M&T Mobile Farm Repairs

M&T Mobile Farm Repairs 28-2-7 Door-to-door farm equipment repairs pay the bills for a father-son team near Peterborough, Ontario. Their business, M&T Mobile Farm Repairs, offers parts and service to customers within about a 45-mile radius of their home. Matt Porter and his father, Tim, have been kept very busy since they set up their business last April. "Dad is a heavy duty diesel mechanic and I have three years of fabrication experience," Matt says. In addition to farming himself, Tim Porter worked much of his life in the shop of a Massey dealership until it stopped offering tractor repairs. Tim was old enough to retire anyway, but former customers would continue to contact him for private jobs. Tim and Matt decided to make the business official so Matt quit his job at a machine shop, and the two became partners. They still farm 250 acres and have 30 head of beef cattle, but with farming the way it is, the mobile farm repair service is what pays the bills. "Since my wife also works I take our little boy with me wherever I go. He is 32 months old, and it works out great," Matt says. "I bring toys and a playpen along. He loves going to tractor stores for parts." Depending on whether they are running for parts, or needing to take along bigger equipment such as an acetylene torch, the pair use either their one-ton truck, three-quarter-ton truck or car for various aspects of their work. They usually know before heading out to a job what kind of equipment they are likely to need. For big tasks such as motor jobs, they often bring tractors back to their own shop. "We have a friend who trucks cattle for us and he also has a fifth wheel flatbed with a winch. His rates are extremely reasonable and most people know him from trucking their livestock, so that's how they often get the equipment moved to our shop," Matt says. Besides doing mechanic work, Matt handles the service inquiries and also takes care of the company bookkeeping. He says his dad is a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to mechanics, so he often gets input from him, need it or not. Most of their business comes from word of mouth, but Matt does sometimes place small ads in local magazines. The Porters attribute some of their success to the fact that they provide the option of using used parts, making repairs more affordable for their customers. The Porters charge $45 per hour for their labor, which compares to $67 per hour at the nearest shop which is two hours away. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Matt Porter, M&T Mobile Farm Repairs, 1649 Cahill Drive, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada K9K 2L8 (ph 705 932-7600 (shop); cell 705 875-0544; fax 705 742-3986; email: maporter@cogeco.ca).

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