Auto Body Hawaii embarks on building a new shop with an ocean view
The new shop’s foundation was made level with the help of laser technology.
A construction crew beats the Hawaii heat by laying a new foundation for a second Auto Body Hawaii location during nighttime hours.In this three-part series, ABRN will follow Auto Body Hawaii through the construction process and report on the challenges that expansion can sometimes present. This is the first piece in the series of articles.
Every shop owner at some point dreams of building a larger shop with custom amenities. Whether this dream becomes a reality comes down to planning, investing, and in some instances, a little bit of good fortune. Such was the case with Auto Body Hawaii shop technician and owner March Taylor. With more than 30 years of experience in the collision repair industry, Taylor has not only mastered the technical aspects of the repair process, but has also begun to purchase property as a business strategy. In 1999, Auto Body Hawaii, which is based in Kona-Kailua, Hawaii, acquired a 1-acre lot located across the street from local Costco and Home Depot stores, a high-traffic shopping area. “At that time we did not have intentions of building or moving to that location,” Taylor says. “The 1-acre parcel is the same size lot that we presently have. So it was an investment opportunity; hold the land for a while and resell it at a profit.” A few months later, a 1.2-acre lot adjacent to the land Taylor had just purchased came up for sale, and he snapped it up.
By that time, plans for building a new shop seemed more feasible. But the acreage Taylor had just acquired would present a unique problem: The two lots were raw, ungraded land that had a 12-ft. elevation difference from one end to the other. To make the parcel suitable for building, Taylor would need to conduct a mass excavation that would consist of removing 3,200 cu. yds. of solid volcanic rock.But Auto Body Hawaii’s need for a larger building overrode the construction challenges that lay ahead. The shop’s existing acre parcel, with the inclusion of the 20,000-sq. ft. building, did not offer the customer parking and vehicle storage area that could meet the shop’s increasing productivity demands. “In a nutshell, our production space was sufficient but our limited parking was creating an inconvenience for our customers,” Taylor says, so he forged on with expansion plans.Still, every expansion project is a financial gamble. Despite some unpredictable factors, Taylor thinks there will be enough business on the island of Hawaii to support the new, larger facility. “Our new mortgage will be twice what we have been paying, prior to paying off our loan on our existing facility,” he explains. “West Hawaii [Kona] is a growing community, although very dependent on tourism, which can be cyclical. But we feel confident that we will be able to increase our sales to cover the added increase in costs.” He has also initiated the hiring process, having already added two estimators, and is expanding the shop’s technician base. As for the blueprints, the facility will have 36,000 sq. ft. of working area, including a 4,000-sq. ft. office. The paint shop will be equipped with two variable frequency drive (VFD) paint booths, each 33 ft. long. It will also feature a prep station with a parts conveyor system for delivering parts.During the estimating process, customers will be able to take advantage of covered parking under a 2,000-sq. ft. drive-through parking canopy with what Taylor describes as a “very wide, user-friendly entrance” from the county roadway.And perhaps another customer perk is the unobstructed view the shop has of the ocean shoreline, as well as the constant cool ocean breeze. “This site actually has a better view than most of the homes in Hawaii,” Taylor adds.
Every shop owner at some point dreams of building a larger shop with custom amenities. Whether this dream becomes a reality comes down to planning, investing, and in some instances, a little bit of good fortune. Such was the case with Auto Body Hawaii shop technician and owner March Taylor. With more than 30 years of experience in the collision repair industry, Taylor has not only mastered the technical aspects of the repair process, but has also begun to purchase property as a business strategy. In 1999, Auto Body Hawaii, which is based in Kona-Kailua, Hawaii, acquired a 1-acre lot located across the street from local Costco and Home Depot stores, a high-traffic shopping area. “At that time we did not have intentions of building or moving to that location,” Taylor says. “The 1-acre parcel is the same size lot that we presently have. So it was an investment opportunity; hold the land for a while and resell it at a profit.” A few months later, a 1.2-acre lot adjacent to the land Taylor had just purchased came up for sale, and he snapped it up.
By that time, plans for building a new shop seemed more feasible. But the acreage Taylor had just acquired would present a unique problem: The two lots were raw, ungraded land that had a 12-ft. elevation difference from one end to the other. To make the parcel suitable for building, Taylor would need to conduct a mass excavation that would consist of removing 3,200 cu. yds. of solid volcanic rock.But Auto Body Hawaii’s need for a larger building overrode the construction challenges that lay ahead. The shop’s existing acre parcel, with the inclusion of the 20,000-sq. ft. building, did not offer the customer parking and vehicle storage area that could meet the shop’s increasing productivity demands. “In a nutshell, our production space was sufficient but our limited parking was creating an inconvenience for our customers,” Taylor says, so he forged on with expansion plans.Still, every expansion project is a financial gamble. Despite some unpredictable factors, Taylor thinks there will be enough business on the island of Hawaii to support the new, larger facility. “Our new mortgage will be twice what we have been paying, prior to paying off our loan on our existing facility,” he explains. “West Hawaii [Kona] is a growing community, although very dependent on tourism, which can be cyclical. But we feel confident that we will be able to increase our sales to cover the added increase in costs.” He has also initiated the hiring process, having already added two estimators, and is expanding the shop’s technician base. As for the blueprints, the facility will have 36,000 sq. ft. of working area, including a 4,000-sq. ft. office. The paint shop will be equipped with two variable frequency drive (VFD) paint booths, each 33 ft. long. It will also feature a prep station with a parts conveyor system for delivering parts.During the estimating process, customers will be able to take advantage of covered parking under a 2,000-sq. ft. drive-through parking canopy with what Taylor describes as a “very wide, user-friendly entrance” from the county roadway.And perhaps another customer perk is the unobstructed view the shop has of the ocean shoreline, as well as the constant cool ocean breeze. “This site actually has a better view than most of the homes in Hawaii,” Taylor adds.