Would you rent your shop to strangers?

In reply to preach :

I'll throw in with this: Do you like how your co-workers treat the tools from the shipyard tool crib?  That's pretty much how it will be.  I'm admittedly borderline OCD about my tools but let's be honest most people aren't even when they paid for them.  

In reply to preach :

All that said... if you just need someone to share shop space expenses for a year or so in the Portsmouth area, I may be game... since there's a strong chance I'll be up here for another year or so.  I should know for sure before the end of the year.  It would make living up here a less sucky if I could work on my cars... 

I don't like sharing shop space with my friends. 

preach said:

In reply to Beer Barron:

I agree with all that it's a bad idea. Seems a cement pad offering is the best idea and I like it.

As far as my qualifications:

I have mechanic-ed since 8 years old, I helped my dad run his shop until about 20, I was a property manager for over 400 units, I bartended in the Caribbean and was a kitchen manager as well as a bar manager for years.

Kinda weird that you hit almost my whole resume. Haha.

Got a submarine that needs to be fixed? I got that too.

No one you are renting to will have any of those experiences. They'll berkeley up your stuff. 
 

Hard NO. 

More importantly, I can't see any reason to do it. It's not increasing your business opportunities. You will spend extra money to provide something that people will not pay extra to have. 
 

The guest you'd be looking for is a very small niche. And when you find him, that particular guest will be a turn off to other guests. 
 

Stick to one thing with a decent turnover rate and high percentage occupancy rates. 

BTW, I rented RVs until recently. I sold them.
 

The problem with them is they offer inexpensive places to stay.  And that attracts guests who don't want to pay much. And those guests often don't take care of stuff.  And RVs deteriorate quickly, especially when occupied by people who don't understand RV living. (Everyone who rents RVs falls into that category- People who are really good at RV living own their own).
 

The problem gets worse when you buy inexpensive RVs.  The rental rate goes down, the guests get worse, and the deterioration rate increases. 
 

Your money will be much better spent on units that are attractive to higher end customers (and command a higher rent, and generate a higher occupancy rate).  Consider well built Tiny Homes. 

preach said:

In reply to Beer Barron:

I agree with all that it's a bad idea. Seems a cement pad offering is the best idea and I like it.

This sounds like the best idea so far

Simplify. Then add lightness.

Do something that leaves the least room for people to berkeley it up. Know that someone will find a way to berkeley it up anyway.

I was cleaning my shop yesterday and first I got to the spot where the orbital polisher lives and realized that it has grown legs. I definitely remember lending it to someone but I don't know who and they did not bring it back so I guess it's gone. Then I got to the spot where I keep my laser levels. I have three thanks to being a contractor for years. One was a brand new one I bought just before I sold my business and it's gone too. I loaned it to someone. I did actually track that one down by looking through old texts and it turned out I had loaned it to a friend 2 years ago. I texted him and he said "oh yes I have it I broke it and haven't got around to repairing it so I didn't bring it back".

These are tools that I willingly remove from my shop myself and gave to people who are supposed to be responsible friends. Can't imagine repeating that on a commercial scale.

On top of that I share my shop with my son and it pretty much doubles the time and cost of cleaning organizing and replacing consumables and broken equipment.

Man ya'll are a bit OCD.  I bet you've got very organized garages. 

Me? I'm a mess. I'm more likely to lose my stuff than a random stranger.  

If someone is paying me good money to use my facility? Then hell yea I take an occasional lost or broken tool. Especially if I've got no worries of liability. 

There is always a break even point in terms of costs vs revenue. I used to think that "nobody would pay $300 to rent a garage for a night" but I bet there is someone out there who does and they are making bank. 

Just saw that we're getting a "climate controlled RV storage condo" place. Each gigantic garage is selling for $300,000. There are 30 garages. If they sell all of them, that'll be $9,000,000 - plus ongoing management revenue. 

In reply to pheller :

How would there be no liability?  Especially if he offered a lift?

I pay a little over $25k in insurance every year. 95% of that is liability. I can't imagine the liability of renting a shop with tools and a lift to any schmo that walks in with cash. I have good friends and family members I wouldn't let use my lift for fear of them killing themselves or destroying something. 

In reply to pheller :

If I lend my tools out to someone else, there's a chance this will be a considerate person who puts it back exactly where it's supposed to be, and then I'll never be able to find it.

Somebody rent some shop space to me in the northern VA area lol

In reply to bearmtnmartin (Forum Supporter) :

I generally don't lend my tools to anyone because of what you said.  They get lost or damaged, don't get returned or returned broken.  I lend stuff to a very select group of very good friends.  When I loan out a tool, I make a note of who/what in my phone.  That way I don't forget...

All of my friends must be better men (and women) than me. You all have terrible friends, lol! 

On liability - I meant, if liability was covered (as in, part of the rental agreement) - then I wouldn't have issues. Honestly, liability would worry me more than lost or broken tools.

SV reX said:

BTW, I rented RVs until recently. I sold them.
 

The problem with them is they offer inexpensive places to stay.  And that attracts guests who don't want to pay much. And those guests often don't take care of stuff.  And RVs deteriorate quickly, especially when occupied by people who don't understand RV living. (Everyone who rents RVs falls into that category- People who are really good at RV living own their own).
 

The problem gets worse when you buy inexpensive RVs.  The rental rate goes down, the guests get worse, and the deterioration rate increases. 
 

Your money will be much better spent on units that are attractive to higher end customers (and command a higher rent, and generate a higher occupancy rate).  Consider well built Tiny Homes. 

My MiL used to rent RVs out and deliver them weekly to camgrounds or to Louden for NASCAR. I want nothing to do with owning RVs, just hook-up rentals that will be there anyways for my hunting and car friends/family to bring their own RV.

In reply to preach :

You asked about strangers. Friends and family are diffeeent.
 

Guess I misunderstood when you said " we are thinking of some of the cheap mini-homes from Amazon and the like to rent out".  I thought that meant you were buying the RVs.

A slab and hookups for friends?  Sure. For people I don't know too well?  Maybe. Let them use my tools?  Perhaps. 
 

It changes if you are renting for profit. And if you own the RVs?  That's a hard no for me. 

Would I rent? No.

However, I do occasionally invite people over to my shop to use my tools. I've invested quite a lot of money into my space and like to do good things for the world; to that end, if someone would like to use my equipment to make or repair something, they're generally welcome to do so (so long as I am present). I also enjoy teaching people the skills of basic welding and machining and therefore empowering folks to make and repair even more things.

But would I take money in exchange for free access to my space? That's a difficult proposition. 

In reply to SV reX :

There is a BnB that has a small drift/kart track around it.

I am not being that hard core (though I do want a sxs track around my property with a jump over the driveway). 

Some mini rental units (pretty much shipping containers) and a cement pad near some great roads sounds attractive to me.

So about fifteen or so years ago I drew up a business plan for a rental/communal use garage in Las Vegas. I had the same train of people crapping on the idea so I abandoned it. I had shared the idea with someone else and they ran with it. Last I checked they had a five bay community garage that was making bank. All rental bays with full tools for each bay. Very profitable for them. 

In reply to VegasNick :

I have user of the MWR facility at work. Basically the same thing for Marines, Sailors, and DoD folk like me. Tool crib with tokens that they count when you pay. Rents for about $6/hr, smoking deal for us.

Tools are banged up a bit and they may not have exactly what you need. Got to return tokens and show a picture of your bay clean befor you can pay and leave. This was the root of the thought.

This is not something I want to deal with when I retire, sure I can clean a couple cabins weekly and can sleep through 12000hp drag cars.

Cabins, 2 RV hookups, and a cement pad sound fine for me. Room to park tow rigs and trailers.