz. I got a taste of it when I worked for a Cat dealer. The Compliance side was nuts.
I've worked on generators for a rental company for a long time. I've always questioned the liability of not being a electrician and working on the electrical side. Most problems are electrical not engine related. Load tester and electrical tools to test windings is a bit pricey. If it was me I would go for electeical.licence so I could fix everything on a generator. All the new engines need manufacturer software to diagnose along with programs for the display to control the generator side. Sounds fun to just fix generators but if you were to work on all makes and models your looking at alot of money and training to get started. It will be hard to get customers if you don't have the same tools as the manufacture
What comes to me that could work for you is a mobile line boring business