On Fri, 02 Jun 2006 05:34:15 GMT, Edward Lomax
wrote:

Hello, Everyone.

Recently, I had the great fortune to meet someone while shopping at a
Home Depot who has a small workshop on her property that has stationary
power tools and is not in use at the moment.

After looking at the space over the weekend, it is on the small side
(about 1000 sq. ft). This shop also comes equipped with a table saw,
drill press, router table, miter saw, and band saw.

During our conversation we did not discuss a rental charge and, frankly,
I got the feeling that I could use the shop for little or nothing.

However, I do not want to rip off this woman and feel as though I should
pay a fair price to use this incredible resource.

My questions for you are the following:

1) If you were the homeowner in this situation, what would you charge
for the use of your shop?

Nothing- it'd be too much hassle to have to worry about the liability.
you're lucky you found such a trusting soul! But four years ago or
so, I restored an apartment complex where the landlord was renting
some unequipped shop space out behind the garages, and I believe he
was charging $100 a month in St. Paul, MN. That was basically a shell
with one or two outlets and poor lighting...

2) If you rent out a similarly equipped shop space, what is your monthly
fee?

That would really depend on the renter, don't you think? What will
you be doing there? If you're going to leave sawdust everywhere, pile
wood up next to the building and make a lot of noise every day until
late into the night, you need to make it worth the hassle to them.
Maybe $400-500 a month- or more if you're in a city where space is at
a premium.

OTOH, if you use it once a week for a couple of hours and clean up
after yourself and the place would be vacant and unused otherwise,
$50-100 a month sounds fair enough to me provided you maintain that
equipment properly, and leave it in as good a condition as you found
it.

Be honest with yourself about your habits before you negotiate the
rate, then you can be sure that the space will remain availible!

It is a good resource, you lucky dog- it's taken me years to get mine
to where it is.