Rent A Workshop

[Nicholas Gowrie]

look at insurance and so on then give it a go, you need to know if there is a market in your area for it, it may well take off

yea I'm not sure how it would take off i know a few people that would be interested, for a plater or sheet metal worker the equipment is expensive, so if you could rent the whole thing for 10-15£ per hour then that to me seems resonable, not for a business but for a guy that has 10-20h of work a week....

but i need to look into insurance and how to monitor it.

 

[the snooper]

yea I'm not sure how it would take off i know a few people that would be interested, for a plater or sheet metal worker the equipment is expensive, so if you could rent the whole thing for 10-15£ per hour then that to me seems resonable, not for a business but for a guy that has 10-20h of work a week....

but i need to look into insurance and how to monitor it.

with the kind of tools you are going to include I would say its too cheap, make a few phone calls and ask people what it costs to have some steel cut on a guillotine and then enquire how much it costs to have a simple box folded, then work out a decent rate as people will still save on cutting and folding when doing a fair amount of work

 

[Nicholas Gowrie]

with the kind of tools you are going to include I would say its too cheap, make a few phone calls and ask people what it costs to have some steel cut on a guillotine and then enquire how much it costs to have a simple box folded, then work out a decent rate as people will still save on cutting and folding when doing a fair amount of work

i charge £2 per cut and £3 a fold plus the material, thats a rough guide, depending on units etc, I'm not trying to become a millionaire out of it, just make a little out of what i have, i currently charge £10 per hour for the odd person to come in and use what i have, but i haven't costed it as a business just what i charge people i know for the moment.

 

[the snooper]

ive known people that charge £5 per cut, its well worth finding out what the prices in your area are

 

[Brad93]

Yea i have two of everything at the moment two pearson guillotines 3m and a 2.5m , two hydroforms both 2.5m so i have the gear, and we maintain it all anyway i just dont need all the space, or equipment, and i dont need it all, its not on finance, and i own the building. so overheads are fixed, i understand that i will encore some more cost but i want to know if people would be interested if the price was right. Which i think that i can do

Keetona Hydroforms?

 

[mike os]

I love the idea but the liability terrifies me....

 

[Nicholas Gowrie]

ive known people that charge £5 per cut, its well worth finding out what the prices in your area are

Morning people yea i know our price is right for things, we charge £25-35per hour depending on what labour you want, but there are only 6 of us these days

 

[Nicholas Gowrie]

Keetona Hydroforms?

yea both keetona, my granddad used to buy stock and machines when companies where liquidating in the 90's so we have a lot of equipment that i want to put to good use rather than store, or let a machine man off me £250 for a 2 tonne lathe

 

[Nicholas Gowrie]

I love the idea but the liability terrifies me....

I know i have started this thread to see if people think the market is there, and if i think it is I'm going to look into the insurance and liabilities, there are a lot of mechanics in london that do this.

 

[rtbcomp]

If firms suddenly find themselves short of capacity I think they'd outsource the work rather than rent facilities by the hour. I'd be inclined to rent the space on an annual contract. I know of a firm that rents part of another company's premises and they get on well. The deal includes a shared gantry crane but only nominated people can use it.

 

[Nicholas Gowrie]

If firms suddenly find themselves short of capacity I think they'd outsource the work rather than rent facilities by the hour. I'd be inclined to rent the space on an annual contract. I know of a firm that rents part of another company's premises and they get on well. The deal includes a shared gantry crane but only nominated people can use it.

I agree a company would rather rent the entire space for a year and it would be a lot cheaper, but it would cost around £10,000 to split the space and i will only get about £15-17k per year. So i was thinking if there are people that ideally make gates and work for them selfs but dont have the capital to buy the equipment or rent the space, also can't fill 40 hours with work.

 

[Nicholas Gowrie]

What happens when you've got two people in that are both wanting to do the same thing, so are already doing a "oi, it's my turn with that machine" dance, and you get a job in that means you need the same one?

What happens when a renter snaps your machine clean down the middle and you have work waiting?

What happens when a renter loses a finger in the press and the insurance decide that the induction and disclaimer they thought was ok isn't worth crap?

What happens when the current renter overruns on his job by 15 hours because he didn't know what he's doing and the next 5 in the queue get told they're being shoved back a week?

What happens when your equipment gets left all over the place covered in crap and the renter just wanders off without paying?


Far too much hassle for too little reward imo.

They are all good points, that i dont have the answers to yet, I'm just seeing if people would use the facility if it was available, if i find that there is a market for it i will then look into the how it will work side of things

Good points though

 

[Parm]

I was involved in looking at a community workshop set up by the local authority on the outskirts of Newcastle.

It started off with good intentions where large kit like saws, bandsaws, moulders etc were centrally located and a number of small work bays provided around the perimeter. They even provided a trained person on site at all times to look after kit etc.

Problems started when kit wasn't used correctly, left in a mess or dangerous state etc, the last straw was when people started using the site compressor for spray painting in the general workshop area. Isocyanate paints were involved. Much worrying was done by all resulting in the place being closed down.

It was a really good idea in principle as it was designed to give an easy start to small one man band type buisness but in practice it was almost impossible to control and manage the multitude of risk factors involved.

I think you may experience the same.

Much better to rent as is or divide into units and let out the individual units. You are then just the landlord responsible for managing the units and incorporating any Fire Risk issues. Much simpler this way

 

[armalites]

I think it's a great idea and I can think of loads of time when something like that would have been useful before I had my own space.

Fortunately I don't need to do too much typing because @pdg has covered most of my concerns. You need to plan for ********s, in my youth I worked at a kart track and when had some lawyers in, they said that the disclaimer they signed meant absolutely nothing if it could be proved you were negligent.

You would need to be there to allow people in and show them the facilities and before you know it you will get the "Have you got a.." "Can I borrow a.." even if that is in the contract. You may luck out and get customers who just a bit more space for a job but I guarantee you will also get a bus load of dreamers who shouldn't be folding paper let alone metal.

I think your best bet would be find a group of friends who tinker with cars or something like that and rent them an area permanently.

 

[ukracer]

I w

I dont want one person in it i want it rented per hour so more small people that want to rent 10-20h at a time, there is a guy that rents out his mechanics www.u-spanner.co.uk and its an hourly thing, as a space its 15k a year but a lot of cost to get it to a rented state, as in splitting the workshop.

I would suggest speaking to this guy and asking about pitfalls and insurance....

 

[ukracer]

I'm sure some people would use it, but getting a reliable 4-5 people per week might be a stretch.

Realistically, how many people do the sort of work you're willing to offer facilities for that don't already have access to some sort of space?

Anyone that's already doing it will be working with what they have, and someone starting will probably want something reliable (i.e. not having to wait a month for a spot to come up).

How much profit is there in a set of gates? Enough to justify chucking a couple of hundred quid at a temporary workshop?


If you were offering space for people to work on cars you'd probably have it at capacity every day of the year - but that's a whole different set of risks...

I was about to rent out my unit. (Before they flattened it to build houses) the fist guy I let use it was supposed to be in for a day........he had the wrong clutch and was on the ramp for a week.

 

[Parm]

I know a mechanic in London who rented out some space and use of the ramp was included. Like ukracer, chap who borrowed the ramp had issues with his job meaning the ramp was occupied more than was allowed for. Mechanic mate lost out an a few jobs. Rental agreement was terminated very quickly

I know of another place near to where I live, he rents his ramp out by the hour. Only the ramp and nothing else. It doesn't matter how wrong your job goes as he's always making money. Infact it's doing so well he's thing of getting another one. Ramps is located in some old farm buildings that weren't being used

 

[norlander]

What happens if you take the negatives all the time?

people already do it, or did do anyway http://www.ovalmotorcyclecentre.co.uk/

 

[Nicholas Gowrie]

I was involved in looking at a community workshop set up by the local authority on the outskirts of Newcastle.

It started off with good intentions where large kit like saws, bandsaws, moulders etc were centrally located and a number of small work bays provided around the perimeter. They even provided a trained person on site at all times to look after kit etc.

Problems started when kit wasn't used correctly, left in a mess or dangerous state etc, the last straw was when people started using the site compressor for spray painting in the general workshop area. Isocyanate paints were involved. Much worrying was done by all resulting in the place being closed down.

It was a really good idea in principle as it was designed to give an easy start to small one man band type buisness but in practice it was almost impossible to control and manage the multitude of risk factors involved.

I think you may experience the same.

Much better to rent as is or divide into units and let out the individual units. You are then just the landlord responsible for managing the units and incorporating any Fire Risk issues. Much simpler this way

Yea i agree its a good idea but I'm not sure if it will work or not, i did think when i was just out maybe it would be better to divide it into 5 bays for more simple things, the only thing good thing i have because my workshop is the other half of the building, i can keep a close eye on people, but i am also thinking of just dividing it up into 5 bays with two benches a chop saw and welder, for gates and rails and just welders.

 

[Nicholas Gowrie]

I know a mechanic in London who rented out some space and use of the ramp was included. Like ukracer, chap who borrowed the ramp had issues with his job meaning the ramp was occupied more than was allowed for. Mechanic mate lost out an a few jobs. Rental agreement was terminated very quickly

I know of another place near to where I live, he rents his ramp out by the hour. Only the ramp and nothing else. It doesn't matter how wrong your job goes as he's always making money. Infact it's doing so well he's thing of getting another one. Ramps is located in some old farm buildings that weren't being used

I have see a lot of rent a ramps, i actually have two ramps, a 2.5 tonne and a 3.5 tonne, that i use to access a mex level, i think the idea of renting small units or per hour because if its one unit the yield isn't as good and the start up is more expensive