Shop Locations

[anthonymaietta]

My wife and I are looking to buy a house sometime this summer, and as part of the move I am seriously considering bringing my framebuilding shop home. We currently live in a condo, and we just don't currently have the room for a framebuilding shop. Names like Garro, Sachs, and Kirk come to mind as guys who have shops at their houses. Names like Strong and Vanilla come to mind as guys who have stand-alones. I'm wondering what some of you have experienced having your space at home; customers coming to your "house", issues with QBP shipping to your "house", any problems with zoning regulations. My current shop is 500 sq ft and I pay a fair rent, but I'd love to have the equipment at home so I could pop in a do work whenever I want.

Tony

[cardinal]

Tony,
The grass is always greener... We have Signal set up in my garage. Space is lacking, but I'd say the best option is a real shop at home. Yes there are problems, but I'm pretty sure low/no rent trumps them all. One problem I have with working at home is it's easier to get distracted. Mow the lawn, friends stop over, make a big lunch...

And QBP won't make you a customer, but there are other options. It's funny, we really only need QBP to get Salsa QR's, seat clamps and other small parts. Being a small builder, unable to buy parts from one of the old school small builders (I know it's not the same Salsa as it used to be) kind of ironic?

Our little shop works well, but whenever I visit Sacha at Vanilla, I wish I had me some of that!

[e-RICHIE]

my advice after having 4 shops since the 1970s, all within 2 properties
of each other, is to work down to your available space rather than up
to some fantasy vision of if only atmo.

[Dave Kirk]

I run my business from my home and I can't image it getting any better than this. The shop space is very cheap and I can write it off a good portion of my property tax. The business pays for such things as garbage and the phone so that stuff all costs me less. I have no commute. In a past life I drove 40 minutes each way. Comparing that to now I have an extra 80 minutes of time to work or play or just stare at the sunset. Think about how much you'd give for an extra free hour a day. I don't pay for gas or have wear and tear on my car from a commute.

Being located in Montana means that I get very few visitors. The few folks that do visit are always very respectful of the fact that this is my home and they treat it as such.

I have a separate phone number that makes the one phone line in the house ring differently so I know if it's a personal call or a business call.

I've had no issues with getting QBP or anyone else no selling to me because I work from my home. I explained to them what I do and where I do it and asked them if they wanted my business. They said yes.

My immediate neighbors all know what I do and have no trouble with it. If any of them need a tune up on their FreeSpirit I take care of it and it buys me a huge amount of good will. I don't make much noise or generate much traffic and most would never know I run a business from here.

The only downside of working from home for me is that I never leave work. At first it was too easy to work too many hours or to work odd hours. Once I set firm business hours it all sorted itself out. I never answer the phone before or after hours. I never work late or on weekends.

I hope that helps.

dave

[crumpton]

500sqr' shop in the back yard where I construct frames. 1400sqr' off site for the fitting studio, paint shop and storage. it is only 1 mile from the house which is nice. If I wasn't doing my own painting, I'd dump it but I have no interest in clearcoating my neighbors 3 times a week.

I like the home shop for all the reasons Kirk mentioned. If you live in a high population area, might be a good idea to stay as anonymous as you can with respect to where you live.

[sacha white]

Anthony, You should call Mike Desalvo and pick his brain. He just moved into an away-from-home shop after working out of his home shop for 10+ years.

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to have a shop in my back yard. I also think about having land and a framebuilding barn and a permanent cross venue.........hmmm....

On the flip side, I like having a public urban-centric space that I can welcome people into that mirrors what I have tried to capture with my sites. I also like having events (music, art shows, dinners etc), though I haven't done nearly as much as I want to in this regard.

Another thing you might want to think about is the ability to grow in the future.

Anyhoo

[cardinal]

I've had no issues with getting QBP or anyone else no selling to me because I work from my home. I explained to them what I do and where I do it and asked them if they wanted my business. They said yes.
dave

We just got an email from QBP letting us know that they can't ship to residential locations. This is our second attempt at trying to get QBP. The first time we just went through the standard application process, the second time we spoke with a friend who seemed to think he could "pull some strings." QBP is a hard egg to crack and if you are getting them to ship to your garage, you are doing something right. It's pretty clear that most of us don't have the clout of Dave Kirk.

I can't blame them for being selective, it seems that there are a few unsavory characters in this business, but it seems that there should be ways to make this work for small builders.

I asked QBP if they wanted my business, and they said no.

BTW I have nothing but respect for Dave K. I hope this doesn't come off wrong...

[e-RICHIE]

I asked QBP if they wanted my business, and they said no.

BTW I have nothing but respect for Dave K. I hope this doesn't come off wrong...

you tell those assholes that it's contradictory to have an OEM program and
to also refuse to sell you parts to assemble your frames into bicycles atmo.

[anthonymaietta]

I do have a QBP account, but it was a pain in the A$$ to get it. I have tried many times to get them to ship to my house and they won't. While I still have my day job as an engineer my time in the shop is forced to night and weekends, so I am NEVER around when UPS comes to deliver. The UPS dude drops my packages off at my building neighbors, but again since I am not there during the day, its a complete pain in the ass to get them. Even though I have a stand-alone shop I've wanted QBP to ship to my house because the UPS guy can leave packages in a our building drop-off area. Unfortunately QBP is the only place to get a lot of the small parts we all need...

FWIW: Security and Downeast have alot of stuff and will ship to your house.

[K Bedford]

My shop is simply 1/2 of my two car garage and although it's tight I have all that I need for now. As time goes on I'll purge all of the typical useless garage crap we all accumulate and will be able to add a lathe and a mill while still fitting in one car.....plenty. There's a lot to be said about walking fifteen feet out your front door and entering your workshop. I can arrange my day any way I want like if I'm restless at 2 am I can go out and build something....very therapeutic. I can also screw around with my cats anytime I want since they're about my only daily company now that I'm not working around a bunch of other people anymore. Seriously, as DK said the financial benefits are a significant factor in a really small operation so if you can do it in available space keeping it at home can be good.
Kelly
K. Bedford Customs