Stewart grew up in a Seattle suburb and was an active kid. When he turned 16, he got a beater $500 car and was tasked with keeping it running. He used this car to learn maintenance and slowly acquired mechanical skills. He went to college and continued to modify cars. He was living gin the dorm and didn’t have a place to do the work so he called several shops, but nobody would allow him to do the work at their shop. It was at this point that he shifted from wanting to be a surgeon to owning a DIY garage. He spent all winter break creating a business plan and researched other self-service garages to see if the idea was even feasible.
After dealing with a shady real estate broker, difficulties with city zoning, fire marshal fixes, and having to relocate with a 3-day notice, he was finally able to open his self-service garage. He has now been in business for 5 years and has signed another 5-year lease. The goal for this year is to expand and grow the business. He currently has 7 bays with lifts, provides tools and some specialty machines, and employees 4 employees to help around the shop. They keep things simple by charging a flat rate for time and not doing a la cart charges to use tools or ask questions.
162: Nathan Cicio of Cicio Performance
161: Chris Riggs from Speed by Design
160: Ben Silcock and Andre Simon return to discuss HP Academy
159: Bryan Thompson of Powerhouse Racing
158: AJ Hartman returns for an update on AJ Hartman Aero
157: Matt Beenen returns with BuiltRight Industries
156: Alejandro and Pablo Moreno of Tandem Automotive
155: Theresa Contreras and Sara Morosan of LGE-CTS Motorsports
154: Vadim Belogorodsky from CANtrolls
153: Reid Lunde returns to discuss his interconnectable relay entered in the SEMA Launch Pad Competition
152: Johnny Cichowski of Nine Lives Racing
151: Jonny Mill of WheelWell.com
150: Charlie Eklund of Hennessey's Tuner School
149: Richard Tomlin of Apex Auto Works and White Pony Dry
148: Bob Morreale of The Tuning School
147: Dave Carapetyan of Rally Ready Driving School wants to teach everybody how to drive a rally car!
146: Dan Kahn of Kahn Media started by sending articles about his car to magazine editors. Now he runs his own PR firm.
145: Joe Gambino of Rogue Fabrication couldn't find a tube bender to meet his particular needs so he went out and made one himself!
144: Colin McLemore of Mac’s Custom Tie Downs is working to become the household name for tie downs of all sorts
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Rag Company Podcast
The Big Three by Donut Media
THIS CAR POD! with Doug DeMuro & Friends!
Out of Spec Podcast
Car Stories with Sung Kang and Emelia Hartford