Moving to a new Location

Well, after an insanely long and arduous process, we finally got the keys to the new shop on Friday evening. Covid made dealing with the leasing company (an already ugly process) exponentially more difficult than I ever expected. But it's done now, and we're ready to get to work.

We were in ~2500sqft in the back of a pole building on a farm in Molalla, OR. The new location is ~6500sqft in a modern industrial suite in Wilsonville, on the south end of the Portland metro area.

No more phase converter, no more gravel driveway, no more well water, and no more 25 mile drives into town! I know getting into town is the exact opposite of what many on here want to do, but for us it will be a huge upgrade. We are still in the early growth stage, and the ability to add 4 or 5 more spindles is going to be huge. Really excited to have a big, legitimate office space as well. I think this is going to be a huge morale boost for the guys (and hopefully me too).

Figured I would share a few pictures of our first project in the new space. The move in won't start until next week, so me and the boy took advantage of the empty warehouse. Sadly we'll have to tear down the Hot Wheel's ramp in a few days. We've got 3 machines to move in, and hopefully another soon!

That Hot Wheels ramp is cool, that's what my dad would have made for us, he was a kid at heart. That was good to see.

Congrats man. Moving is a PITA but its always nice to get a "reset"

Congrats!

Now instead of a 25 mile drive to town you'll have a 25 minute wait in traffic to get on the freeway. Six of one...

Probably a lot less risk of being vaporized in a wildfire though.

Garwood said:

Congrats!

Now instead of a 25 mile drive to town you'll have a 25 minute wait in traffic to get on the freeway. Six of one...

Probably a lot less risk of being vaporized in a wildfire though.

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LOL. I live in Wilsonville, so my commute is only about 3 miles of sleepy side streets. We can get to all of the major vendors in Tualatin without getting on I-5 as well. One of the guys told me last week that he is looking forward to a commute that doesn't run the risk of getting stuck behind a tractor.

Those fires were crazy though. I grew up in Molalla. The forests are FAR away from the farms near the Willamette valley, and obviously it is not a chronically dry area. I never imagined it was even possible for us to see a wildfire, but it was really touch-and-go there for a minute. The old shop still has ash and soot in all the corners.

Its kinda scary when a 50 mph wind is driving a fire across bare dirt paddocks and setting steel shipping containers on fire,just from the heat in the air...

Now you have to raise your shop rate to pay for the big city taxs...Phil

Phil in Montana said:

Now you have to raise your shop rate to pay for the big city taxs...Phil

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Sounds like he's got products, not a job shop.

Garwood said:

Sounds like he's got products, not a job shop.

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Nah, I own a humble job shop. 3 machinists (myself included) and 3 machines.

The rent sucks, but I actually expect costs to go down by moving into the city. I will be saving 1-2 hours a day of driving, and we will be saving a ton on electricity, freight, courier costs, UPS, FedEx, ect... There are a lot of hidden costs to living way out of town. It's especially hard for us, because most of our work is very short lead.

Congratulations....take a lot of pictures...you will look back fondly of this time so cherish every moment.

Beautiful shop.
I HATE moving, but the one good thing about it, I find all the stuff I thought I lost!

My biggest regret when moving is always the items I wished I would not have sold, scrapped, given away or trashed to lighten the load. All of a sudden when you get rid of something you haven't used in 15 years a need for it pops up within the next 6 months, guaranteed.