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New guy here, looking into opening a new repair shop. Been in the industry for 15 years as a tech/manager. I am looking into a new building/ piece of land to have a shop built on at hard signaled corner with 50K per day traffic count in an affluent neighborhood, over 40K households in a 3 mile radius with average income of $125K per year. Not any high end modern repair shops a 5 mile radius other than a few standard dealerships. Location is really great, or so it seems. I am pricing out rent/mortgage to be between $36 and $50/sq ft for this shop. Proposed to be 7500 to 10,000 sq ft. The shop/brand we be marketed as an alternative to the luxury dealership, higher end with modern amenities compared to the normal 30 year old never updated repair shop and cater to the performance car community as well. Plan is to have 4-6 techs with 1-2 writers. I have run numbers through a P&L statement and if the techs produce 8-10 hours per day the numbers work to pay the bills and make a 15-20% net profit. My question is, is my rent too much? Depending on my labor rate and hours billed, my rent expense is between 15% and 20% of gross revenue. I know I have read and heard that auto repair should be closer to 5-10% but I know that location can affect this greatly along with many other factors. I know that the number work in my spreadsheet but I want some real world opinions if possible. Maybe someone is in a location or situation like mine and it is working great or maybe it isn't. Let me have it!

I have an opportunity to rent a 3rd location in a fairly busy area with a lot of potential. Problem is the current shop that is there owns the building and is moving 3 1/2 miles down the road will be the land lord. Is this a good idea? anyone else have this situation?