Thank you both.
@trickydick Excellent! So hefty initial investment, plus a pain to get the payments after the work is done 
Some clarification on your last point please, if you don’t mind me asking: 750 - 1 000 a week? Errmm… how? Hand-on-heart he is excellent. The clients request him so much so he’s made himself indispensable to the employer. And he works all the God-given hours (up to 70 a week, plus when he’s on call and goes out day & night), but while working for someone else I don’t see how he could make that money. So did you mean this as on the side?
@Wheelnut - yes, R&M’s is how the idea came about. There have been service managers that specifically said they would choose his services if he were properly setup as an independent. Hence why we are looking into it. However, when you put your eggs in one (or a couple) of baskets… they pretty much got you by the eggs. Hence why I am here doing some due diligence here. Also, while they may appreciate the knowledge, talent, resourcefulness, they may still want it done on the cheap with crappy parts and money 60 days later or never.
Dealerships would take independents? Wouldn’t they have their own in-house teams?