I have a few designs that I'm in the process of prototyping in my home shop that I'd like to be able to manufacture and sell at some point. I've done enough research to suggest that starting an LLC is probably the best choice for starting a business for this purpose, but I'm still not decided how to structure things. Currently, all the shop and all equipment is my personal property and I'm considering a few different business structures:
If the business fails, I want to ensure the shop and equipment remain my personal property as it is all located in my garage. I don't plan to leverage any credit, so my risk of defaulting on loans is zero and I plan to carry liability insurance for any lawsuits that come my way. Given these facts, a holding LLC seems excessive and also a paperwork burden. Have any of you done something similar? If so, how did you structure things?
- Continue to hold the shop and all equipment personally and lease it to the LLC.
- Create a holding LLC and subsidiary LLCs for each business purpose (manufacturing, engineering, etc..), and have the holding LLC hold the shop and all equipment.
- The same as the above but lease the shop and all equipment to the holding LLC.
If the business fails, I want to ensure the shop and equipment remain my personal property as it is all located in my garage. I don't plan to leverage any credit, so my risk of defaulting on loans is zero and I plan to carry liability insurance for any lawsuits that come my way. Given these facts, a holding LLC seems excessive and also a paperwork burden. Have any of you done something similar? If so, how did you structure things?