Workshop prices

[Thrashsmith]

Hello folks, I am more of a blacksmith than fabricator but as this is a UK based forum I'm keen to hear your opinions...

I'm hunting around for a new workshop in the region of 500 sq ft / 50 sq metres to rent and I'm curious as to what folks would expect to pay for that sort of space?

Obviously there's a lot variables that can affect a rental price (the main one being I live in the south east where everything's more expensive) so please bare with me and consider that I'm just talking rules of thumb on a no thrills workshop that's got electric, hard floor, double doors, 4 walls and a roof.

I'm at a bit of a loss trying to understand if the quotes I'm getting back are what's to be expected or people are just being greedy with their rents. Maybe people could offer some opinion on private arrangements vs business park prices? The last 2 quotes I've had back were from business parks that only had spaces a bit bigger than what I'm after and their quotes were were £120 a week and £105. There's no way on earth I can afford those sort of prices at an early stage of my career.

As I am tucked away on a farm at the minute (a very laid back deal with a family friend) I had hoped to find somewhere near other businesses so I have a little more exposure to the general public in the winter months when I'm not out there doing demonstrations/market/fairs, but if those are the sorts of prices I should expect from commerical enterprises I may have to go down the private farm route again...

Cheers

 

[tomsutton529]

My boss is paying £500 a month for that size unit up north, no bills included but maintainance is included and they gave a good discount for 6 months to cover our costs for painting and building offices etc. Shop around and get face to face and thrash out a deal that suits everyone.

 

[Wendelspanswick]

My boss is paying £500 a month for that size unit up north, no bills included but maintainance is included and they gave a good discount for 6 months to cover our costs for painting and building offices etc. Shop around and get face to face and thrash out a deal that suits everyone.

The local council have modern style units of that size for rent but in fairly remote rural locations for £500-£600 per month.
This is in mid/west Somerset.

 

[SmartWerks]

Don't forget the rates, the place I was looking at the rates were more than the rent. Sadly the landlords wife got a deteriating illness so the place is lying empty. Right next to me mates garage and mot place as well, would have been perfect.

 

[cumbriasteve]

I think the prices you have been given are about the norm, the problem being they may just be the bare rental price, there may be insurance costs and as mentioned rates on top of that, plus of course electric.

I looked at a small industrial unit quite a few years ago and it was £250 a month plus extras.

 

[Hitch]

Stick with your current workshop unless you really need the space? ..I'm not sure how many people happen to pop in to a blacksmith/metalwork shop if they happen to drive past one on the way back from DFS or carpetright...

Get yourself some advertising, get known, get busy.... then move.

 

[Thrashsmith]

Thanks for replies thus far. Unfortunately my current workshop space isn't something I can keep up for a variety of reasons, the main one being the 1 hour commute each way.

 

[AndyStobbs]

Ive got 54sqm for £300/month.
Need more space, need more space, need more space.

 

[captain-destructo]

about 43 sq m for £55 a week but only a 40A single phase supply

 

[Keith 66]

Prices round here are crazy high & it seems just as expensive to go down the farm workshop route if you can find one!
I was offered a 50sq m tin shack for £50 a week & a bigger unit for £100 a week. Neither was insulated at all & had single phase only.
If you are doing GRP work you will need somewhere that can be heated. Last place i had was perfect but even insulated as it was it was going to cost £50 a day to heat it to acceptable levels for working with the materials i was using. In the end the council wanted 6.5k per year for it & wouldnt budge so i walked. Its still empty & unused. Go figure!

 

[Kent]

Stick with your current workshop unless you really need the space? ..I'm not sure how many people happen to pop in to a blacksmith/metalwork shop if they happen to drive past one on the way back from DFS or carpetright...

Get yourself some advertising, get known, get busy.... then move.

I totally agree with this £50 more on rent a week (+ business rates) is at least £200 a month that will pay for a lot of printed leaflets for door to door dropping or a regular advert in a local lifestyle mag etc..etc.

"get busy" then move, very much agree!

 

[Thrashsmith]

Stick with your current workshop unless you really need the space? ..I'm not sure how many people happen to pop in to a blacksmith/metalwork shop if they happen to drive past one on the way back from DFS or carpetright...

Get yourself some advertising, get known, get busy.... then move.

I totally agree with this £50 more on rent a week (+ business rates) is at least £200 a month that will pay for a lot of printed leaflets for door to door dropping or a regular advert in a local lifestyle mag etc..etc.

"get busy" then move, very much agree!

I've well and truely been ticking those boxes...
Done many public blacksmithing demonstrations, many craft markets and farmers markets, got my work in art galleries, got business cards in a variety of places, had my work featured in Kentish magazines, been on TV as part of a traditional crafts series (an hour long show about me and two other blacksmiths), regularly running Facebook competitions and such, listed on BABA, sell my work in farm shops and antiques shops, got a good few big commissions lined up for 2015...

There's a variety of other reasons (which I won't go into) as to why it's time for me to move on from my existing workshop, if I didn't think it was really necessary I wouldn't be looking into it!

 

[Kent]

I've well and truely been ticking those boxes...
Done many public blacksmithing demonstrations, many craft markets and farmers markets, got my work in art galleries, got business cards in a variety of places, had my work featured in Kentish magazines, been on TV as part of a traditional crafts series (an hour long show about me and two other blacksmiths), regularly running Facebook competitions and such, listed on BABA, sell my work in farm shops and antiques shops, got a good few big commissions lined up for 2015...

There's a variety of other reasons (which I won't go into) as to why it's time for me to move on from my existing workshop, if I didn't think it was really necessary I wouldn't be looking into it!

If the work is in why are you bothered to ask? If its a niggle in your mind best listen to it, perhaps it is you might need another bigger shop than the ones your looking at already? Remember a move always stops the work in progress and creates upheaval generally

 

[Thrashsmith]

I ask because I don't know if the quotes I'm getting back are in line with the going rates or the landlords are taking the...
From people's replies it seems that £50 a week is about average so the quotes I'm getting back are O.T.T
Up till now I've been making do with inappropriate workspaces rented on mates rates so I've got no frame of reference to know if the quotes are fair or not.
Thankfully through a lot of hard work I've got some commissions lined up and 50 sq metres will be plenty of space for at least the next couple years.
If I could put up with where I am now I would but it's bad business to waste 2 hours a day commuting and about £50 diesel a week, plus I'm smack bang next to a wood working section of the workshop which cannot be relocated so I'm a constant fire hazard.

 

[The Devils Reject]

1000 sq/ft unit up here was quoted to me and a mate at £440 per month, single phase electric supply, water and business rates on top, all internal repairs/decoration and tied in to a 3 year contract - funnily enough we declined.