16 best garage business ideas to start in 2024

Top 16 garage business ideas

Here are some creative and profitable garage business ideas that you can start right away:

Laundry

A local laundry facility offers community self-service with efficient professional machines alongside full-service options like fluff and folds where staff handles entire loads. Home or commercial pickup/delivery routes also provide valued outsourcing. Over time, quality machinery and effective techniques allow specialization, whether in everyday cleanliness, specialized items like heirloom restoration for vintage textiles, or large volume capabilities catering to hotels. As daily errands transition further online, easy access and trusted laundry care retain loyal storefronts supplementing home capabilities. Whether self-powered or full-service, effective high-quality cleansing, pressing, and handling of garments sustains customers valuing time-savings or lengthening the lifespans of beloved apparel.

How much you can make: $30,000-$100,000/year
How much does it cost to start: $50,000-$100,000
How long does it take to build: 2-4 months

Cookie

A cookie business would involve baking and packaging fresh cookies for retail sale to customers. Whether operating a storefront selling bulk cookies and taking custom orders for pickup, or delivering packaged treats to cafes and markets for resale, freshness and flavor matter most. While initial private kitchen success may start sales through word-of-mouth, scaling growth comes through marketing and distribution partnerships to expand locations carrying premium cookies for customer convenience.

How much you can make: $20,000-$100,000/year
How much does it cost to start: $5,000-$20,000
How long does it take to build: 1-3 months

Woodworking

A woodworking business would involve designing, crafting, and selling custom wood products like furniture, decor items, cutting boards, toys, etc. This leverages skillsets around carpentry and joinery for creative small-batch manufacturing. As interest grows around artisanal goods celebrating natural materials and quality craftsmanship, a woodworking shop meets the demand for specialty wood products. Offering tailored furniture or engraving personalized gifts suits smaller scales while demonstrating niche expertise, even utilizing reclaimed lumber. Flexible crafting allows adapting to custom orders or testing new product lines for viability while building an audience. Overall, woodworking sustains traditional skills relevant amidst modern values around bespoke, sustainable furnishings and gifting.

How much you can make: $30,000-$100,000/year
How much does it cost to start: $10,000-$50,000
How long does it take to build: 2-4 months

Computer repair

A computer repair business would offer technical services troubleshooting, diagnosing, and fixing laptops, desktops, tablets, phones, and related equipment. As digital devices grow ubiquitous for personal and professional needs, quality repair services remain in continual demand despite rapid device turnover. People often lack specialized expertise for handling system failures, virus removal, data recovery, etc. An independent shop conveniently provides these niche technical skills for the local community at more affordable rates than big retailers. Building customer trust happens through demonstrated competence in fixing various hardware and software issues efficiently.

How much you can make: $30,000-$100,000/year
How much does it cost to start: $5,000-$20,000
How long does it take to build: 1-3 months

Car wrapping

A car wrapping business applies removable vinyl decals for customized vehicle advertising or styling. This leverages niche skills in plotting, cutting, and heat-sealing specially printed wraps over vehicle surfaces without damaging paintwork underneath. Wraps prove cheaper than paint allowing temporary graphic finishes to stretch across buses, cars, boats, and more. Small operators first focus on partial wraps as local mobile services install vibrant accents, racing stripes or solid colors upgrading vehicle looks affordably. Full print coverage emerges for commercial fleets or sponsored individual cars as branding billboards.

How much you can make: $50,000-$150,000/year
How much does it cost to start: $10,000-$50,000
How long does it take to build: 1-3 months

Cell phone repair

A cell phone repair business would specialize in fixing cracked screens, battery issues, software problems, and other cell phone damage for customers. As mobile devices become essential lifelines, quality local repair services have reliable demand despite frequent new models. Delicate phones easily crack or break when dropped, disabling usability until expert service restores function and accessibility once again. Over time, expansion into refurbished device sales or custom phone skins and accessories boosts revenue between daily fix appointments.

How much you can make: $30,000-$100,000/year
How much does it cost to start: $5,000-$20,000
How long does it take to build: 1-2 months

Mug printing

A mug printing business would customize ceramic drinkware by applying illustrations, photos, text, or graphic designs onto mugs and cups. As personalized gifting grows popular, printed mugs provide sentimental homemade gifts for relatives or professional employee/client appreciation items for corporate budgets. Digital printing versatility also empowers entrepreneurs or event planners to create custom limited merchandise runs supporting their own causes and branding. Passed-along items like coffee mugs enjoy everyday exposure and use. This lends branded free advertising while conveying thoughtfulness through personalization. A mug printer first focuses sales around holidays, birthdays, work events, etc to best showcase the range.

How much you can make: $20,000-$100,000/year
How much does it cost to start: $5,000-$20,000
How long does it take to build: 1-2 months

Oil change

An oil change business would specialize in routinely servicing engine oil and filters for customer vehicles to maintain performance and longevity. Typical quick lube garages handle swiftly exchanging used car fluids for fresh blends meeting automaker specifications while checking under-hood components. Building customer loyalty happens through technicians advising on supplemental needs like wipers or tire pressure rather than pushy upselling. Routine customers then return reliably each cycle without appointments before small leaks or problems compound costs. Over time, competition differentiation comes from sustainability factors like re-refining used oil or utilizing eco-friendly shop materials reinforcing community benefit beyond being a necessary nuisance industry.

How much you can make: $50,000-$150,000/year
How much does it cost to start: $20,000-$50,000
How long does it take to build: 1-3 months

Gift wrapping

A gift wrapping service would artistically wrap client presents in paper, bows, and embellishments for special occasions or holidays. As an outsourcing solution, this saves customers time while showcasing gifts attractively before their unveiling. For a personalized touch, unique wrapping papers, ribbons, fabrics, ornaments, etc get incorporated according to item size, shape, or intended recipient interests per customer direction or creative recommendation. A gift-wrapping specialist brings style perspectives through themes, patterns, and tying elaborate bow styles that average people cannot replicate at home. Over holidays, volume wrapping station kiosks in malls allow shoppers convenient one-stop finalization while displaying stylistic samples. By mastering intricate decorative techniques, this creative service conjures lavish first impressions around client presents.

How much you can make: $10,000-$50,000/year
How much does it cost to start: $1,000-$5,000
How long does it take to build: 1-2 months

Tattoo

A tattoo business applies permanent body art or temporary tattoos for clients seeking creative self-expression. As interest grows around unique custom imagery over mass branding, skilled independent artists deliver personalized consultation and designs showcasing trademark styles. An intimate tattoo studio environment displays portfolio-art across defined aesthetic domains like sacred geometry, watercolors, or living lines while aligning meaningful symbols to individuals through collaborative imagination. Marking meaningful milestones, identities, inspirations or whimsical entertainment proves more popular and socially acceptable, driving repeat business and referrals. Whether for intricate full sleeves, small mementos, or concert memories, tattoo artistry makes lasting imprints on both skin and lives by resonating with someone’s past, passions, and future dreams within flowing wearable artwork.

How much you can make: $30,000-$100,000/year
How much does it cost to start: $10,000-$50,000
How long does it take to build: 2-4 months

Dog grooming

A dog grooming business would provide hygiene and cleanliness services for dogs including bathing, brushing, nail trimming, haircuts, and styling. This specialty pet care craft sustains regular demand as proper grooming maintains animal health and appeals to beloved house pets. An independent shop offers closer care and scheduling flexibility overcrowded chain retailers or solo at-home handling for many owners. Custom styling, breed expertise, and animal handling skills build customer loyalty over big-box employee turnover. Soothing pets during their visit arises through 1-on-1 attention, treats, and patience easing animals unfamiliar with the process.

How much you can make: $30,000-$100,000/year
How much does it cost to start: $10,000-$30,000
How long does it take to build: 1-3 months

Carpentry

A carpentry business specializes in constructing and installing a range of wooden structures from customized furniture to expansive buildings. This trade practice involves measuring, sawing, joining, and finishing raw lumber into functional items matching project goals. An independent carpenter first markets creative services around specialty products like bookshelves, cabinets, and decks meeting local household needs at affordable rates. Demonstrating fine handiwork builds a reputation for detailing customized doors, banisters, and ornamental accents sustaining artisanal quality against mass manufacturing. Expanding into whole-home remodels, renovations and new properties comes through reliability proving sound structural techniques.

How much you can make: $30,000-$100,000/year
How much does it cost to start: $10,000-$50,000
How long does it take to build: 2-4 months

Soap making

A soap-making business handcrafts and sells custom natural soap bars, bath accessories, and body care products. As interest grows for gentle, eco-friendly personal care products free of harsh chemicals, small-batch soap makers source quality natural oils, butter, herbs, and scents for tailoring moisturizing soap recipes. Experimenting with ingredients, colors, molds, and texture techniques allows developing signature lots from refreshing citrus morning bars to soothing chamomile night blends. Alongside staple cleansing soaps, creativity extends into bath bombs, scrubs, and shower gels aligning sensory relaxation. Craft fair vending builds local customer tryouts while personal labeling offers standout corporate gifts.

How much you can make: $20,000-$100,000/year
How much does it cost to start: $5,000-$20,000
How long does it take to build: 1-3 months

Personalized aquariums

A personalized aquarium business would design, build, and maintain custom aquatic environments to client specifications for residential, office, or commercial spaces. Meeting growing biophilic design interests around serene water features, an aquarium professional studies intended settings and user needs before tailoring full hardware builds. Custom blueprints map reef, plant, or coral layouts including sustenance elements like filtration systems or heating appropriately sized per gallon capacity. After establishing balanced ecosystems, ongoing aquarium care ensures water quality, sustains plants or marine life health through species understanding, and allows admired upgrades suiting enjoyment.

How much you can make: $30,000-$100,000/year
How much does it cost to start: $10,000-$50,000
How long does it take to build: 2-4 months

Craft garden magic with figures

A garden magic figures craft business would design and create whimsical decorative sculptures, ornaments, and accents from clay that are customized or themed for enhancing gardens or patios year-round. This charming concept leverages creativity through shaping, painting, and installing fairy-like statuettes that transform outdoor settings into otherworldly escapes. An independent artist first focuses on inventorying popular styles of gnomes, dragons, or mushroom houses for display through local nurseries, craft fairs, and garden boutiques to showcase the range. Over time supplemental custom orders enable bigger sculptural installations like a flower reading nook hideaway or a family of rabbit musicians for a child’s play area.

How much you can make: $20,000-$100,000/year
How much does it cost to start: $5,000-$20,000
How long does it take to build: 1-3 months

Fashionable footwear for little feet

Fashionable footwear for little feet business designs and sells seasonally trendy kids’ shoes and accessories under an independent children’s boutique brand. Targeting stylish moms, cute toddler sneakers, sandals, boots, and coordinating hair clips or tights showcase personality and occasion versatility for a fun coordinated children’s wardrobe. As tiny feet grow at staggering paces requiring new kicks, cataloging current selections by developmental stages aids in convenient consistent turnover. Unique collaborations with craft fairs or children’s theaters boost visibility for the specialized shoe store while supporting community events. Over time the differentiated product range may expand into broader coordinated apparel looks or adult child matching socks around holidays for additional sales.

How much you can make: $50,000-$200,000/year
How much does it cost to start: $20,000-$50,000
How long does it take to build: 2-4 months

Conclusion

While it may seem daunting at first, remember that countless individuals have successfully launched and run businesses from their garage. With dedication, hard work, and a willingness to learn, you can turn your garage business idea into a thriving venture that allows you to live life on your own terms. Success rarely happens overnight so stay patient, celebrate your victories, and learn from your setbacks.