Renting a cheap industrial unit for car work / storage?
Discussion
Just wondered if anyone on here had done such a thing?
Me and a group of friends who all live locally have been idly mulling over the idea for a while. I currently rent a small lockup (no power, no water, no room!) and my friends are in a similar situation - various garages and so forth.
We've talked about the possibility of trying to find some kind of barn space somewhere, so we could store and tinker with cars but despite checking Gumtree quite frequently nothing like this comes up. I've since looked into industrial units and think this could be an option (for a small one in a less salubrious neighbourhood) but just wondered if any PHers have done this and what the costs are aside from the rent - do you have to pay council tax, etc?
It seems there's probably a bit of a gap in the market for proper car enthusiasts to have a decent sized lock up in a secure facility, with a bit of space and power / water / heating...
Me and a group of friends who all live locally have been idly mulling over the idea for a while. I currently rent a small lockup (no power, no water, no room!) and my friends are in a similar situation - various garages and so forth.
We've talked about the possibility of trying to find some kind of barn space somewhere, so we could store and tinker with cars but despite checking Gumtree quite frequently nothing like this comes up. I've since looked into industrial units and think this could be an option (for a small one in a less salubrious neighbourhood) but just wondered if any PHers have done this and what the costs are aside from the rent - do you have to pay council tax, etc?
It seems there's probably a bit of a gap in the market for proper car enthusiasts to have a decent sized lock up in a secure facility, with a bit of space and power / water / heating...
Where2Guv said:
Ask local farmers if they have any spare units - make sure you have fire extinguishers etc and keep things tidy and you might get lucky 
This certainly interests me I have ten cars currently always looking for space.And a new OH the way my life is going. Modern women AAGHHRRGGHH!!!
I ask you, is ten cars too many? No I say! F--k o-- she says. Oh well!
There is a farm complex at Walkers Heath in Warwickshire that certainly do offer such facilities 0n the A435 just north of junction 3 of the M42.
Could be worth a try.
Steffan said:
This certainly interests me I have ten cars currently always looking for space.
And a new OH the way my life is going. Modern women AAGHHRRGGHH!!!
I ask you, is ten cars too many? No I say! F--k o-- she says. Oh well!
There is a farm complex at Walkers Heath in Warwickshire that certainly do offer such facilities 0n the A435 just north of junction 3 of the M42.
Could be worth a try.
Would be interested to know more about this - as that's my neck of the woods! And a new OH the way my life is going. Modern women AAGHHRRGGHH!!!
I ask you, is ten cars too many? No I say! F--k o-- she says. Oh well!
There is a farm complex at Walkers Heath in Warwickshire that certainly do offer such facilities 0n the A435 just north of junction 3 of the M42.
Could be worth a try.
RAClNG SNAKE said:
I used to rent a farm barn near Leamington with a few mates, power, light and remote location so we could work all night if necessary without disturbing anyone.
Any chance of some more information - i.e. price, cost and so forth? Leamington would be ideal for me in terms of location.. It was 20 years ago so things at this particular farm have moved on and now they are fully industrialised with large companies on site.
Back when we had the unit the farmer was still predominantly involved in agriculture so didn't mind us paying him cash in hand and not worrying about rates and commercial cost for electricity etc. We paid £200 pcm between 5 of us and had room for a dozen cars.
My advice is to approach a few farmers directly and ask them the question. I did a similar thing over in Northampton after getting a 'yes' from the first one I asked.
Good luck
Back when we had the unit the farmer was still predominantly involved in agriculture so didn't mind us paying him cash in hand and not worrying about rates and commercial cost for electricity etc. We paid £200 pcm between 5 of us and had room for a dozen cars.
My advice is to approach a few farmers directly and ask them the question. I did a similar thing over in Northampton after getting a 'yes' from the first one I asked.
Good luck
ikarl said:
I looked into using a local unit for this but was told by the landlord/owners that they weren't too keen about it due to 'dodgy' possibilities (stripping stolen cars etc)
I guess I'd be pretty happy to provide farmers with character references, regarding my employment and so forth. We have no interest in nefarious activities, and we're all professional folks who just want to keep cars and have somewhere to tinker with them RAClNG SNAKE said:
My advice is to approach a few farmers directly and ask them the question. I did a similar thing over in Northampton after getting a 'yes' from the first one I asked.
Good luck
Sounds like I need to go door to door! Good luck
Cheers for the info / advice. I work for a commercial property company and some landlords seem willing to agree to flexible leases on industrial units at the moment because the market in places is pretty flat and while units are empty the owner is liable for the business rates.
Depending on the unit you may have to pay business rates, although if it is small enough you may get relief from this. You will probably have to factor in insurance and possibly a service charge cost (both billed by the managing agent in my experience), and depending on the lease you may also be responsible for maintenance of certain parts of the unit (e.g. roller shutter doors etc).
You could try giving a commercial agent a call if you have seen a property you like and they should be able to advise you of the rent, rates payable, service charge and insurance so you can work out the full cost.
Hope that helps a bit
Depending on the unit you may have to pay business rates, although if it is small enough you may get relief from this. You will probably have to factor in insurance and possibly a service charge cost (both billed by the managing agent in my experience), and depending on the lease you may also be responsible for maintenance of certain parts of the unit (e.g. roller shutter doors etc).
You could try giving a commercial agent a call if you have seen a property you like and they should be able to advise you of the rent, rates payable, service charge and insurance so you can work out the full cost.
Hope that helps a bit
I've tried so hard to sort this kind of setup for myself, and got nowhere, that I've now given up!
I've been looking for a workshop for 10 years (!) to tinker about with my cars. Hardly anything of use has come up in that time. I've been offered one or two places, but upon inspection were very damp with downright dangerous electrics. Being an electrician, the owners were expecting me to fix the electrics in favour of cheaper rent. Not worth the hassle if something goes wrong!
The one offer I've had recently was a perfect workshop at the place I work. Heating, lighting, compressed air, fire alarms, 24 hour security - all for a tiny sum. Great, where do I sign? Then came the downside... I had to insure the place. I tried everything, but got nowhere. I tried getting my own liability insurance, but once you mention anything about cars, the price goes up due to high risk. (Remember you have to declare what work you're doing, i.e. welding, shot blasting, grinding) The cost made it prohibitive. I sought advice from a specialist insurer (who couldn't insure me!) who suggested I try getting my home insurance extended to cover the workshop because it's classed as a hobby provided you don't turn a profit (no chance of that!).
So off I go to Barclays who to be fair tried allsorts, but in the end, could not cover me because it's a business property and the fact that there was a workshop attached to the back which was operational and full of expensive kit.
They suggested I phone my car insurer and see if the policy could be extended. Again, business premises meant they could also not insure me.
So I've been working on the driveway all winter again, thoroughly fed up and cold.
Good luck, you'll need it!
P.S. Industrial units like on an actual industrial estate are very expensive, Don't expect much less that £5,000 per annum, if it's anything like Anglesey.
I've been looking for a workshop for 10 years (!) to tinker about with my cars. Hardly anything of use has come up in that time. I've been offered one or two places, but upon inspection were very damp with downright dangerous electrics. Being an electrician, the owners were expecting me to fix the electrics in favour of cheaper rent. Not worth the hassle if something goes wrong!
The one offer I've had recently was a perfect workshop at the place I work. Heating, lighting, compressed air, fire alarms, 24 hour security - all for a tiny sum. Great, where do I sign? Then came the downside... I had to insure the place. I tried everything, but got nowhere. I tried getting my own liability insurance, but once you mention anything about cars, the price goes up due to high risk. (Remember you have to declare what work you're doing, i.e. welding, shot blasting, grinding) The cost made it prohibitive. I sought advice from a specialist insurer (who couldn't insure me!) who suggested I try getting my home insurance extended to cover the workshop because it's classed as a hobby provided you don't turn a profit (no chance of that!).
So off I go to Barclays who to be fair tried allsorts, but in the end, could not cover me because it's a business property and the fact that there was a workshop attached to the back which was operational and full of expensive kit.
They suggested I phone my car insurer and see if the policy could be extended. Again, business premises meant they could also not insure me.
So I've been working on the driveway all winter again, thoroughly fed up and cold.
Good luck, you'll need it!
P.S. Industrial units like on an actual industrial estate are very expensive, Don't expect much less that £5,000 per annum, if it's anything like Anglesey.
Oh, the one setup that worked out handy was rental of a storage container. Cost me £7+VAT a week. Very useful to store car bits to potentially free up space in your garage. You can get a car in one, but don't expect to be able to have any lighting or electrics! Not much space to work on the side of the car either.
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