Ask the trade: How much do you invest in your workshop and staff training annually?
This week we have been speaking with five UK bicycle retailers on the topic of the workshop; covering everything from pricing to staff salaries. In today’s opinion round up we tackle investment in tooling and training. CI.N would welcome your thoughts on the necessary annual investment in the workshop, so if you’ve something to share, just hit the comments at the base of this article.
How much investment from training to tooling has gone into your workshop?
Roman Magula, London Green Cycles
A guess would place our investment at around £1,000 per annum on workshop tooling and furniture, excluding the initial setup cost.
Alan Shaw, Garage Bikes
Without being flippant, all of our investment. Our youngest mechanic has just finished her Cytech 2 and our senior mechanic is just starting Cytech 3. Most months we’re refreshing spanners/allen keys or having to buy something or other. I’m quite guilty of ‘tool tart syndrome,’ I’ll almost always buy a tool to make the job easier, if it exists. Last year we surrendered a large chunk of retail space to put our second workshop in. This one is open plan just like the original one.
Howard Wagstaff, Pedal and Spoke
Not a huge amount as servicing isn’t a big percentage of our revenue. We have Santa Cruz tools and that’s mainly it.
David Lucas, Bike Spanner
It’s hard to be precise as the tools are built up over the years and being in Northern Ireland we don’t have easy access to the recognised training courses. We’re insured for £15k of workshop equipment which I think would cover a complete refit if the place burned down.
Neil Holman, George Halls Cycle Centre
Being in a commuter heavy small market town we get to see lots of different brands. If I had to put a price on it, I would say our average yearly spend on new tools has to be between £200 and £1,000.
As for training, we now watch YouTube videos, but having said that we are taking on an ATG apprentice again, so that is £1,000 up front, plus the kid’s wages.