wesley 15 Report post Posted January 28, 2007 How do you guys run your business? 1- Do you run it from your house? 2- Do you run it from a shop/warehouse? This thread goes with a previous thread I started, with the lack of responses I'm guessing most guys run from the house. P.S. Can someone make this a poll? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 Littlefield 65 Report post Posted January 28, 2007 Wesley, I have a 1500 sqft shop. Part warehouse, part office. I love it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 JFife 14 Report post Posted January 28, 2007 Wes, I've had a shop in the past, but have moved to a point where it isn't *as* necessary for me as it used to be. My garage is ample, and I keep my inventory down. My jobs tend to be around 2-4weeks per job, and it's nice to be able to use that property to keep trailers, bucket truck, etc. If I weren't able to do that, I'd have to have an office/shop. I'd probably go ahead and get one now, but I really hate any kind of commitments like that. One thing that sneaks up on you---you'll have another electric, phone, cable (internet) bill that you have to pay. You also may have to make adjustments to your insurances, so run it by your insurer. It's definitely nice and preferable......but it'll also be $500-$1000 off the bottom line. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 Grant 500 Report post Posted January 28, 2007 I have a 2000 square foot office, attached to a 1850 square foot warehouse and a seperate 2040 square foot warehouse. All of it within 30-45 minutes of my house. and yes I enjoy the drive between the two. I get lots of thinking done while I commute. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 R L S 14 Report post Posted January 28, 2007 Home based here. I have a seperate 2 car garage where I put the chems,parts, trailer etc. Right now my office is in the living room, or my truck. We are buying a new house and I will have my OWN office HOORRAYY. If you have the acrerage look into building a pole barn. You can make them any size you want. After our funds are back up from the new house (which will take a while) were putting up a pole barn. Check out DIY Pole Barns & Supplies - Supplying America's Do-It-Yourselfers pretty cool site. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 John T 744 Report post Posted January 28, 2007 Tony Szabo has a real nice set-up in his backyard. If he see's this post it would be cool if he showed his set-up. I may have to get a warehouse myself. The problem here is that everything is so expensive. Just to have a place to park my 24ft box truck was anywhere between $200-$1200/month. Insane( I since sold the box truck so that solves that problem). The other thing here is that you would most likely need to have a heated storage space and that adds alot to the bottom line. As for now I have a detached 1.5 car garage that stores a bunch of items and since I have two driveways the one on my left goes into a 30' x20' slab in my backyard and also I have even more space behind my Jacuzzi. There I may put up a temporary garage set-up to store my swabby trailer but eventually I will have to move it all out. With guys going in and out of my house and parking cars on my street its just a matter of time. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 JFife 14 Report post Posted January 28, 2007 I have a 2000 square foot office, attached to a 1850 square foot warehouse and a seperate 2040 square foot warehouse. All of it within 30-45 minutes of my house. and yes I enjoy the drive between the two. I get lots of thinking done while I commute. WOW!! I guess Cali time may be a little different....suppose things are spread out more and tough driving conditions. I hate traffic--don't think I could make myself enjoy a drive like that!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 John T 744 Report post Posted January 28, 2007 Whatever I do though I want it close to my home. My thinking is the same as Jon Fife and time on the road is money lost. I would need something no more then 15 minutes from my home. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 wesley 15 Report post Posted January 28, 2007 JFife, thanks for sharing. My feeling right now is stay close to home for the reasons you mentioned. I dont really need an office just the shop for storing equipment and chems. Somewhere to work on things, mix chems without the worries ect. so right now I have no plans for internet, phone and stuff like that. Power and water is all I need so that is what I'm shooting for. I like having the office in the house, I can work on things at my own leisure. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 James 625 Report post Posted January 28, 2007 I have a 2 bay garage w/heat, water and plenty of storage. A great guy owns the property. 5 minute's from my house , next door to a great breakfeast place and one minute from the highway. For a couple of years I drove by saying that is a great place for my stuff. Then I finally stopped in. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 RPetry 564 Report post Posted January 28, 2007 My business is entirely home based. Office is the entire 3rd floor, and equipment and inventory is in the garage. Only doing wood, don't have a great need for space. Not that much equipment. Only inventory in quantity is various pigments of stain. Advantages are low overhead, no travel, and the office is only a stair flight away. Major disadvantage is you never leave the office. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 Jeff 232 Report post Posted January 28, 2007 I have the warehouse, I'm thinking in the future to have a Large L-shaped garage with a 2nd floor office built at my new house I have enough room. I just dont know if the HOA will go for it. I can do it, but if they know I will be running my biz & trucks & trailer out of it, I dint know if they can stop it Plus it will be a good chunk of $$$ but be a lot cheaper than leasing for years. I'd like to buy some land to put a small warehouse, me and another guy looked at a 1/2 acre commercial piece of land close to my house & it was som big $$$ Might take a couple years to figure out what the heck we'll do Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 JFife 14 Report post Posted January 28, 2007 Jeff's idea is the best. If I didn't dislike committing to things so much, I'd probably go after the same thing---build a 3-5bay warehouse and rent out what you don't use. Shane's doing the same thing--I'd find this to be faaar preferable to building on your own property, especially in a subdivision. Would make selling the house difficult, and probably wouldn't add much value (imo). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 PowerWashofVa 14 Report post Posted January 28, 2007 Saturday I had a 12x24' shed delivered. I had a garage door put at one end and double doors on the side. I just finished painting the floor about 30 minutes ago. Next week I'll get some crush & run and make a ramp so I can park my rig inside. Thw best thing about it its about 75' though the woods & you can't see it from the house. The other nice thing is its about 125' from the water so it has a great view. When I owned my Lawn care company we rented space and between the rent, electricity & other expenses so for me this was the way to go. Keeping my expenses low is the trick Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 Jeff 232 Report post Posted January 28, 2007 Heres a couple pics of the warehouse space we just got, nothing much, but now we'll have everythingin one place and out of the home garage Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 wesley 15 Report post Posted January 29, 2007 Jeff, looks good. That is all I need and hopefully I will find something in the next week or so near my home. You could add a nice loft above your trailer to store odds and ends. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 copgib 15 Report post Posted January 29, 2007 When I built my new home I had it built with an office inside. The room is about 11' X 13'. I also just completed a 1900 sq ft warehouse that I now keep my trailer truck and all equipment in. There is a older picture of my building next to the house, the outhouse is no longer there and I have concrete pads on each end of the building now. Hugh Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 Jeff 232 Report post Posted January 29, 2007 When I built my new home I had it built with an office inside. The room is about 11' X 13'. I also just completed a 1900 sq ft warehouse that I now keep my trailer truck and all equipment in. There is a older picture of my building next to the house, the outhouse is no longer there and I have concrete pads on each end of the building now. Hugh Totally cool Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 Jarrod 22 Report post Posted January 29, 2007 I use an office too. The front is an office and the back is a big garage. I can fit my 15 foot straight truck and 3 one ton vans in the garage. I also have all of my chems in there. 1 - 55 gal. drum of truck wash soap 1 - 150 gal drum of deck stripper 1 - 80 gal drum of deck brightener 1,000,000 - miscellaneious thingies. The garage is heated. After 3 years of kerosine heaters, this was a big plus. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 Jarrod 22 Report post Posted January 29, 2007 Nice diggs Hugh! Jeff, nice space. At the rate you're growing, you'll need a bigger one soon. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 Jeff 232 Report post Posted January 29, 2007 Nice diggs Hugh!Jeff, nice space. At the rate you're growing, you'll need a bigger one soon. You know i hate to spend the money on something that isnt mine. Didnt like leaving one trailer at an open storage yard ( Thieves are everywhere)and the other at my house with the kids. $500 a month I should have a living room, kitchen, bedroom with a Jacuzzi LOL. Oh well its part of doing biz Sounds like you have a great place Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 danster 15 Report post Posted January 29, 2007 5000 sq ft shop with everything parked inside except the larger trailers (20 ft enclosed and 26 ft flatbed). Inside right now have 5 ton, 3 pickups, small tandem trailer and a 40 ft scissor lift. All tools including welders, hydraulic presses, welding table and tons of tools needed to do the jobs. This is all in an unheated space (approx. 3800 sq ft), the heated area has a drive in shop so we can work on vehicles in the winter or paint parts, a paint room which probably has over 1500 gallons of paint in inventory, break room for employees and storage for freezables and consumables. The heated area has an upper deck which holds tarps, ladders, scaffolding and other goodies and has my office which is about 14 x 14. Tons of space but getting crowded as the years go by, man you accumalate stuff over the years, my wife always told me I'm a packrat and don't throw out anything...lol Dan I'll try to post pics later Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 Dave Olson 23 Report post Posted January 30, 2007 My office is in my house. My commute is 14 steps from the easy chair upstairs! My shops are about 6 blocks from my house. We have a 1900 sq ft shop for our equipment. It is insulated, 14" overhead door and 16" eves. Also has sky lights. We use infrared heaters in the back of our trucks. K1 heaters when we are working in the shop. Has a bathroom and we have hooked up so we can fill our water tanks before we leave on a job. We have a second building a couple blocks from the other one that is about 1100 sq ft. Keep mainly toys here but at times it is an overflow for the other shop. I bought a container a couple years ago and use it for our water blaster and my old White truck. We built a storage room out of 2x12's and used the walls for shelves. Wrapped it in plastic so we can keep our chemicals warm. Use florecent lights inside. All of our equipment is stored inside except my Old Dodge and a couple flatbed trailers. Dave Olson Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 anthony szabo 14 Report post Posted February 10, 2007 Tony Szabo has a real nice set-up in his backyard. If he see's this post it would be cool if he showed his set-up. I may have to get a warehouse myself. The problem here is that everything is so expensive. Just to have a place to park my 24ft box truck was anywhere between $200-$1200/month. Insane( I since sold the box truck so that solves that problem). The other thing here is that you would most likely need to have a heated storage space and that adds alot to the bottom line. As for now I have a detached 1.5 car garage that stores a bunch of items and since I have two driveways the one on my left goes into a 30' x20' slab in my backyard and also I have even more space behind my Jacuzzi. There I may put up a temporary garage set-up to store my swabby trailer but eventually I will have to move it all out. With guys going in and out of my house and parking cars on my street its just a matter of time. We bought 5 acres on a private lane(2001), wooded lot, with about 800 feet of frontage of a golf course. The house was a 1980's Wick home and also a 24x40 shop. We bought and leveled the existing home and build our home on the pre-existing foundation of the older Wick home. Kinda looking for this private retreat and it was a huge bonus with the extra shop John T. is talking about. To this date we are out growing the shop and can not decide to add on to it or buy something in town. Already have two business offices and its kinda of a pain when it comes to filing paperwork of customers? Good post with some good ideas. My problem now is also employee parking, and keeping business and personnel life seperate. I will post when I can find the pic's Hugh's set up look's sweeet. Hugh you got the right idea because you are even in a warm climate too! Nice Do I see a port-a-John T. to the right of your picture??? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 anthony szabo 14 Report post Posted February 10, 2007 It took awhile to find the pictures John T. was talking about, but here they are. The pictures of the house is just after construction in 2001. As I look back at them know things (Landscaping) has really changed. It was kinda neat to see how far the property has progressed in five years. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 anthony szabo 14 Report post Posted February 10, 2007 more pictures Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
How do you guys run your business?
1- Do you run it from your house?
2- Do you run it from a shop/warehouse?
This thread goes with a previous thread I started, with the lack of responses I'm guessing most guys run from the house.
P.S. Can someone make this a poll?
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