ULTIMATE SIDE HUSTLE General Aviation Maintenance Side Business | Costs, Rates & Work-Life Balance
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 มิ.ย. 2024
- Earning Potential in General Aviation Maintenance as a Side Business | Costs, Rates & Work-Life Balance
How much money can you really make doing general aviation maintenance as a side business? In this video, I dive deep into the financial aspects of running a side hustle in aviation maintenance. Discover a realistic labor rate, explore the costs involved like aircraft manual subscriptions, tool calibration, and insurance, and evaluate the work-life balance.
Is it the ultimate side hustle or just a lot of extra work? I share my experiences and insights to help you understand whether this venture is worth pursuing. From setting competitive rates to managing expenses and balancing your time, this video covers everything you need to know about making money in general aviation maintenance on the side.
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Cool video, about to start working my first airline job and will definitely keep this in mind when I get IA
Great video! Thanks for covering this topic.
Glad you liked it!
Thanks Bryce! I am hoping to take my A&P test in December. Your information here is exactly what I had in mind, not going to replace my income, but something I can do as a side hustle for now and hopefully when I retire from the corporate grind in 5 years or so, I can transition into part time work... maybe even earn I/A... but that is a long way away. Again, your videos are very informative and show us what to expect.. even the 100+ heat here in Texas 🙂
Now that I am older and wiser, I suggest buying a cheap Porta cool to combat the heat. I wish the best for you. GA is really starting to hurt for mechanics we need as many as we can get
I am preparing to retire from the military and am looking deeply into GA maintenance. I hope to have my 8610-2 by the end of this month with my A&P by the end of the year. I hope to find a good company to work with for a few years until I can get my IA. It would be nice to be a quality mechanic that people trust to turn too. I also hope to make it my full time job, post military career.
With how bad GA is needing mechanics, there will definitely be work out there.
Good times hangin’ with you.
Thank you
Another excellent video Bryce!! I’ve been reading the comments and some people think that an IA must have liability insurance inorder to do their job. Where is this confusion coming from?
I think it's more from the requirements of certain states. I know in California you must carry workers comp insurance even if you only have 1 employee. To my knowledge, there is no state that requires liability insurance for a sole proprietor/operator. On a side note the insurance industry has done an incredible job of convincing the people that they must have insurance of face certain bankruptcy in the event of even the smallest accident.
If you can work it out with your clients who don’t fly often you can get them to stagger their annuals and have them come due in different months.
Most the time they do, it just so happens this year I took on a new client who uses his aircraft for flight training and they all end up being due in June July and August
Great video! Any advice for a middle age man with a family on how to go about getting an a/p license
Depends allot on your situation. A 147 program is the fastest but will require your devotion to it full time, which makes keeping a job very difficult. The other way is to try and get a job without the A&P and then after 30 months apply to take the test and self study for it or go to a prep course/ crash course.
Thanks Bryce! Can you comment on how you went from A&P to A&P IA?
I actually talked a bit about it in my last video but the short of it is. When I worked at the FBO the IA I worked with was offered a much better job in the training department of a 135 so he left. Him and I still stay in touch and I have helped him on several of his projects. I digress after he left I realized I needed to get my IA to take over his position as Shop Lead/ DOM. I tried to self study for the test but it was daunting so I ended up going to Bakers School Of Aeronautics in Tennessee. I will probably make a whole video on it tbh because the whole story was full of treachery I actually ended up getting in my first and only car accident the day I went to the FSDO.
@@brycebuildsit Ooohh...treachery. Looking forward to that video!
Don't forget you still have to give the government their cut. Working for yourself you will pay 12.4% Social Security tax and 2.9% Medicare tax. Thats 15.4% of your income right off the top. Next you have to pay Federal and in some cases State income tax that is based on your total income from your full time job and your side hustle.
That 1st year you pay taxes when you're self employed is a shocker. You find out how much your employer pays taxes for you. When you start to fund your own insurance and retirement that can be an eye opener too.
Don't get me wrong, I love being self employed, but it's not all roses.
I am thinking about doing a video on just the challenges of it. One, I'm sure you are familiar with, is sitting there with nothing to do for several weeks. Then the moment I have something planned with the family everyone needs something and they need it done yesterday
Do you charge under the table? Or have you established an actual business license for your side hustle?
Yes, everything is above board. I'll be honest when I first started out helping my buddy, and he'd pay me a few hundred here and there. I didn't worry too much about it. However once I took on my own clients I knew I had to be legitimate
Legally you're supposed to have the most current version of the aircraft maintenance manual to perform the maintenance on the aircraft. Liability insurance if anything goes wrong is also super expensive. Sadly those two items can eat up all of your profit if it's just a side hustle
The manuals will eat your profits very fast. I always suggest ATP HUB but depending on how many manuals you need it can eat all of your profits. I have been very lucky in the most of my clients keep a current manual for their aircraft, some of the others are available from the manufacturer for free, but to your point, yes. Also liability insurance is not required in texas and I was quoted 15k for a 1,000,000 dollar policy.
@@brycebuildsit Yea sad but true. Plus parts are so expensive now. If you crack an old sun baked interior panel or drop a part and the owner wants you to pay for it, you might as well just done Uber eats for the year lol
How much did it cost you to get to the point you were A&P certified and I A certified so you could work your tail off on the side?
Depends on the route you go. Some 147 schools cost as much as 45k. Others that are community colleges 15k. You can also take a job at a GA FBO and go the 30-month practical experience route. As far as the IA, I went to a crash course after I met my 3 year requirement that cost 1,400 for everything. Not saying that this is a great side business for anyone, but if you are already an A&P and work at like an engine shop or something, you could branch into it for a little extra cash.
$100 an hr seems kinda low. Labor rate for an auto tech in central FL is around $125 and that was about 3 yrs ago before covid
I agree, but that's what all the shops around me charge. Right after I published this video.My buddy, who lives in scottsdale arizona, called me and told me that's the reason he missed texas. He asked a shop there.How much to work on his Mooney, and they said 150 an hour. In the same breath I have a friend who's an IA who charged sixty dollars an hour for years until I convinced him to go up on his rate.
Hello. Im 16 and a senior at high school. I'd like to get my A&P from a school. Im confused though on 3 ways to go about life after my A&P. I want to get a job at a small airline for a year then enlist in the marines/army to work on their aircraft and build up experience from both then work at a major airline. Not sure if thats possible or viable at all.
I think it might be best to get your A&P first, obviously. Then join the Marines. I don't know if you plan on doing 2, 5, or 10 years but make sure you go into aircraft maintenance. Then when you go to a major airline you have that service on your resume. Just my 2 cents but I'll say this you have a much better plan then most guys your age. Go after with intensity and you'll be sitting pretty by age 26
@@brycebuildsit thank you. I always have a mindset to be ahead of life even in the most minimal things. But something major like this I've been thinking of for a while. I got another question though. How long do A&Ps take to get at a school? What is the price for a A&P school? I know a community college that offers a A&P but is it free or how expensive does it get?
At a community college, it can be as little as 12 to 15k after pel grants you could be done for almost nothing out of pocket. Some private schools are 45k.
Time-line can be anywhere from 19 months to an accelerated 12-month program.
@@brycebuildsit and what age can I start learning? Like how old do I need to be to get into the A&P school? I graduate at 17.
You fogrot some HUGE expenses like liability insurance, taxes, and as an IA 'side job' you need (per the FAA) ALL the tools required to perform your job.... that's also thousands of dollars in tools. And you cal program must be documented, and you need A&D research...... side jobs are doable but you really, really really sugar coated it.
In texas, you do not have to carry insurance (not saying that's a great idea, but many guys i know don't have a policy) As far as taxes go with deductions and expenses I'm not paying a crazy amount. You are right. Tools are expensive but total, including my jacks I've only spent about 2.5k but that's a one time cost (that obviously doesn't include everything like wrenches just the stuff necessary for an annual) The calibration every year runs me about $600. AD research is free on the faa website, just a pain to use. The most expensive thing is a subscription for manuals. I've been very lucky in that all of my clients keep current manuals for their planes and even more lucky the ones that don't are available from the manufacturer.
Since when do IAs have to have liability insurance? You sir are clearly still learning.
My last comment was intended for the original comment. Not towards Bryce.
For real. Need hangar space I would think
@@brucekeller5259 You don't have to have a hanger. I know a few guys who just keep their tools at home and work off the tailgate. To that point though depends on where you are. I can get a hanger for about 400 a month, my buddy in Scottsdale pays 1k a month for a shared hanger and a private hanger is easily 2k
hey man they make gloves and bearing packers
That wouldn't be any fun, though... truthfully, my packer had aeroshell 5 in it that I'm going to use on a different plane and I just didn't feel like going to get gloves to pack a few bearings by hand
@@brycebuildsit continue exposure over your life can cause problems so be safe.
099bmac your family voted for Obama and Biden and are still glad they did so. Why r u even on this channel. You clearly don’t have the balls to be a mechanic if you’re afraid of a little grease.
You make more flying the plane. LOL
This is painfully true, new idea be a CFI and an IA. That would be the gravy train on biscuit wheels
You also make more being a surgeon though.