New venture - Car storage + DIY facilities - charges?
Discussion
All.
I have been offered between 10k and 14k SqFt. The area is perfect for car storage and i would like to have a couple of ramps installed and offer customers the chance to store cars and work on them in this area.
The space is secure, dry and has a work shop with a few heavy machines (pillar drill, lathe etc). The lighting is good, but will need to be upgraded and is located in a town in wiltshire, walking distance to a pub and high street. A mainline railway station is 10 minutes drive away which is a direct line to London paddington.
I have not been given a price by the owner for hte site as yet, but I am trying to work out how much i will need to charge in order to make this a viable opportunity. 14k sq ft would easily store 20 - 30 cars with space to open doors etc. I would have to think about health and safety, fire extingushers etc) insurace, security etc......
How much would customers happily pay for this opportunity? My idea is that the site becomes a site for all manner of skills, which a customer could tap into. For example one customer may be great at car electronics and could help someone with a TVR to re-wire or an engine rebuilder could advise others........
Any help appreciated.
I have been offered between 10k and 14k SqFt. The area is perfect for car storage and i would like to have a couple of ramps installed and offer customers the chance to store cars and work on them in this area.
The space is secure, dry and has a work shop with a few heavy machines (pillar drill, lathe etc). The lighting is good, but will need to be upgraded and is located in a town in wiltshire, walking distance to a pub and high street. A mainline railway station is 10 minutes drive away which is a direct line to London paddington.
I have not been given a price by the owner for hte site as yet, but I am trying to work out how much i will need to charge in order to make this a viable opportunity. 14k sq ft would easily store 20 - 30 cars with space to open doors etc. I would have to think about health and safety, fire extingushers etc) insurace, security etc......
How much would customers happily pay for this opportunity? My idea is that the site becomes a site for all manner of skills, which a customer could tap into. For example one customer may be great at car electronics and could help someone with a TVR to re-wire or an engine rebuilder could advise others........
Any help appreciated.
Thanks. I thought about storage, but this will require sepeate lockup style units and hence massive investment in the site. I can only secure a two year lease on the space - so its a short term thing.
The only other idea i had was to substitute the DIY garage with caravan and motorhome storage - this is easy and will be the bread and butter for the site. But i guess that the cravan/motorhome brigade wont want to pay over the odds for just storage.
Is anyone out there using this type of DIY facility?
The only other idea i had was to substitute the DIY garage with caravan and motorhome storage - this is easy and will be the bread and butter for the site. But i guess that the cravan/motorhome brigade wont want to pay over the odds for just storage.
Is anyone out there using this type of DIY facility?
It seems a slightly strange one. Investment storage is already catered for from the Cotswolds to Bath.
And on the maintenance front it’s not exactly as if you’re in a part of the world where people with the funds for a car and and happy to pay for a service need that space or service? Also, if you’re using your spare time to work on your car are you going to be able or willing to allocate extra time to help others?
I didn’t really understand the two year lease part either. You wouldn’t start a storage business and not secure much longer than two years. It’s unlikely you’d be turning a clear profit within that time period in reality.
And on the maintenance front it’s not exactly as if you’re in a part of the world where people with the funds for a car and and happy to pay for a service need that space or service? Also, if you’re using your spare time to work on your car are you going to be able or willing to allocate extra time to help others?
I didn’t really understand the two year lease part either. You wouldn’t start a storage business and not secure much longer than two years. It’s unlikely you’d be turning a clear profit within that time period in reality.
Motor home storage is generally £300-400pa and sought after. The better places have access arrangements that suit easy access for the motorhome/caravanner, sometimes even 24hr including bank hols. Security is also expected generally.
Car storage people don't want to pay £100pcm unless it's dehumidified or controlled I'd imagine.
Diy garages exist but the one I use charge £15 per hour and you won't retire off that income from one or two available ramps I suspect after costs.
If it were me I'd be sorting caravan and motor home storage if the demand is there locally. Easy money if you have space.
Car storage people don't want to pay £100pcm unless it's dehumidified or controlled I'd imagine.
Diy garages exist but the one I use charge £15 per hour and you won't retire off that income from one or two available ramps I suspect after costs.
If it were me I'd be sorting caravan and motor home storage if the demand is there locally. Easy money if you have space.
Thanks all.
The owner of the property has come back to me.
He has decided that he only wants to rent out 7000Sqft and not the complete area. This is fine with me.
He has taken advice from a estate agent and is asking £5.25/Sqft (to include electricity, business rates, building insurance and rent) - I presume that this is per month?
Anyway - do the maths - that is £36k - so i guess it cant be per month and must be per year? - I did say i was a novice at this!!
I have been considering that caravan and motorhome storage is probably a good place to start and will make me 'bread and butter' money to pay rent.
I would need quite a few caravans and motorhome for this....
The rest of the space i could plan to have my diy garage - i need some space to break a couple of old Audis. If worst comes to the worst and no one wants to DIY - park a motor home there
How do i proceed with this, without loosing money. One idea i had was to place this on Kickstarter?
The owner of the property has come back to me.
He has decided that he only wants to rent out 7000Sqft and not the complete area. This is fine with me.
He has taken advice from a estate agent and is asking £5.25/Sqft (to include electricity, business rates, building insurance and rent) - I presume that this is per month?
Anyway - do the maths - that is £36k - so i guess it cant be per month and must be per year? - I did say i was a novice at this!!
I have been considering that caravan and motorhome storage is probably a good place to start and will make me 'bread and butter' money to pay rent.
I would need quite a few caravans and motorhome for this....
The rest of the space i could plan to have my diy garage - i need some space to break a couple of old Audis. If worst comes to the worst and no one wants to DIY - park a motor home there
How do i proceed with this, without loosing money. One idea i had was to place this on Kickstarter?
Ray Singh said:
Anyway - do the maths - that is £36k - so i guess it cant be per month and must be per year? - I did say i was a novice at this!!
I have been considering that caravan and motorhome storage is probably a good place to start and will make me 'bread and butter' money to pay rent.
I would need quite a few caravans and motorhome for this....
120 at £300 assuming a full year and fully booked to break even.I have been considering that caravan and motorhome storage is probably a good place to start and will make me 'bread and butter' money to pay rent.
I would need quite a few caravans and motorhome for this....
First very simple step is to calculate how many caravans you can store, how much it will cost you in marketing to acquire them and how long it will take. That way you will know how much of that £36k you have to find out of your own pocket in the first year and whether you need to keep funding it into the second and third. You also need to calculate how quickly you can empty it again when needed.
For example, if you’re charging £100/month then you need at least 30 caravans in a very short amount of time just to have an invling that there may be a profit to be extracted from the business a few years down the line. You need to work out the density of the parking etc as you don’t want to be having to move 29 caravans to get the 30th one out. You also need to calculate their average rental term as many might only store them in the winter months.
You also need to know the terms of the lease as you obviously need to commit to quite a few years for this kind of model to work.
As for the diy garage bit you need to price up how much you will need to invest for all the tooling and insurance and how much you will charge people so you can work out how many hundreds of clients you need to start turning a profit. That’s after researching the market place to establish that there is any kind of market all in reality.
But the most important thing is to ring fence your home from the risks of crazy, personal gambling losses.
For example, if you’re charging £100/month then you need at least 30 caravans in a very short amount of time just to have an invling that there may be a profit to be extracted from the business a few years down the line. You need to work out the density of the parking etc as you don’t want to be having to move 29 caravans to get the 30th one out. You also need to calculate their average rental term as many might only store them in the winter months.
You also need to know the terms of the lease as you obviously need to commit to quite a few years for this kind of model to work.
As for the diy garage bit you need to price up how much you will need to invest for all the tooling and insurance and how much you will charge people so you can work out how many hundreds of clients you need to start turning a profit. That’s after researching the market place to establish that there is any kind of market all in reality.
But the most important thing is to ring fence your home from the risks of crazy, personal gambling losses.
DonkeyApple said:
First very simple step is to calculate how many caravans you can store, how much it will cost you in marketing to acquire them and how long it will take. That way you will know how much of that £36k you have to find out of your own pocket in the first year and whether you need to keep funding it into the second and third. You also need to calculate how quickly you can empty it again when needed.
For example, if you’re charging £100/month then you need at least 30 caravans in a very short amount of time just to have an invling that there may be a profit to be extracted from the business a few years down the line. You need to work out the density of the parking etc as you don’t want to be having to move 29 caravans to get the 30th one out. You also need to calculate their average rental term as many might only store them in the winter months.
You also need to know the terms of the lease as you obviously need to commit to quite a few years for this kind of model to work.
As for the diy garage bit you need to price up how much you will need to invest for all the tooling and insurance and how much you will charge people so you can work out how many hundreds of clients you need to start turning a profit. That’s after researching the market place to establish that there is any kind of market all in reality.
But the most important thing is to ring fence your home from the risks of crazy, personal gambling losses.
£100 per month would be fantastically expensive. I pay £35. I might pay a small premium to store indoors I suppose.For example, if you’re charging £100/month then you need at least 30 caravans in a very short amount of time just to have an invling that there may be a profit to be extracted from the business a few years down the line. You need to work out the density of the parking etc as you don’t want to be having to move 29 caravans to get the 30th one out. You also need to calculate their average rental term as many might only store them in the winter months.
You also need to know the terms of the lease as you obviously need to commit to quite a few years for this kind of model to work.
As for the diy garage bit you need to price up how much you will need to invest for all the tooling and insurance and how much you will charge people so you can work out how many hundreds of clients you need to start turning a profit. That’s after researching the market place to establish that there is any kind of market all in reality.
But the most important thing is to ring fence your home from the risks of crazy, personal gambling losses.
surveyor said:
£100 per month would be fantastically expensive. I pay £35. I might pay a small premium to store indoors I suppose.
It certainly would be, this place charges £51 per month for a standard inside bay, with a discount if you pay 12 mths up front.The facility offers alarms, cctv, webcams etc
http://www.j26m5caravanstorage.co.uk/
On the caravan and motorhome front I pay £40 a month for external storage, you might get more for being undercover.
You'll need CaSSOA Gold certification so that anyone storing there gets a discount on their insurance http://www.cassoa.co.uk/
You'll need CaSSOA Gold certification so that anyone storing there gets a discount on their insurance http://www.cassoa.co.uk/
surveyor said:
£100 per month would be fantastically expensive. I pay £35. I might pay a small premium to store indoors I suppose.
With 7k sqft it’s going to be best to crush each caravan into a cubic metre and stack them 6 high. At that kind of density it should be feasible to turn a profit. 
Crunching numbers (and not caravans) this evening.
7000 * 5.25 = £40,250/yr or £3350/month or £837 per week.
Previous posts have suggested caravan storage is crica £40/mth. So lets assume that £50/mth under cover storage. So one day 1 i would need 67 caravans in situ to avoid dipping into my own pocket.
Time to find somewhere cheaper me thinks.
7000 * 5.25 = £40,250/yr or £3350/month or £837 per week.
Previous posts have suggested caravan storage is crica £40/mth. So lets assume that £50/mth under cover storage. So one day 1 i would need 67 caravans in situ to avoid dipping into my own pocket.
Time to find somewhere cheaper me thinks.
Ray Singh said:
Crunching numbers (and not caravans) this evening.
7000 * 5.25 = £40,250/yr or £3350/month or £837 per week.
Previous posts have suggested caravan storage is crica £40/mth. So lets assume that £50/mth under cover storage. So one day 1 i would need 67 caravans in situ to avoid dipping into my own pocket.
Time to find somewhere cheaper me thinks.
As someone has alluded to earlier, many vehicle storage businesses use land they own or can borrow for free of their father. If you have to pay rent then you start needing a serious number of vehicles to make it viable. 7000 * 5.25 = £40,250/yr or £3350/month or £837 per week.
Previous posts have suggested caravan storage is crica £40/mth. So lets assume that £50/mth under cover storage. So one day 1 i would need 67 caravans in situ to avoid dipping into my own pocket.
Time to find somewhere cheaper me thinks.
It’s not really ‘time to find somewhere cheaper’. It’s not the rental cost that is the problem but rather the business model.
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