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City ordnance for small machine shop

Makin' N Bakin'

Plastic
Joined
Jun 24, 2017
Planning a small shop at my personal residence which happens to lie within city limits in a Michigan city. Anyone have experience with state or local city code compliance, permits, etc.? Likely , it would not be known however I want to be on the up & up plus maybe put a sign up eventually. Thanks for the input.
 
Start by getting your local zoning rules and map from the city or township.
In the UP for example you may be able to actually pull this off with very little problem.
Below the bridge, not so much.
A personal hobby shop is ok, a business is another story. At this point you have just become commercial or light industrial.
BTW, the tax base on your house may change if you get your zoning approved. Some will put the shop building on a separate lot from the house and only change it.

If near the businesses section of the city you may already be in the zoning area so life is simple.
Bob
 
Unless a web forum is composed only of your town's residents, you are obligated to talk to the city in mind.

For example, Anderson Indiana has effectively shut out all national name tree services by requiring a permit for each service event.

Which the big names can't be bothered with.
 
Do what 99% of other shops who start in a residence do, keep the doors closed, keep it quite, don't have deliveries of material to the house etc. Talking to the city is going to open a can of worms you don't need.
 
Do what 99% of other shops who start in a residence do, keep the doors closed, keep it quite, don't have deliveries of material to the house etc. Talking to the city is going to open a can of worms you don't need.

But when business picks up past a certain point it will become impossible to conceal, and depending on your location (and on the connections of whoever rats you out) you could get fined for any number of code violations. Not to mention your homeowner's insurance wouldn't pay if a fire investigation revealed activities that could be construed as hazardous, like welding, grinding...and metalcutting. Or if a SOB code inspector gets your insurance canceled and you have a mortgage, you could be held in default. Lots of pitfalls, and yeah, I know everybody starts that way. I did too. I wouldn't do it today--but that was then.
 
In my town, in Wisconsin, you would not be able to do what you want to do. Residential zoning is for residential only, then there is business zoning which allows residential upstairs and retail on the first floor, no machine shop. Machine shops need to be zoned industrial and you would need a variance, difficult, to live on site. People that want to do what you propose don't live in this city, they move to the country, where things are more flexible.
 
If you live in a 'development' and have a Home Owners Association (HOA)you will also have covenants that typically have their own list of restrictions. Most HOAs usually hire a management company to enforce their covenants. I've dealt with HOAs on and off for about 40 years. Some can be a royal pita.
 
I want to be on the up & up plus maybe put a sign up eventually. Thanks for the input.

You have to be kidding about the sign? Keep things quiet if you have to do this at your residence.

Zoning laws will probably not permit this. But the way I see it is this:

If the woman down the street can conduct piano lessons at her house, then why can't you do your own thing. You will probably make less noise than some kid banging on the 88 keys. A small kid learning to play violin is worse. As long as you don't have a metal storage pile in your driveway or delivery trucks coming every other day. A pickup truck with a shell can make your operations more stealthy.
 
If you live in a 'development' and have a Home Owners Association (HOA)you will also have covenants that typically have their own list of restrictions. Most HOAs usually hire a management company to enforce their covenants. I've dealt with HOAs on and off for about 40 years. Some can be a royal pita.

I have heard from people that they can't even put up a TV antenna on their roof because of the their HOA. :icon_bs::icon_bs::icon_bs::icon_bs::icon_bs::icon_bs::icon_bs::icon_bs::icon_bs::icon_bs::icon_bs:
 
I have heard from people that they can't even put up a TV antenna on their roof because of the their HOA. :icon_bs::icon_bs::icon_bs::icon_bs::icon_bs::icon_bs::icon_bs::icon_bs::icon_bs::icon_bs::icon_bs:

The HOA where my sister lives says I can't park my car on the street in front of her house for more than 4 hours. The garage door can only be opened long enough for access. Can't leave it open while mowing the grass. No clothes lines allowed even though the location would not be visible from any side of property.. Would not let her put up solar panels even though the development is touted as "energy efficient". She took them on about it and won. Now, more than half the houses have solar panels and the new houses are built with them.
 
There is a fellow on here that told a story where he was a machine service guy and was told to meet the customer at a local retail parking lot so he knew how to find the shop. He then followed the guy or got in the customers vehicle and at the end of the short trip, they were at the guys $300K house in a high end development and the guy had 6 mazaks in the basement just singing away.

Maybe he is reading and will tell the story becuase it sounded much better than me telling it.

FWIW- No machine shops at residences here in my township. I'm running one anyway. I have both residential and commercial insurance from the same insurance company. They give zero damns about the local ordinances. I bypassed needing 3phase by bringing in 400amps of single and using phase perfect units. All completed through pulling appropriate permits through the county. I have the ability to run up to 60-80hp of machines which I should be in an industrial setting if it gets that big. Life is good. If the township clamps down on me, I have a few tricks up my sleeve however, I don't see that happening.
 
When I was first married in the late 1960's, I had a small house in a residential neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley. I'd been there for a month or so when I got a visit from my next door neighbor. He asked me if I had been bothered by the work that he was doing in his garage. I said, no. I hadn't heard anything.

He invited me over to take a look. He had three drill presses, a vertical mill, a small lathe and some welding equipment all packed into a 20 X 20 garage. He said that he had been an inspector in an aircraft plant but had a car wreck and lost his leg and his job as well due to hospitalization. He had buckets of small parts that he was processing for other shops who knew him and liked his work. He showed me how he ran the machines with a big, home-made rotary phase convertor.

I gave him my blessing and I never heard a peep out of the place. Frankly, I admired his self-reliance. I can imagine though that he would have had a hard time doing work in his garage if there had been an HOA in the area.
 
IMHO the key thing is to fully grasp the rules about your area and then circumnavigate em. Yeah if your in the middle of a HOA or similar bullshit your probaly screwed but for most of the rest of the world you can get away with a lot, so long as YOU DO NOT cause annoyance to others or fly to many red flags!!

If you want to do heavy machining - fab your going to have problems, the diesel forklift idling is going to piss people off as will the HGV deliveries.

On the other hand if your near silent, don't have large deliveries, don't have engines in anything parked out and idling and keep the customers desecrate you can get away with a lot more.

Just because you have a lathe and cnc mill + welding gear does not make you a heavy industry at least not around here. You can be a artist, you can offer electronics repair or light custom component prototyping - sewing machine repair or any other crap thats not going to cause any inconvenience to anyone else you can imagine. Key thing is not to be a machine shop, not to fall into the usual typical categories. Now your sewing machine repair shop may currently be using the machines for makeing something else as works quiet, but hay mans gotta earn a living.

Soon as you start asking for code acceptance your on the radar. Cause no harm, don't fall fowel of things and your light years ahead.

Here in the uk once you have been doing something for a decade at a location your sorta grandfathered in. Still can not cause a nuisance, but you have a lot more wiggle room.

On the 160 home street i live on theres at least 2 landscape gardeners with multiple vans, a small part time printers, a UPVC window fitters yard, a guy making wood bowels at least semi commercially or he uses em as disposables to eat with!! At least one canabis farm that had been running for a long while till it got raided, various people working from home in the IT sector and a fair few others that also do stuff. No one batts a eye lid about it. The only thing that everyone’s pissed about is the next street over who race stock cars at least semi professionally and are revving there engines most days.
 
In situations like this, it's better to ask for forgiveness than for permission. I wouldn't say a word to anyone.. The less they know about your business, the better off you are.

The Twp. where I'm at won't let me put up a small 40'x50' shop without a house on the property first. I was going to build this summer but the neighbor asked if I was interested in their house and property. I bought it and we close in a couple weeks.

The Twp said the lots have separate tax #'s and still can't build. I have a total of 50 connected acres and cannot build my new shop 650' off the road on 25 acres of vacant land. I'm done dealing with them and their rules. I'm applying for my full agricultural license/permit with tax exempt ID#. It looks like I'm going to be a farmer with a new shop before the snow flys. :D
 
Anyone have experience with state or local city code compliance, permits, etc.?

Not directly, but I heard one from a paint store person. That's the place that sells automotive paint to some local autobody shops. A homeowner was into some serious painting in his garage or attached shed. A guy from the street started asking him questions about what he was doing and sounded interested in his activities. So the homeowner gave him a tour of the facility. Bad idea.

The guy was a code enforcement person. The homeowner was fined thousands and had to stop his painting activities.

When you buy paint around here the purchase is automatically recorded and reported.
 
No idea about local laws around you.

I can say my building in commercially zoned for light manufacturing...has been for many a year. Around me is residential...I am quiet for the most part. Quieter then the train passing behind me, quieter then the school buses and the like.

So I am legal...I still have neighbors that do not want me here...although I have been here before their homes were built. Almost yearly I get a visit from some sort of inspector at my neighbors request. Inspectors get tired of coming here..I try to make it real easy for them as I keep a few documents on hand for them...so when they file their report they don't have to go searching. But they still need to come when called...so far never an issue, they are pissed at the callers...but one day some inspector may decide enough is enough not caring whose fault it be why he's here...if this palce was not here that would be one less job he would have to take care of.
Case and point, chemical plant a couple blocks away was there 150 years or so. Zoned, fully compliant with all laws, employed 400 people from the area, offered business to local shops. The neighbors did not want that plant here, they filed complaint after complaint, inspectors got tired of coming down, found something to fine for...the parent company finally just said its not worth the hassles of frivolous fines and lawsuits to shut the place down.

Point is...if you start a business in your home, legally...you can still have a problem from neighbors with a bug up their ar$e.
If you start one skirting the law...neighbors who feel " why should you be able to" will only be too happy to rat you out.

Always seems to be one...
 
When I started my shop I did it from my garage first, didn't say a thing. In about a month the city sent me a letter telling me I can't do it. How did they find out? When I applied for my resale certificate.

If you're in a residential area with neighbors close by (next door?) then I would definitely rethink this, especially about putting up a sign. If you're in the city proper it's most likely a no-go, if you're in the county then it may be a different matter altogether.

I'm in a different state and these matters change from city to city and county to county. Check around.
 
Hi:
Every city and county is different. Look up you city ordinance on the web. Most cities zoning ordinances are posted. Check the definitions first. Look for home occupation or home business and see what it has to say. Then check how you property is zoned (usually a map). After figuring out your zoning, check permitted uses and accessory uses for that zoning area. See if it allows your business as an accessory use or allows home occupations.

Secondarily, many cities also require a "business license" to operate. If you do not have a required business license even if zoning allows the use, you still can be in trouble. Yes they have been at this a long time and have most if not all of the angles covered.

If you start at home and it is prohibited you will probably get caught in the long run. I will save you a lot of wondering, yes one of your neighbors will eventually "Rat You Out". The downside of getting caught is it will probably cost you several hundred to several thousand dollars and they will shut you down. The flip side is it will take them time to shut you down so you will probably have time to move.
Best Wishes,
George
 








 
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