![]() ![]() My reasoning for scheduling only one car per day on the dyno is so I can have all day to make sure the car is perfect or as close to perfect as one could be. Some people say I'm high and some people say I'm cheap, it's all relative to what the customer previously was used to paying. ![]() Some of the larger shops that do all inclusive installs/tuning get more money due to the popularity of their services. I make enough living to be comfortable but I do this by keeping my overhead down so that there is meat left on the bone for putting food on the table and paying my bills. We also make decent money doing mail order tunes for those more common setups that work for the customers budget. My day to day work consists of tuning one car on the dyno per day and when needed support email/mobile tuning for some other shops around the US. After I got quite a bit of customer base built up and a name built for myself I quit the factory job and tune full time now. I started off working a swing shift factory job and tuning on my days off. It's just MY opinion, but I wouldn't want to base my living on breaking the law day in and day out. So let's be honest, that leaves at least 90% of the tuning work being done ending up on smog controlled street driven cars. How many of you guys are tuning dedicated race cars? I'm betting it's less than 5% of the total. That's a big reason why I'll only really work for race teams, there's no smog law issues. For about 90% of your customers, you're going to be doing something that's illegal. ![]() There is one other tiny little factor in doing tuning work for a living. Even if I was in the top pay category as a "tuner", I honestly wouldn't bother for that kind of money around here.) It would take about 4 of those incomes to buy a house here. I noticed that nobody is in the $75k and up category in the poll. (BTW, "making a living" is VERY different in different parts of the country. I considered doing that instead of my dealership job too, but again it's not the greatest way to make a living. They have deeper pockets than most private parties and realize that tuning is often an ongoing process, especially with track cars. The most profitable tuning work I've done is for race teams. I have to say that at least 50% of the people I've worked with on their tunes are still friends to this day that text and email me about everything, and it's mostly NOT tuning issues. I've had guys that I've turned down before litterally hand me an envelope full of 100's to PLEASE tune their cars! Since it's not my real job, I've done a pretty good job of picking and choosing who I work with. I've never put out my shingle as a professional tuner (and never will), but I've had my arm twisted to do work for many people over the years. Too many F'd up builds, too many guys who want it perfect but don't want to pay, too many guys that change things after you're done and then blow their engines and blame you, and WAY too much support expected long after the initial work is finished. In my opinion, it's a crappy way to make a living. ![]()
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