running business out of house

[CopperTone]

How many of you that own your business run it from a home office? My basement is full, the shed is full, the bedroom office is full, I pay for a couple of parking spots for the vans. It is time to buy a building and have a real shop.

More overhead - but an investment too. A property I am looking at is on a main street too - which means more advertising for the company.

Anyone here go through this? How is it working out? I don't want to overburden my company with the added costs but I think it also would help "grow" the company - any thoughts?

 

[peter d]

No direct experience with this, but it's good that you're able to consider expanding when many are closing up or downsizing.

 

[satcom]

How many of you that own your business run it from a home office? My basement is full, the shed is full, the bedroom office is full, I pay for a couple of parking spots for the vans. It is time to buy a building and have a real shop.

More overhead - but an investment too. A property I am looking at is on a main street too - which means more advertising for the company.

Anyone here go through this? How is it working out? I don't want to overburden my company with the added costs but I think it also would help "grow" the company - any thoughts?

The EC's that are doing well buy large buildings and rent out most of the space and take a small area for their shop and office, an investment that usually makes more then the electrical business alone, but you will need to buy a good property in the right location, many of our local EC,s have multiple properties working for them, and the properties make for plenty of work in slow periods

 

[wxstevens]

I have rental properties and one has a good size building that I took from the renters and converted to my office/work/storage area. It works well with no additional cost.

 

[ceb58]

If you can get out of your home office do it. The regulations the IRS have for deducting that space gets more stringent every year.

The EC's that are doing well buy large buildings and rent out most of the space and take a small area for their shop and office, an investment that usually makes more then the electrical business alone,

True. A medium size, second generation elect. contractor in my area built duplex apartments in the better times. They still have steady income in the not so better times.

 

[hardworkingstiff]

It sounds like you need to do this.

I'd not put it my business name, I'd start a new LLC and put it in that name.

Your business is a LLC or Corp, right?

 

[tallgirl]

I just finally moved my business's server out of my house. Much quieter without stupid computer fans winding up and down all day.

I hope things improve to the point that I can move my business out of the guest room (on account of I suspect my future D-I-L may wind up with me next year ...) one of these days.

 

[dduffee260]

We just finished a new office/training/warehouse facility. It is 18,000 sq ft on the ground floor and 7,000 sq ft on the 2nd floor. The building is on 5 acres of land. We were working out of a 2,700 sq ft building for the last 15 years on 1/2 acre of land. This is a large investment for us. Lots of hard work and more to come to keep it up. If anyone wants to see pics pm me for a link.

 

[wireguru]

It sounds like you need to do this.

I'd not put it my business name, I'd start a new LLC and put it in that name.

Your business is a LLC or Corp, right?

definetly have an entity who's purpose is to own and manage real estate, and lease the space your EC is using to the EC and make sure you actually pay rent to the RE entity. (consult a professional when it comes to legal and accounting matters) Ideally have a building larger than you use and rent out the rest (but dont count on that rental income to be able to afford owning the building) I know of one EC that started doing this and now owns somewhere between 5M and 10M worth of industrial parks.

 

[jmellc]

I've got a shed full of tools & materials, another one half full, a cluttered driveway, file boxes all over the house and a wife that's ready to throw it all in the trash. No matter how much I promise her and how much I mean to clean things up, it never happens all the way. I will be glad when business picks up to the point that I can consider a place away. Someone here has an old warehouse and rents sectioned off spaces very cheaply. Years ago, I looked at it for a former boss. Could get a 20 x 20 space for $100 a month, I think it was. LL provided a common bathroom & a loading dock was available to all tenants. You could also drive vehicles into the building, usually right up to your space. Those are bonuses if you get deliveries to the shop and/or need to load up a truck in a hurry. Neighborhood wasn't the greatest, but building was fairly secure. I spoke to other tenants, who said they'd never had burglaries there.

 

[readydave8]

How many of you that own your business run it from a home office? My basement is full, the shed is full, the bedroom office is full, I pay for a couple of parking spots for the vans. It is time to buy a building and have a real shop.

More overhead - but an investment too. A property I am looking at is on a main street too - which means more advertising for the company.

Anyone here go through this? How is it working out? I don't want to overburden my company with the added costs but I think it also would help "grow" the company - any thoughts?

I had to move my business out of my house when I ran out of room. I had planned to build a shop on my property but changed my mind after talking to others that had done similiar, advice was if you live at your business you're never closed.

Rented at first and took an opportunity to buy a 1/2 share of a building later on, shared it with a builder, later bought him out.

Buy a foreclosure now while its cheap. Don't be embarrassed to submit lo-ball offers.

 

[hardworkingstiff]

Buy a foreclosure now while its cheap. Don't be embarrassed to submit lo-ball offers.

This is excellent advise. I would just like to reinforce the lo-ball offer. Go lower than you would be willing to purchase it for. You can always come up. Money talks, the rest walks.

 

[tallgirl]

This is excellent advise. I would just like to reinforce the lo-ball offer. Go lower than you would be willing to purchase it for. You can always come up. Money talks, the rest walks.

And be sure to emphasize that it is a FORECLOSURE when you negotiate. I missed out on a chance to pick up a house for about what I have in equity at my place (meaning, potential cash sale with me owning it outright) because I took their rejection of my offer too seriously. The house sat on the market for about 6 more months before selling.

Dittos for picking up commercial space -- lease prices are dropping as occupancy falls.

 

[cadpoint]

I beleive it was said, just put the numbers into you budget !

I'll agree with the never closed statement as well !

One might also look into the subject of "Critical Path" when you do get that new structure (IE space and organization) !

 

[brian john]

We started in a house but moved to a warehouse and have since bought several other warehouses for rent. I find a warehouse works best, we built out what we needed at the time for office as we grew we expanded the office space. It is nice having all trucks, tools and material next to my office.

How old is this place you are looking at?
Any storage place?
Is this a converted store front?
Internet connections?
Parking?

 

[ptonsparky]

I'm on the smaller end of the scale here but I moved out of the house quite a few years ago. Doesn't mean I get to leave all the work at the shop but most of it certainly stays there. Section off a portion of it for a nice office and make sure someone is around for at least half a day every day and keep it clean. Nice to have customers come in and their eyes open a bit.

We rent and should have thought more about buying years ago.

 

[CopperTone]

We started in a house but moved to a warehouse and have since bought several other warehouses for rent. I find a warehouse works best, we built out what we needed at the time for office as we grew we expanded the office space. It is nice having all trucks, tools and material next to my office.

How old is this place you are looking at?
Any storage place?
Is this a converted store front?
Internet connections?
Parking?

looking at 2 properties right now.

they are older but in great shape.

there is storage, there is plenty of parking, 3 garage bays at each one, one is commercial property in a residential neighborhood on a side street, the other is commercial on a main rd in a mixed neighborhood resi and commercial.
The second is much larger and a better location but it is twice as much money - I am considering partnering with a plumbing contractor I am good friends with to buy the larger property and split it with him. A plumbing and electrical contractor right next to each other - I think it would be a great fit.

it must have an internet connection - the larger unit is currently a car repair garage.

 

[petersonra]

There is a lot of commercial property sitting empty right now just waiting to be picked up at bargain prices.

If your business can support the added overhead, it's about as good a time as you will ever have to buy a building.

I am not so sure about the advice to become a landlord in the process. That requires additional skills that may detract from your primary business.

There are some real bargains to be had out there. A friend of my brothers offered $30,000 on a house listed at >$100,000 and the owners took it. It had sat so long they took what they could get (it was an estate, so the heirs did not have as much of a stake in it, and were not upside down on the mortgage or anything).

There is no such thing as being fair in this kind of a market. Do your research and make an absurdly low ball offer. You can always raise it if you have to. But, don't get trapped into thinking a particular piece of property is just perfect for your needs. It's not. There are plenty of suitable properties out there.

 

[petersonra]

The second is much larger and a better location but it is twice as much money - I am considering partnering with a plumbing contractor I am good friends with to buy the larger property and split it with him. A plumbing and electrical contractor right next to each other - I think it would be a great fit.

I think this is a very bad idea. What happens if one of you goes defunct and the other one cannot afford to buy out the other guy's share of the building.

You do not want to have your business go down the tubes because someone else does.

If you want to become a landlord, buy the building and rent part of it to him. Otherwise, do your own thing.

JMNSHO.

 

[iwire]

The last large shop I worked at the owner of the electrical company also owned the building under another business and rented it out to the electrical company he owned, he also had other tenants. He did quite well for himself.