Shop Buildouts

A shop buildout is more than dropping lifts on a slab. It's planning the bay layout, sizing the compressor, running the air lines, setting up oil delivery and waste oil collection, pouring concrete where it's needed, and pulling out whatever was there before. Every piece of equipment in the shop needs to work together — and it all needs to be right the first time.

We handle the full equipment scope: lifts, compressors, compressed air distribution, oil delivery systems, waste oil systems, bulk tanks, reels, fans, and the concrete and demolition work that ties it all together. We don't do electrical, plumbing, or HVAC — but we coordinate with your trades so everything lines up when it's time to install.

Whether you're opening a new shop from bare concrete, renovating an existing space, adding bays to a dealership, or replacing aging equipment across your facility — we plan it, source it, and install it. The owner manages every buildout personally, from the initial walkthrough to the final handoff.

Shop Layout & Planning

Before anything gets ordered or installed, we walk the space and plan the layout. Bay positioning, lift placement, compressor location, air line routing, oil system design, electrical requirements — all of it gets mapped out before we start.

This matters because a bad layout costs you every day the shop is open. Bays too close together, air drops in the wrong spot, oil lines that don't reach, a compressor that's undersized for the demand — these are problems that are expensive to fix after the fact and easy to avoid with proper planning upfront.

What planning covers:

• Bay layout: How many bays, what type of work in each, spacing for arm swing and door access, vehicle flow through the shop
• Lift selection & placement: Matching the right lift type and capacity to each bay's function. 2-post for general service, 4-post for oil change bays, alignment racks where needed, inground for high-volume or dealership lanes
• Compressor sizing: Total CFM demand across all bays and equipment, duty cycle, future expansion. Getting this wrong means the shop runs out of air on busy days
• Air distribution: Main trunk routing, drop locations, material selection (aluminum vs. black pipe), moisture control points
• Oil system layout: Tank placement, piping runs for fresh oil and waste oil, reel and meter locations at each bay
• Electrical & utility specs: We spec every circuit, voltage, amperage, and outlet location. Your electrician gets a clear list — no guesswork

Challenger Shop Blueprints

When you outfit your shop with Challenger lifts through us, we provide a professional shop blueprint with full lift layout — bay spacing, lift positioning, power unit placement, and workflow design. This is a service we offer exclusively with Challenger buildouts. It gives you a complete plan to hand to your GC, architect, or trades before construction starts.

If you're building from scratch or doing a major renovation, this blueprint is the document that ties everything together. It ensures your concrete, electrical, plumbing, and equipment all line up — and it prevents the kind of expensive change orders that happen when trades and equipment installers aren't on the same page.

Lift Installation

The backbone of any shop buildout. We install every type of automotive lift — 2-post, 4-post service, 4-post storage, alignment racks, and inground. We sell Atlas and Challenger, but we install any brand. On a buildout, we're typically installing multiple lifts across multiple bays, which means getting the slab assessment, anchoring, hydraulics, and electrical right on every single unit.

What buildout lift installs look like:

• Multi-bay coordination: When you're installing 4, 8, 12+ lifts, sequencing matters. We plan the install order around your concrete cure times, electrical availability, and bay priority
• Mixed lift types: Most shops need different lifts for different bays — 2-posts for general service, a 4-post for the oil change lane, an alignment rack, maybe an inground for the express lane. We spec and install the right mix
• Concrete work bundled: If multiple bays need pad work, we do all the concrete at once to minimize cure-time downtime
• Brand flexibility: If you're buying Challenger or Atlas through us, great — we handle equipment and install as one package. If you already have lifts or prefer another brand, we install those too

For detailed specs on each lift type, see our Lift Installation page.

Compressors & Air Systems

Every tool, every pneumatic lift, every paint booth, every blow gun in the shop runs on compressed air. Getting the compressor and air distribution right is one of the most important parts of a buildout — and one of the most commonly undersized.

Compressor Selection & Install

• Sizing: We calculate total CFM demand across every bay and every piece of air-driven equipment. Then we add headroom for peak demand and future growth. An undersized compressor means the shop runs out of air during busy hours — and that stops production
• Rotary screw vs. reciprocating: Most multi-bay shops need a rotary screw unit. Piston compressors work for smaller operations or as backup units. We'll recommend the right type and capacity
• Placement: Compressors need airflow, drainage, and access for maintenance. We spec the mechanical room requirements and coordinate placement with your GC
• Air dryers & filtration: Moisture in the air system causes problems everywhere downstream — bad paint, corroded tools, stuck valves. We install refrigerated dryers, desiccant dryers, and inline filtration as part of the system

Air Distribution

• Aluminum piping: Our preferred material for new installs. Lightweight, corrosion-free, quick-connect fittings, easy to modify later when you reconfigure bays or add equipment. No threading, no scale buildup
• Black pipe & copper: Still an option where budget or application calls for it. Black pipe for heavy industrial, copper for clean rooms and paint booths
• Main trunk & drops: Properly sized main line from compressor to shop floor, individual drops at each bay with regulators, filters, and quick-connect fittings. Overhead or wall-mount configurations
• Air reels: Retractable air hose reels at every work station. Overhead mount keeps hoses off the floor and out of the way. We install new reel drops as part of the buildout

Common Buildout Compressor Setups

For compressor service and repair details, see our Service & Repair page.

Oil Delivery & Waste Oil Systems

A lube bay or service shop that can't dispense oil efficiently is losing time on every vehicle. We install complete fresh oil delivery and waste oil collection systems — from the bulk tank to the dispensing reel at each bay, and from the drain to the waste oil tank.

Fresh Oil Delivery

• Bulk tanks: Above-ground tanks sized for your volume and space. Multi-product setups for different viscosities (5W-20, 5W-30, 0W-20, etc.) are standard in modern shops
• Piston pumps: Pneumatic piston pumps push oil from bulk tanks to dispensing points. We size the pump ratio and output for your system
• Piping: Schedule 40 black pipe or copper runs from tanks to each bay. Proper sizing prevents pressure drop at the dispensing point
• Oil reels & meters: Hose reels with preset meters at each bay. Dial in the amount, dispense, done. Overhead mount keeps hoses off the floor

Waste Oil Collection

• Drain points: Waste oil drains or evacuators at each service bay, piped to a central collection tank
• Diaphragm pumps: Air-operated diaphragm pumps move waste oil from drain points to the collection tank. We size and install based on your bay count and volume
• Waste oil tanks: Double-wall containment tanks, custom-sized for your space and volume. Required in most jurisdictions for waste oil storage
• Piping: Waste oil piping from each bay to the collection point. Gravity-fed where possible, pump-assisted where needed

For oil system service details, see our Service & Repair page.

Oil Tanks

Standard off-the-shelf tanks don't always fit real shops. Tight mechanical rooms, low ceilings, narrow alleys alongside the building — we build tanks to fit where they need to go.

• Custom fabrication: Fresh oil and waste oil tanks built to your dimensions. Single-wall or double-wall containment
• Multi-product tanks: Separate compartments for different oil viscosities in a single tank footprint
• Pump & meter integration: Tanks built with pump mounts, sight gauges, fill ports, vents, and piping connections ready for your delivery system
• Placement & installation: We handle delivery, placement, leveling, piping connections, and coordinate with your oil supplier for initial fill

For tank maintenance details, see our Service & Repair page.

Concrete & Demolition

Most buildouts start with concrete and demo work. Old equipment comes out, bad slabs get replaced, new pads get poured, and pits get cut for inground lifts. This is the foundation everything else sits on — literally.

Demolition & Removal

• Old lift removal: Decommissioning above-ground lifts, pulling inground lifts, pit abandonment. We handle the hydraulic fluid, dispose of materials properly, and coordinate with licensed haulers where required
• Slab demolition: Saw cutting and removal of existing concrete that's cracked, too thin, unreinforced, or just in the wrong place for the new layout
• Old equipment removal: Compressors, tanks, piping, reels, fans — whatever's coming out, we pull it. If it's going to scrap, we coordinate disposal

New Concrete Work

• Reinforced pads: Poured to spec for each lift — right thickness, right PSI, right rebar schedule. Every pad is sized for the specific model going on it
• Pit work: Full excavation, forming, reinforcement, and pour for inground lift pits. Dig boxes and proper shoring for any excavation at depth. OSHA-compliant, silica safety protocols on every job
• Pit abandonment: Filling and capping old inground pits when converting bays or changing lift types
• Slab repairs & upgrades: Thickening, reinforcing, or resurfacing existing floors to meet manufacturer specs for new lifts

Our crew is CDL Class A licensed (for delivery), OSHA 10 and 30 trained, silica safety certified, and experienced with the concrete scope that most equipment installers sub out. We keep it in-house.

How a Buildout Works

Every shop is different, but the process follows the same structure:

1. Walkthrough & Assessment — We walk the space with you. Existing conditions, what's staying, what's going, what you need the shop to do. Measurements, photos, utility locations.
2. Layout & Equipment Plan — We design the bay layout, select equipment, size the compressor and air system, plan the oil delivery and waste oil systems. For Challenger buildouts, this includes a professional shop blueprint. You get a complete equipment list with pricing.
3. Trade Coordination — We provide your electrician, plumber, and HVAC contractor with exact specs: circuit locations, voltage/amperage, drain locations, ventilation requirements. No guesswork for your trades.
4. Demo & Concrete — Old equipment comes out first. Then concrete: slab demo where needed, new pads poured, pits cut for inground lifts. Concrete cures before we install anything on it.
5. Equipment Installation — Lifts go in first (they're anchored to the slab). Then compressor and air distribution. Then oil systems and tanks. Then reels, drops, fans, and finishing touches. Sequenced so trades aren't stepping on each other.
6. Testing & Handoff — Every lift gets cycled and tested. Air system pressure-tested. Oil system flow-tested. We walk you through operation, maintenance schedules, and documentation for everything installed.

Who We Build Out

We work with independent shop owners, dealerships, fleet operations, quick lube chains, body shops, and tire shops. New construction and existing spaces. A few examples of what buildouts look like: