Today we’d like to introduce you to Jesse Strege.
Hi Jesse, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Surprisingly, as a child I had very little interest in old cars. That changed when I got my driver’s license and the vehicle my parents had for me to drive around in was a 1991 VW Fox station wagon. To say the least I didn’t feel very cool in it. A cousin of mine talked me into trying to find an old car to fix up. Another cousin gave me a 1980 Camaro he had parked out in the weeds. My dad and I drug the Camaro back home and I began fixing on it. Though I had no idea what I was doing my dad and friends were quick to help out when I needed it. A year later I was driving the Camaro to school and continued tinkering on it off and on. That project lit a fire in me and I have never been without an old car project since.
A few years after graduation I finished a deployment to Iraq. I had acquired a 1967 Camaro that I was told had been wrapped around a tree. Repairing it at the time was far beyond my capabilities. I stopped into a body shop one day to ask about getting the ’67 fixed. The shop owner was extremely rude and bragged about being one of the few places in the area that would touch an old car. He informed me my only other option was to get a student at a tech college to do it. That night I decided leave the university I had been at for two years and attend an autobody program at a technical college under the condition that I’d be allowed to work on my ’67 Camaro there. That fall I drug the Camaro into the college and spent three out of four semesters restoring the body and painting it. When the Camaro was almost done a man came into the shop looking to hire a student to restore some cars for him. Fortunately I had just bought a house with an old hog barn I’d been converting to a “shop”. He brought me his first vehicle and before too long word got around that I was restoring cars. Within months I had three projects in the shop and hired a classmate to help me out.
Three years passed by fixing cars in the old hog barn before I moved to the Brainerd area. My father-in-law was kind enough to rent me half his pole shed. I spent some long nights with him building a shop while simultaneously working out of it. The move down here was a small hiccup but once word got around again the business started to grow rapidly. Before too long I had six employees and had outgrown the pole shed. After seven happy years there we moved into our current shop which I designed and had built. The Cass County Economic Development Corporation was key to me being able to get into the current building. I talked with a consultant there and he helped me through the tedious process of getting an SBA loan. COVID was happening while I was building the shop so there was a lot of uncertainties for me at the time, but my faith kept me pursuing the dream. Once again, a small hiccup was preceded by a rapid growth of the business. I now have 10 employees and I am hoping to expand yet again in the future.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Struggles are always a factor. In the beginning the biggest struggles were financial. Air compressors, paint guns, tools and materials were more money than I had. I used to buy sandpaper to do body work by the sheet because I couldn’t afford the box. I bought a lot of used equipment and tools. The hog barn had no heat when I moved to the property, so we set up an old wood furnace with an oscillating fan on the wall behind it. The moisture in the lines would freeze our air tools in the winter so we’d keep an extra set on the furnace and rotate them out. My first shop was 45 minutes from the nearest parts store. Anytime we were short on supplies I lost an hour and half plus gas to go get stuff I honestly couldn’t afford. At one point we were down to just one project with nothing else lined up. I told my one employee at the time perhaps he should start looking for a job somewhere else. His dad graciously brought in an old car to have us do some work on and in that time more jobs trickled in. Moving the shop 3 1/2 hours away was no small task. The beginning of the first summer down in the Brainerd area we had no insulation, just steel walls. The heat was pretty much unbearable to work in.
Other struggles were learning ones. When I started the business, I didn’t know how to use excel or QuickBooks and my records keeping was extremely primitive. Knowing the ins and outs of proper business practices took a lot of time and learning. College autobody can only teach a person so much, essentially the basics. When we ran into technical issues the best we could do was call around for opinions or figure it out. As the years have passed by those phone calls became less frequent if not completely gone.
The biggest hurdles to face are the unpredictable ones. COVID made it a real challenge to get parts needed for these cars. One example was waiting six months to get a steering box for a car. Trying to keep workflow happening for the employees with hold ups on parts was interesting. Building the shop during COVID was a financial shock. Garage doors were double the initial quote by the time I ordered them. I had five employees depart for various reasons within a year. Navigating that was interesting and I am glad to say three have returned.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Hot Rod Ridge specializes in vehicle restoration. We started out just doing body work and as the business grew and employees came in, we opened that up to full frame off restorations. This means we can take a car that’s been sitting in a field since grandpa was t-boned in it 60 years ago and get it back on the road again either in original conditions or built with modern day technology such as fuel injection, independent suspension, air conditioning, handsfree audio systems etc. Really the sky is the limit. We only work on old vehicles. There are some collision shops that will take on a restoration here or there. Some have it figured out but a lot will make very slow progress on the restorations as insurance work typically pays more and are on a time crunch thus leaving the restoration job unattended. We do take on insurance jobs as long as the vehicle is old enough. For the most part we don’t currently take in too many vehicles newer than 1981. Every now and then one will slip in from the later 80’s depending on what they are after. Long story short, if a customer’s vehicle is here and they are wanting it to get worked on, it’s getting worked on. We have had over 280 vehicles pass through the shop of which around 100 received full paint jobs. We do our best to photograph and post photos of progress on each vehicle. Customers are heavily involved in all the decision making. We want the customers to know where the money is going. The number of vehicles that come here from other shops who’ve let the customers down is staggering. Hearing what the customers didn’t like about the previous shops gives me good insight into making sure we don’t repeat their mistakes. Communication seems to be key. Most every customer has my business cell number so they can call or text at any point with updates or questions. I am constantly striving to figure out how to make the shop better for customers, employees and myself. I am a realist and I know there is no such thing as perfection, but I, with the help of my employees, will continue to do my best to build things that mimic perfection.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
I’ve been told the average hot rod shop lasts only three years. When I was asked before how I got past those three years I responded by quoting something I’d read once. “In order for a business to succeed it requires all these together, faith, hard work, determination, help, luck and smarts.” Although I believe this to be true, I’d say all you really need is faith and God provides the rest. There have been plenty of times my worry told me this would never work. But something deep inside me (my calling) told me to push onward even when my mind and even those around me questioned my decisions. It’s always easier to quit and take the safe route. If success came easy businesses as we know it wouldn’t be able to exist. If someone isn’t willing to go five years without turning a profit or go 10 years before they start reaping any rewards, then I’d warn against starting a business from scratch.
Contact Info:
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HotRodRidge
