Shop Name: Tech One Automotive
Owner(s): Daniel Wisian
Location (city, state): Austin, Texas
Staff Size: 18
Shop Size (in square feet): 11,000 (three buildings)
Number of Bays: 15
Average Monthly Car Count: 675
Annual Revenue ($): $4.1 million
Few shop owners can say that the space they occupy used to be owned by Tesla, but Daniel Wisian of Tech One Automotive in Austin, Texas, can. His shop campus is made of three separate buildings, one of which was leased by the electric vehicle automaker.
“When they first moved in, they outgrew it within a couple of months,” recalls Wisian, who opened the shop in 1999. “They stayed there for just about two or three years.”
It bodes well, as he works on hybrids and is planning to service ADAS and electric vehicles in the future.
“We've got about three techs that are very well educated on hybrids, and we will definitely be getting into ADAS soon,” Wisian says. “And we’ll eventually get into electric cars.”
Campus Tour
Wisian is in the throes of an external renovation to beautify the shop’s three buildings, starting with the repainting and landscaping of building one. One area he’s having to be most intentional about is parking. The city of Austin has an initiative aimed at improving accessibility along the street where Tech One operates. This will affect the shop’s parking.
“I'm going to hire a full-time lot attendant to move cars. We're going to be parking on the side streets and there's a big, empty parking lot across the street,” says Wisian.
The waiting room is also being renovated to provide more space for customers and service advisors.
“The waiting area was one big open space between the customers and the service advisors, and we created a separate space for both of them. The new area’s got a door and will have one couch and six or eight nice chairs and a TV,” Wisian says.
That leaves his three buildings. Here’s what’s in each:
- Building One: Wisian has his two lube techs and three other technicians working from the first building. "We keep it really as clean as possible just because we do have customers walking through there,” he says.
- Building Two: In this building, Wisian has his Hunter alignment rack and some top-flight equipment.
- Building Three: "This one is my Taj Mahal," He says. The shop has four tall ceilings and newly added air conditioning.
