some opinions please

[ditchdr]

So for the past few months I have slowley been taking on more and more bike repair work. Simple things like tires and tune ups and what have you.. Well I have a single car garage and there is just no more room to work on stuff.. I cant do oil changes in the drive way or the HOA would freak.. Not to mention I cant fire up a bike with a set up pipes and rev the motor at 3am with out upsettign the neighbors.. So i have rented a 10x20 storage unit in a very secure place right down the road.. I have had 4 or 5 custoemrs since and I tell them to drop the bike at my house and i will take it to the "shop" to do the work..


I dont want my custoemrs thinking i am up to something fishy, or some wrong doing. But i cant have them come and go beacuse i am not going to give up my gate code to them..


So my question is would you be okay taking your bike to someone who works out of a storage unit to repair your ride? I had my own big time shop for a few years just the econmy took a mojor dump here and people are finaly seeing how a bike saves tons of money on a daily comute vs a car.. So its not like i am some fly by night tech. I just dont want to present a bad image and right now this is all I can afford untill some other things happen and we free up some cash here.

 

[proud dad]

You do good work and word of mouth alone will get you business.And they won't care where you work on it at as long as their scoot is safe.But I do understand where ya coming from some people will frown on it.

 

[Busa Jules]

We have a group here that operates COMPLETELY out of a storage unit... we even have barbeques over there every weekend... but then again their's is not GATED... so you can just drive right up....

but to answer your question. NO I do not think it affects your reputation working out of a unit like that.... everyone understands... and I used to take my stuff to a guy who had one of those storage units/ store fronts... you know he had an actual walk in door... not just a roll up one. (once again.. not gated though.... so I would think yours would provide more security!)

I personally would have a little red flag come up if you told me "drop it off at my house. I'll take it down to the shop" if I didn't know you and thought you would Hot Rod my bike on the way down there. (sorry.. we have a shady mechanic at the stealership here that I DO NOT TRUST!)