Capacity planning for owner-operated shops
Most shops fly blind on capacity and then panic in busy season.
Know your billable hours
For most service shops, each tech delivers 25-32 billable hours in a 40-hour week after windshield time, breaks, and friction. Plan against that, not the 40.
Plan in shoulders
Look at the same month last year. Capacity needs to be ready 6-8 weeks before the historical peak, hiring in the middle of busy season is too late.
Have a saying-no plan
You will turn work away in peak. Decide in advance which work to turn away (price, scope, customer fit) so the call doesn't default to 'whoever asks first.'
Take your version of this question further
This is one operator-tested angle on the question. Your shop, your size, your trade, and your team change the answer. Ask your specific version inside Ask a Shop Owner to get a response grounded in how owners like you actually handled it.