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Proposal for a Local Car Shop Co-op

Ok, right now I've got a descent garage at the place I'm living, but the landlord is lame and I'm looking to move out. Finding a place to live with a big enough garage to work in is hard and potentially expensive. Plus I'm looking to be married next summer (06) and if I have a shop space to work in, we won't need to be as picky when purchasing a house, which will relieve a lot of tension in my relationship.

What I'm thinking about is renting a small shop space (1,000-2,000 sq ft) to keep all my tools (maybe to store my race car in winter) and to have a place to work on my cars/projects/etc. What I'm thinking is that I'm sure a lot of locals who like to work on cars don't have a adequate place to work on their vehicles, and perhaps not even all the proper tools.

The idea for the Co-op would be to have a community shop somewhere in the Metro Area (I'm currently in St. Paul). Everyone pays a portion of rent/utilities, with a goal of around $50/month per person. One shop space I found (haven't seen it yet) is in Farmington (Dakota County)- near Stealthmode's. 2400 sq ft (14 ft door) and $1600/month. If we had 20-30 people chip in we could have some descent space to work in/ hang out.

Tools I've got:

Most basic hand tools (wrenches, sockets, etc)
Engine Hoist
Air Compressor (little 33 gallon Craftsman)
Snap-On Box (little 40 inch) - full of my stuff
Craftsman Box - Open for expansion
An array of Air Tools
Mig Welder (220v 180Amp)
Jack and stands
Chop Saw
Sawzall
Sandblasting Cabinet
Etc.

Overall about $4k in tools.

Bonus: Powdercoating setup
I did this for a while a couple years ago with mixed results, but I'm constructing a new oven right now, and hope to have it up and running soon. (5ft tall by 2.5 ft square). This will allow me to coat your parts/wheels/ etc, or if you want, I can show you how to do it.

The hard part about coating is the prep work (why I haven't done it in so long). So if you have parts and you prep them, coating is not that difficult. I'd just ask users to pay for supplies which for a set of wheels is around $20-40 depending on the powder used.

Once a shop space is found and rented, I plan to build a large sand blasting cabinet for parts prep as well, making the powdercoating much more useable.

If you are interested, or know of a shop space where this could be done, let us know. I have interest from 4-5 guys already, and if the interest is strong enough, a two-post lift and tire mounting/balance equipment is on my list of future investments to expand the use of the shop.

Any ideas on how to manage something like this are welcome as well. Originally a small co-op was thought of, and with less than 10 members, the cost would go up, but the convenience would increase. We could also have core members, and then we could rent the shop to other locals as needed to help pay rent. Who wouldn't pay $100 for a day with access to a lift and all the tools you need to fix your car, it's still way cheaper than having it fixed somewhere else, plus it's more fun.

We could also have Senior Members/Junior Members as well to break up the costs of those who won't use it much. It'd be a fun place to have meets/installs, plus if we all moved our Honda Junk Piles into our own shop, we wouldn't have to call around to find parts. We could even perform some jobs on the side for friends/family/etc to make some cash on the side.

Who's in?

Sorry for the long post, but if you read it, I hope you're interest, I think it'd be a lot of fun.

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Sounds good. I could also use a place to store painting supplies when this painting thing gets off the ground. I'm not sure how safe I would feel with 20-30 people having access to the place, though. More than likely I would try to pay a larger amount to keep the occupant level down.
Maybe if we had a small store front we could do fabrication work/ installations to help cover the bills.

I'm interested.

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Security has been the main concern from people I've talked to. But I've got a connection with a security installer, so we could have a good system setup with individual codes or cards to identify whos been in the shop. I'd also throw some cameras in there to keep a watch on things.

If we store your Paint stuff in there, and make a legit business in it, it'd be tax deductible too. I'd also be willing to pay more for my share, since I can make a few bucks with the powdercoating and other random jobs. I'd keep it limited to people I know if possible, ideally 10 or less.

Plus, the ideas has been tossed out to have a lift and air available and the other basics, and then have members bring there own tools. Mine would be there for me, yours for you, etc. A shop tow-truck = 1990 F150 with dolly would assist in moving project (broken) cars to the shop as well.

I think it'd be great to have a place like this, so if you see a beater project car around, you don't have to say... "I'd buy it, but I've got no place to put it or work on it."

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i hate you guys, move to Ontario and do it here :-\

i'd be SO IN for this if it were closer.

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I'll install some bunk-beds for visitors. Just drive your project down and chill here until it's finished. :-*

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i'd be interested if its 50bucks/month. that would be dope. as of right now i want to do a lot of stuff but i cant do it because i have no place to work on it. count me in playa :o

edit: id also be down to do swaps for cash. haha. anybody need an h22 swap. im your man yO!! wiring is my weakest point so someone else can deal with electronics.

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err but then when we have so many people in this ----. its gonna be hard to find time whenever you want to do something. id say we set up some type of schedule so you can put your name on the spot whenever you want to do stuff. i mean if its big enough that 4 or 5 cars can be in there at the same time doing stuff then i wouldnt see a problem with that. a lift would be awesome then we can do exhausts and all that junk. and also would we be able to use YOUR tools. i mean i have tools but its just a small box :P

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Damn dude, I'm down.

How tall are the ceilings?

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good idea, but realistically it wouldnt work, people would be late on payment, drop out, issues with security abnd who gets it when... 20-30 people is border line unmanageable

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This isn't the NE crew. We gots our ---- together. Carl, I'm assuming you'd be in charge of scheduling the times and what not? We gotta work out a system that everybody follows so this doesn't blow to pieces.

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you guys dont have ---- on the ne crew.... what have u had 1 half ass meet?

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Josh, our prime minister isn't banned from every site on the internet. Nuff said. :-X

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im not banned from anysites except turbooptions

and i keep the crew in line and we are having another huge meet the 28th.
we know how to party

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Too bad you guys don't know how to do burnouts or make videos. :P
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that will soon change. i will be held personally responsible for the video we make on the 28th.......

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No Josh, remember, you're out of the game. What are you still doing wasting time here? Especially in a thread where your opinion doesn't matter?

You make no sense. :P

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i decided to get a second job and keep the car... i realized turbos and hmt mean more to me than i thought

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well i'm too broke ass to be payin 50 bucks/month, but if the place did end up bein some sort of shop, i would deffinatly be down for puttin in some labor for some garage time every now and then.

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agreed, plus I don't know if it would work with that many people, but hey I can do exhaust.

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yeah. but then again our house should be done in a few months so there wouldnt be a point for me to pay for it if im never going to use it. id probably just pay to use the lift for a day ;D

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I'm very interested, I'm outgrowing my 2 car garage. Not cool w/the idea of 20-30 people being involved or having to drive all the way to farmington. We should find out whos seriously interested and then find a centre point from there. Also partial to the idea of having lockers/lockable storage for smaller tools/parts.

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landlord = teh suck!!!!!!!!

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I thought that one of your roommates was the landlord.

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yes, and he keeps doing stupid ----.

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So you're actually going to show up? :P

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Tool Boxes are lockable, so if you have enough tools to worry about, you should just bring your box with to store them in.

I'm shooting for around 10 guys I can trust, the 20-30 just shows what it would take to get that really big space @ $50/person. Serious guys don't mind paying $100/month or more to be able to work on their car. Do one job, like brakes and an oil change on your car and you've saved the $100. Plus by using the Co-ops tools, you save yourself the hassle and expense of buying and storing them.

The Farmington idea was just an example for the space I saw available, most of these spots are not well advertised, but my uncle should have the connections we need, but he's in Norway for another week or so.

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No, no, I like the farmington idea. ;D

Depending on income, I would like to secure a larger portion. I'd love to have all my painting ---- over there, and possibly park the shuttle there too. We'll see what the space/cost ends up at.

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Well then why don't we just rent the house right next to steve, we wouldn't want you to have to travel to far ;D

A buddy of mine is a realestate appraiser, that might have nothing to do w/leasing but he said to talk w/him if I ever needed anything so I'll just see what he knows.

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What's the average size of the places you have found? In the 1000 range or so.

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Im interested if the price is around $100/month

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Hey i live in owatonna thats only like a hour away.....u guys ever go to university street?

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yes I do

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Sweet last 2 weekends we went up there but couldnt find the races my car isnt turbo ive only had it for a little while. yours looks pretty tight. ill look for u next time i go up there

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wow, you sound like the annoying kid that doesn't take a breath while talking to you even though you don't want to talk to him... racing on university is a bad idea, just like street racing in general. settle down a bit and use punctuation to your advantage...

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What you need to do is go directly in front of Porkeys and just start reving you engine/doing burn outs (just wave traffic around you). --This is very important!-- This shows people that your a man. Also make sure to carry no less than 2K dollars cash, when you finally luer someone out they'll know your straight up O.G. cause you carry so much $$ and race for respect. When you race make sure to do it right on university, that way theres witnesses and they can testify to the number of bus lengths you beat everyone by. Pretty soon you'll be the man and they'll erect a statue of you right on university and babies mama's will tell stories to their numerous children of the time they were down on uni and witnessed the greatest racer known to man kind.

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WOW sounds like a great idea.

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No one will do it cause there not prepared for the attention/fame/reputation :D

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lol, babys momma better ------- tell my story. how many train leingths i beat everyone by