A journey into the Unknown

[Gregory Hairston]

Ok everything is currently on hold. I need to settle down and evaluate the situation. I am leaning on staying in my current shop until I am busting at the seams and then seek out a new building. With all that has happened I think this may be my best bet. Once the jobs start pouring in and I have no room then I seek out a shop with minimum required build out and low cost.

I will post some shots of my current shop tonight to get your opinions.

Greg

 

[tod evans]

this may very well be your smartest move greg? the no or minimal overhead for a fledging business is a real good thing.......folks will find you even if you`re off the beaten path and most of the time walk-ins are more of a pain than they`re worth.....i want to see more pics of your new toy ......tod

 

[Paul B Cresti]

Greg,
I apologize for not seeing your post quick enough in order to reply to it.....as soon as I read it the first thing that poped into my head was ZONING, CHANGE OF USE, AND FIRE PROOFING OF THE STEEL... remember what my day job is

I can say from my little one man shop prospective is to keep overhead to an absolute minimum! IF you can get away with working in your current place do so for as long as you can until you can afford to BUY a place. If all else fails you now have an investment property. Maybe just maybe you could find a place that will allow you to rent out a small portion of it to a tenant in order to capture some income to pay for the mortgage...

Another way of increasing your current shop size is to outsource certain parts of your business: finishing, doors, drawers, etc....this way you can handle the more finicky stuff and have others do the "simple" stuff for you that would free up your time to do things like MARKETING....

One thing to keep reminding yourself now is woodworking is no longer a hobby it is a business and you need to find ways to get things done faster and better but at the same time MAKE money not spend it.....I try to remind myself that all the time

 

[Bartee Lamar]

A lot of lessons to be learned in this thread.

Thanks Greg.

 

[Gregory Hairston]

Thanks Paul, Tod and others.
Glad to see you over here paul. I look forward to future discussions. You guys are very much right about keeping cost down. My current shop is about 1300SQFT. I can expand another 300SQFT by extending out to the back overhang. If I move my office out of the shop that will free up even more space. My concern is getting a job that will require more space to build and store than I have in my shop. I am sure I can find a way to overcome this small inconvenience.

Greg

 

[Steve Clardy]

Greg. If you are going to build say kitchen cabinets, they eat up lots of room to store them. About an average size single car garage full

 

[Gregory Hairston]

Steve,
That is my main concern. I do have an additional 2 car garage that I could use for storage or once I close in the overhang out back I could use that. The main thing I am thinking now is the money I save on rent and other overhead I could use to expand my shop later or purchase a piece of property and build a shop big enough to grow into.

Greg

 

[Steve Clardy]

I have a large shop.
By the time I do get a set completed, it takes about that amount of room to store them. But I also do some stacking up if possible.

But a lot of the time if a customer is in a hurry, I'll do the lowers and counter tops, go deliver and install. Come back and do the uppers, doors, moldings, etc. So that saves some space in the shop

 

[Gregory Hairston]

Steve,
You install your base cabs first. I always find it easier to do the uppers first. That way the bases are out of the way when I go to hang the uppers.

Greg

 

[Paul B Cresti]

1300sf man I only have 625!!!! I store some rough saw lumber in the shop and the other in my basement. All sheet goods are in the shed. My office/kids playroom is above the shop as it is attached to the house via our mudroom on the first floor and through our bedroom on the second.

I too could expand the shop if need be but my work is very different and i do not do kitchens.... either way placement of pieces as i am working n other parts of the project do proove to be challenging at times. Currently the shop is in finishing mode....everthing is covered and I have parts everywhere drying out! tomorrow should be spraying day.

It sounds like you have plenty of room to grow for now so I would use that up before you go anywhere else first. One thing to remember though is "working" at home can be very tough. You need to set ground rules with your family up front as "daddy is home" can really cut into your production time. Its hard but doable as there also are many perks

One other thing to check up on is the local zoning code for your neighborhood. Some areas depending on locality will allow home businesses but may draw the line on the types of business allowed before requiring you to seek a variance. So I would at least look into it, in stealth mode for now, and see what it entails. You may run into some issues when/if your house is re-assessed for taxes or if you ever have the need to rely on your home owners issurance for something. Running your own business can make you dizzy

 

[Steve Clardy]

Steve,
You install your base cabs first. I always find it easier to do the uppers first. That way the bases are out of the way when I go to hang the uppers.

Greg

I use cabinet jacks, and I am tall.
I got started installing bases first, then uppers.

 

[Gregory Hairston]

Paul,
Zoning is always and issue in residential neighborhoods. Bottom line is woodworking is light industrial and no residential area will allow that. However I have 4 acres and good neighbors. My closest neighbor runs trucks out of his home so no issues there.

Insurance and all that stuff is the tough part.

Greg

 

[Paul B Cresti]

Greg,
Actually woodworking would be considered, according to building use group, as moderate hazard (also depends on what code your state has adopted, IBC, its own version of the IBC or something else)......a zoning variance could be granted depending on your neighbors and/or the council. Any type of manufacturing is pretty much considered industrial. Do check your zoning ordinance though as depending on where your are some different uses may be allowed and some may not.