Over the years I've meet a few people with random small businesses ran from small units, sheads e.t.c that seem to be pretty profitable and the owner operators seem to enjoy them. One man plus a helper or two. Most of the time thing I would have never thought of or heard of. Met someone who does machine control as a one man band and seems to make good money but a lot of travel. Another guy seemed to do pretty well out of timber framing.
What type trade do you think leads on to the best of small one / two man buisnnes that you have come across All in money, work interest / variety e.t.c
Jobbing machinest I recon would make very good money and be interesting.
Meth lab.
That is one organised work shop!
rent boy
A mates dad does high precision but fairly straightforward machining in his garage. Couple of hardinge lathes and a few other bits of kit (3 ph rectifier needed ). He is about 70 and people just keep throwing work at him. He does a lot of small batch work for car manufacturers.
One I like is a little engineering shop to the North of Glasgow, though the name cracks me up. It used to be Blane Engineering, then he bought a new milling machine and renamed it Blane Precision Engineering 😉
There was also a really cool little modelmaking place in a back lane in Park Circus - a converted coach house, where they made models of ships for BAE etc. Not sure it still exists, but that was very cool.
I fit woodburners. I only use a small shed to store some supplies in, and work from a van.
I find it interesting and rewarding.
It's not rocket science, but it's not easy either. Plenty money in it if you work smart and keep people happy.
As above, model making can bring in a good income if you pick the right market and are exceptionally good.
Yes, there's also Finch & Fouracre who do some really cool stuff:
http://www.finchandfouracre.co.uk/
I worked for a guy a while back who had the very niche (and skilled!) job of painting steam locos and warplanes. Mostly copying pics from books.
He worked in his kitchen and was constantly flat out. He charged about £150 and they generally went for birthday pressies.
This lad and son seemed to make it alright.
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Mr dibnah I don't think could operate today unfortunately!
Not one plus helper but I came across a small foundry the other day doing custom castings, did not think they still existed.
Some people have a knack for finding a market sector that would pretty much have only them in it. The niche exists for them but if one competitor tried to move in then both would fail.
A nice example not (not actually involving a shed) is I met a guy (and I think) his daughter, craning a 1820s cast iron artists printing press out of 4th floor window ready to move it to another studio and reinstall it. I mentioned in passing that it must have been an usual job for him. Moving and restating old cast iron printing presses between difficult to access studio was his job in trade - and he travels all over Europe doing it
On another occasion I had the injectors removed, reseated and re-sealed on my Cdi Spinter. They're notoriously difficult to get out if they've been leaking and garages can charge four figures for removing them and might shear the bolts or crack the cylinder head trying, nobody will give you a fixed price to do it...... except for a guy i found who travels the country [i]only[/i] removing and replacing injectors on Cdi engines. Fixed price, about the 1/4 anyone else was likely to charge (and in fact 1/10th the price some of his customers had been quoted for work), does one or two customers a day, anywhere in the country the work takes him. Just him and his dog and a little workshop / day camper in an old Vito. Very contented chap!
Not one plus helper but I came across a small foundry the other day doing custom castings, did not think they still existed.
Theres a little architectural iron foundry still going in Edinburgh (Laings I think)
I know that because I've got a contract to tour and install an exhibition for history building skills and it include a video of the foundry which means whenever I work on the that show theres a sound track of angle grinders.
In fact thats a possible angle - to look at Building Conservation agencies and the like are very keen to keep certain skills going - no point giving buildings listed status if theres nobody out there the repair and maintain the features they've been listed for
(edit - theres two foundries - one just opened a couple of years back!)
I used a small foundry in Newton Abbot to get some finials made up from original Victorian ones. Was great to see a skilled craftsman at work making sand casts, then pouring the molten metal and the finishing them off on the sander.
I was surprised at how quickly each one was made
We had some chairs made by a guy called Melvyn Tolley who seems to have found himself a dying niche as we struggled to find anyone who could make them for us. The folks we found were either running out of wood or retired. He had a shed full of bits of wood that reminded me of the pictures of Shand's workshop where tubes (bits of wood in this case) had individual people's names on them. We wasted a very happy morning there drinking tea and chatting about what he does and how he does it. It hadn't been a lifetime plan for him to do that but circumstances meant that he had an opportunity to learn the skills from someone else at just the right time and managed to start up a small business
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The seat that you see was formed by standing on the piece of wood and carving it out with an adze
Could prob make decent money from restoring scooters and old motorbikes if you have the knowledge and the ability to source.
Ironically, it's also the internet that often allows businesses like this to exist. I'd certainly never exist without the internet, there aren't anywhere near enough customers for my esoterica in Glasgow and advertising doesn't work.
This seems to offer a fairly good balance. The Joe is a customer and is one of the most skilled engineers I've ever met. His work is pretty amazing and his attention to detail is exceptional.
[url= http://www.joenemethengineeringltd.co.uk/ ]Joe Nemeth[/url]
Father of my wifes best friend makes some very nice fly fishing reels (centrepins?), mostly to order. Couple of years ago he moved the lathe to a new shed in the garden, after 20+ years in the dining room.
Troutie did pretty well before the Chinese invasion of cheap lights. 1 man in a shed..(although I did help out with the initial run of CNC'd light bodies) 😀
Two different friends.
One makes reproduction pedal cars. Bentleys, Rolls Royce, vintage race cars. My BiL does the log books and era correct tax discs, driving licences in the customers name etc. They sell for 5 figure sums.
Other be makes reproduction armour. Lots of film work, also very serious and wealthy renactors.
This seems to offer a fairly good balance. The Joe is a customer and is one of the most skilled engineers I've ever met. His work is pretty amazing and his attention to detail is exceptional.
I have no interest in steam trains and only a passing interest in engineering but that is beautiful work.
Quite amazed at the one man taking injectors out of sprinters. What a niche.
My neighbour used to do that, although his niche was to buy the vans as spares/repairs when the injectors went and fix them for a tidy proffit.
Less niche, micro brewery? Bit more capital intensive though if you want to be up and running as a money making business atraight away (brewery about £10k, plus £20k for electrics, drains etc).
A friend of mine restores old jukeboxes, he did it as a hobby for a while but rented a unit earlier this year and went full on as self employed. I never realised but there's some serious money in that game!
This bloke.
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[url= https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Neave ]Richard Neave[/url]
Had the pleasure of visiting his "lab" many times. It literally is in a shed in his back garden. Probably the most fascinating man I've ever met.
I suppose at the bottom end of the scale is my dad - he makes oboe reeds. Started because they're expensive, but also because quality is variable, so he now makes them for himself and a bunch of other people. He's got a little workbench set up with the most beautifully intricate little scraping machines, and got me to make a few modifications and attachments for them.
Doesn't do it for the money, though.
I did fairly niche data capture work for a large credit card company for about 7 years (me + 2 helpers) - they referred to me a 'Ted the shed' 🙂
I've managed to run a small geotechnical and environmental consultancy from a shed at the bottom of my garden for the last 5 years. Ive got a couple of subcontract engineers who carry out most of the site works and write up reports remotely from their own homes if required. I'm not sure how many of my clients (and these include some pretty high profiles ones like Local Authorities, Rolls Royce, Carlsberg, Molson Coors, National Grid, etc) are aware how 'low key' the company is, but ultimately they probably dont care providing we offer cost effective / sensible solutions to their problems. Having said the above, I'm currently looking for a 'proper' office.
I came across [url= http://www.theseatpostman.com/ ]The Seatpost Man[/url] a few days ago.
Jack English is pretty inspiring, making violin bows in the middle of nowhere
Car bodywork paint/scratch repairer. Not major dents, just fixing scratches etc.
My granddad used to repair watches. I reckon that could be a nice shed-industry. Or making your own bespoke watches. Hmmmm
This guy springs to mind: http://www.aistoncycleracks.co.uk/about_us.htm
I've yet to visit him, but a mate's been and said his tiny garage is a monument to organisation.
[url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24211691 ]This guy has quite a nice little watchmaking business. Looks pretty straightforward to me.[/url]
Well, I just got a new spoke-making machine, from Ric at [url= http://www.wheelfanatyk.com/ ]Wheel Fanatyk[/url] - he runs it all from a basement. The machine I bought is a Morizumi, made in a small workshop in Japan:
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http://www.wheelfanatyk.com/blog/morizumi-san/
I have quite a few friends doing stuff like this;
Jay&Gary started a business together doing lead work on churches etc, a very skilled hands on job involving bashing lead into shape with a plastic rolling pin type tool.
The business quickly grew and has morphed into a historical building restoration business as they have now included stone masonry.
Two other friends have a large format printing business - hire purchased a few large printers which they now own and just do bigger sized print jobs. Happy and paying the bills.
Another does diesel fuel injection pumps for a living, one man in a shed built up the business but then scaled it down again.
Another has just quit his CEO job of a large plastics company to spend more time restoring Landrovers.
Im stuck un happily working in a mulitnational, HS ruled, skint, engineering job!
I have a friend that runs a gunsmithing/machining business from his shed, or at least used to until he moved house. I believe now that his workshop is now actually inside his house.
His work is excellent and he makes a mean cup of coffee too.
The miniature trains posted earlier are great. Reminds me of the big steam and diesel trains where I grew up.
A mate is a bronze sculptor, amongst other things. He built most of his equipment, too. I'd love to get something from him, although it's well out of my price range! http://www.alex-kirkpatrick.com/
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I run [url= http://www.od-designs.co.uk/ ]Od Designs[/url] from my garage (plus a container) and my biggest successes to date have been supplying all the bike racking for UK Cycling Events who run the Wiggle Sportives and all the bike racking for the demo bikes at this year's Cycle Show. My latest product is currently travelling the world at bike events and will be used at Rio for the Ireland and Canada Track Teams.
I had a derelict basement/lower-ground-floor in my business premises that needed renovating, but with no real use for the space, I kept putting it off. So, a couple of years ago I started thinking about what sort of business I could set up that tied in with my day job (graphic design) and didn't cost the earth in machinery etc.
I decided to set up a picture framing business - having used picture framers in the past (and my arty background), I thought it was something I could blag my way through and be far more helpful than the other businesses I'd used.
So, I did loads of research, read everything I could, watched every video on Youtube, bought a load of equipment and set about learning to use it.
12 months ago, I converted part of my office premises into a showroom/gallery, and the till hasn't stopped ringing since! What I originally planned as a little supplementary income side project has proved to be a thriving little business.
I meet a completely different type of client, get loads of satisfaction from creating something from a load of raw materials, and have thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of learning new skills and setting up a business from scratch.
(The workshop looks nothing like as tidy as this now!!)
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My Dad did picture framing from home for 25+ years until he retired last year.
It never made him a fortune but paid the bills.
One of my mates quit his well paid job in IT sales a couple of years back to turn his Landrover hobby into a business.
It has outgrown his driveway so he now rents a small lock-up/yard.
He is very focussed on Tdi era Discoverys/Defenders/110s/90s...
He buys MOT failures, ex-army and part finished projects - he breaks up the real no-hopers, and does basic (but really good) renovations on the others.
I think it is paying him pretty well at the moment.
A friend who I rode with a few times now has his own workshop making handmade wooden skis in a lovely part or rural Scotland. Got some kind of help from the Scottish government for start-ups after finishing a product design degree with a great product. Manages to straddle the line of being a small scale premium producer without all the hipster artisinal, turbo-social media bullpap. Definitely helps if you can attract investment and win prizes for your ideas though.
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Would love to do something similar but my practical skills and attention to detail mean it's unlikely.
My Dad did picture framing from home for 25+ years until he retired last year.
One of the reasons I chose framing is the type of competition. It's either someone working from home (they're hampered by lack of a retail/high street presence); older people looking for a nice, sedate retirement/hobby business; or your typical high street shop that spends the first 3 weeks of every month earning money to pay the landlord, rates, bank etc.
I already had the high street premises so it was just a matter of tailoring the space. Almost all my work is passing trade, although as time wears on, I'm getting much more recommendations and repeat customers.
From my own experience, I've always found it to be a very stuffy, conservative trade, so I'm trying to inject a bit more 'modern thinking' into it, with an emphasis on contemporary products and image.
Seems to be working, and it's one of those businesses that doesn't transfer well to web/mail order, so hopefully it's a fairly safe sector to be in.
I popped in to see a bloke runninf a cycle retail and hire business out of what appears to be a shed last weekend. Its crazy in there, although I assumne there's some order in the chaos, and certainly an interesting and eclectic collection of cycles. Good coffee too 😀
[url= http://www.charliethebikemonger.com/ ]http://www.charliethebikemonger.com/[/url]
Quite amazed at the one man taking injectors out of sprinters. What a niche.
There's another dude who does it for Vivaros & Trafics, I believe.
I think my loudspeaker business would work pretty well downscaled to just me in a sufficiently large shed, if I wanted to do the hands-on stuff all the time - that's certainly how it started out.
But I prefer the design/engineering/marketing side of things so the business has grown to employ more staff, rent larger premises and gained the added stresses of a larger (but still small) business - but being that bit bigger has really opened up what we can do with the products! We might be diversifying from loudspeakers quite soon - watch this space... 😉
Some of the workshops on this thread are amazing!
Just remembered a client that builds and repairs globes. Far more complicated than I thought, various methods of making spheres and applying a map. Fixing dents, weighting them to spin freely and to settle in specific locations. Mix of insurance work, prep. for big auction houses and new builds.