WFOSS

iTrader: (18)

As the title says, I've been contemplating this for a while. The only place I know of is Competition Sales on 45 (bunch of rapists). It won't be quite to the extent of Texas Speed, or MTI, anything like that (no CNC machines, custom work, etc.) I was thinking I would have a dyno, and do engine tuning, but thats about the extent of it. I have been around performance cars my entire life (drag racing, custom street rods, etc.) so I know about the industry. I was curious if any of you guys thought there was a need for such a place here in this area or not. Obviously the prices would have to be comparable to the other major performace centers (HPE, MTI, Texas Speed, etc.). So, let me know what you guys think about it, maybe I can get something going here. Any and all constructive criticism and input is appreciated.

Thank You

osvaldo

iTrader: (4)

I've always thought those businesses were risky business. I've seen a bunch get started, and have to close. Maybe doing regular general mechanic stuff would help. Oil changes. Tune ups. Maybe alignment work. Balance and rotating. Just so you get enough regular customers to keep the $$ coming in. Just my .02

01WS6/tamu

iTrader: (37)

From the outside looking in it looks like a handover fist business. However, when you are sitting behind the desk of said store at the end of the week the numbers do not always look so good. You have to have a lot of volume to make it. I've done performance stuff out of my dads and I shop here and there since we opened in 94 and if it was not for our bread and butter mechanic work we'd starve if we had to depend on straight performance. That's the fun stuff to do to take your mind off of putting a timing belt on a contour or honda although the honda is cake.

1970judge

iTrader: (12)

Houston is the wost place IMO. With MTI and HPE it will be tough to get business.

WFOSS

iTrader: (18)

That's what I am doing now, my father owns an auto repair business, and I work for him, just thought of branching out on my own. The whole working for/with your family thing wears thin at times. We do a lot of custom work here with older cars, but the newer cars are finally starting to come in (been here 25 years). 01 WS6/TAMU is right, the everyday jobs do help pay the bills and the performance ones are fun, but I was just thinking that with a performance parts shop nearby, I could keep the prices on the parts below what most places sell them for, just my thoughts, I appreciate you guys being honest as well.

1INSANEGTO

iTrader: (13)

I have a idea but it would be on the NW side. With this Performance and a upside is exhust work and custom fabbing. HPE and other performance shops does not have a custom fabber. If there was a place were you could make turbo kits and everything else bussiess with would go crazy. Does not have to be nothing big to start.

Look on 1960, Jones Rd, Hwy 6 how many exhust shops do you see? There is only 1 on jones rd and it stays full all the time.

I have ideas and cash flow and want to open a bussiness. If you want to talk we can go from there.

camracingah

I'm not in Houston but I would think that it would take more $$ than one would think to maintain a shop like the one you want to pursue. Keep in mind that it's leaning more towards a "specialty" shop versus one that many people can get use of. Like Osvaldo stated.

Cantalope Kid

iTrader: (2)

Who would be your supplier of performance parts...the middle man whom will connect you to parts sales from large companies like Compcams or Holley? I recommend Arrow Speed. Your thoughts?

96-speed

iTrader: (19)

Well, its a tough decision. First, you need to determine your target market. Who would be your customers and how would you get those customers? Would you go out looking for brand new customers or "steal" customers from other shops? Obviously, it would be much better to "get" customers that are already out there vs. growing new customers (not likely).

Now that you've made that decision, you need to cater to these customers. Price? Quality? Location? You will need to beat the competition in those areas (not necessarily all).

My personal thoughts: I wouldn't want to go to a repair shop for performance parts. I want to go to a repair shop to get repairs and a performance shop to go faster. Each shop has their expertise. While there is definitely a niche for people looking to have both, you aren't going to excel without differentiating yourself from everyone else. Certain things are counter intuitive like that.

That is a textbook way of thinking. If you have friends or a network of people in mind that are immediate customers, different rules might apply.

If you want to make the big bucks you need to take the risk and do the R&D. MTI and LG are excellent examples of getting through growing pains and becoming a professional speed shops. Their target markets are not CAI, exhaust sales. Their $ comes from the people that want professional looking mechanics and parts that will give them the advertised number, installed with a warranty. I don't know if MTI even does dyno days anymore. Their target audience is the parking lot full of empty C5s looking to get complete motors. LG designed the Pro Tube headers and are selling bundles of those headers. Again, R&D with a big risk factor.

HPE's target market seems to be a little unclear, though deep pockets are involved.

I'm not afilliated with any shop, but I have done business with all of them . Good luck.
Ryan

NemeSS

iTrader: (127)

my uncle went thru the same thing in the 90's
he opened up a machine shop and race shop here in houston.
and it eventually turned into something else, it is now a succesful,
diesel repair shop off i-10, guess there was not that much hi-perf.
work in the 90's. so i guess anything is possible.
he had to start working on tractors and diesel engines, to make ends meet.
so the hi perf. stuff got phased out ,he has more work than he knows what to do with now,the rest is history.
gl

osvaldo

iTrader: (4)

I dont think doing general mechanic labor would hurt a performance shop's business. First of all, i dont think guys that go in there for performance work are going to need you to change their oil. And secondly if you go to a shop to get headers and a tune, and you need an alignment wouldnt it be convenient to have it done in the same shop? But im no expert just my input

Humanoid

iTrader: (3)

From a customer's point of view on a parts store..you better have stock. This is the day of the internet and when I walk in a shop and I say I want xxx part. You better have it because if you tell me "I dont have it but I can get it for you." I will look at you and smile but what I am thinking is "I can order it off of the internet too MF!". People who drive to a store to pick something up want it now. If they are not in a hurry they can just mail order it.

lets_fly

iTrader: (8)

definitely have the stock, if not, dont even waste your time. i really dislike competition sales, they think whatever they have is the best. they told me flowmaster is the only exhaust that has been proven to make power, and flowtech are really great headers; so you can understand why i dont like the atmosphere there. also have knowledgable employees, great customer service(such as price matching and product availability). I would love to see a shop go up around here that did not carry a load of crappy parts. and like the others were saying, stick to the bread and butter of regular mechanic work, but also have the higher end/ better performance parts on the market. good luck man, if it does happen for you, guaranteed i will be there.

luvmeZ28

iTrader: (3)

+1


have the stuff like said above, custom exhaust, and "friendly" state inspections.

Cantalope Kid

iTrader: (2)

You want to get customers don't bust their ***** with overpriced labor/parts. Give them a deal they can't refuse. Large competitors can't do this because their overhead is through the roof. Their payoff is 5 yrs-15 yrs out. The best shops I have ever used where what I refer to as the "Peoples champion". They took the time to speak to you like a person, not a $ figure, and didn't make recommendation based on what was on THEIR shelves vs. the next guy. Best example ever...SAM STRANO! Good example $5000 buys a shop unlimited tuning capability...this is paid for in the first month with a knowledgable tuner/marketing. So every $400-$600 after that is gravy. Why not drop the price $100 under your biggest competitor to start out...get people thinking about this NEW shop that watches your wallet for ya'. Just because the market will bear it and everyone else is doing it doesn't make charging 120% markup on parts and $80/hour for turning a wrench right. Besides with a knowledgable tuner on hand who wouldn't switch for $100 less or some incentive no one else can afford who isn't just starting out?

IconAutoSports

iTrader: (1)

Chuck@

iTrader: (1)

Please note, I just found this thread by doing a search for "HPE" as I often do. I don't want anybody to think I actually care what's going on with this board. But I thought i'd comment since I found this thread ammusing. And I'm not being negative with any of my comments, only trying to clarify things said about HPE so people reading know the truth, and not people talking who I don't even know.... and I own HPE.

You should come by and take a look sometime to check out a few of the things we've got going on. I'm not going to brag on here because it will only irratate all the people who hate me on this board. But, if you actually knew about our custom fabrication work, I think you'd realize how hard pressed you'll be to find another shop in the state that does as good and clean of work as we do... That includes custom turbo kits, custom nitrous/fuel systems, custom engine conversions, etc.

It takes deep pockets to get something like this going (anybody should know that... the top 3 or 4 shops in Houston were ALL started by rich daddies). However, the only deep pockets involved at HPE would be those of our supportive and enthusiastic, customers. Considering that people are flying us around the nation, even the world, to work on their cars... I'd say, our target market is quite clear to our customers.

Our current labor rate is actually 90 an hour. Anybody who's good, costs more. You pay for experience. Plain and simple. You should see some of the cars people bring in at times, built by these people who claim to know about building high performance cars. Simply installing a motor proves to be a challange for most. Corners are cut, ghetto methods are taken because they don't know the clean, trick, professional ways of doing things... We see it every day.

And tuning... Everybody will always have their favorite tuner. I'd personally love nothing more than to have a tuner shootout with every tuner in the state of Texas, or the nation. Show me what chya got! I've seen them all, and trust me, they're not pretty! Especially a couple local new to the LS1 market, "guru's".

It makes me laugh when people on web forums back a particular tuners... Typically those that might have tuned 5 or 10 cars, and learns everything he knows by reading websites from other people who have tuned 5 or 10 cars... I'd like to ask people sometimes, what made you decide this particular person was so good? Did he make your 228/232 114 cam idle perfect with excellent driveability?

I've had people come into the shop who didn't know anything was wrong with their car... But being the nice guys that we are, we look over peoples setups and tell them if they need to do something, or change anything, to make it run better than it is... They're often surprised at what a difference a professional tune makes in their pcm.

Another I find annoying is when people question me about how I don't use a wideband for tuning... give me 3 minutes of your time, and I'll explain to you why thinking like that is ignorant, and my method for tuning yields 2 things, maximum power throughout the curve, and maximum dependability. At 425 per tune, you get a bargain for the time, effort, and experience (1500+ tunes strong, and growing) that I put into your computer in an often very short period of time.

That's all I have for now.

Chuck @ HPE

Randy_S

iTrader: (1)

^^^^^ What he said!

My pockets werent very deep but HPE still provided me with what I was looking for. I am not quite done yet as no one on here ever is but they are top notch!

Now to keep this thread on track, if you are just looking to be a supplier then you have a chance. I think you would have to know enough of the people in the industry that work directly for the manufactuers to get prices competitive. If you cant undersale the others in town or even Jeg's/Summit who the perf. shops can overnight things from then you wont be able to stay afloat.

jimmypop13

iTrader: (17)

HPE was great to me too.

We need a shop out here in Spring or the Woodlands or 1960 near i-45

SiL3NtXWS6

iTrader: (17)

I agree, we do need a shop there.

I have been to every LS1 shop in houston. Each one of them has ups and downs, but it's really hard pressed to say which one is "best"