Hey everyone, i recently bought a lift to use for my own personal bikes and have been thinking about trying to go some basic work to get started and makes some money, there are two harley dealerships close by and two other shops. I called one of the dealerships and they charge $125 an hour, for a 3 hole change it was between $300/$400 and for flushing brakes it was half an hour per each master cylinder.

I dont want to charge that much, i just enjoy working on bikes and want to make a little extra money and have something to do in the garage. Any opinions or advice is appreciated on charging for the following

Oil changes/3 hole changes
Brakes
flushing brake system
Charging system
Changing belts
Lighting
etc
Thank you all in advance

 

There's a LOT of expectations when you start asking for money. I'd say it's not worth the hassle in the long run. But that's me. Let's see what others say.

 

There is a lot of responsibility and liability when charging for services like that. Unless you have a business with insurance for when things go wrong, I'd pass on charging.

Paul

 

Go work in retail for a bit, to see how much fun it is dealing with people. Yeah, it’d be fun to work in bikes, if the bike came to your garage on its own, paid you, and left.

 

I personally wouldn't even consider this without incorporating, but maybe that is just me

 

Agree. OP does need risk protection. Somone leaves his shop, t-bones a car 2 miles away and claims the brakes failed or oil on the tires, etc. They can come after your personal wealth. I would go LLC instead of incorporating. If you don't need the income, you can sock the profit away in a solo 401K (up to $60K a year) and let it grow tax free. I vote give it a try. You can shut it down easily enough if it does not work out.
p.s. People tried to talk me out of rental property 15 years ago. Rental property cash flows life now.

 

I agree. It's not worth the risk. These days everyone carries their lawyers card in their pocket and will pull it just like the old west gunslingers. You can charge your friends but why would you? Just offer to help them out and then they could "donate" whatever they feel.
In a former life I ran a RV Manufacturer. We gave away six Class A motorhomes in one year to avoid costlier lawsuits.

 

Having watched a few videos regarding bad RV's this doesn't surprise me.

 

Liability. No way.

 

Houses on wheels, what could go wrong? We didn't build typical "stick wall" types though.