Well, my 2019 season finally begins


 
Bruce said:
Yah, the grill is on it's way to Illinois. He is a 15 year guy and works in the Animal Control division. Larry, I didn't bring up your name, but he did mention the cop that lost their life a couple days ago. Very nice guy and he seems quite happy with his "new to him" grill. Mentioned the fact that he wanted a Weber but didn't have $800 to spend and was considering rehabbing one but when he saw mine figured he could better use his time on other spring time projects.
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That's the kind of buyers we are looking for. He understands the worth of a good Weber and appreciates the work to restore one properly. I am sure he will be a happy camper!
 
Yes Sir. I wish he lived closer because I think he could be a good "word of mouth" reference for me.
 
Did he go all the way to Lyndon Station or meet you elsewhere? I think if weber keeps getting overly greedy with it's Chinese built stuff people who appreciate a simple quality grill will be much more apt to see value in what you do
 
He came to my house. 4 miles south of Lyndon Station. He knew he wanted a Weber, but didn't think the new ones were worth $800 plus. I am confident that he has a grill that with some regular cleaning will far outlast and probably out cook one that he could have picked up at his local HD for more than three times the price.
 
Bruce said:
He came to my house. 4 miles south of Lyndon Station. He knew he wanted a Weber, but didn't think the new ones were worth $800 plus. I am confident that he has a grill that with some regular cleaning will far outlast and probably out cook one that he could have picked up at his local HD for more than three times the price.
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Yep, that’s a fact. I wish we had more ways to advertise, but most options would cost more than the slender profit available in this hobby/cottage industry.
 
I agree. They guy asked me how much I make flipping grills and I told him about minimum wage. I had a little over $100 into the grill with the cost of the grill, 7mm solid rod grates and 16 ga SS flavorizer bars not to mention paint, cleaners and other supplies. I figure I cleared about $150 on the grill. I don't know my exact hours spent on the grill, but if I estimate 15 hours, then that is only $10 per hour. They call that poverty level wages.

If you start redoing wood tables and stuff like that, then the hourly rate is going to set you back into the $5 per hour range.
 
I have spent at least 10h on each of my grills. Especially the cleaning of the inside of tfe firebox and lid take time.
Also scrubbing the plastic knobs and end pieces can be a pain.
 
And if you are repainting the fire box, end caps and frame, that along takes a long time and it doesn't usually work out to work on other things between coats of paint. Dissasembly, reassembly, cleaining, painting, driving to get the grills......it all adds up quick and no one is going to support a wife and 2.2 kids doing this.
 
Bruce said:
And if you are repainting the fire box, end caps and frame, that along takes a long time and it doesn't usually work out to work on other things between coats of paint. Dissasembly, reassembly, cleaining, painting, driving to get the grills......it all adds up quick and no one is going to support a wife and 2.2 kids doing this.
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Bruce,

You sound just like my wife! I hate to admit that it is true. I guess it would be really hard to pull off a solid return per hour. I think that of the posters here, Dave in KC has the system down as good as you are going to do. Dave and you are the ones I wish I could emulate better. I have said before that to make this more profitable would require adequate space and resources to work year around with "stations" for each major process and a Henry Ford assembly line to keep things moving along with less down time and inefficiency. Unfortunately, not likely for me anytime soon, so I will be content to be a collector/hobbyist who helps fund my habit by flipping when I can. This spring/summer/fall, though, production better hit a record high. If I come up way short then it is time to just sell off a lot of my inventory "as is" and accept that I can only do a few a year. Dave says he can do one (maybe more?) a DAY. I wish I could!
 
Yah, a Henry Ford assembly line type system would be the way to go, but that is a huge Rabbit hole that I think even you, Jon, would be able to stay out of (with guidance from the wife).

So, I will just call it what it is and that is a Hobby and I will consider every thing that I net on a grill as a bonus. But it doesn't hurt to try to maximize those bonus's.
 
Jon Tofte said:
Dave says he can do one (maybe more?) a DAY. I wish I could!
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That one a day goal would have to be in my retirement years. No way I could do it
right now with a real job. That is also factoring in flipping kettles that obviously take
much less time than gassers. The biggest obstacle in all of this though, is finding
affordable product. I am not certain I could find the amount of quality Webers to
flip 365 of them. I know for certain, if I did, many of them would not make any
profit. I love flipping grills, but not for free.
 
Well if you have the right production facility the next step is to get the right vehicle and do pickup road trips like that “Pickers” show:o. Probably still wouldn’t make money flipping but the advertising revenue for creating a show about it would make it all worthwhile. It would also a lot of fun!
 
Dave in KC said:
That one a day goal would have to be in my retirement years. No way I could do it
right now with a real job. That is also factoring in flipping kettles that obviously take
much less time than gassers. The biggest obstacle in all of this though, is finding
affordable product. I am not certain I could find the amount of quality Webers to
flip 365 of them. I know for certain, if I did, many of them would not make any
profit. I love flipping grills, but not for free.
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Wow, I guess if you work straight through and really plan it out and schedule your time, but I don't think I would paint a grill and put it back together in one day.
 
I think to get to that level would be more like manufacturing. You would ideally try to do three or four of the same type of grills in sequence so that you would always have another step you could do on at least one grill while paint was drying on others.
 
Yeah if you got a production line going, doing multiple grills in stages you could really step up the $$$ per hour same with me. If I had a nice clean dedicated workshop and all my common parts prepped and laid out in bins with multiple machines going I could do that. I have often thought about renting a small shop and have machines ready to go in a small showroom. Not counting rent I could cut my production costs and speed up tirnover to where it could make some $$$. Right now it's just keeping me outta the bars. And especially when I have so many numerous other projects going on. Right now an old Marlin Model M99M1 on the bench trying to figure out why shells will not cycle, a Honda walk behind mower mower I just bought thinking the drive on one wheel issue was minor...............but, noooooo. I have to kinda reengineer the axle, the Honda lawn tractor in the garage waiting to have radiator pulled, so I can replace/rebuild the PTO clutch, and install a new oil pump drive gear (the latter is precautionary), sharpen the blades and give the deck a good cleaning, than reinstall it all, the big Simplicity waiting in the wings to have it's deck wire brushed well, coated in Eastwood RE, reassembled and reinstalled, and new bushings installed on the front spindles. Now wife's Toyota Highlander has noisy rear wheel bearings. Might attempt it myself but not sure I want to get into that project ot just pay the dealer to do it. Uggh
 
Yeah that is the thing. So I am trying to stick to it and hopefully have a better tax season than last year. Fewer extensions means more income now and more time for family - and grills - later this spring and fall.
 
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