my first lift was a clark 60's era 2k lbs. $600 bought with a blown head gasket, replaced water with used oil and its still smoking now 5yrs later. gave it to a good friend who helped me grow to where i am now.
second lift i still own and use. hyster 8k lift. s70 or somthing like that. 70'era slant 6 i think. used hard for 3ish yrs, and now mostly sits until i need the extra lift capacity. paid nothing, a buddy gave $300 for it and i let him make firepits out of old propane tanks to sell at my shop in exchange. allot of his sales turn into more work for me so its beneficial for all.
the new hot shit i got about a year ago off of fb mrkt place. $2400. raymond reach fork 24v. gets used all day everyday. 3k lbs lift, to 17' height. the stand up turn on a dime aspect effectivly made the space double.
off road lifts around here are gold and priced as such. but that will be my next purchase... or a press brake. whatever deal comes up at the right time.
first shop like i said was 24x30 and had the same size pad out. current place i've been in for 2yrs. its 50x80 with a 60x 100 concrete pad out front. i literally went from cc debt, payments, working for a boss... to my own show, debt free, kids, stay at home wife, toys etc etc... in 5yrs.
it started with a cnc plas table and a forklift. everything else has got bigger but its still at its core a cnc table and forklift, but now i also have a reputation in the area. (of course i've added welders and an ellis bandsaw) never had a business card or advertised.
looking back if i where starting again i would focus on being efficient... forklift, plate/ sheet rack etc. cnc and lift where/are the definite start and backbone, but when i started getting material at half the cost the weekend warriors could locally and delivered it went to a whole new level.
i followed a bit of your stuff back on pbb, and you have way more talent than i especially with the cnc stuff. if you want it to be a full time gig it'll happen even out of the first shop i made way more money than i ever did working for someone else. but it wasn't doing roll cages or working on jeeps... get in with the people that need heavy weld and fab now that you have the cnc build your own excavator buckets-that will get the right peoples attention.
View attachment sH2EWg11Ot9zWv5C6VRPr6ukistr-4nZXfmsZoyDFIJMhot-eDbTNBSfBFh7jv4232UxghwR_QFLitkgwprBBxqd45-R1G1WLcD_
