Minuit Posted January 1, 2023 Share Posted January 1, 2023 Hey peoples, With me starting my job soon and moving to Alabama not long after, I've been thinking that it be good to get access to some kind of off-site shop space where it is socially acceptable to store and work on multiple project vehicles, since I'd be renting a house to start off. It wouldn't need to be much - space to store two cars plus tools indoors with room to work around them. A lift would be super amazing to have. Does anyone do this, and does anyone know of a good place to look for spaces like this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted January 2, 2023 Share Posted January 2, 2023 One of the guys in the North Atlantic chapter of NAXJA did this in Pennsylvania. He's a member of this site, too, but I won't mention his name without his permission. My fuzzy recollection is that it was an old service station that had been out of active use for quite some time. I don't remember the details. I had my eye on two such places not too far from me. They had been empty for a good number of years. And then one day they were gone -- POOF! Demolished. There is now a self-storage warehouse on one of the sites, and the other site is still vacant and up for sale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted January 2, 2023 Share Posted January 2, 2023 I've heard of rentable workshops, but they aren't a place to store your stuff, just a place to work on projects. the next day someone else would be there working on their stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gogmorgo Posted January 2, 2023 Share Posted January 2, 2023 I've known a couple people who did this. The one guy had managed to find a deal on a smaller mechanic's shop that was a commercial space but sitting vacant, he managed to talk the landlord into letting him use it while it was between operations, basically paying just enough to cover utility bills and property tax, but he did have to move out in a hurry when the place got leased for real. The one other guy who did it had been renting the house and the detached three-car garage facing the alley behind it, but then decided he wanted to live closer to work, and talked the landlord into letting him either continuing to rent just the garage, or else subletting just the house to someone else, and hung onto the garage for his personal shop. When we drove back to his actual residence after using his space to fix my car, it was almost an hour to get across Chicagoland at midnight on a Sunday night, which I don't think I would want as separation between me and my stuff. I just spent the last six months with my stuff 45 miles from home, and it often wasn't worth the cost of fuel or the time to go get most of the stuff I had in storage. When I was living in the city, I occasionally saw ads for just a garage being rented out, although usually they had stipulations about being only for storage, no working on cars inside, and even if they didn't, they often were the sort of space where yes, you could get a car into it, but you might not be able to get the doors open on both sides at the same time. But it's worth hitting up the local Craigslist, Marketplace, wherever to see if such a space would be available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyav8r Posted January 3, 2023 Share Posted January 3, 2023 Off topic, but where are you moving to in AL? Wherever it is - welcome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minuit Posted January 3, 2023 Author Share Posted January 3, 2023 35 minutes ago, Keyav8r said: Off topic, but where are you moving to in AL? Wherever it is - welcome! Muscle Shoals/Florence area. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acfortier Posted January 3, 2023 Share Posted January 3, 2023 I've been looking for commercial property around me so I can store my two projects, and even buy a lift to work on them. Tough around here, I don't really have a great resource to find commercial properties for sale/rent/lease. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m2bandit Posted January 3, 2023 Share Posted January 3, 2023 In the city near me there are several places that are commercial/ personal shops. When I was a kid (90's) my step dad rented one for a few years for $200 a month. I loved hanging out there after school, that's where I got my practical education lol. It didn't take long for the rates to chase him out though. I'm sure cost varies wildly, if they're an issue maybe you could share one with someone. I imagine you'd find them on the outskirts of town, maybe an industrial park. I couldn't find them searching for "shop space". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted January 3, 2023 Share Posted January 3, 2023 A friend of mine and his brother inherited a near perfect building with their father died. It used to be a gas station and independent garage. The pumps and tanks are gone, lifts have been removed, but it's a 3-bay garage with a small office area and a rest room. They're asking $4,800 per month -- which is the going rate. The kind of buildings you can rent for cheap are out in the boonies, and basically abandoned. Some may not even be safe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acfortier Posted January 4, 2023 Share Posted January 4, 2023 I just came across https://www.stache.com/, never heard of it, but seems like an AirBNB for storage units. Found a couple local options, one was actually tempting at $250 a month for a 28 x 24 garage. Would be able to fit both of my vehicles... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minuit Posted January 4, 2023 Author Share Posted January 4, 2023 55 minutes ago, acfortier said: I just came across https://www.stache.com/, never heard of it, but seems like an AirBNB for storage units. Found a couple local options, one was actually tempting at $250 a month for a 28 x 24 garage. Would be able to fit both of my vehicles... That's a neat little site. There's not much in Alabama but I did see some possibly suitable spaces near my house in TN. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyComanche Posted January 4, 2023 Share Posted January 4, 2023 I rented a garage/shop for a while. It actually was part of the reason I finally bit the bullet and bought a house and built a shop. It seemed like everything was going to be okay because I was paying a fair amount for it, the homeowner wasn't around much and I would shovel the driveway/walkways for them, and literally all I did was work in there/leave a truck there. Then they got weird about things like having the heat on (well, eh... You need that here), and whatnot and then I just realized that they didn't get the point of why I was renting it even though I had been clear when I made the arrangement. Renting a commercial space would have been better, but it's too much money to justify from what I've seen. You can mortgage a lot of house with a big shop for what you'll pay to rent a commercial space big enough to be worth it. Ultimately I just put my stuff into storage and bought a house, then built a shop... Which took forever, so in retrospect I think just buying a place that already has a big shop would be the way I would go. Houses like that are common enough here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrandBoost98 Posted January 5, 2023 Share Posted January 5, 2023 On 1/3/2023 at 5:41 PM, Eagle said: A friend of mine and his brother inherited a near perfect building with their father died. It used to be a gas station and independent garage. The pumps and tanks are gone, lifts have been removed, but it's a 3-bay garage with a small office area and a rest room. They're asking $4,800 per month -- which is the going rate. The kind of buildings you can rent for cheap are out in the boonies, and basically abandoned. Some may not even be safe. Theres garages for rent all over the place in CT. I know a few guys in my jeep club that rent spots that fit several vehicles with a bathroom and office space. Theyre between $800-$1200 a month Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strictlyxjs Posted January 6, 2023 Share Posted January 6, 2023 On 1/3/2023 at 8:50 PM, acfortier said: I just came across https://www.stache.com/, never heard of it, but seems like an AirBNB for storage units. Found a couple local options, one was actually tempting at $250 a month for a 28 x 24 garage. Would be able to fit both of my vehicles... I feel up here where we live most people are willing to rent out garage space but i swear everyone is dead set on not doing any kind of work on their vehicles there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjeff87 Posted January 9, 2023 Share Posted January 9, 2023 I basically built my MJ in a 20X30 storage unit because I didn't have a garage at the time. Lots of guys had project vehicles stored there and worked on them. A couple years later, the place outlawed ANY working on vehicles in any of the units, probably due to insurance. They do have three dedicated units that are shops but last I checked they were prohibitively expensive to rent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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