On Tue, 27 Sep 2005 12:45:55 -0700, Grant Erwin
wrote:

I've been working for months to set up a small steel fabrication business out of
my home. Today I stopped by City Hall in the bucolic little suburb I live in and
found out that they certainly allow businesses in homes, but none with welding.
Ack. Anyone run into this before?

GWE
Greetings Grant,
When I set up business in Redmond there were some restrictions about
home based businesses. But talking with a fellow who claimed to know
said that the city really can't restrict you that much if what you do
does not disturb the neighbors, no matter what an ordinance might say.
Especially if there are other people doing the same thing you want to
do already. I'm no expert, so take what I say with a grain of salt.
But there were all kinds of businesses in my neighborhood that would
be considered dirty and industrial, such as welding, auto body, auto
painting, auto repair, and me with machines. Also, there were less
obvious ones, like insurance and interior design consulting. And one
house had a Watkins (I think that's the name) spice retail store in
their garage. It was sorta like tupperware I think. You had to call
first to make sure they were home if you wanted to pick the spices up.
But they shipped from their house all over the place. And I often saw
a semi out in front of their house unloading boxes and boxes of
spices, vanilla, and who knows what else. All this in a development
with covenants that prohibited any kind of home based business. So
check with an attorney and see waht they say. And of course the
library will have books that can help.
Cheers,
Eric