New Shop Do's & Don'ts
 

I'm building a new shop for myself and up to 2 other guys to make a living out of. I have a few specific questions but I will appreciate any advice. Like I tell everyone, even if I dont agree with you it may still get my creative juices flowing or whatever. So I'm interested in what people with experience have to say about what to do and what not to do. I'm not starting from scratch. Taking all tools and equipment with me from my current setup . Need a new building, lifts, air system is all.

I specifically would like to hear how other shops are laid out in regards to lift spacing when the bays are side by side. And how far from walls, etc. This shop is going to be 46' deep and 75 to 80ish long.

Also what brand of lifts to stay away from. My local independent tool guy is pushing Worth on me, USA made. Will be working on a lot of lifted trucks, so I need to make sure they go high enough too. I'm 6'1" and do not want to screw that up. Seems like I need 12k minimum lifts maybe?? If I do 10 vehicles a week, 9 are 3/4 ton trucks probably.

Don’t: skimp. Get what you need, now.
Do: go bigger than you think you need by ~20%.

Light duty stuff only, or are you going to need space for larger stuff?

Light duty only but good bit of ram 45/5500 and similar. Lot of engine repair and general chassis maintenance on any/all pickups.

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Heated floors. At least put the pipe in the concrete even if you don't hook up the boiler right away.

Dis. It is inexpensive to put the tubing in.

Do plan out the layout of benches and equipment before you start doing anything permanent. Chit like outlet locations, where said in floor tubing comes out of the floor, water locations, drains, etc.. all seem to bite me in the azz by just a little bit. Also, build a little room outside for your compressor. Quality of life with an outside compressor is impossible to describe. Add some windows up high for natural light as well.

Don't hire the cheapest concrete flat work guys. Concrete is difficult to redo.

A nice sized jib crane comes in mighty handy for pulling heads, unloading trucks, etc.

X3 on the heated floor. We did 5/8” line because we had several people tell us the pumps will live longer without the 1/2” lines restriction.

And I’m sure you know, but insulate, insulate, insulate... heated floor takes insulation around the concrete, you can also can put in a zone in front of your doors to keep snow off your concrete in front. We did this on our sidewalk into the shop, very nice. If you get hooked up with a reputable person that does floor heat, they will know all this already obviously.

Our boiler is gas, and senses outside temps so it doesn’t fall behind. Miles ahead of heating with wood. Also, if your making a living out of this shop, consider an AC unit. Not necessarily one big enough to bring it down to 60f, but a shop at 75-80f with no humidity in the middle of summer is sooooo nice.

I also recommend getting a big air storage tank. An old propane tank works well and can be cheap. Then you don’t need a giant compressor to keep up with your needs, you’ll have a lot of backup air.

And of course, build it bigger than you think you need!

I wouldn't even put an air compressor in except for filling tires. Cordless tools have come so far they'll do pretty much anything air powered tools will. And then you don't have to deal with dragging hoses around and them getting in the way.

a/h jacks, cheaper presses, plasma, cleanup duty, and tires is all i can think of.
Also If you need a 1" impact on something, because the 1" milwaukees are still sky high LOL

Well, I will say this. If you are planning on you and two other guys working out of this shop, make sure everyone is on the same page about the specific line of work you’ll be doing. I own a building that’s 70x100 and stuff really starts pilling up after a while. I only have one business partner in my gig. I want to do one thing and he wants another, so just be mindful of that issue. And yes go ahead and plumb in an air compressor with iron piping. I use air everyday, and less than 10% of that air is for air tools. Think about die grinders and air hammers, I couldn’t survive without those.

My thoughts as well. 1” Milwaukee is still $1k :charger:

Are you planning on plumbing for a bathroom?

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A port a John in the winter is the best.

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cardboard box in the parts room. and a couple blue shop towels.

Toilet and sink in a utility/compressor room.

In floor heat is a must if not at least run the lines like has been said and figure out where the lifts will be to route the lines so when anchor them you dont hit the lines. If can i think 15k lifts be better. Have one in our shop for working on our truck and our one f550 is about max for it with all the tools on it.

What's everybody heating there in floor pex with? I work with a guy who has an outdoor wood burner to heat his but it eats an ungodly amount of wood and that's for a 40x60 building in ohio

Wood mostly around here. Some people use tankless water heaters in our area but that is in a 2 car home garage. I doubt it is very efficient but whatever floats their boat.

I run a high efficiency boiler in my garage. Its only a 30x40, gas usage isn't all that bad for what its heating, its the same temperature all through out the winter. How do guys regulate with a wood stove? In floor heating isn't good for turning it on when you come in and turning it down when you leave like guys would do with radiant or forced air.

You don't turn it up and down, you leave it alone.

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We run a waste oil furnace and have free heat all winter. The only cost is in maintenance. If you want to run radiant that's fine and dandy but you'll drive yourself broke heating that way with a high volume shop that opens the doors frequently. The waste oil heater is 100% the way to go in a commercial shop.

To the guy who says don't bother with air tools, you defiantly want to bother with air tools. At the end of the day the air stuff still gets the job done and you don't have to mess with charging batteries and whatnot. Run some big air line from your compressor to your hose reels, and make sure you have at least one or two outlets directly on a big pipe like 1". We also have a storage tank as well, its nice to have a big head of steam behind you if you're pulling 19.5's or 22.5's off a bigger truck.

We have Mohawk lifts. They are not cheap but are American made in upstate NY and have never let us down once in the 25 years we've had them. Our newest (maybe 5 years old) is a 12,000 lb lift which is perfect for 2500-5500 sized trucks. It has the 3 stage arms as well. It was around $15k but you don't want something like that going down while you're busy, or if you have a customer's vehicle on it.

Make sure you have a decent waiting room area and office built in. I know you might not plan on it but you'll have people waiting for stuff all the time. Also make sure there's a decent bathroom near that as well, Its hard to keep a shop bathroom clean and you'll have customers walking in asking to use the bathroom so make sure they have something pretty decent to pop a squat on. Kinda sounds stupid but we hear this all the time about how our waiting room bathroom is actually really nice for a shop bathroom.

I'm sure I'll think of some more stuff. The business is stressful and draining. Keep your phone off on nights and weekends and get a personal phone for friends and family. You'll never get any rest if you have your phone on at all hours.