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Full on, rant....

Lots of people on the east coast, especially the Southeast, are DIY folks due to lack of money.. Most of us build our junk on our own and with the help of some buddies. We all know a guy good at welding, and a buddy who can took electrical classes in high school, and another who's dad was a mechanic and he grew up building motors.

There's really not a lot of industry for small custom junk because most just build it themselves. I'm 20 and have built my rig by myself on a college budget the last year.. I would have never been able to afford to pay someone and really honestly I'm passionate about learning myself and being able to say I built this on my own..

We're proud poor folks who would rather do it ourselves just to say we can than to pay someone!

If you have a million to throw at enough equipment to start tons of production work like Trail-Gear then you can make a living, but who has that money..

And like others mentioned the offroad scene is just not as large. Too many people are into other things like hunting, fishing, etc. Most people with money are farmers or business owners who's time is consumed with both.
 
I have to agree with Dwill817. Although it is great to look at all the custom builds out there that are built by someone other than the driver, I see NO pride in that. IMHO I would rather spend weeks figuring out how something works and then another 6 months making it work before I pay someone to do it for me. I think that in the "southeast" most people take pride in doing things themselves. I have no issue with someone who has enough money to pay someone to build a custom buggy for them, and wants to do it that way, but most of the guys I know in the "Southeast" offroad community, would rather learn how to do it themselves, and take pride in their work than pay someone else to do it for them. I will pay someone if I have to but i would rather pay someone to teach me how to do it myself than pay them to do it for me. I may spend twice as much but it will be worth it to me, and the result may not be as good, but I will be proud of what I accomplish.

Just look at TC. He is the inspiration for most Southeast wheelers, and he promotes himself as someone who does all the work himself. If its a hobby most people here what to do it themselves.
 
Elliott said:
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.
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I call bullshit on the buggy build in a month turnkey. Hell if money was not a problem.
You would be doing good to just get the parts in that time. Much less build it and powder it and put it together. :****:
 
This side of the country there's more people who don't just open up a pocketbook and pay someone to do everything for them.
 
I had rather spend my money on getting something major done by someone that is good at it. I had rather spend that time with my wife and son. My son is only this age one time so I try to spend time with him. When I work on my rig I try to do it late night when he has went to bed or have him with me. So if doing a 4 link job takes me 2 months to do, that is 2 months I miss playing with him. Also keeps wife happy with me cause I'm not neglecting our time together. I love wheeling and wrenching but my family is my number one priority.
 
I know of two personally that were built in a month, I can build a full frame, welded out in a week.it can be done you just have to know your ****, and take it serious.
 
It could easily be done with the right team as long as parts were laying there and good planning. It would take some dedication and probably wouldn't want to do them back to back.

Warfare was built in 2 months without any parts laying and getting lots of other work done at the same time.
 
Exactly. Parts have to be laying there. From the day you order the first part
to completion is not going to happen in a month.
 
I tore my yj down in October '10, traded for a bare chassis, made its maiden trip fits weekend of may '11.

Money was great, all the parts were here, I was single, no kids, run my own business/schedule, spent 45 hours a week on the project. Only outsourced plumbing, which was one hour away, and I helped and finished it in 6 hours, and of course driveshafts.

That was a fun 5 months. Wish life schedule would allow me to do it again.

matt
 
Hmm.. I was way more impressed with buggy turnouts at your comps, spectator and racer turnout was was almost quadruple any comp I've ever seen on the west coast. What I have noticed is we can build, and tune a suspension like no one's business. You guys are motorheads, you guys kill us in horsepower new and old motors. I swear all you mofo's have 700 horse BBC'S attached to your washing machines! Lol even looking at your trailrigs as a whole group I think are better built with more money in them than west coast trail rigs. Just what I've noticed. At Jesse Haines silverstate rock crawl championship there was 67 rigs that entered that was from stock jeep class up to unlimited buggy class. The last aop race I went to a few weeks ago had like 50 or 60 buggys alone. Motorsports is very strong on your side, way stronger there than on our side
 
When I done track days (sportbikes) there was and still is a guy that's an Ohlins suspension tech that goes around to tracks all over the east coast tuning suspension and selling Ohlins suspension components. He is a 1 stop shop for parts, install, and tuning on bike suspension. He ain't home very much. That whole hobby is a little more organized than the offroad scene though. If you want new suspension parts or tuning, you make an appointment with him one weekend while he is at a track. Might take one day for him to do the install / tuning, then you ride the next day and report back to him with feedback if it needs tweaking.
 
I know I'm late but I'd like to give my input on this.

I may be a minority here but I own my business and I started it because it was an opportunity to do what I loved and make a living. I like all aspects of creating from scratch. I enjoy wiring, tin work, tube work, all of it literally. Well.... except for gears I hate gears lol. For that reason alone I don't want to contract out any part of my work. I take a lot of pride in what I do and being paid to do it is just a bonus to the satisfaction of being able to go to work every day and enjoy it. I also take pride in the fact that I'm able to be a turn key shop who can handle pretty much every aspect of a build. Why would I want to build something that I can't take 100% credit for? The things I cant or don't like to do like shock tuning or gears are things that can be done by other shops or people after my part of the build is complete. Leaving no need for me to middle man the work and up the end cost for the customer. They can handle those things on their own and eliminate the liability for me.

With that being said I'm currently so backed up with work that bringing in someone to work for me that can also handle these things would be beneficial. The problem with that is finding someone capable of handling these tasks. There are a lot of guys out there who want to work and "claim" to be able to do the caliber of work I'd be looking for but bringing in a "contractor" drives the build cost up and cuts into my profit. Hiring someone full time at 25.00 an hour to do it makes much more sense than paying a "contractor" 60.00 an hour to cover his overhead. If I don't know how to do it, I'll learn and I'll learn to do it as good or better than him. Make sense?


I've been called on by a couple buggy builders do dashes and tinwork work in the past. Unfortunately for them though all my sheet metal equipment isn't so mobile so they have to bring it to me. I have no problem doing it but I have one request. I want credit for what I do. Maybe I'm selfish but I don't like giving the same credit to someone else for doing work on something I've built most of which is exactly why I don't contract out. I think most shops probably feel the same way.
 

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