I need a garage

dfvaulter

New Member
Joined
Oct 4, 2005
Location
Clemson, sc
I just moved to charlotte a month and a half ago and I'm living in an apartment in uptown. Needless to say its not the best place to work on a jeep when its parked in a parking garage with no storage or electricity. I was wondering if there are any places close to uptown where I could rent a garage to keep all my jeep crap and do a little welding and wrenching. I wouldn't mind leaving the jeep there either as its already been broken into once. Hopefully some of you guys that have been here a little longer than me can help me out. TIA.
 
There always seem to be a ton of these posts?

The best bet is going to be to rent one of the garages your apt rents, if not, the only real option is a "mini storage" unit. Some of those have plugs/lights etc etc in them.
That's what I was looking at when we were in an apt, then I realized it was easier to just wait until I found a house and make sure the house had a garage.
 
The apt i'm in has a parking garage, but no individual garages. I'm hoping to find something I can actually pull in and work on my jeep. I'm planning on staying near city center for the next 5 years or so, I guess the jeep may have to go on the back burner for awhile which is pretty much happening with work anyways.
 
I wonder if their would be a market for this?
If someone bought a garage space could they get 1) enough members and 2) would said members be willing to pay enough to make it financially viable to have a "public" garage.

You could have garage tools like compressors, welders etc.
Allow people to store toolboxes there.
of course youd need cameras to keep tool legs from showing up and ruining the party and insurance in ccse some dumbass drops his shit on his head....
 
SkyHiK5 said:
I wonder if their would be a market for this?
If someone bought a garage space could they get 1) enough members and 2) would said members be willing to pay enough to make it financially viable to have a "public" garage.

You could have garage tools like compressors, welders etc.
Allow people to store toolboxes there.
of course youd need cameras to keep tool legs from showing up and ruining the party and insurance in ccse some dumbass drops his shit on his head....
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undibs, I've worked with enough people in enough garages to know better than to share workspace/tools. But it would be cool to have several garages next to each other where you could do some thing similar. I just miss my $30/month garage I had in clemson.
 
My thought, you wouldnt have to share necessarily anything.

I am thinking of a fairly large space, maybe 3x2 or 4x2 bays?
And each person could rent a "bay" and have their own tool storage etc.

Just have one real largee shop compressor (to add value for the ren) but you would need your own air hoses,tools,chucks,etc.

maybe have a community welder etc.
not necessarily a setup where you would have to share your stuff. just a place where you could store your stuff and have access to some larger tools and maybe a lift.
 
where in Clemson for $30/month?
 
I have thought about a garage like that in the past. I think the hard part would be coverering your overhead. You figure even if you had 8 bays to rent out at say $75 a month that is only $600 a month coming in. Unless you already owned the property and building you would be hard pressed to get one for $600 a month. I am sure the insurance liability woul;d be through the roof as well. I have always wanted to open an auto parts store with bays in the back for individuals to rent to install/replace the items they purchased. Have a loan-a-tool system set-up (like Auto Zone for example) for the larger/ expensive items that the everyday person has no everday need to have. Such as welder, Air tools, Torque wrench, and etc. It would not be a rent it for the month type of type but by the part. Say if you bought a clutch from my store and it takes say 6 hours to swap it. You would rent the bay for the six hours standard rate and be charged for additional time as needed. Just a thought I had from seeing several off road parks having this kind of set-up. I have too much time on my hands LOL.
 
A building with several bays. Sign up for time. Rule being so many sign up's, and when your time is up it has to be pulled pushed or driven to a storage lot. Have small lockable closets big enough for your tools, from small ones, to bigger ones. A couple of lifts, an on site attendant,
Some of the old stealerships would be an ideal location.
as said one big compressor. I don't agree with the shared welder though. Unless you shared yours with your friends
I am thinking a large insurance policy would be required, unless there was a loop hole for everyone to sign a waiver upon entering.
I think it would be a great idea if all the details could be worked out.
 
The other thing to remember about most storage units. They usually don't have 220 volts. Also what about building a set up like a storage unit with individual units but have them all big enough to tear a vehicle apart and store your tools etc, and be lockable by only you the renter? Have 220 in each unit and maybe one large compressor plumbed to each unit. I don't know, the more I type, the more expencive that sounds, but who knows. Might even have a few with lifts in them. (See?) Would be good for guys resotring antique cars too.
 
upnover said:
A building with several bays. Sign up for time. Rule being so many sign up's, and when your time is up it has to be pulled pushed or driven to a storage lot. Have small lockable closets big enough for your tools, from small ones, to bigger ones. A couple of lifts, an on site attendant,
Some of the old stealerships would be an ideal location.
as said one big compressor. I don't agree with the shared welder though. Unless you shared yours with your friends
I am thinking a large insurance policy would be required, unless there was a loop hole for everyone to sign a waiver upon entering.
I think it would be a great idea if all the details could be worked out.
Click to expand...

See Chip is think almost in line with my thoughts, especially the old dealership part... I just wonder if you could make enough. Like stated you could probably get 50-75/ month.
maybe another 25-50 is you store a vehicle there. Then a per use charge on lifts, and loaner tools etc.
As to the welder, I was thinking that the business owns teh welder and its a benefit of rental (with a small per use fee say 10 to cover consumables)

If you had enough bays you could have one or two designated as per hour rentals. With the rest being monthly rentals. In time have tire changing and balancing equipment. Maybe even your attendant could be a good enough wrench to rent out his help if someone didnt have a friend to help and was unable align a tranny or something similar.

Sorry, this is what my mind does all day, how can I make money off of ______?
 
to make money off something like that with welders, lifts, attendent, and air compressors you're going to have to charge around 400 a month to see any kind of profit if not more. In my experience, most offroaders are the back country type that want a whole lot for nothing, but in the charlotte area it would probably be an easier sell.
 
Im not so sure
If I get 10 members paying 125/month (between rent and options) Id make 1250/month.
The helper would have to pay for himself.

I dont know its not a mega money maker but it should break even
 
First off I think you are going to have trouble finding a guy thats willing to sit there and 'pay for himself'. I'm not sitting there unless you're giving me $10 an hour.

1250 a month is going to barely cover your mortgage if you're lucky, not to mention insurance, and all the lifts, welders, and air compressors you are going to put in there. Then you have to consider all of your utilities.

is it obvious i'm a finance guy?
 
dfvaulter said:
First off I think you are going to have trouble finding a guy thats willing to sit there and 'pay for himself'. I'm not sitting there unless you're giving me $10 an hour.

1250 a month is going to barely cover your mortgage if you're lucky, not to mention insurance, and all the lifts, welders, and air compressors you are going to put in there. Then you have to consider all of your utilities.

is it obvious i'm a finance guy?
Click to expand...

You are assuming I would have a mortgage and not a friend...err make that contact who may be willing to generate any income he could on an abandoned dealership space.

I am not saying it would make anyone rich, off course the one location that comes to mind could be bought for 225k if not less and has 16 bay doors, so its back to supply and demand. If you filled it up well... but could you find 20 people willing to pitch in.
 
this has been discussed to death on pirate and many other sites. Basically everyone gets shut down on the idea when they actually get an insurance quote(read $$$$$$$$)
 
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