Is having your shop on your homestead a handicap/detrimental?

pgmrmike · Jun 23, 2018

I have a small one man shop, just a Puma 300 CNC Lathe and a Leadwell V30 VMC. At the moment I have a lot of work, but most of it is from two customers. They keep me so busy that I really need to hire someone and buy at least another lathe to expand my customer base-I dont want to depend so much on just two customers. My shop is on my rural property where I live. ( 10ac, house, shop, shed )

At this point , in order to buy more machines I either need to expand my shop, or rent a place closer to town. Due to my aversion to debt and the volatility of oil etc, I prefer to build/add on here without a loan. But I have had a couple of people in the past speak negatively about "home shops" etc. Being on your home property makes you look amateurish, and small time ( well, i am small-time ).

So my question is do yall think having your shop on your home property is a negative thing in relation to the way customers perceive you? Do you think it will limit my ability to find new customers?

lars66 · Jun 23, 2018

home shop

I have had a home shop for 39 years. It is 29 steps from the house door to the entrance door of the shop. The common comment from customers is only do you live here? Nobody seems to give a damn about living next to the shop only what you can do and I have been very successful here.

chip_maker · Jun 23, 2018

Let your work sell itself, where you do it shouldn't mean squat.

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DDoug · Jun 23, 2018

Many tool & die mold shops in Meadville Pa are built this way.

Nice air con shop with 10-30 people, nice brick house "out back" for the owner.

Rob F. · Jun 23, 2018

My shop is also at my home, blessing and a curse. I do mostly archetural fab work and some smaller structural, so there is plenty of tools and materials spread around to be an eyesore for wife. But no other payments when times are lean is sure nice. I am building a 40x60x16 bldg now that should be able to contain most everything.
I would say if you can build the new shop on the oposite side of your property so it is as far away as possible then the two are separated. Plant some trees or shrubs in between them. Like the others above have said I would not care one bit if other people think it unprofessional to have a home shop, your work should speak for itself.
I do nothing but repeat clients and word of mouth work. More than I can do right now, and nobody has ever said anything negative about shop and home in same location.

PeteM · Jun 23, 2018

Maybe three decades ago, I visited a bunch of manufacturing companies in Taiwan. I was there giving a talk on CAD/CAM/CAE. These were decent size -- and pretty successful -- plastic injection mold builders, etc. knowing they needed modern equipment and methods to win business.Very commonly the business was in a three story building. Manufacturing on the first floor, business offices on the second floor, with the owner's family and residence on the top floor.I'd say it's great that you can spread it over your 10 acres, Texas-style.

Bill in PA · Jun 23, 2018

Home shop

I have around 1300 sq. ft. attached to the house for the shop. All for local industry. No perception problems at all. The size and capabilities of the equipment say that it is a serious operation along with the type of work done. Very unassuming from the outside. Most are surprised when they come in. Kind of small on the outside, big on the inside.

Being a one-man shop was a selling point for an electronics company that I make molds and tools for. They like the personal attention.

I think customers (at least in my area) feel quite comfortable in a shop like mine. Hours are by appointment only since I pick up and deliver. Customers don't mind that either. I don't do much repair or rush jobs though.

Bill

AmericanLocomo · Jun 23, 2018

The company I work for now got started out of a garage, and now employs over 150 people. Nothing at all with running a home shop as long as you do good work.

Just make sure to keep your business finances separate from your own personal finances. That way if you lose the business, you'll only lose your equipment and not your house.

DDoug · Jun 23, 2018

Take a look at this property on a back road.....
Google Maps

Now here is their website:
Horizontal Boring Mill for the Forging Industry - Thornton Home

sort of stealth eh ?

SND · Jun 23, 2018

Biggest problem is usually electrical, unless you're lucky enough to have 3ph at your place. I'd love to have real 3ph and enough of it to not worry about overloading a 1ph panel... I'd pay whatever it takes for it right now to solve that if it was even a possibility in my area.

dalmatiangirl61 · Jun 23, 2018

Tx shop is on 13 acres, shop up front by the road, house in back not visible from road. Nv shop is a commercial building with 3ph available, just need to bite the bullet and redo all electrical work to bring it in, hopefully some day I can move my home part to the top floor. Biggest drawback to me of having shop/home at same location is the people that think they can bother me for a "quick" job, had to lay the law down on a few some years back, "do not bother me on Sundays, EVER", its not a religeon thing, I just need one day of the week off.

JLarsson · Jun 23, 2018

dalmatiangirl61 said:
...{snippage}...its not a religeon thing,...{snippage}...

Not that there's anything WRONG with that...

Jashley73 · Jun 23, 2018

I have a customer with a good size shop next to his home property. My only criticism is that I would not want my home & shop buildings "close" together on the same property, if possible. While it would be great convenience to have them located on the same property, I would want some separation for a few reasons.

First, when it's time to "go home" or "take off" for a day, I wouldn't want the shop building to be so close to the house. A little bit of separation between work/home is a good thing. Second, if you ever decided to sell the shop building, home, or both (separately) it would be nice for them to be separated as well. A house for sale 30 steps from light industrial business won't attract as many buyers vs. 500-700 feet away, if possible. Same if you were to sell the business - the business owner wouldn't want the neighbors complaining all the time, and may prefer to have a little bit of land to expand the shop building if needed.

So if you can put both buildings on the same property - great! - do it.... Just put them on opposite corners of the property.

bryan_machine · Jun 23, 2018

There are several folks on PM who do some variant of this, some of them successful for long periods. In past discussion, the issues that arose were less about the business and more about other things: 1. You can't sell the shop, or maybe the business at all, without also selling the house. 2. Zoning, taxes, and general obstructive behavoir by government. (Though if you are rural as in really in farm/ranch country, shouldn't be an issue.) 3. If you have very many employees, now you have swarms of people nearby, including on days you maybe want to take off and rest at home while they work. 4. If you are running lights-out or the like, you might have noisy stuff not so far from your dwelling. On the other hand its easier to check up on it. In the age of the web, many businesses in fancy buildings are not sound, and many reliable businesses are out of somebody's house, garage, shed, etc.

rons · Jun 23, 2018

pgmrmike said:
At this point , in order to buy more machines I either need to expand my shop, or rent a place closer to town. Due to my aversion to debt and the volatility of oil etc, I prefer to build/add on here without a loan.

So my question is do yall think having your shop on your home property is a negative thing in relation to the way customers perceive you? Do you think it will limit my ability to find new customers?

I have seen my share of businesses that close down because the rent is killing them. At least that is around here where it is expensive to own and rent.

Gordon B. Clarke · Jun 24, 2018

pgmrmike said:
I have a small one man shop, just a Puma 300 CNC Lathe and a Leadwell V30 VMC. At the moment I have a lot of work, but most of it is from two customers. They keep me so busy that I really need to hire someone and buy at least another lathe to expand my customer base-I dont want to depend so much on just two customers. My shop is on my rural property where I live. ( 10ac, house, shop, shed )

At this point , in order to buy more machines I either need to expand my shop, or rent a place closer to town. Due to my aversion to debt and the volatility of oil etc, I prefer to build/add on here without a loan. But I have had a couple of people in the past speak negatively about "home shops" etc. Being on your home property makes you look amateurish, and small time ( well, i am small-time ).

So my question is do yall think having your shop on your home property is a negative thing in relation to the way customers perceive you? Do you think it will limit my ability to find new customers?

It only depends on location. If it doesn't hassle anyone around you then it's up to you and only you. I can't imagine a customer giving a damn.

The biggest problem in my eyes would be if you couldn't separate free time from work time. As long as you have a steady income then always take time off to enjoy life. Probably not "The American Way" but worth trying and remember "you can't take it with you".

gbent · Jun 24, 2018

My home and business are on the same property. Sometimes its a blessing, sometimes its a curse. But overall, its good and I would do it over.

You need an exit strategy. Your acreage is large enough you can build a new shop far enough away to be able to split it off and retain your house.

vonleyser · Jun 24, 2018

Location

Where in this big state go you live.

kustomizer · Jun 24, 2018

Our shop is at home, I cannot recall any customer ever saying anything negative about it. I agree with the blessing/curse, as it is hard knowing you are that close and there is work that could be getting done when you would like a bit of time off.

Finegrain · Jun 24, 2018

My shop is in my garage. I'm very fortunate that my neighbors are OK with it. It would only take one sourpuss to ruin the whole deal. To grease the skids, I sharpen mower blades, fix kids's bikes, pump up car tires, etc.Power is an issue. I'd like to have a larger Phaseperfect, but am unable to give it enough 1-phase.Once in awhile the power company sends me an e-mail saying something like, "You seem to be using a lot of electricity relative to your neighborhood. Everything OK?"Customers generally don't care (most have no idea AFAIK), but I have had some friction with larger quantity RFQ's (10k-ish), where the customer was dubious about my ability to complete the work.Some material companies freak out when I give them my delivery address. There's plenty of room here for a tractor/trailer, but they still freak out when they call it up on their computer map.Insurance is a challenge. I have my newer VMC insured per the terms of the loan, but only for that machine. I tried to get something for the shop in general, but my regular insurance company (of 34 years) couldn't figure anything out.Regards.Mike

Is having your shop on your homestead a handicap/detrimental?

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