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We are looking at moving our shop...nothing definate yet. We saw a place we liked out on the country (a pro) on a fairly busy highway (a pro?) and it would include moving our home and shop to the same location. Right now, our shop is across town from our home. Our home is a BIG 100 year old 2-story with full basement. The kids have all moved and it IS sort of large for us. But we have raised our kids here, so there's lots of that emotional stuff. Our shop is all set up to do what we want, not huge but enough room to back a semi tractor in and still a good space for storage, wood shop, etc. Next door is a little house that we use for the office and vinyl production area. It suits our needs, but is small. The house/shop we are looking at has some pros & cons. It would need some alterations to the shop area...larger garage door and maybe a quite a bit of capentry,etc. to make the out buildings into a workable shop and office. But we would have a lot more space. The house is awesome. newer and less maintainance but we would lose quite a bit of room there. (not necessarily a bad thing) Here's my questions.... How many of you LIVE by your shop? Is it a pain having people drop in any time night or day and thinking you are always open "since you ARE there"? Does that happen alot? What are some other pors and con that you have experienced. We would have to change the zoning. It is agricultural now. so it would need a special use permit. Anybody been there? Any other positive and negatives you can think of? Thanks in advance for your help. As we were driving away after looking at the new place, we thought this would be the first place to get the "been there, done that" wisdom. We aren't rushing into anything...just want to be well informed and make the right decision. So, what do you think? Jane
-------------------- Bill Diaz Diaz Sign Art Pontiac IL www.diazsignart.com Posts: 2111 | From: Pontiac, IL | Registered: Dec 2001
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Been There doing that...My shop is 10 feet from my back door and I love it. People do sometimes seem to show up later but most of the time they respect my set hours. (11am to 8pm or whenever you know the drill)As fo rebuilding and building I loved doing that as I could design it the way I wanted it not the way the landlord will let me. I am currently adding another bay to my shop so I will have an area to letter vehicles out of the wind rain and sun. I can't get trucks in but most of them have buildings I can do it at. As for the special use permit it was reletivly painless. Just had to go in front of the planning and zoning commision to request a special use permit then they forwarded it the City Council and they voted on it.And ran an ad in the paper saying what I was doing so if any neighbors wanted to contest it. No one did... If there is a downside. I would have to say that I don't get out much. I only put 2500 miles on my truck last year. And when the garage addon is done I will not be able to expand any further due to property size restrictions. Hope this helps and the best of luck in your venture.
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What could be better than having your work right next to where you live? If needed you can recoat panels right before heading to bed and expedite jobs, instead of driving across town and having a hassle.
As far as people dropping by day and night, that only happens if you allow it. Just set your hours and customers will follow them just like they would any other business. Everyone asks me what my hours are and they all know I'm home-based, but I try to handle everything with appointments because I like taking off in the middle of the day.
You say the new place is in the country along a busy highway, but is that traffic just commuters heading to their jobs or is it business owners, architects, contractors, etc? And how's the distance from the center of town? Is it out of the way, discouraging people from making the trek out? In my town, a 5 mile drive is considered "all the way across town" and is actually a 20 minute drive with all the traffic signals, which is enough to discourage a lot of people here from making the drive (people here are lazy, evident with all the drive-thru liquor/convenience stores around)
-------------------- "If I share all my wisdom I won't have any left for myself."
Mike Pipes stickerpimp.com Lake Havasu, AZ mike@stickerpimp.com Posts: 8746 | From: Lake Havasu, AZ USA | Registered: Jun 2000
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I lived above my shop for 3 years& got lots of work done for sure. Now I live in a house, & enjoy home improvement projects just about as much as sign work.
If you really have it in you to start a huge project like rebuilding an environment when you already have a suitable one, one can only hope you achieve the level of improvements to make it worthwhile.
My first gut response was that assuming you may like to retire someday, set up a shop closer to your existing home, enjoy the challenge of that project with the comforts of a home to keep you centered (& productive) while you set up the shop. Some day this business could possible be sold if you got to a point where you would consider that. Also some day you could downsize to another suitable home near the new shop, & then have a stable & comfortable shop to ease that transition.
I do see the huge financial advantage of having a house for sale when you take on a new building, but maybe with a smaller un-livable shop, the lower cost will be possible without the proceeds from the house.
I know I'm making a lot of guesses about you folks needs & wants, but since you asked, those are my thoughts.
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I have run my business from home since day 1.
When I started we lived in town, and I worked out of the garage. I did this for 7 years. The city started putting too many rules out about landscaping and required parking etc... These were all rules for business and I was a little afraid that if I met all of the demands, then they would come along and tell me that I could not run my business in a residential neighborhood.
That's when we decided to move to the county. At the time that we moved, our county had no zoning restrictions to prevent running the business (they do now, but we are grandfathered in... whew!) We are 8 miles out of town now. The move alone pretty well stopped people coming in after hours. I don't get a lot of walk-ins here at all (and I like that). Most of my customers call and set appointments. I have separate phone lines for home and business (both lines are run into all 3 buildings). If you call the bus. number after 5, you will get the machine. If you call the house from 8-5 you will get the machine. If you call the house after 5, and ask about a sign, I will give you the shop number, and let you know when we will be open again.
It does make you plan your trips a little better for materials, sales calls, installs, etc.
OK, I'm ramblin. Basically... Been there, done that for 9 years, and loving every minute of it.
PS. I can give you more detail in Atlanta if you want, and if you want to hear the cons... Dora will be there too.
-------------------- Don Hulsey Strokes by DON signs Utica, KY 270-275-9552 sbdsigns@aol.com
I've always been crazy... but it's kept me from going insane. Posts: 2316 | From: Utica, KY U.S.A. | Registered: Jan 1999
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since i been doin this (1986) i worked mostly outa the truck of a car, then i got a van. moved from sarasota to here and got a shop 2 miles from the house. I HATED IT!!!! for 2 years i hung in there....then business went down to nothin..may 2000 and i bailed. brought it all back to the house. and then bought the stepvan that same year. best thing i ever did. now we have been livin here since 98, just did a refinance and iam in the process of gettin a metal building on this property. well now the county got control of what i can/cant do. i got 2 acres of ground my house set to the rear and is 1866 sq.ft. i cant build a garage/outbuilding any bigger THEN 1/2 THE SQ.FT. OF MY HOUSE!!!!! with out a special variance. and thats a $350 throw....and if they dont give me my request...THEY KEEP MY $350...THIEVES!!! thats all they are. i can build a 933 sq.ft. without the variance....so thats what i will do....so make sure your county will let you do what you wish......before you jump.
-------------------- joe pribish-A SIGN MINT 2811 longleaf Dr. pensacola, fl 32526 850-637-1519 BEWARE THE TRUTH.....YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU FIND Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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I gotta say somthing here. I ran business from my house until last August. Then, we leased some space on a busy highway. We just bought it last month. The way I see it, we cannot look at retirement like our friends do. I'm not getting a free pension plan. I hope the real estate will be an investment for later on. As for running from a shop, I love it! When I go home, the only sign related thing is my laptop if I so choose.
There was a lot of convience in the basement, but, I always felt funny inviting clients to my house.
""Good judgment comes from experience; and a lot of that comes from bad judgment" - Will Rogers Posts: 3503 | From: Beautiful Newaygo, Michigan | Registered: Mar 2003
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Many have chosen to keep working well into their retirement years. For those that have chosen that route, there is nothing quite like being home based!
However, I do agree with Rick, if retirement is an important factor, setting up a sellable business should also be considered.
If making top dollar was most important to me, I'd stay in a storefront away from the house. (I'm currently in the country and my storefront was in line with anyone/everyone's line of travel.) Since money isn't my main focus at this time, being homebased allows me to work strange hours when my 4 yr old is sleeping.
We happen to have a gated entry into our property, which is closed all the time to keep our livestock safe 'in case' they get out of the field. The gate in itself helps to keep looky loos on the road. (I open it when I know someone is on their way) I also don't get alot of drop ins due to the location, everyone calls first which is how I'm currently set up to accept.
My shop is separated from the house. It's actually an upstairs above our garage. Close but just far enough to have them separated. I love the fact that customers are no longer traipsing through my home. (which was the case long ago)
A storefront vs homebased is so different from each other. For the longest time, I felt guilty if I had to make a small detour for errands after moving homebased. Not having a storefront gives you so much more freedom. I doubt I could ever go back to that very restricted and scheduled lifestyle again!
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i've always been homebased...first it was my little house in the basement...then i got married and we both sold our houses to build one together...i thought, wow! i have space now!! i had the whole upstairs above the garage and one bay downstairs...husband had the other half...well it doesn't take long to out grow things...i bought a cnc router and out my husband went(from the garage that is)he's very nice to let me have the whole garage...now that's getting tight...eventually we're going to build a big honkin building below but for now things are fine. i wouldn't want it different. i love rolling outta bed and into my studio, or changing a bit on my router and closing the door and letting it go. people dropping by hasn't been too much of an issue...we're not exactly right off the beatin path and i can be quite sarcastic to those few who dare intrude after hours unless expected...if ever i felt it was a problem the gate goes up 900 ft below at the beginning of the driveway. it's a nice life up heee-a in the north country...even though i work long hours...i am working on that employee issue which may give me a normal work week...thumbs up for the homebased shops!
-------------------- Karyn Bush Simply Not Ordinary, LLC Bartlett, NH 603-383-9955 www.snosigns.com info@snosigns.com Posts: 3516 | From: Bartlett, NH USA | Registered: Jan 2001
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I'm with Rick - when I started my business I worked out of house - people had NO respect for your private time. Then I travelled to customers for @13 years. I built my own in 1988 to suit my needs stricktly for commercial vehicle work, and figured this move would pay me back in retirement. Building my own shop was THE BEST decision I ever made for my business.I'm 5 minutes from home so when I leave at nite I can somewhat "shut it off" till the next day. Check zoning - they made me jump thru hoops and neighbors can be a problem especially if your mixed zone like me - buiness/residential. But it really does boil down to what your wishes are now & in the future. Hope this helps! Karen
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We moved frm our shop in town 14 years ago. We built 300 feet from our house, and have a separate driveway and phone for the shop. It seems easy to install a gat if necessary to separate the two entities and folks do "get it." We almost never get bothered at home with shop stuff, and if we do, we endeavor to educate the intruder and gain respect from them.
We did this move so the kids could be growing up around the shop. It worked fine.
Another great benefit from moving is the opportunity to make numerous trips to the dump when you discover how much stuff you have that is not needed. I know you could just empty out your shop and clean and put it all back though!
-------------------- The SignShop Mendocino, California
Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity. — Charles Mingus Posts: 6806 | From: Mendocino, CA. USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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I was raised in a home based sign shop, my dad was always there, either working or doing artwork. People came by at all hours. It drove me away from the sign business as I grew up,I literally hated it I thoght.But then as I learned how to function in the real world I realized that my talents were in the sign business. In 1973, being tired of the food industry I incorporated my dads old business and spent three years building it back up in the same location. He continued to work with me and helped. In 1976 we built a new shop about 7 blocks from his house. My Mother was so happy to get that done. And Dad probably lived a few years longer because of it. I would suggest you do like Rick suggested, be sure and keep it seperate from your house as far as working hours. Whatever hours you choose. I like being able to leave the trials of business behind at the end of the day. Since I opened my business, other than times I had to do special jobs or scheduled overtime our hours of business have been maintained 7am to noon and 1pm to 4pm Monday - Friday. closed Sat & Sunday Closed all holidays. My customers don't even call after hours anymore. We have done this for 27 years, Both my children are in the sign business today. My son with me and my Daughter in Arkansas. They never lost their love for art and Signs. Bill
-------------------- Bill & Barbara Biggs Art's Sign Service, Inc. Clute, Texas, USA Home of The Great Texas Mosquito Festival Proud 10 year Supporter of the Letterheads Website www.artssigns.com "MrBill-" on the chat page MailTo:biggsbb@sbcglobal.net Posts: 1020 | From: Lake Jackson,Tx | Registered: Nov 1998
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This is exciting for you kids and I hope whatever you do works out! There are many good points here. I am currently 3 blocks away from my shop. We have remodeled the top of my shop to a very nice apartment. Our house is for sale and we will move here to the shop! We love our house, it's a nice 1930's bungalow, but why pay for 2 places? The write-offs for the shop/home together are a great advantage! I'm always here anyway. If I'm not here, we are going to a lake, out to eat, or a Letterhead Meet! Our son is 14 and when the Military can legally have him, I'll duct tape him to the van and drive him to the recruiter, then we will be empty nesters til he gets booted out of the Marines I s'pose. Anyway, I look forward to being here more often to do this right here....talkin to Letterheads and coatin out a board, doing a sketch, or snappin some pics for a step by step.
The possibilites are endless. The nice thing is to rebuild the way YOU want it!!! Last Winter I added 2 Skylights! YEAH! When do we help you move? Good Luck! LETTER RIP!!
-------------------- Mike Meyer Sign Painter 189 1st Ave n P.O. Box 3 Mazeppa, Mn 55956
We are not selling, we are staying here in Mazeppa....we cannot re-create what we have here....not in another lifetime! SO Here we are!!!!!!!
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We made the decision to move to the country because of the busing issues in the city for school. When they told us our daughter would have to get on the bus and ride across town to get to a school, we said, we are outta here, and off we went. THEN we got to thinking, oh, what did we just do to our business. Here we are in the middle of nowhere. Well, it was the best move we could have made. We live smack dab in the middle of two smaller towns and have pleanty of work in both. Old Paint has a very good point, as we need a variance every time we want to do something, but the cost and time investment to get the ok is the hardest part. We seem to have very lienient rules here. We have grown to the point of building another shop. When we think how nice it would be to have a store front, we also know that someone should be there to man it at all times, that would not be for us as we do not want to hire employees. Even if we did build another shop, we would still have it in our back yard. . . .
-------------------- Lauri Goretski Custom Murals N6334 HWY 107 TOMAHAWK WI 54487 CustomMurals1@aol.com Posts: 127 | From: Tomahawk Wi | Registered: Apr 2003
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Hey Bill & Jane! A little over 3 years ago I moved out of a 10x16 portable building into a 30x40 "butler" building that has a house next to it on 3/4's of an acre...tore down the 16'wide x32'long x14'tall "carport" I had there too and built a "porch" on the new shop. Since my other place had been in the back yard of the house (I rented for 13 years) working where I live is no big deal. After a little while people just fig'er it out...especially when you rudely tell 'em....just kiddin'. Hey! A sign would help to enlighten drive-ups on your hours! You pro'lly mostly connect with people on the phone before the job anyway an' you can 'splain it or send out a flyer to all the regulars about the new locale an' hours that you'll be available. All my regulars (an' mr.UPS) do just like we've always done...if I'm not home they just leave the sign, the specs or the check. When I finish a job I leave it out and they pick it up. They all kno' the designated places. For me, I would'nt trade the flexibility of it for the world...wash a load of clothes-spray a panel-scrub the tub-place material orders-throw the clothes in the dryer-write some invoices-put the kid to bed-work all nite when the phone ain't ringin'...seriously, you'll have to make sure you take time to make time to NOT work too much. It was a little scary movin' all of it at first....and I went 5 miles out. My other place was right on the main drag. I was'nt sure if customers would mind drivin' out, but they all think it's great. 'Specially now, with more indoor space, I have no " It's too cold or rainy or etc." excuses ......except now I need more space....seems I've filled this shop up an' barely have room for a vehicle anymore....go fig'er! Hey, best of all the best to ya'll!
-------------------- Signs Sweet Home Alabama
oneshot on chat
"Look like a girl, act like a lady, think like a man, work like a dog" Posts: 5758 | From: "Sweet Home" Alabama | Registered: Mar 2003
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I just got back from looking at a new shop here in town. The price is right and, like Rick B, I'm looking at it as a long term investment. It's a 2300 sq ft building that used to house a small engine repair shop. It has been empty for a few years and needs some cosmetic work, but I'm going after it full throttle.
Addressing some of your concerns...
Fortunatley, there are no zoning laws in my town. One less thing to worry about. My one concern is the carpentry that needs to be done. Most of it is simple, but does take time. I'm pretty handy, but I'm going to have to weigh out what I can do without it taking me away from work. Sometimes calling the local carpenter is a better idea.
I have had a home business from the start, but with adding other services and materials over the last couple of years, my little former-garage just can't hack it anymore.
One of the other reasons for the new shop is regaining my life back. Over the years people have stoppped in at all hours and on weekends if they see my truck in the yard. Makes it hard to differentiate work form home life. (I have a tendency to be a workaholic at times.)
I wish you all the best in your venture.
-------------------- Ray Rheaume Rapidfire Design 543 Brushwood Road North Haverhill, NH 03774 rapidfiredesign@hotmail.com 603-787-6803
I like my paint shaken, not stirred. Posts: 5648 | From: North Haverhill, New Hampshire | Registered: Apr 2003
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Hey, best of all the best to ya'll! 
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