Craftman/ sears lawnmower repair

I'm looking to start a Small Engine repair shop. I am a firefighter, I work every three days and would like to start a repair business for my days off. My question is, can I become a Sears/ Craftsman repair technician? If so, what are the steps? I think I just want to focus on homeowner equipment, any suggestions on how to start. Do I need to become certified through Briggs and Stratton, Kohler, Kawasaki ...........

Craftsmans will require you to be factory certified in both MTD and Husqvarna ride-on and handheld. MTD prerequisite requirements for service center authorization are certification in Briggs, Kohler, Honda, and Hydrogear.

Thank You for your response. Is it worth becoming MTD Factory certified and also certified through Husqvarna? or do you recommend a different path? I worked as a technician for a Walker Mower Distributor for three yrs and have been doing lawnmower/ small engine repairs for friends and family for many years , and just want to know what the best direction would be for me.

Briggs will require a 4 1/2 day factory school plus $3-5 thousand in tools and inventory including 3 engines. Kohler will require a 4 1/2 day school plus $3-4 thousand in tools and inventory including 1 engine Honda doesn't have a required part inventory but does require 3 engines in inventory. Hydrogear doesn't have a stocking requirement. then MTD depending on distributor may require a $2500 inventory.

The Husqvarna side is actually Husqvarna consumer products which is Poulan/Poulan Pro No stocking requirement as of right now, but there has been talk of requiring service centers to become stocking dealers, which included tillers, riders, push mowers, blowers and chainsaw. Full Husqvarna dealership would require a $50-75 thousand dollar inventory.

I have been running an independant repair business for 4 years now.
The previous owner had run it the same way for 5 years.
Apart from having problems getting my hands on repair specifications and genuine parts at wholesale prices.
This has not been a problem as you will be able to find a factory shop who will supply you at a discount if you try hard & spend enough.
Most wholesalers run a volume discount scheme so the more they buy the cheaper all their parts become and if you use a lot of parts from them it reduces the price of all their parts.

Other than that there are companies like Stens, Rotary, Prime & Oregon who can supply about 85 % of the parts you will need.
When I need parts I can not get through the aftermarket chains I buy them from a local dealer then give that invoice to the customer with my bill showing I did not mark up those parts.
My customers then see that the genuine parts are a lot more expensive than the aftermarket parts & I am not putting exessive mark ups so they see me as honest and good value.

I did do a Kohler certification but as you have been told already I can not get access to Factory parts unless I have a retail presence.
Briggs told me the same so I cancelled the Briggs certification course and carried on as I had done previously .
My buisness is booming.
I gave my commercial customers keys to the workshop so they can swing past and grab some parts at 4am to 8am before I get there ( workshop has cameras in it ) and that made a massive difference.
They will ring from home in the evening so I can assemble their orders and leave them out for them to collect in the morning.
I also do overnight servicing & repair so they can drop off gear in the arvo on the way home & pick it up ( or a loaner tool ) in the morning.
This alone has made the biggest difference to my business & currently I have all of the contractors on my books and they are the ones who get 50 services done a year and are happy to pay for it.
All that was required is to make yourself available and keep an inventory of all the consummables that they use