Mike, with 30,000 hours your looking for trouble, metal fatique, frames mast channels just to name a few. No one should keep machines that long, if you do you really need to consider how safe your fleet really is.

There is one more factor for in-house vs. out.

The hours on the units.

If you're replacing units at proper intervals (~10,000hrs), then out-sourcing makes way more sense.

Two thirds of my fleet have over 30,000 hours, and that'd take a full-time contractor. How would that save you money? Not only that, I'm free to source out the best parts prices.

like NY state lotto says
"hey, you never know"

lol

wHEN YOU OPEN A TENNESSEE BRANCH GIVE ME A CALL

hey thanks again guys
its great having support from your peers in industry

as for the future though:
there will be no GPS in the vans and all travel and training is paid to techs lol

Good luck Justinm. I myself went independent in 2007 due to similar reason I started in the industry when I was 18 and now am 30. The best advice I can give you is keep your overhead low have good book keeping records and don't put all your eggs in 1 basket spread your accounts out, from small to large build a strong fondation of paying customers don't always rely on the big customers. treat all customers the same. Writing a buisness plan has help me stay on track. Even in this econmy it where a small company can compete with larger companies due to overhead. Once again best of luck.

Justinm - Good luck. You have large kahuna's for going it on your own, but you sound like a smart guy with some good work ethics. If you have the customer base and are honest, and keep them happy, you can do it. I've seen plenty try it on thier own. A couple have made and the rest sunk, only because they thought they would make thier first million in 1 year. One I personally know makes it because he's honest and his customers like that. If I can help, drop me an email. Again good luck!

lol as of now im the sole employee
but ill keep you posted lol

hey Justin, you have any sales jobs open?

yeah its a huge weight off my shoulders actually
now i can control my jobs start to finish

thanks for all the support guys
its gonna be a lot of fun
and when im huge you all can move here and have jobs lol

Hey, justinm....Wish you all the best man. It takes a lot of courage to take the plunge, you will not regret it...You will be free of all that idot management and be able to focus on "Customer Service" instead of wasting your time having to play office politics and be weighed down by "BS"
"Git-er-Done!!!! If I can help, pro has my email

ah she was from your neck of the woods lol

No, would like to though, would also like to here comments from sales people!

lmao
you know this story? lol

like the guy said one time "cute don't cut it"

lol heres another one
one of the factories considers metro NY a "unique business area" lol
at one point they wanted us to use PSSR's
that didnt go well
poor girl got cursed out everywhere she went (think about selling and servicing forklifts to people whos attitudes resemble that of the characters in Goodfellas lol)
i thought i saw her break down at one point i think she was crying
they never tried that again

McLift, what a great name for your new company, i think we could start a whole new discussion about sales nightmares here. Here's one, I worked with a guy that progressed from field tech (1 year & couldn't handle it )to PSSR, new truck sales, service manager?, left the company to sell pickup trucks, left that comany to sell salsa (which is big here in the SW) lost track after that. As far as sales nightmares, unfortunitly they are far to common in the business. And since all field tech's are one on one with the customers (iv'e heard field tech's refered to as "director of first impressions") firld tech's sometimes ussally are the customers first contact other than maybe a phone call first. So field service is might say "the clean-up crew" we clean-up after dispatch, service office, billing, sales, and any other issue the dealer promised and failed to deliver. All you dealers, service managers, parts managers, sales managers & admin should listen up. If you have a degree that's great but that does not make you an expert in any given field. Experiance has more meaning to a customer than any piece of paper. They do not want or have the time to listen to your *)!(&^%, so wise up, listen, and use the resource right under your noses. Justin, you brought back some sales nightmare memories, that just sets me off.

that must be one of the biggest posts in here. ha ha. your a brave man going solo but if you can get the work good on you. i,ve been doing this job since 16 and now 33 but still you learn a little each day. good guys are a plenty in this job but we will always be outnumbered by crooks and cowboys

i didnt either and id be a fool if i didnt try to get in as a dealer at some point in the future
but you gotta start somewhere lol
and thanks for all the help from you guys and every1 else on the forums here
this site is a great tool for vets and upcoming techs alike
i tell a lot of people i know in the ind to check this out

lol isee your dislike and i know how you feel
obviously i feel the same lol
hey no problem apology accepted

i started in forklifts when i was 23 now im 34 (all at my old job) in all those years i only had 2 really honest sales people most of the others were either bad at the job or liars
my WORST pet peeve with them is when the salesman walks into a customer and tries to diagnose a machine himself, with no tools, no tech knowledge and without even bending over to look at it closely
i had a huge blowup at my old place over that
guy goes out and has a customer spend approx $1000 on new batteries, he didnt even call in to get a tech for diagnostics
after that didnt help, i show up and adjust the tiller switch
no more problems to date
and this wasnt the 1st or even 2nd time that this guy tried to "play mechanic" and failed horribly
my fav was when he tried getting load wheels for a reach
all on his own, looked at the machine, sourced and picked up new load wheels, and handed them to service with the new customers addy
i go in with his parts
take apart the old ones then found out that the new ones were approx 5 mm too big to fit in the brackets (floating LW assy)
i bring them back and reorder the correct parts
but then this sales guy starts in with me "how do you know they didnt fit? did you even try to put them in?" i lost my sht on him
and then even after all of that
the customer tells me when i came back with the right parts the this sales guy came and says "i know what happened here, Justin came in, took a quick look at it , and decided the wheels wouldnt fit" the the customer told him "no, he took it all apart and found out they wouldnt fit cause he tried getting them in and looking for anything else wrong besides the parts being incorrect"
needless to say that guy got a "talking to" lol
but that didnt stop him

now (along with my old boss) this same guy is going around and badmouthing me lol
again needless to say my reputation stands alone and that guy has no shot at denting it

a lot of customers HATED dealing with my company but they loved me and the work i DO for them
going through my old co was a "necessary evil" to get to me
add to that unpaid commissions,being promised and then being passed over for management twice by guys that were there 2 years and the other 7 months (the only reason i got passed over was to keep my wrench on the road, but how could any1 with half a brain not see that those decisions would push me out the door completely)
with that business opportunities presented themselves

i dont know what was sadder walking away from a place that i poured my soul, sweat, and blood into or walking away from all the money they owe me (get all promised commissions in writing guys, i thought i could trust these people and when you handshake with me i consider it a HUGE disrespect to go back on what was shook on)

if that guy gave me the chance i would have 180degreed that place and made it efficient, SAFE, and profitable
...

now my old boss is going around and flat out lying about me
its real sad i prob made that guy a million bucks or more in my time there

ive been chomping at the bit on some threads over the last few months (mainly those GPS and TRAVEL TIME threads i wanted to go off) cause i know my old boss looks at these forums (thanks to me lol)

FYI the name of my company is McLIFT llc (a play on my last name and irish heritage) my email if you guys need anything is
justinmclift at gmail
another reason i didnt use my own name is that theres a dealer in upstate NY (im downstate) who uses his last name which is the exact same spelling as my last name, i just foresaw legal issues with that down the road so McLIFT was born lol

again thanks for the encouragement guys
(im already making more than what i used to lol, like i always say im gonna get whats owed to me, one way or another)

I apoligize for the sales remark, as a former field tech of 30 years and now 5 years as a customer I to have a dislike for sales so I aplogize for that. Justin I wish you all the best with your new business, if you concentrate on excelling your service to your customers and have your resources in line watch your overhead I see no reason why someone can't do well as an independant. This web site is the absolute best out there for the support your asking for and going to need. You have a world wide network at your finger tips justin, I think we should all say a thank you to forkliftaction for providing us this service. With "service excellence" at the dealership level declining as it has been now for several years, most cudtomers out there are looking for something different so offer that difference, again you sound like a real "go getter" I certain you will be successful & if you need help in any way just ask.