Garage Yourself

92_SquareEye

92_SquareEye

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 18, 2015
Location
35°44'59.8"N, -78°49'13.6"W
When I was in South Florida, I used Garage Yourself for a lot of my projects. The concept is simple and it really is pretty awesome. For $25/hr, you get a fully outfitted bay...lift, air & hand tools...pretty much everything. Specialty tools were available to rent also, but usually got loaned instead...particularly after a few visits. I wish one of you guys would open something like this in the greater RDU area...
 
That's the primary drawback to a place like that, the liability. I'd imagine damaged and stolen tools would be pretty high on the cost list as well. And I've read even bigger horror stories when there's a 'professional' there to offer guidance and the guidance either didn't work or the guy behind the wrench didn't know what he was doing once the guidance left.

Edit...

Under FAQ's question #5 says 'sign a waiver that dismisses us from liability'...I'd really like to see that waiver...I'd imagine that would be pretty easy to end around with 'negligence due to lack of training'

garageyourself
 
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CasterTroy said:
$25hr doesn't seem like it'd even cover the liability insurance :eek:
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Sure it would. If you have enough of a project to need a lift and tools, you probably figure about 4hrs of work, and since it always takes 3 times as long, 12 hours is $300...
$300*20 occupied days/month =$6000/month...
<Edit>Just saw their Daily Rate is $200, so make that $200/day, $4000/month</Edit>
 
^ and thats one bay.

The only one Ive seen was in Charlotte and had 6 bays.
Stayed packed. Did great. Owner went to jail for drugs
 
Man, that would be a nice add on to a mini storage unit biz. Utilize on-site staff already there for mini storage to manage people in the shop and provide storage of their projects on site with the mini storage biz.
 
rockcity said:
Man, that would be a nice add on to a mini storage unit biz. Utilize on-site staff already there for mini storage to manage people in the shop and provide storage of their projects on site with the mini storage biz.
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It sounds fantastic.

Until you call an insurance carrier. I must have had bad reception because everytime I described unsupervised, untrained, unknown folks lifting vehicles and then getting under them and doing undocumented who knows whats....the call always dropped.
 
Worried about tools being stolen then utilize RFID tags on all the major tools? Once your stuff is in your bay, the door is closed. One central entrance in and out with a RFID sensor. Need to get your vehicle out then it is checked out by the attendant and then the door is unlocked. Obviously have the proper safety measures in place in case of fire and whatnot, but its a start.

There is one of these in Durham that has been empty for years. Although where it is located in Durham, I can totally understand things going missing.
 
Ron said:
It sounds fantastic.

Until you call an insurance carrier. I must have had bad reception because everytime I described unsupervised, untrained, unknown folks lifting vehicles and then getting under them and doing undocumented who knows whats....the call always dropped.
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So the ones in operation...do they just not have any insurance? Are they self insured? I mean they exist so there has to be a way.
 
Hand tools/jacks/stands would be the hard part, but maybe you don't supply those.

Any air/hydraulic/electric tools could be "permanently" attached to the cord that was armored so it couldn't easily be cut.

Have a vending machine for consumables such as blades/grinding disks/etc.
 
There is a garage for lease in Winston, has about 6 bays plus office area up front. Right off Clemmonsville road on Palmer lane. If anyone has the money and tools to start one up
 
Most bases have these and since they're govt funded, they're usually cheap. I used to work at the Hobby Shop on Cherry Point and it was 3 bucks an hr back then for a bay with a lift. 2 bucks for a flat bay. Now it's 8 and 6, but still not bad. Tool control isn't a big issue, just have to check them in and out for specialty stuff and they inventory the toolbox that's on the work table when you get there and when you leave. You find the tool or pay for it before you leave.

They also have brake lathes, a weld shop, tube bender, sandblasting, tire equipment, etc.

I'd love to have one outside of a base, but you'd basically need to be rich to start one up it seems like.
 
BIGWOODY said:
So the ones in operation...do they just not have any insurance? Are they self insured? I mean they exist so there has to be a way.
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I didnt put a ton of effort into the idea. Spent an afternoon researching it ~5 years ago.
But I agree, obviously.

Then again lots of businesses dont carry a ton of insurance. Maybe just form a separate LLC cascade far enough to protect your personal assets, lease the building and if someone sues let them have the business?
The only one of these I have any experience with, didnt load any tools. They had a tire changer and balancer. A welder and a bench grinder.

Each were inside locked cages and you went to the desk and paid the hourly rental rate and left your driver's license to get the key to the cage.

The concept of mechanic's liens on vehicles left would be fun and interesting though.
 
They opened one of these down the road from my house in an old 2 bay service station a few years ago. It was 20hr. I thought it was a good idea but it did not last but a few months and they closed the doors. I'm not sure what happened.
 
rockcity said:
If we can get insurance for ECORS... we can get insurance for a garage. ;)
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Yes sir. And what type of physical barricade will be present to separate the spectators from the automobiles. I see caution tape. I'll have to call you back on that.

Still waiting on that call.
 
Croatan_Kid said:
Most bases have these and since they're govt funded, they're usually cheap. I used to work at the Hobby Shop on Cherry Point and it was 3 bucks an hr back then for a bay with a lift. 2 bucks for a flat bay. Now it's 8 and 6, but still not bad. Tool control isn't a big issue, just have to check them in and out for specialty stuff and they inventory the toolbox that's on the work table when you get there and when you leave. You find the tool or pay for it before you leave.

They also have brake lathes, a weld shop, tube bender, sandblasting, tire equipment, etc.

I'd love to have one outside of a base, but you'd basically need to be rich to start one up it seems like.
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I use the one at Aberdeen Proving Ground all the time
Auto Crafts - Aberdeen Proving Ground MWR

I ran into a local guy at Home Depot a few months ago that had just opened a place like this in Aberdeen, too. Was pretty small time, just 2 bays, didn't even have water access. I think he said it was $20/month.
From what I've heard there's one down outside Baltimore too that is a bit more expensive.
 
Fwiw, you are not allowed to bring any tools into (and therefore out of) the shop. Each bay has a complete 'set' of tools which is inventoried when you go in and out. There is only one bay door into the area, which is closed after each vehicle enters the building, either with the full door closed in colder months or the chain link fence gates the hotter ones. There were 6 bays with two post lifts, 1 four post lift, a metal fab area, tire mount and balance area and the dyno area. Each bay is fully lockable for those renting longer term storage and there are cameras everywhere.

This worked well in the house farm, HOA rich concrete jungle land where the neighborhood actually forbids you to do automobile work in driveways, parking lots, etc. If anyone is actually interested, I would be glad to put you in touch with the owner of that location. He has been at it for about 5 years now and seems to stay pretty full. Most times I was in there, the majority was little rice rockets or Euro cars, but he does drive an XJ...
 
My brother and I tried really hard to make this kind of thing happen a while back. Insurance was pretty high but we could get it. We talked to a lot of people, really tried hard to make it work. In the end we just couldn't get the numbers to work out. A few months later a place opened up close to us with almost the same business plan as ours. Lasted about a year before it went under. Glad we didn't do it now.
 
Blaze said:
My brother and I tried really hard to make this kind of thing happen a while back. Insurance was pretty high but we could get it. We talked to a lot of people, really tried hard to make it work. In the end we just couldn't get the numbers to work out. A few months later a place opened up close to us with almost the same business plan as ours. Lasted about a year before it went under. Glad we didn't do it now.
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I don't want to overgeneralize here...but...I'd bet the majority of guys that are interested in wrenching on their own rigs and would need the accessibility of one of those shops, already has the majority of what one of those shops has. I just don't see the Suzie Homemaker renting out a bay to change the tires on her crossover. I don't see Joe Blow renting out a bay to do an engine swap in Mercedes. Outside of a lift, I'd doubt the majority of us don't already have those items. Who here doesn't have a tool box??? And who here doesn't want to jump at the opportunity to buy new tools if you need something you don't already have. Where I do see something like this taking off is in an area with people that are constantly on the move and don't have the luxury of establishing a home garage/shop or lugging tools with them where ever they go. Icing on the cake, with a demographic that stereotypically has a lot of gear heads...ie, a military base. To us, this garage idea sounds like a great idea, because that's what we do...but how often would we leave our own driveway/garage to use someone else's tools?
 
For the idea to work, imho, you have to connect with the bimmer/tuner crowd who wants to have a shop to install a bolt on exhaust, or a body kit, maybe install wheels and tires they ordered off the net...
 
UTfball68 said:
I don't want to overgeneralize here...but...I'd bet the majority of guys that are interested in wrenching on their own rigs and would need the accessibility of one of those shops, already has the majority of what one of those shops has. I just don't see the Suzie Homemaker renting out a bay to change the tires on her crossover. I don't see Joe Blow renting out a bay to do an engine swap in Mercedes. Outside of a lift, I'd doubt the majority of us don't already have those items. Who here doesn't have a tool box??? And who here doesn't want to jump at the opportunity to buy new tools if you need something you don't already have. Where I do see something like this taking off is in an area with people that are constantly on the move and don't have the luxury of establishing a home garage/shop or lugging tools with them where ever they go. Icing on the cake, with a demographic that stereotypically has a lot of gear heads...ie, a military base. To us, this garage idea sounds like a great idea, because that's what we do...but how often would we leave our own driveway/garage to use someone else's tools?
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That's exactly the issue we ran into. When we talked to people they were like "yeah, that's a great idea!" then when we asked how much they would use it they were like "eh, maybe once every 6 months or a year"
 
Blaze said:
That's exactly the issue we ran into. When we talked to people they were like "yeah, that's a great idea!" then when we asked how much they would use it they were like "eh, maybe once every 6 months or a year"
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No, that's fine. That is a demographics play.
You have 6 bays.
Raleigh is a town of 430,000. Add in another 200,000 for surrounding areas not directly in Raleigh.
630,000 people. Now lets say 2% would use the service ever.
That is 12,600 users.

A 6 bay shop has 2,190 day uses if its open 365. You have essentialy zero competition. You are over booked.

Ok 2% is too high. What about .5%...you still have 3,150 users. Says nothing about multi day users.

I think its a plausible idea. Just need deep enough pockets to survive through the education and acceptance growth phase.

Adding on to my tuner crowd...how many "Jeep" kids would rent a bay with a lift and access to air tools to install a lift kit?


Add a restaurant up front for another cash stream.
Add in an account with a %discount/kick back with Advance as a commercial shop they will deliver.
Add in some tool rentals
Add in some professional services.

All of a sudden you have a $150k/year idea.
 
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