Turning an empty building into something profitable

[olly755]

Looking for some creative business ideas here.

I have a spare industrial unit/workshop (rural, former stable building on a former working farm), around 1200 square feet, brick built, plastered out and well insulated. Good access, secure with CCTV. We use other buildings on site for our business (bespoke furniture manufacture) and this one is now really surplus to requirements, and am now looking for another income stream to make it work for itself. The running costs, utilities etc are currently swallowed into our existing business and therefore any new venture is effectively "rent free".

The issues are that we live on site and the unit directly faces our house and shares our yard space. For that reason I don't want to let it out to a third party. I'd also prefer something that doesn't involve retail and visits by customers, although online retail based would be fine.

I also have a really good semi skilled guy with a good brain who would be able to run anything that I could throw at him. Whatever I do with the building would only have to cover his (modest) wages and turn a small profit.

Any creative ideas as to what area to get into?

[designforlife]

Car storage?

[DonkeyApple]

Yup. If only to sublet to a high end storage firm who needs access to more obscure facilities for certain customer cars.

I’m currently attempting to build a couple of barns on a farm where they will be let out to a local storage facility who need offsite storage for customer collections.

[48k]

OP whereabouts is this located and what is the broadband speed like?

[The jiffle king]

We went to look at a farm with lots of space like this. They were occupied by a vet (one who visits farms rather than people bringing animals) a store for a couple of builders , an IT development company, a mail order business who used Royal Mail so only 1 visitor per day, a car hobby store for a bloke with 4 cars and an online store

[olly755]

Car storage is an idea I've explored and not discounted. The issue is access and accessibility: I'd have to create a garage door sized hole, there is only one place to do this (in the centre of the building), and the building itself is long and narrow. I could fit around 6 cars in, but there is no room to manoeuvre. I have considered engineering some kind of sliding carriage system whereby a car is driven onto a platform and "slid" sideways on up to the end of the building and "stacked" this way, although obviously this would suit longer term storage.

What are we talking, £25/week?

[olly755]

48k said:

OP whereabouts is this located and what is the broadband speed like?

In Cheshire. Broadband is not too bad for rural and fibre has just been installed to the exchange. Plus 4g (on Vodafone) is excellent.

[jeremyc]

olly755 said:

What are we talking, £25/week?

Down my way high end car storage is £150+VAT per month. This includes:

• Secure premises monitored 24 hours a day with recorded CCTV
• Vehicle cleaned and dried in preparation for storage
• Vehicle kept on a battery conditioner and monitored
• Fully comprehensive insurance cover whilst your car is in our custody

Here's an example.

[sgrimshaw]

Chicken Ranch

[GetCarter]

Paint one half of the inside white, the other black, buy some lights and sell it as a photography studio?

[khushy]

unmanned datacenter BIG £££ and no people

[951TSE]

Exotic mushroom farm, hydroponic veg and box scheme.

[Brads67]

Buy a Vietnamese person and lock him in to grow weed.

Or rent it to the Chinese who will do the same.

[Paddymcc]

Brads67 said:

Buy a Vietnamese person and lock him in to grow weed.

Or rent it to the Chinese who will do the same.

I concur!

Ive a 5k sqft warehouse listed for rent in the middle of the country side and some chap offered me 3k a month to let him 'grow' in it.

[StanleyT]

Paddymcc said:

Brads67 said:

Buy a Vietnamese person and lock him in to grow weed.

Or rent it to the Chinese who will do the same.

I concur!

Ive a 5k sqft warehouse listed for rent in the middle of the country side and some chap offered me 3k a month to let him 'grow' in it.

BIL has a unit on a farm. In a county in Ireland where you see oriental people, about 20 of them, working in takeaways an nowhere else (stereotyping but truth). When he advertised the unit (used variously as cow shed, coach body painting, rally car storage, goods store) over the years he was amazed the amount of orientals looking, all of whom were interested in the power supply rating!!!

Thinks that one other offer was for use a swinging club!

Currently used to stockpile goods on the N side of the NI border and making good money........edit to add is there a niche high value low volume goods you could store whilst the Brexit process goes on?

[eliot]

khushy said:

unmanned datacenter BIG £££ and no people

On Rural broadband - nope. Datacentre grade comms in the middle of nowhere will be 50-100k just for the dig.
And there’s plenty of competition. I can get you almost unlimited rack and desk space is a former high grade banking DC with double fences, gennies and comms for not much more than the cost of the electricity