Post: #1

I am curious if anybody ever had experience with renting a warehouse versus renting a garage, what are the benefits versus the negatives? Under what set of conditions is one preferable to the other?

I am in the process of scaling my side-business (part B and part C) and i need a larger place to house employees and inventory.

I will be training about 20 or so employees total(university students with technical/science background). However, i will be only using 5 students maximum at any given time, each working for roughly 4 or 5 hours at a clip.

I prefer students because they are smarter, adaptable, always innovative and will have ideas to contribute. They are also cheap. The negatives is that they are notoriously unreliable, hence, i want a pool of students that i can pick 5 from when somebody called out from work.

I am limiting the hours to 4 or 5 hours because that is what i can realistically expect a student to work for, at a stretch, while going to school.

My original intent was to go with a warehouse, but looking at the rent prices per square feet versus the amount of space that i actually need.... i am leaning more and more towards renting a garage.

I want to build enough workstation for 5 people, i dont need more than 17 feet by 17 feet. I believe i can do 6 times the current volume of work i am doing with just 17 X 17 feet space + 5 people. Most warehouses are much, much bigger than that and i don't need the extra space for now-- i don't need 7500sqft to do what i need.

Garage are cheaper too: seen adequate size for less than $400 per month; in fact, saw a 4200sqft with security cameras and heating for $200 per month(minus utilities) see picture below:




Heating in winter shouldn't be a problem since i will go for heated garage.

Garages are also more available than warehouses-- i need a place physically closer to the engineering/science college where i am recruiting talent pool of student workers for my side-business. I want the place close enough so that they can simply walk to work from school or dormitory.

The main advantage for Warehouse that i can currently think of is the important issue of SAFETY/SECURITY. Almost hands down, the security packages of warehouse beat that of garages. Does anybody have any experience with this kind of thing before? any advice? I will make final decision by the end of the month(roughly 12 days from now).

Clearly, cost is a big issue in my decision making-- it will affect my overhead. Are there advantages to Warehouse that i am simply overlooking because i like the price of Garage better?

Anyways, below is the rough schematic of what the workstation for 5 people will look like: it is going to have a L- shaped, with stacked levels for storage and quick retrieval of spare computer parts, etc. To the side of the L-shaped structure will be a extra-storage space for computer parts(estimated capacity: 1000 laptops). Right now, all by myself i process 100 computers every 3 weeks or so; i have more contacts and leads that will allow me to expand much bigger than this, shipping out more products. The back of the L-shaped structure will be space for sorting, packaging, wrapping, labeling etc. also the place for a used microwave, fridge/freezer, coffee maker, etc for employees refreshment, etc; 17 feet by 17 feet is all i need. Anyways, here is the rough schematic i drew up:



.
I appreciate any input.

regards,

Nemencine

Post: #2

Chose a Garage. That was my final decision.

Reason? Cheap as bloody fuck, and close to a technical college where the pool of talent is-- i am going to be recruiting my workers from there.

Construction work already started, roughly 17 x 17 feet steel frame design for 5 employees. Doing all the construction work by myself to cut cost(and because i bloody like doing shite like this with my hands) -- not the most convenient, but cheaper.

Bought all the equipment from garage sales, salvation army depots, 99 cent stores, hardware store; total cost so far $375. It will probably cost me $500 by the time i am done. Right now i just half-way done. Still need to build one more steel frame, then the electrical wiring, heating/cooling system, some insulation, etc. Like i said, half-way done.

Two pictures of the half-done construction shown below:

The garage floor is very uneven and i am working all by myself, that is why it looks slanted on the top(and it is not the most aesthetically pleasant looking structure). However, the steel structure is absolutely rock solid and bloody stable as fuck on the ground.

I don't need the place to be fancy, just a place to put some broke arse college students to disassemble/assemble computers for me.

(this is where 2 student workers will sit to disassemble laptops. Hence, the one partition-- to create two spaces:



This area will be for the remaining 3 students to do the laptop assembly, hence the two partition-- to create 3 spaces:




The bottom have wheeled hardboard for storage. I obtained the hard-boards from garage sale, and then had them sliced to specification at a hardware store before attaching wheels to them. The wheels are dismantled from a bed steel frame i obtained from salvation army spot. That is how i built the flat, wheeled, storage hardboard underneath the steel structures.

The wheeled hardboard are not the only thing i am using for storage, the top shelf of structure is also for storage, same for the roof. On top of that, this coming weekend, i am building another steel structure to house roughly 1000 computers(parts).

Then there will be a wide space behind all the steel structures for sorting, categorizing, loading, wrapping, etc... and of course, microwave, fridge, coffee maker, etc.

The chairs, fridge, coffee maker, everything else(not shown in the picture); i have already obtained from various garage sales and salvation army spots.

The electrical wiring and equipment i am getting from 99 cent stores... however, there are some stuff i just have to get at the hardware store....

It is going rather slow because i am doing it all by myself... but it is fun as hell working with my hands.

Anyways, here is the rough schematic:


Cannot wait to complete the electrical wiring and started hiring employees... if things goes really well, i will say "fuck you" to my boss at work.

May fortune favours the bold.

regards,

Nemencine

Post: #3

Alright brother, I've never heard the terms "scaling" and "side business" used in the same sentence.

If you are ready to scale, then you are ready to go full time and dive in and do nothing else. Do or die, right? What am I missing here?

If it is profitable and proven enough to scale, why would you do anything else?

Post: #4

You didn't mention if this was in the US, but if it is, be sure you have obtained permits for the modifications you are making. Otherwise, if your handiwork comes crashing down on an employee, you'll be facing a serious worker's compensation claim and potential fines as well.

Post: #5

Damn very impressive. This is what I love to see!

Keep up the hustle dude.

Post: #6

Good choice, I don't know how I missed this thread but I would have said garage too.

Which site did you use to search for properties? Sparefoot.com is great for cheap self-storage, probably not for this. I found the office we rent now on LoopNet, $200 a month for 650 square feet. Three rooms connected to a main one, and small storage area behind one of them. Craigslist also has some great deals too, plus many times there are things for rent with just a sign in the window so driving around in an area you're considering is a good way to find cheap space.

Post: #7

delete

Post: #8

Where can you get 4200sq feet for $200/month?

Post: #9

Nice deal on the van, I got myself a 98 Dodge RAM for $1500 from state surplus

Cap/rotor, plugs, wires, coil, air filter, seafoaming, PCV, brakes, and it runs like a top.

Post: #10

(10-02-2014 12:49 AM)ms224 Wrote:  Where can you get 4200sq feet for $200/month?

Really shitty neighbourhood... next to a toxic dump. Hahaha.

These are the factors i have to weigh before getting a place. You don't want your goods and inventories to be stolen due to break-ins....

Also, given the inherent volatility of my business orders, there will be times i will have to pull major all-nighters out of the blue. That means, I want the neighbourhood relatively safe enough for my crew and I to work deep into the earliest dawn-- another one of those considerations i have to take into account.

DJ-MATT already provided some links for work-space research: loopnet, sparefoot, craiglist, etc. from these i am sure you can find Garage size and price to your liking. I found mine. Depending on how much you want to compromise on the type of neighbourhood.

Funny, that he even mentioned cheap self-storage from Sparefoot -- that is what i am currently using right now but will expire by the end of this month, since i will be officially moving into my new Garage by Nov 1st, 2014. I use cheap self-storage to house stuff, which also secretly double as my office(i talked the self-storage staff into allowing me to do this-- because that is not officially allowed by the storage company policy.) The staff also allows me to freely tap into their electricity too.

I am a cheap, penny-pinching, bootstrapping motherfucker.

Anyways, as i am building the steel structures in the Garage, i am already moving some of my computer inventories from my self-storage into the Garage.



On another news, i got my hands on these free empty boxes from big retail stores(e.g. target, walmart, etc.). Apparently if you go there right before they open in the morning, just as the night stocking crew is finishing their job, you can get free boxes from them. The night stocking crew will give you these boxes for free, since they are junking them to recycling anyways. What am i going to do with these boxes?

These boxes will be labeled and organized-- i am going to use them to sort and categorizes different computer parts during the disassembling/reassembling process, for easy retrieval and work function. I took a shiteload of them for free.



Anyways, by this weekend, i should finish the other steel structure that will hold roughly 1000 computer parts.

(10-02-2014 10:23 AM)DJ-Matt Wrote:  Nice deal on the van, I got myself a 98 Dodge RAM for $1500 from state surplus

Cap/rotor, plugs, wires, coil, air filter, seafoaming, PCV, brakes, and it runs like a top.

I hate you!! Hahah.

Seriously, good stuff. I like good deals.

I am going to be doing a lot of traveling, constantly going back and forth meeting with suppliers, clients, shipping this and that. I will be putting a lot of mileage on that van. Dion't want to penny pinch too much on the van(even though i am penny pinching motherfucker.).

Good deal, DJ-Matt.


regards,

Nemencine

Post: #11

Congratulations, this stuff is inspirational. I personally would love to see regular updates but keep in mind that as you scale up you might risk your anonymity.

Would give +1 if you didn't already have a rep point from me.

Post: #12

I rent like a tenth of that space for twice the price and its not even that great.

Why not just buy pallet racking, its rated to like 5000lbs and you can walk on top of it , like a mezzanine.

Post: #13

Any chance your former employer or their insurance hires a PI and proves you're not disabled? I heard that happens in personal injury cases, but maybe not for workplace disability.

Good luck in your new venture! Very inspiring.