Who'd like a VW workshop / storage / meeting place in Sydney

Myself and Kai are considering the idea of renting an industrial unit or similar. Looking at a place that would fit say 5 cars with plenty of room and storage. Idea being that the place would be equipped with general tools , trolley jacks , compressor etc .The ideal place to do a resto or just store some stuff , tinker about and have a place to meet and talk vw's. Could be open to anyone that needs to do some work on their car and havent got the space etc at home . A small donation towards the up keep of the place is all that would be required , say $10 an hour or something. Also could be available as a place for clubs to use/meet at , mothly evening barby's etc , etc , maybe?
Really needs 2 more folk that are willing to get involved due to the cost of renting such a place. Maybe there are other folk that are interested in this idea of a DIY workshop and meeting place or even folk that know of anything cheap and available in the Botany/ Mascot/ St Peters general area's or anything else?
Please let me know if your interested or have any info that could help getting a place like this up and running.

Many thanks

Dan:thumb

I think its a brilliant Idea, but I don't think I would be a realistic visitor, as It's a huge trek to that area. But If I lived closer, then it would be much better. Is it near Public transport? If not easily accessible, then I don't see many people wishing to join, the problems of getting there and back too effort consuming.

GOOD LUCK BROTHA

im in newcastle and would be willing to hang out, help, watever. great idea dan!

Thanks Sam. For those that need to store and restore a car it would be great. For those that just needed a place to do a service , change a set of rims or just detail your dub , you'd have the room and everything you needed.
There would be a link to cheaper replacement / performance parts aswell as a for sale /swap area. As much a DIY workshop and storage it could be used as a club house / general meeting place with regular social events and a good place to just kick back and catch up and talk VW crap.
This would be run as a business , it would have to , with all profits ( if any) being put back into improving the facilites and keeping it going.
I would love to know from anyone that can help or advise me on a location or where's the best place to start looking. Even a place that had living space , that way i could part fund it with my current rent???????
Would anyone else in Sydney want to use the place?????? Any feedbacks good!


Thanks Dan:thumb

Try further out west, the rents will be too much otherwise.
Not cheap to rent out space like that and you have to make sure its full industrial area so you can do what you like and make noise etc.

Security is also an issue, who will leave tools and stuff there?

Good idea but the hardest part will be finding a decent sized place that doesnt break the bank. Good luck doing that in Sydney.
Even out my way in woop woop it costs hundreds of dollars a week to rent an industrial unit before you take into account electricity, water etc.

What about insurance? Will this be a formal thing or just a handshake agreement among mates? Lotsa issues at stake in what should really just be a simple plan. Sorry to put a wet blanket on it but I checked this out myself once and decided it was all too hard.

Hmmm, $1680.00 a week a bit exy!!!!!! for that much I think I would rather buy a huge factory all to my self

i agree with most af what's been said above, and it's getting the reaction i expected. this is no bad thing.

in my discussions at work today the biggest point everyone had to offer was insureance.

dannyboy67 wrote:This would be run as a business , it would have to , with all profits ( if any) being put back into improving the facilites and keeping it going.

that'd mean some kind of business insurance...etc..

i really think we need to be a lot more low key, just a few dub mad idiots who need more space for those ongoing projects, or even just to store a future project or a tonne of parts....

i think it would take far too much of our time, which we never have enough of anyway, to organise it all.

by the way, it doesn't have to be in botany area... i wouldn't mind if it was on the northern beaches 😉

if someone is genuinely interested i think they should look in their local area for prices/availability etc. if we can get enough people we should find a compromise somewhere.

it's not really urgent, just a good idea waiting to happen

kai

Sounds like a good idea, but I also think insurance could be a problem, as would funds to pay rent, bills etc. Maybe we could figure out something

DIY workshops are quite big in Europe.. have a look there for some ideas / models

what a great simple idea...
then details..
insurance, security blah blah blah... grrr 😠
all relevant issues mind you.. but, what happened to the good old days when you left the front door open n the keys in the ignition.
bloody theives.. look at the place you've gone and help create
all im sayin is its a pity this simple idea didnt have to become (by the looks of it ) a complex issue..
gee i feel better now after getting that waffle off my brain.. 🙂

I'm looking into a few things today. I think alot of rules and regulations only apply if your a staffed business and offering the public a service or goods. Then there is countless laws like H&S , public liability etc etc.

This is how i'd see things going. Register the club and have someone in charge of it ( me). Rent a place using the club name.
Say 2/3 of the place would be for 3-4 folk storing and working on a project , the rest for general daily DIY work etc .

The club would work like an RSL or similar. Big sign in book with clubs rules and statement with a tear-off members card. No longer a member of the public and free to use the clubs workshop ( at their risk).


Folk renting long term space etc bring their own tools and take home what they dont want lying around. Folk popping in to do a little work would also do the same , bring their own or use the "Club toolbox " , which would basically be mine. In addition to basic tools some basic vw service tools would also be available for a minimal donation to the club. Tools available would improve with time.

The donation system would help fund some of the costs along with the rent paid by 4 folk that were storing / restoring vw's but somewhere money would have to be made to cover bills . Although only a club it would have to be run like a business with links to vw garages , parts suppliers etc.

Taking things a stage further to fund the workshop a "club parts store". Basically a vw only scrapyard / 2nd hand parts aquired through members or found and pulled off the road.Again working on a suggested "donation" to price parts to avoid tax implications etc.

I think the idea is good though even kept simple is a hell of alot of work and pretty much a fulltime job. Basically setting up a business and calling it a club. Some big ideas but if there is enough interest shown in this i'll start looking into things. For now i'm off to the bank for some info on starting a business and how to register a club. It's a start at least and will help in getting an idea on certain matters.

I do agree with Kai with the idea of a few mates into vw's getting a place and keeping it low key etc , that would be ideal. However someone has to own the whole thing and be responsible for the running of the place. There is also the $$$ with bills and keeping on top of the place to consider.

More feed back and any help with any of this would be great.


Cheers Dan

[Edited on 11/4/2005 by dannyboy67]

sounds a great idea if you can pull it off. I would be interested, especially as I have lots of dubs and no tools. good luck. count me in :-)