When Carlos Hickman was an electronic engineering technology student at Purdue University in the late'90s, he had to pick up some odd jobs in West Lafayette to keep his tuition and other bills paid.

That meant delivering pizzas and installing car stereos.

The delivery job was about money. But the stereo gig, that was all about love.

The 29-year-old Fort Wayne native returned home and started Los Labs Automotive Firm Inc. in 1999.

The business, at 811 Coliseum Blvd. W., does custom audio and video installation and fabrication. While other local dealers do similar work, Hickman has positioned himself to specialize in high-end jobs.

One project in progress is making over a BMW X5. The crew is installing a stereo system, satellite television, wireless Internet access and biometric ignition and security features that read fingerprints. The exterior of the vehicle is also being redesigned. The job, which will involve "well over" 1,000 man-hours, would cost a customer off the street about $200,000, Hickman said.

This project, however, is on a car owned by Jim Pistorio Jr., the company's vice president and soon to be part owner. After it's finished, the car will become a promotional tool for the company.

The most Los Labs has charged a customer was "upwards of $50,000," Hickman said.

Hickman, who has seven employees, said Los Labs' growth has been slow over the past seven years.

"Up until here, it's been kind of hand-to-mouth," he said about the company's break-even 2005. "We made enough to stay in business."

Los Labs is doing well enough that it will open a fabrication facility in August where it will make exterior car parts from fiberglass.

That will bring the company's total leased space to about 6,000 square feet, including the showroom and work area. Technicians have room to work on six vehicles at a time.

"It's been mostly word-of-mouth growth," Hickman said. "I had no advertising budget. I had no business plan. I had no business experience."

Hickman wants to provide top-quality service to customers. To do so, he'd rather keep the business small, sticking with just one location.

Additional services at Los Labs include custom upholstery – in crocodile, alligator, shark and suede – and exterior alterations for front fenders, rear quarter panels, doors, side skirts, hoods and front and rear bumpers. Hickman said it's similar to adding a spoiler to a trunk.

"It's like that concept on steroids," he said. "You could take a standard car and make it look like something exotic."

The business owner, who describes himself as thankful and happy to be doing what he's doing, is hands-on when there's work to be done. He'll clean toilets, take out trash, make molds, wire sound systems and spend 30 minutes talking to a 15-year-old who has a lot more ideas about stereos than he has money.

Music lovers with fatter wallets can get hooked up by Hickman. But it's probably better if they don't ask him for a ride. He drives a'96 white Ford Ranger that lacks the upgrades he installs for others every day.

"It's raggedy, and I love it. The CD player gets loud on its own sometimes," Hickman said. "It's the classic tradesman story – the barber with the wild hair. I'm the stereo guy with the crappy system."