Home based shop, well equipped what can be done?? Hahaha!! Look at my website and you'll see.
Seriously though, depending on your skill level, what you have as far as equipment you can do quite a bit actually.
The trick is marketing and selling your wares. Flea markets, artsy fartsy shows depending on what your building. I have a few things I sell but when a person can go to walmart and buy a coffee table for $50 or buy a coffee table designed, built and all decorative parts forged in my shop for, well, you get the picture. Your customer base dwindles quickly which in turn causes your sales opportunities to decrease.
Doing the custom work is also not very profitable. The table I just built for a good client was not a, going out to the Olive Garden type of paycheck, maybe Burger King.....maybe. For me it's a creative thing. Welding pipe all day long, working under a bridge or anything else I do gets pretty boring. Yeah, it pays well, the checks are very nice but even money cannot curve my extreme dislike of being bored out of my skull. Doing the decorative stuff is a passion, an art, a skill. If you plan to do it just to make a buck it most likely won't "supplement" your income as much as you would expect. Residential handrail, ornamental items, tables, oddball things and you will find out how many folks are out there doing it for peanuts. Or you'll be competing with home stores selling raggedy bolt together stuff, hobby stores selling exactly what your making for a fraction of the cost because some bloke in Thailand is banging out decorative scrolls for $2 a day. That's my view on those items.
As far as utility trailers. Go to Tractor supply and price out a 5'x8' trailer with a drop gate. Then call around and find the price on an axle of equal capacity, wheels, tires, steel, lights and then figure your time to build said trailer. For the TSC trailer, $600 plus tax. You most likely will find that you will not be able to touch this unless your just, bored out of your skull and not really concerned with how much you will actually make per trailer. I have thought about the same thing, have had people approach me about building trailers and the trailer builders that do this get volume discounts. What I can buy an axle for they are not even in the same time zone sort of speak. I buy one they buy 100. They pay a guy $7.50 an hour to run a trigger and if your lucky they don't look like the hideous welds on my TSC trailer. They have jigs, slam in the metal, weld, weld, weld, done. Axle, weld, done, run it thru powder coating and done. You could most likely build jigs if you have room, powder coating would cost you maybe $200 in my area, roughly. Now take that away from your $600 mark and your left with $400 for your materials, labor, travel to pick up steel, drop off and pick up at powder coater.
Targets, I suppose but how big of a market is that? How do you plan to advertise and market your business? If I do a search for steel targets will you pop up on the first page? What about shipping these items? Or will it just be a local thing? I can buy a 5 ring online at one place for around $200-300 dollars. Call tomorrow and have it in a few days. I looked at those steel targets and even thought about making one for my place but then figured how much time I would spend building it and figured a piece of paper is cheaper, quicker and I can work on better paying things, for that matter I'd rather run to the river and have another go at the kayak better than building one. Spending $300 on one? Not me brother, I can buy a lot of paper for that much. I say this because how many other people are there out there like me with the same opinion? Your market just shrunk.
I'm not trying to burst your bubble or deter you from this but you'll have to really look into it and see what your bottom line will be, your bottom line being what is in your pocket at the end of the sale and was it worth it for the xx hours you have invested. I've looked into several things and it all comes down to the things I've talked about. I can't compete with big factories, China, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan and so on. Hope this helps out and good luck with whatever you do!
Shawn
Thanks for the thought out factual reply. Out of our group at the picnic I mentioned I was the one talking about utility trailers. Fortunately, there aren't any Tractor supply stores in Oregon. Most of the utility trailers sold are thru independent trailer sales lots. A 5 x 8 with ramp, 2000lb. axel goes for $1200 - 1600 out here I have sourced the materials from several locations and can purchase all materials for a 3500 lb. 5 x 8 package for under $600. Jeep trailers are becoming very popular out here and I've put together some very attractive sturdy designs with low material prices. One of what I consider to be a talent of mine is locating sources of material that others might not think of and at very attractive costs. I'm in the final stages of finishing a 22 x 32 shop, Most of the group have equipment for smaller projects, Miller 180 welders, boom boxes, etc. I've been acquiring equipment for some time and have a Miller 220, miller Shopmaster 300 set up with cooler and HF unit, Hobart Arc welder, industrial horizontal 1" metal band saw, drill presses, tables, power and air tools, paint guns etc. I just need to find steady employment to support it!!!! Also have some great plans for one piece aluminum flag poles but haven't found the material pricing that I want yet. Thanks again for the advice.
wicker
Thats not to bad for the trailer up there, I take back about the trailer thing here well we'll see how it goes when I sell my 4x8 3500 axle trailer I have and then I'll say if i get what I want out of it or not or hope to at least brake even on the material.
All great ideas and observations being made. Doing the market research for YOUR intended area of sales, I believe, is where you will find your answers. I think the one thing that causes many people who try to fail is that they didn't do their homework on what the market WANTS and NEEDS as well as what is willing to be paid for those services. You can't dictate to the market. In this day and age of our world economy it comes down to supply and demand. Find the underserved niche market and you may be able to do well serving it. Good luck and follow what you are passionate about.
something i could do if i had a good shop is rustick furniture. get a bunch of old farm stuff, fence wire, old fence post, anything old made of metal and weld it all up, give it a name and the dumbass city folk will buy. i built a frame out of old fence post 3'x2', cut old tin to fit, left it rusty, painted a texas flag, lightly sanded the paint and sold it for $250. that's just an example. i will sale you the rest of my ideas if intrested. i have been too busy lately and no down time.
Truck Racks, aka: Pipe Racks, Lumber Racks, utility racks, etc. When the boom was on we did 2-300 of them per year. We still see a need and now that people have some money again they are moving a little. Hard to stock pile because ours are built to specific pick up sizes and they are all different anymore. I can build 3-4 per day easy. So, a couple per week just for extra income, no problem. Not much equipment involved. I already have the jig, GMAW welder, bandsaw, sanders. That's plenty for a basic one.
One more thing though: depending on exactly where you live and some of the things one could end up doing with some of these projects, like the handrail, watch out that you don't start doing things that add insurance responsibilities, licenses- contractor, city, etc, and all the things that eat up profits and make you a business and now you have to sell and work and it is no longer a side thing for extra money.
Have a Great Day, Brent
PS: I love it Cactus. Those are great!
If you want to make metal targets that hold up and with metal that doesn't cost an arm or leg. Go to your local industrial tractor store, (crawler machines), and get used grouser shoes, new ones cost about $11 each. I use to get the used ones for next to nothing. The metal is close to AR500 plate, when I use to make targets it was what I used. It would take a hit from a 50BMG before it would dimple.
