Anyone rent a shop for personal use?

[William Payne]

I am looking for a place to work on my projects hobbies and anything that I feel inclined to do, I do not have the facilities at home to do what I want to do and where I work is a bit cramped and am not sure how my boss would feel about me dragging in my projects.

Does anyone here rent shop space for personal use, if so did you find it affordable? did you rent it for your self do you share the space. If you share it or even if you don't how do you maximise privacy and security, I am very protective of my things and hate people messing with my stuff.

Down here in New Zealand where I live renting shop space seems to be arm and leg material they want the price of renting a house, which doesn't leave much funds for projects if you are paying for two places (home and shop)

 

[darkk]

I have rented space at one time in the past. As soon as you have rented space to work in, there is always some one that wants to use it. I just explained that it is costing me $*** amount of money a month and if they want to use the space also, I will let them if they help with part of the rent. They either pay proportionately by the day or week. As far as privacy/security.....you need to have rules and you need to know the person using space in your shop. You also do not need to let them have a key, Give them specific hours they can use the shop and charge them accordingly...

 

[StaggeringGoat]

I've been renting a place for a few years now, and I'm just moving into a new shop condo that I leased long term. I practically stole the place, almost 2500 sq ft and twice the size of my old shop for the same price. I was a bit uncomfortable leaving my stuff at an off site location at first, but I got used to it. Make sure you have good locks and renters insurance. I find the place very affordable, let's just say many people spend more on car payments!

Just keep looking for a good deal, I found this place by accident. A few months ago I heard a story on the news about a bust at a marijuana grow in a big shop. I jokingly thought "there's a shop for rent", I wasn't even looking to move at the time. 3 months later, I got the shop and I'm the guy cleaning up after the marijuana grow. Because I offered to clean up the place I didn't even have to pay a deposit or first months rent.

 

[crewchief888]

i used to rent a shop space, split rent with a couple friends.

one just needed storage for his parts and junk that his wife didnt know about .

we used the rest of the space for a friends '87 wrangler, and my s-10 blazer.

finally got tired of paying rent on a space that had no heat or running water. so we liquidated all the spare parts we had accumulated, and moved the trucks back to home garages.

 

[greaseyjockey]

I've rented space in the past both on my own and with friends. I'm sure deals are out there, but I found that unless I can run ALOT of side work out of it, its not worth pursuing on my own as most garage space costs the same if not more than rent on an apartment. I did however rent the bottom floor of an old Coke bottling plant/ dealership/ warehouse with about 8 friends and it worked out amazing. it was ~5500 sq/ft power heat water included and i beleive it was 1600 a month. We all chipped in 200 a month, got internet, and insurance. PLENTY of room for all our projects plus space to hang out, grill out, etc. Our scrap bin paid for many many parties. It was awesome, we had a great bunch of guys, and it worked out well. It might be a hard situation to replicate though, lots can go wrong. I am very happy working out of my garage at my house now as I havn't found a similar situation.

 

[bradweingartner]

Yes, I have rented a 34x40 uninsulated, unheated barn stall for ~10 years. It's used mainly for keeping the cars and parts out of the home garages so there is room to work and the township/city isn't up our rears about junk cars.

At first it was my brother and buddy and I splitting the rent @ $180/mo. Not bad. Then my buddy moved and I started paying it myself for a while, then my old man wanted in on it. So now we split it. But in 10 years the rent has gone up to $220.

Looking back, it's a tough call if it has been worth it. Or if it would have been better to buy outright or build. Neither of us have the room on our lots and 10 years ago the Real Estate market isn't what it is today. Been thinking about just liquidating it all and cutting back. But, lots of what is down there is retirement projects...

 

[William Payne]

Im going to have to try and find a good deal on a place by the sound of it, I do not have usable shed/garage space at home so am going to have to find something.

 

[930dreamer]

I've rented a 30x40 for several years now. I split it with a friend, only utility we pay is gas in the winter. It's on 3 acres, full insulation, 3 phase with my RPC. The owner operates a cabinet shop (80x100) plus rents out three other buildings on the property.

We have use of a fork lift, it's a great deal and the owner is a great guy. I keep the grass mowed, I'll probably never find a set up like this again.

I might be moving to the PNW so it will be difficult to lose this space.

 

[StaggeringGoat]

Im going to have to try and find a good deal on a place by the sound of it, I do not have usable shed/garage space at home so am going to have to find something.

You really just have to shop around, you might be surprised what you find. My place is only about $0.25/sq ft...there's another building next door for rent that is almost the same...they want more than double the price! I didn't think I could afford my building when I saw it, but, it was much cheaper than I thought....

 

[spoolgarage]

Everyone here is making me hate nj. The cheapest rent by me is 3k a month for a small (like 800 sf ) shop.

 

[StaggeringGoat]

Of course prices differ everywhere, but what I've found in my area is that cheap shop space is $0.20-0.50/sq ft, fancier shop space is around $0.75-$1/sq ft, offices are about $1-$1.50/ft, all that compared to cheap-ish housing that rents for about a buck a foot.

 

[DIC]

I used to split a 2200 sq ft shop with a friend.... It didn't work out to well.
He pretty much took up all of the shop and when I needed to work on something
I had to do it outside.

 

[nate379]

My buddy Joe rents part of a building for $100/month plus a part of the power and heat. His part is 60x80 I believe. In the winter he looses a bay (school parks a bus there), but there are still 3 bays left open and some room in front of the bus as well. The place is a freaking warehouse in size compared to my garage!

The rest of the building is open to him though, offices, full bathroom, there is even a room with comfy chairs, tv, bed, etc. I'm not sure why he doesn't just live there, I probably would.

 

[Sick Puppy]

William Payne, are you fixed in the place you live in now? I mean, is moving to a place with a larger garage set up an option? What about industrial areas near the port?

 

[William Payne]

Nope moving not an option. Im only 23, just started a new job about 3 months ago. I may have found some options though will have to ask around.

 

[magnusk750]

I've rented a space for over 20 years. It's about 160 m2 shared on four guys. The last years its been purely storage for almost all of us but when we were younger and made more wrenching it was quite cool that it was quite possible that at least one more guy would show up if I went there. Being four, though is a bit too many, I think two or three is better. It was a while when the crowd changed rather often and as I have been the one that have stayed all the time it started to feel like I was some kind of landlord and boss for the place - and that all came to me if there was a matter of some kind. In 20 years and about 20 guys it's only once that I have had to tell someone to move out, so it's been very few serious problems.

 

[metal1313]

i rented 5k ft^2 for a few years, but i sub-let most of it, i guess around 4k. the rent was not cheap, but at around 4k a month the subletting paid for it and power pretty easily. there was a towing company and a corporately owned landscaping company who wanted to store back-hoes and such.

the building sold last year and the new owners wanted to triple the rent. the warehouse used to be a mac truck plant, but so much had gone on and there was so much vandalism you couldnt tell the glorious past.

its still empty now

 

[ar2stp48]

Many years ago, I rented a large shop with three friends. Reasonable at about $100 each a month. Didnt work too well for a few reasons; venture last jst over a year. Projects were MG-TD, Volvo P1800, Porsche 912, and MGA 1500 (mine).

Have rented a storage barn for approx 12 years; it is 30x40. It is used for parts, future project, and trailer (x4) storage to get things away from the house.

 

[Zeke]

I rent a separate garage to store things so I can move around.

Many years ago, I had a shop with a friend. We pooled big tools and had what we needed. Kinda divided it in half, but the perimeter where the machines were was a common area.

Then he got married. No shop.

 

[ZRX61]

In NZ ya may want to look at a hangar at the local airport...

I just found one close to me here in Califailure: 1600sqft, $600/month