Can I run a small engine repair shop out of my garage?

If you're the person in the family who can make a mower start, you already have customers — you're just not charging them. The gap between that and a shop is smaller than it looks: a bench, a parts account, a way to take a card, and a name on the door.

What to check before you hang a sign: your town's home-occupation and zoning rules (customer traffic, parked equipment, what can sit outside), and how you'll handle waste — old fuel, oil and batteries have their own disposal rules and the county's the one to ask. One call to the county planning office answers most of it.

The business side is the part people skip, and it's why so many garage mechanics stay broke and busy: write the ticket, quote before you turn a wrench, take a deposit on parts, and have a place people can find you at 9pm. Spring is a rush — the shop that survives it has a booking page, not a notebook.

Builders, not lawyers — zoning and waste rules are a local call, and worth making before you buy a lift.