[Don Plumley]

Solo-practioner specialists are wonderful - so long as you meet your own income needs and the output velocity meets your future customer needs. You don't want to hear, "Kevin is the industry's best, but the backlog is 6 months now before he'll take the next project. I'll have to go somewhere else..."

Taking a very long-term view, it depends on what your goal is. If you'd like to build some equity into your business that one day you can monetize, then the business will need to be more than Kevin. Maybe that means one day you'll need to find an apprentice to teach the craft, with the presumption that one day he'll (or she) might buy it from you.

Craft is the operative word here. If you can effectively teach the craft, you can build and grow your business. If having a larger business is not at all important to you, or the pains of trying to have everyone reach your standards of work is not acceptable, then solo is probably the best route.

My only concern would be your local zoning/EPA/neighbors view of having an real autobody restoration business in their neighborhood. And the downside of "never leaving the office."

My $0.02. Best of luck to you...