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Sept 13, 2018 17:11:51 GMT
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@hotrodder - i lost my storage location. The owner decided that he wants £40k per annum up front. The risk to me was massive as i would need to also invest in insurance, cctv, alarm, fire alarm etc. I am gutted. I need a new storage facility. Personally,i think too that you just can't risk something like that. And i think that the building,regardless of what business would be in there,will stay empty for some time to come,when the owner wants such unrealistic revenue. Keep the spirit up,you didn't lose any money.
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npp
Part of things
Posts: 121
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Sept 13, 2018 19:13:22 GMT
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I felt the numbers wouldn't have added up and you're better off now. Think about all the money you didn't lose and what's the best use for it. Often, when you try to roll your hobby, business and investment into one you end up with sub-optimal versions of each; maybe it's better to set separate budgets and targets for each and pursue them separately (obviously, that makes it more difficult to apply man-maths ...)
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Ray Singh
Posted a lot
More German exotica in my garage now
Posts: 1,984
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Sept 13, 2018 19:21:34 GMT
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Thank you retro riders - I had wanted to combine what i love with a way to make a living.
I will keep searching for a property - but think that the rent will be the stumbling block.
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Ray Singh
Posted a lot
More German exotica in my garage now
Posts: 1,984
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Jul 20, 2020 20:20:28 GMT
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Ok, after almost two years of searching, i haven't given up!
Today i have been offered a 970 Sq m site on a farm surrounded by stunning countryside. It is secure and very clean - not like a grungy, oily garage location at all. Its not far from Hungerford, which has a main line station to London Paddington, with Reading en route. The site has toilets, running water and will have security.
Some rough calculations. A normal domestic double garage is 6m x 6m, so 36 Sq m giving you storage for 2 cars or one car with loads of access around to work on it.
So even with my mental maths - i can fit approx 27 cars in this area. Subtract some for access and installation of a two post ramp, i can offer 20 6m x 6m bays for either storage or for a single car with the facility to work on them.
I plan to install a two post ramp for use by prior arangement.
To make the money side of things work - I would need to charge £50/wk per bay to break even - this assumes that all 20 bays are taken.
I would probably start yet another limited company to limit my liability and plan to offer the facility without insurance (perhaps only liability). Would people go with that?
Any advice available or even better, does anyone want to book a bay?
I really want this to work. The site is perfect and it would be great to have some like minded guys/gals together working on cars.
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slater
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 6,390
Club RR Member Number: 78
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Sounds an insane amount of money to me but I have no idea what the going rate is for that kind of thing, I guess your market is people who have too much money for thier own good in the first place and I'm sure they wouldn't blink at 50quid a week but personally just going off my single garage costing me £6 a week it seems crazy.
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I was paying £80 a month for a single concrete garage that just about fit my car in it. So double that to two cars and I'd have been paying £160 a month. The real issue I had with that place was not the cost, but the access, it was fine during office hours for the week (you know, when I was at work and didn't need to get to my car), was open Saturday morning, from 10am to 1pm, and then Sunday morning from 10am to 11am (by appointment). Which really made it less useful.
I think £50 sounds scary to be fair, but there are storage places that cost a lot more, you just need to make sure you are offering value at that kind of price. Security, trickle charging, flexible access, etc. etc.
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I rent out a couple of spaces in my workshop and charge £75 per month. That's with anytime access, electricity included. I think that's fairly cheap but I'm not really doing it to make money, just help a bit with the rent on thr rest of it.
I think if you pitched it to the right crowd, and had decent insurance, inside a nice dry unit, you could find people interested.
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I’m out !
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Round here a 20x10 container is £110-130 a month, with security etc. And a damp lock-up is £80
I don’t think the price will appeal to everyone, but as said if the services etc are right I think you’ll get customers
Good luck
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Paul Y
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,948
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Jul 21, 2020 10:36:00 GMT
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Hi Ray, Read the thread with interest as I was considering a similar venture having seen an acquaintance of mine do quite nicely out of renting units to race teams. Without wanting to urinate on your cornflakes if you are only breaking even at £50 per week you will need to realistically look at either your costs or your charge out rate. I would suggest that you would want to model your costs on 70-80% utilisation to allow for change overs, non payment, Covid, etc. Not expecting to know what your profit margin is, and you may well have factored in contingency, but it feels a little as if you could very quickly be underwater. Would hate to see your dream become a nightmare - ask me how I know.... P.
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scimjim
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 1,503
Club RR Member Number: 8
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Jul 21, 2020 11:27:02 GMT
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I agree, but unless you have a queue of customers I’d say your business plan needs to be modelled around something like 25%, 50% and 75% occupancy for years 1,2,3+
If it’s £200 pcm at 100% occupancy I’d say it’s unaffordable on those assumptions? Does that include rates, insurance, improvements and contingency fund?
I’ve been running a similar operation for 9 years and charge £50 pcm (14 cars max) - no working on cars because who’s going to pay £200 a month to store a car next to someone that’s welding, grinding or spraying paint?
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Ray Singh
Posted a lot
More German exotica in my garage now
Posts: 1,984
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Jul 21, 2020 12:50:46 GMT
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paul Y and scimjim - I am keen to learn more and share figures with you. Are you available for a chat at some point?
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Paul Y
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,948
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Jul 21, 2020 14:41:20 GMT
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Hi Ray, Always happy to share my experience and mistakes so others don't do the same stupid things! PM incoming P.
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Shortcut
Posted a lot
I won't be there when you cross the road, so always use the Green Cross Code.
Posts: 3,037
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Jul 21, 2020 22:46:12 GMT
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Maybe look at what extras you could add in to make money on top of your main income. I'm local where you have been talking about in this thread and know quite a few of the local car collectors as clients. In fact a couple of them are investors in this place: classicmotorhub.com/motor-hub-services/While it does storage at the higher end they have also bolted on other revenue streams and utilise the space in as many ways as they can think of. The storage only covers the basic costs and the rest of the stuff turns the profit. It's all high end though and my clients are the regularly spend millions on a car "by accident" - really, one accidentally spent 1.4 million in an afternoon. I would kill for access to your service locally but like all service businesses the costs make profitability marginal at best, hence thinking about add ons must be the way to go.
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Last Edit: Jul 21, 2020 22:46:47 GMT by Shortcut
This space available to rent. Reach literally dozens of people. Cheap rates!
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ren
Part of things
Posts: 12
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I rent a space in a storage unit in the Peak District currently. To give you an idea of how it works there is a "Clean" unit and a "Dirty" unit. I'm in the clean one so can do basic spannering when required but no painting or welding etc, the dirty one is used by those doing restorations or more messy jobs.
I pay £150 a month and share with 6 other vehicles, I get my own area and can leave my tools and other items safely, there is a 2 post ramp to use and I have a key so can come and go at any time of day or night as I please.
If you have a large space perhaps look to divide it up a bit for different uses and also to make it more secure. I feel comfortable leaving tools etc there as there are only a few other people, I probably wouldn't be as happy with it if there was potentially 30-40 people plus their friends who were coming and going at all times.
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Is there the demand at £50pw in the local-ish area as those storing cars will want it accessible. Yes it might be near a station that goes up to Paddington but I doubt someone in Paddington would be interested!
I have a car stored a 50 mile round trip for £10pm and I still don't have the time to get to work on the thing.
I just wonder if the demand is there?
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awoo
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,505
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Is there scope to put a mezzanine floor in to increase overall floor space? You could up your income by renting out extra upstairs storage space for tools, body panels, wheels, etc alongside the car on the ground floor. Or just to make £50pw sound like better value
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duncanmartin
Club Retro Rides Member
Out of retro ownership
Posts: 1,320
Club RR Member Number: 70
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£10pm is a bargain of the highest order. Council lockups with no power or anything are £20pw here! On the original business plan, I think you need to be covering your costs with the basic storage and making the money on add-ons. There are a few businesses that match what you suggest (storage, working area etc) around, and they all seem to do things differently eg thisisyourgarage.com/ offers storage and rentable bays with kit to work on your car, but you pay by the hour for the bay, and you can't work on it in the storage area. (Also notable that they don't insure your car while in storage, just liability cover.) I wonder whether you almost need 2 separate pitches - one for people who want to store a good, working classic in a way that enables them to use it when needed but look after it when not, and a second for people who want a space for projects. Let's face it, storage without the working on cars bit is basically about having really good premises and keeping the occupancy high. You don't need tools or special skills or many employees, once it's set up then it should be straightforward to run. On the other hand, a workshop type arrangement will have lots of people in and out on a regular basis, bringing/using tools and potentially interacting with each other and all that will need a lot more management, but doesn't need a pristine, climate controlled environment with serious security.
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,714
Club RR Member Number: 34
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Is there really a market for this type of thing, especially at 50 quid a week just to park a car in a shed?
I could understand it in super-urban areas with high land values, like inner London, but somewhere semi-rural where land isn’t at such a premium?
I can’t quite figure out who the demographic is here. I can’t think of anyone I know who’s into cars (Even those working to extreme budgets) who doesn’t have at least their own garage, or private parking And shed space at home, or a dirt cheap council lockup close by. And those with enough money to buy classic cars as toys they pay others to do everything on or as investments invariably have rather a few quid so generally have a big house with land and outbuildings for storage already.
Excluding those at the budget end of the scale, as £200p/m For a parking space will remove, you’re aiming it at people who have gone out and bought a second or third car as a toy even though they have nowhere to keep it, or people who are comparatively rich but live in a small house with no parking or garage. Are there 20 such people with a 25mile or so radius willing to spend 200p/m? I seriously doubt it myself.
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Jul 23, 2020 10:17:24 GMT
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And those with enough money to buy classic cars as toys they pay others to do everything on or as investments invariably have rather a few quid so generally have a big house with land and outbuildings for storage already. You are thinking too small... it isn't people who have a car or two that use these places, it is people who own 10-11 cars and don't have the storage at home. Where I had my £80 a month garage they also had bigger car storage areas (which had more restricted access) some chap had fifteen cars in one, from Fiat 500s to Mk2 Jags to Aston Martins. A few of the people who had cars long term stored there had been out of the country for three years, so had no where to safely keep cars. Also a reminder that this £50 isn't for a parking space, it is space for 2 cars. Or 1 car and space for spares etc. I guess.
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