STREET TO SAND: OFF ROAD AND PERFORMANCE
RENO, NV (March 5) – Street to Sand Off Road is another local shop doing custom work in addition to the regular maintenance and repair work on cars.
Shop owner Dustin Mileham stands by a Firebird that really is a Corvette under the body work.
“We started 11 years ago in 2007,” owner Dustin Mileham said. “My dad and I were sitting around Bully’s one night drinking beer. I was mad at another shop working on my truck. So we decided to start our own shop, trying to get people a little better quality in town.”
He and his father picked the business name due to what people do in this area.
“We named the shop Street to Sand because we figured, a lot of people in town have the classics like a Hot August Night Cars then they’ve got off road trucks. They go Jeeping, UTV’s, hunting so they can bring everything to one shop and deal with one person instead of going to have to go to five different shops in town to get one thing worked on. That’s kind of where that name came from,” he said.
Mileham added there are some unexpected responses to the name. Including the person that called and askedfor gravel and pool sand. He admitted its comical sometimes.
Asked about the challenge he faced when starting the business Mileham answered with two words, “customer base.”
“There are lot of shops in this town that do what we do and it’s a small town so there’s a lot of competition, a lot of choices. So making us different, making us stand out from all the other shops was kind of a challenge,” he said. “Being family owned and operated was probably one of the most important things that made us different from everybody else.”
Oddly enough the economic meltdown in 2008, a year after the shop was created really didn’t hurt the business.
“It actually wasn’t bad because we didn’t have anywhere else to go but up,” he said. “We had never been on top and dropped like a of shops did because of the economy. Our business has grown 10 to 15% every year since the day we opened. So I’ve never seen a downfall.”
The shop offers a variety of services although there are some areas they focus on.
A truck that was being worked on at Street to Sand.
“Mostly high performance engine builds, suspension, we do a lot of lifting for trucks , wheels and tire combinations but I do have certain customers that bring their wife’s vehicles to me for brake changes,” he said. “We’re not Jiffy Lube but we’re not a full out race shop, we’re kind of fill the gap in the middle.”
As a result the shop works on Corvettes, Mustangs, Dodge Vipers. They also do full on engine builds, transmissions as well as cages for NHRA certification.
A Corvette getting an engine rebuild and other things at Street to Sand.
When asked about the balance between types of work he said, “I’d say 25% of what we do is routine maintenance and 75% is custom.
On the custom side he pointed to a 1960 Pontiac Bonneville that was in the show room area. The paint, which is 29-years old, was in the process of being restored.
Josh Martin is busy restoring the 29-year-old paint on a 1960 Bonneville in the shop’s showroom.
He added that isn’t the car you’d drop off at Jiffy Lube or Meineke to have work done on it. Sitting close by was a Firebird that’s a bit different from the those seen on the street..
“I bought it brand new, we have done everything you can possibly think to that car,” he said. “It’s basically a brand new Corvette with a Firebird body. Engine, transmission, suspension, cage, all the interior has been redone, it’s all modern digital dash, electronics, 4-link rear end. Nothing’s been left stock on that car except the body.”
He said it can be used to go to the grocery store, he’ll cruise with it at Hot August Nights and the car can make a road trip to Las Vegas a bit quicker than normal.
Any small business faces challenges in the normal course of events and one is competition.
“There’s a lot more shops opening up cheaper than us,” Mileham said. And a lot of people are on a budget as times are hard right now. So getting new customers to come in an convincing them that, ‘yea we might cost a little more but we stand behind our work.’ If you have a problem with it, I’ll take care of it as it’s my reputation on the line and it’s my parent’s reputation on the line.
“It seems like every week there is a new shop opening and every week there’s a shop closing. So we’re just trying to stay on top of the game and keep people happy.”
At first Mileham used radio, TV and paid advertising to being attention to the business. But it didn’t work out as expected.
“For the cost it didn’t seem like anything paid off as well as word of mouth and getting involved with the car clubs. Wheels and Deals is actually pretty good as it gets around a lot of small cities. And then social media, as once that came up, it’s huge,” he said. “Everybody’s got a smart phone so they can type in right from their phone, wherever they’re at to get reviews on people’s work and pictures.”
Another problem faced by many businesses is finding qualified workers, especially those that want to be in the automotive field.
“It’s really tough these days because you get taught a lot in school but there’s not a lot of actual hands on. And then you get out of school and have a lot of debt,” he said.
Complicating things is the fact that many school districts apparently have stopped offering auto shop classes. That’s where students can find out if they have a talent for mechanics, which they could pursue as a career.
“I would love to expand but the challenges with that is finding good quality certified mechanics that will work on cars to our quality,” he said. “I can’t let anything leave this shop without my approval, without my hands and my eyes on it. And if I have 10 mechanics that’s just more baby sitting I’ve go to do. So finding the guys that meet what we want to do and accomplish here that’s a challenge.”
Mileham did have some suggestions for those that don’t have the training and want to work in the field.
“I would just try and find a small family shop like mine because we’re a little more relaxed, fun to work with and just come in as an entry level. I’ve got people that come in and just sweep my floors because they want to be around the automotive industry. Kids that are high school, a couple of hours a weekend and get their hands dirty,” he said.
He suggested starting at the bottom because reading about something or working on a bench is different than being in a shop where the boss is asking when a project will be completed. Another point he made is that people need to be open to new ways of doing things.
“You’ve got to be open to new ways. Just because you were taught one way doesn’t mean it’s the correct way. You’re going to have to take everybody’s advice and figure your own way to do it,” he said. “The way my dad worked on a car in the 50’s and 60’s is way different than I do it today. So him and I butted heads but we always figure out the best way to get it done.”
While the field is open to both men and women he added that in 10 years only one woman approached him for a job. Sadly, while she had an impressive resume it was for motorcycles and he needed a person qualified working with V-8’s and Diesels.
Right now, with the business continuing to grow he’s thinking of moving to a larger facility, one that meets his needs but with the economy that has become another challenge.
“With all these bigger companies moving here prices for rent or even buying a building have shot through the roof. We bought this building in ’06 and the property values right now are outrageous,” he said.
Despite this he’s very optimistic about the future in this area. And he feels his shop is in the right place as our area grows.
“There are so many people moving here this city has got to grow. There’s going to be more people moving here that have the money, and will spend it. This is fun money,” he said. “What we do here isn’t a dealer, they don’t have to have their cars fixed.
Here Mileham stands on the shop’s Dynamometer that’s helps find tune motors.
“Usually when they come in here they want to make them faster, they want to make them lifter, higher, so this is the fun money. And the more people that move here that have hobbies, that go racing, go hunting, go off roading, that helps my business.”
As a result he’s optimistic about the future.
“It’s great living here, working here, I’ve met a lot of great people through cars, had some good times.
Those wishing further information can either call their number; 775-327-4400 or go to the website, www.streettosand.com. The business is located at 335 Kietzke Land in Reno.
The website is being improved and should be up shortly.
Street to Sand store front at 335 Kietzke Lane in Reno.
OTHER RACING NEWS:
- NASCAR’s top three series visited Las Vegas Motor Speedway this week. When the checkered waved on Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup event Kyle Busch ended up second after starting 13th while older brother Kurt started third but a wreck dropped him to 35th at the end.
In Friday’s Camping World Truck series event Kyle Busch started on pole and won the race.
• This reporter will be on Teresa’s Garage Radio Show on Tuesday afternoon. The show, that covers all things automotive is from 2 until 3 p.m. and my racing part comes on around 2:15, hope you all will give it a listen.
Teresa’s Garage Radio Show graphic.
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