Renting Space to Live AND Work On Projects

So, I need to move out of the place I'm living right now. I travel for work and when I'm home I like to work on all sorts of projects like just about everyone else here. To get the kind of work space I'm looking for in a residential setting, I have to also pay for a bunch of bedrooms and bathrooms that I really don't want or care about.

Besides waiting for some magical unicorn of a residential property to come up, I think my best bet is a commercial space. A friend of mine who is a welder lives in his shop and I've always thought it would be cool to do that. How many of you have lived in a shop space? What do I need to consider before I go this route? I've found at least one place on craigslist, but are there other places I should look?

I always wanted to build a place like that, everyone told me I was nuts. Someday. 

I've seen several garage spaces pop up close to tracks that also have an apartment attached.  Some are zoned in such a way that they can be a residence, others are not.

Rent a hanger. Get a cot and a hot plate. That's always been my dream.

Get a couple of friends to do the same and you can drag race at sunset every evening. Just make sure you're no more than a 20 minute helicopter ride to a major medical center. Not that I've thought about this plan once (or many, many more times).

I framed out a 600 square foot apartment in aroughly4000 foot building. Lived and worked there for 10 years. Convenient, but you're never away from the job. In your case a similar set up should work fine. 

If I were single I'd do exactly what you're talking about. Unfortunately, in many places it's not allowed. That may not stop me. I figure a big enoug pole barn with a camper trailer parked permanently inside would be good enough for me.   

I knew a guy who lived in a travel trailer inside his shop.

Once a week, one of his friends would go by on the weekends and take him for breakfast somewhere because if not, he would go a long time without seeing humans and get a little squirrely.

I've considered similar ideas. I'm curious to see what you come up with. 

There is a perfect place for sale like that here in Denver. It's been zoned residential but right now is basically a shop. If the price was less I'd jump on it but the cost to convert into something livable would be more than I want to spend. 

A place like you want is not easy to find but I too think a camper kept indoors would be the easy route. 

The place in PA that I'm awaiting zoning adjustment on is former commerical shop, 4 bays, office area, not quite kitchenette. I plan on popping the top and putting in about a 700sq ft living space above it. 

Is it truly not allowed to live in a commercial or industrial zoned building? I get that you can't jam a commercial shop in a residential zoning. Would anyone really give a E36 M3?

In reply to OHSCrifle :

Financing options are very different, especially when not having a separate company set to sign a lease. Also insurance options and coverage are different. 

In reply to OHSCrifle :

Fire code is an issue in many communities. Things like requiring a certain size & number of windows per bedroom, number & locations of exits, etc. 

A friend of mine is building a shop to work out of for his business and putting a small single bedroom apartment upstairs to live in. Basically my dream home at this point in my life. 

Locally I found a small shop for rent with RV hookups on the lot. I may have spent a couple days looking at building a bus based RV before I decided it was dumb. 

OHSCrifle said:

Is it truly not allowed to live in a commercial or industrial zoned building?

The only real answer to this question is it depends.  You need to check local regulations and zoning restrictions, it's not going to be universal across the country.

I'd love to find some old used car lot to live on, some of them out in the country look like converted residential, might be grandfathered or dual-zoned. That would be ideal. Might even have a garage to work in already, if not there's lots of space to put one.

I had a place like that for a while. I loved it. 

I have been looking for another like it ever since my lease ran out but space like that is expensive and its hard to find a landlord who will turn a blind eye.

John Mcgann from Hotrod has a cool Warehome.

This was mine

You gotta have a guard dog too!

ShawnG said:

I knew a guy who lived in a travel trailer inside his shop.

Once a week, one of his friends would go by on the weekends and take him for breakfast somewhere because if not, he would go a long time without seeing humans and get a little squirrely.

Mine was far enough away that no one I knw lived nearby; but I'm a bit squirrely anyway, so I didn't get any worse!

I was in an industrial park 30 miles from the outskirts of Richmond va, so although isolated, I did talk to people a few times a week.

OHSCrifle said:

Is it truly not allowed to live in a commercial or industrial zoned building? I get that you can't jam a commercial shop in a residential zoning. Would anyone really give a E36 M3?

I would say, not allowed in more places than it would be ok at. But I didn't ask, and the landlord and others in the industrial liked having a built in night watchman, so we just left the county out of the loop. Definitely a code violation where I was, but if anybody "important" did find out, it was the kinda place that they would pretend not to know. Would not be that way in a lot of places

I just want 5 to 10 acres a 3500+ sq ft house and a unattached 1500 sq ft shop 

white_fly said:

So, I need to move out of the place I'm living right now. I travel for work and when I'm home I like to work on all sorts of projects like just about everyone else here. To get the kind of work space I'm looking for in a residential setting, I have to also pay for a bunch of bedrooms and bathrooms that I really don't want or care about.

Besides waiting for some magical unicorn of a residential property to come up, I think my best bet is a commercial space. A friend of mine who is a welder lives in his shop and I've always thought it would be cool to do that. How many of you have lived in a shop space? What do I need to consider before I go this route? I've found at least one place on craigslist, but are there other places I should look?

Living in a shop is the dream!

Our dream house. Yes, my wife would love to live in a metal building!

As most have written, it's building & fire code regulations that drive this bus, and that varies quite a bit from state & town.

We've lived in RV's, and parking one in a garage would go a long way towards the endless maintenance required on one. I would prefer to build a living space inside the shop, and this likely would be the shortest path in satisfying your local codes anyway.

Semi-related, and I'm not sure if it's still applicable, but apparently about 15-20 years ago in Indiana there were some changes to the real estate tax laws that basically stated a "barn" was taxed lower than a "home". So many farmers started erecting very nice pile barns that happened to have living quarters attached to them & using them as their residence.

It seemed like new construction of these had slowed by the time I quit working there in 2012 though.

I dreamed about this for a long time. The only way I found for it to work was that some areas would allow for there to be 24hr security on-site. If you are living there (alone), you are the 24/7 security.