Full on, rant....

[Dynamite Design]

Not really pointed towards the 95% of the general public that mis-read what I post on a general basis, but more towards the business owners on the east coast.

I think the reason why the west coast off road economy is so more up scale is because they use an abundance of different traveling talents at their disposal.

We all know that the west coast uses traveling chassis welders, guys that travel around doing wiring jobs, aluminum jobs, suspension jobs, and even dudes that groove tires for traction! Why isn't there a dude running around this side of the country building headers on buggies, and making business easier?

Is the east coast off road industry just that far behind, or is it ignoring the potential of how it can help it's customers, and the industry itself?

 

[BEATIN35S]

The west coast also has those the more upscale economy of dudes coming to your shop doing hand jobs, rim jobs, blow jobs and cuddling for more money. On the east coast we are smart enough to do it ourselves or have a buddy that is happy to come over and drink a beer and help.

So for a business owner to try to do this probably wouldn't be very successful. IMO.

 

[Dynamite Design]

Wow, that's intense! lol

 

[al1tonyota]

So you are wanting to have a person that specializes in say headers or wiring or plumbing and then go from shop to garage and perform their specialty and get paid for it?

 

[Dynamite Design]

Looking forward, and in moderation.... yes

Dan Dubose may be the only person around that has the knowledge and, balls to explain it correctly

 

[Elliott]

I'm speaking from owning a small shop for a while then just getting fed up with it, people around this area generally do not have the funds to pay for such, that would be a pricey endevour to pay someone to travel around and still stay busy enough to pay their expenses. Most people that do this hobby are spending money they really shouldn't be spending at the time, I know there is exceptions but for the most part I promise you I'm right. And to give an example, ever build you see is on a tight budget or takes at least a year or 3 to complete. A buggy could be built from start to bottom in a month turn key if the money was there, how many have you ever seen do this. And I'm not knocking anyone I'm just stating what I have personally seen and I would be in the same boat, I would want it built with as little investment as possible, because I don't really see a market anymore for high dollar buggies. There are a few that can buy them but not many.

 

[Dynamite Design]

I guess if someone is trying to build something in their garage as cheap as dirt, then the conversation doesn't even exist. But on the other hand, if someone, or a company were interested in a high quality process, and it became normal to call on these people it would not be that hard, or expensive to accomplish with the right scheduling.

I think it's just a retarded mindset that people, and companies have, to not call the right dude for a job. I don't see why there can't be a network of people that can just specialize and get **** done on an extreme level.

 

[clemsonjeep]

Just another stab at why this isn't happening here on the east coast...

The number of people building rigs within given areas is probably quite a bit less than out west which would make it more expensive to operate a service like you're talking about.

 

[John Galbreath Jr.]

I had never thought about it. Did not realize this was practiced on the west coast. However, it could have merit. Especially electrical, as they could also do hot rods and other industry automotive builds.

Also, at least temporarily, a huge need for "at park" shock tuning. With the proper skill, I see where an individual (plus possibly a helper) could turn a grand a day and still wheel one day each weekend.

 

[bbone]

In on the shock tuning...too bad no one will touch FOA's

 

[mcutler]

This is a great service on the west coast. But one must consider the number of wheelers, wheeling venues, and MANY more forms of racing, per capita, west of the Mississippi. How many rock crawlers do you personally know in the county you work or reside in, especially in NC? The south is steep in racing history, but as mentioned earlier, that history is good ol boys getting it done on their own garage, doing it the best way they know how between their shoulders or their good buddies and a 12 pack.

And as stated above, with the distance between "builds" of a caliber that would need this type of assistance, the cost of such would be highly prohibitive to either gain business or make a profit.

There's not enough high caliber units east of the Mississippi, at close enough distance intervals to have a viable business, family, life, hobby/sport, and race. Just my opinion.

Those that do travel to advance the sport; Wayne Isreal comes to mind, do so for less of a profit, more as advancement/love of the sport. I dare say he doesn't make a ludicrous amount of coin on a 5 car tuning day, after flying across country.

matt

 

[Dynamite Design]

I think it's just a matter of starting an idea, and spreading the word.

Quick example would be, I have a **** ton of wire rolls, and wiring tools here at my shop, but I don't consider myself a wiring guy. The right guy could walk in here with a small box of their tools and use everything I have here to get a job done in a few days, and get rid of days worth of time moving buggies to different shops.

Another quick example would be that if I rolled out of here with a Miller 200DX, and some cutting tools, an exhaust wouldn't be hard to build just about anywhere.

 

[Dynamite Design]

Free lance shock tuning is a hard business for one reason. Almost every shock company uses different parts, and you have to have pretty much everything to do the job right. It's a big investment to do it right. I wish I knew how Wayne got it all rolling.

 

[blugreenformula]

Another thing that I didn't see brought up is the off-road racing scene is much stronger out there. Just off the top of my head you have Score,Snore,Best In The Desert, MDR, WeRock, KOH. I know (close personal friends) 3 race teams with budgets over 250k per year. In Vegas alone I can think of 5-10 other teams that have massive budgets, though I don't know specific numbers. Add those to the dozens and dozens of teams out of Southern Cali and you have a strong demand in a rather small area.
Then there all the sand rail, pre runner, and street rod owners. There is alot of money thrown around out there, and some super talented fabricators/specialty industry (ie: wiring or shock tuning) people.
I just believe there isn't enough good paying builds for specialty builders to make an attempt. I know there are some very nice rigs out here, but when a trophy truck cost 300k + to have built, there is money to have the wiring done perfectly, and a demand for it aswell.

 

[Dynamite Design]

Another thing that I didn't see brought up is the off-road racing scene is much stronger out there. Just off the top of my head you have Score,Snore,Best In The Desert, MDR, WeRock, KOH. I know (close personal friends) 3 race teams with budgets over 250k per year. In Vegas alone I can think of 5-10 other teams that have massive budgets, though I don't know specific numbers. Add those to the dozens and dozens of teams out of Southern Cali and you have a strong demand in a rather small area.
Then there all the sand rail, pre runner, and street rod owners. There is alot of money thrown around out there, and some super talented fabricators/specialty industry (ie: wiring or shock tuning) people.
I just believe there isn't enough good paying builds for specialty builders to make an attempt. I know there are some very nice rigs out here, but when a trophy truck cost 300k + to have built, there is money to have the wiring done perfectly, and a demand for it aswell.

Actually, I'm glad you explained it that way. No joke. This is all the more reason for a specialized network to become known.

 

[bad80cj]

I would pay for someone to come to me and build me some damn headers. Lol

 

[Cole]

In on the shock tuning...too bad no one will touch FOA's

You should talk to the Spegals, they have the FOA shocks figured out!!

 

[sledneck]

Another thing that I didn't see brought up is the off-road racing scene is much stronger out there. Just off the top of my head you have Score,Snore,Best In The Desert, MDR, WeRock, KOH. I know (close personal friends) 3 race teams with budgets over 250k per year. In Vegas alone I can think of 5-10 other teams that have massive budgets, though I don't know specific numbers. Add those to the dozens and dozens of teams out of Southern Cali and you have a strong demand in a rather small area.
Then there all the sand rail, pre runner, and street rod owners. There is alot of money thrown around out there, and some super talented fabricators/specialty industry (ie: wiring or shock tuning) people.
I just believe there isn't enough good paying builds for specialty builders to make an attempt. I know there are some very nice rigs out here, but when a trophy truck cost 300k + to have built, there is money to have the wiring done perfectly, and a demand for it aswell.

This ^^^ I spent some time in so-cal a few years back and off roading is EVERYWHERE!!! I could walk around the neighborhood I was staying in and damn near every garage in this area (Barstow) had some kind of off road vehicle in it and the people use them every weekend. Its a different beast on this side of the country. Most of us travel a good deal to wheel so that cuts into funds to pay a "professional".

 

[Cole]

So you are wanting to have a person that specializes in say headers or wiring or plumbing and then go from shop to garage and perform their specialty and get paid for it?

This is very common out West, Arrow Lane who builds Shannon Campbells exhaust is a traveling exhaust person. Smith Race wire is a guy who travels around and wires all the Trophy trucks and lots of the high end Ultra4 cars.

 

[al1tonyota]

This is very common out West, Arrow Lane who builds Shannon Campbells exhaust is a traveling exhaust person. Smith Race wire is a guy who travels around and wires all the Trophy trucks and lots of the high end Ultra4 cars.

I was just making sure what he was saying, never heard of such.