Renting a shop

Being in college and still living at home I don't have much space to work on my vehicles and my garage is cramped and dirty. Does anyone have experience renting a shop or garage? How do you find something to rent and what is the average price? I am in a small town so there are limited options for me but I want to hear of others' experiences.

A garage will likely cost you $50-200 a month. I was paying $50 a month for one that was big enough for two cars parked front to back, but I got lucky. If you can find a single car garage with electric for under 50, you doing extremely well.

I had to run extension chords from outside into the garage, and the lighting wasn't the best. Also couldn't work on my cars after dark.

Now I'm sharing a 4 car garage with another guy and only using it for storage. He pays $100, I pay $20 for a corner (i'm actually ripping myself off). I'm actually going to be downsizing from that space soon. Maybe storing stuff in a trailer (i never use the garage).

Be careful sharing space though, especially with people you just recently met. I know a guy who shared a garage and ended up getting stuff stolen. It wasn't his garage-mate, but his garage-mate's friends who were stealing stuff.

With the economy the way it is people are more likely to rent space they aren't using then in times past.

Better to use the space you have well than to pay for more and use it inefficiently.

I pay $150 for a 3 car garage with electricity behind an apartment building.
that is roughly half the going rate in my area though as I have been renting it for 4 years

Prices for garage space varry greatly with location and accessablitiy. Around me they go for several hundred (150-300) for single spots w/o room to work and many hundreds for anything else (500 - 1000). (outside NYC)

I store a vehicle in central PA with a grumpy guy who you need to call befor getting it out ... $25/month.

Check the local craigslist to find the going rate in your area.

Jeff

found a shop 20 min. south of town. big enough for 4 cars. heat, good lighting, and obviously electricity, $350 + utilities.

IN town, the same thing is $6-800.

Several years ago I built a polebarn in my backyard for about $750, designed to hold 3 vehicles and some "stuff".

Today i can't get one car into it, because it's so full of "stuff".

There's a lesson to be learned here, though I'm not certain what it is........

Lesson: Don't put "stuff" in something intended to hold vehicles.

Seriously, since we bought our first house, my rule with my wife has always been: nothing goes in the garage unless it won't interfere with keeping the full number of cars for which the garage was designed in the garage.

The amount of "crap" you have is directly related to the space you have to store it.

Thats why I am looking for more space, so I can accumulate more "crap"

Haha I think of Carlin when we get talking about stuff.

"Have you noticed that their stuff is E36 M3 and your E36 M3 is stuff? God! And you say, "Get that E36 M3 offa there and let me put my stuff down!"

billy3esq wrote: Seriously, since we bought our first house, my rule with my wife has always been: nothing goes in the garage unless it won't interfere with keeping the full number of cars for which the garage was designed in the garage.

Word. In an effort to enforce this concept, we added a 10x10 shed to house all yard-related crap (and some rarely used car tools like the engine hoist and tranny jack). As a result, the only non-car related stuff in the garage is some woodworking tools... but we can easily fit 3 cars in the two bay garage (and walk around and work on them) and 4 cars in a pinch (with minimal wrenching room).

Of course, it helps when the cars in the garage are usually hers...

I have a garage that holds 2 cars inline, with a driveway long enough to hold another 4 cars in line. Add a motorcycle and an ATV and a trailer to the mix, and everything is basically in a big long line. Which means whatever I want to drive is always at the beginning of the line and I have to move everything to get at it. And then I leave everything in the street so I can put back what I took out at the end of the day. My neighbors must love having all my toys in the street with an empty garage and driveway!

But to answer your question, I have no idea what garages cost.

Ian F wrote:

billy3esq wrote: Seriously, since we bought our first house, my rule with my wife has always been: nothing goes in the garage unless it won't interfere with keeping the full number of cars for which the garage was designed in the garage.

Word. In an effort to enforce this concept, we added a 10x10 shed to house all yard-related crap .... Of course, it helps when the cars in the garage are usually hers...

I can relate. My wife's rule is that she doesn't care how many cars I have as long as hers gets a garage bay and a clear shot to the street.