Hello IATN, I currently work in a independent 6 bay flat rate shop as a lead technician. We have had some problems finding good technicians. I've been thinking about proposing an idea to the shop owner about letting me take a different role in the shop. As of now we have 2 other technicians besides myself, the work load is distributed evenly between the three of us. They are both good installers but lack tooling and I often get stuck with the problem diag cars. My idea is to take myself out of flat rate and get paid a percentage of gross shop hours. This way I could help them out on diag, help with quality control, implementing SOP's, make sure equipment is operational and clean, and help train them. This way we could have to production guys crank out work while I diagnosed and manage work flow. Has anyone implemented this? What are your thoughts, questions, concerns, etc.. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Ben Palasek
Technician
Veenstra's Garage
Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA