DSMCentral Member Work Shop, The next Level? Options

[awd4kicks]

I have had discussions with a couple other core DSMCentral members and I feel the next level of DSMCentral may be upon us.

More to the point I propose a shop space with a vehicle lift that can be accessible to members on a share plan. I do not want to open up a shop for profit necessarily, but one that will be a support point for DSMCentral members and a place to congregate. The place I have in mind is near the intersection of Rt24 and Rt116 (Between Peoria, E. Peoria, and Germantown Hills). There are a few options to this shop area. I can procure a one stall heated and air conditioned space, or a larger 2 stall long heated space, or a very large non heated or air conditioned space. Any of the locations will include my lift and a garage door to get away from the out door elements. The landlord is pretty laid back performance oriented guy that I am friends with.

The tentative plan would be each member brings their own tools and has the lift for a predesignated amount of time. This time will be preplanned on a calender for the most part, but I'm sure there will be a lot of open time where members can just pull their vehicle on for some quick repairs or check overs. All paying members will be welcome at anytime we designate the shop to be open. ALL DSMCentral members will be welcome to hang out while paying members are there. The local club house so to speak.

The details need to be worked out and the membership fee will vary between $25-$40 a month for full access. Regardless of the final amount or details of the shop, a years worth of membership will need to be prepaid once the details are hammered out. This will ensure our ability to procure the building for a full year and cut down on collecting payments hassles. Depending on the number of paying members, non-paying members may be able to rent the lift and shop space for small periods of time when it is empty (I'm thinking say $25 for half a day...WAY cheaper than going to a repair shop, but more expensive than Full membership.)

For reference the cheapest shop rate I know of was SloPny at $50-$55 per hour. That included an experienced tech to do the work, but at that rate one full day at the DSMCentral workshop can pay for it's self for the full year.

Some may wonder about insurance hassles and I don't plan on having any. The Land lord will have his appropriate building insurance, but all members will be required to sign a waiver for any problems, injury,loss or damage. The price will surely be too high if we have to get some sort of insurance. I will be checking into the legalities and details of this in the mean time.

So please make a selection on the Poll and pass along any ideas or questions you may have right here.

Thanks!
Marcus

[awd4kicks]

Here are a few counterpoints for those that have been made:

I stand corrected - our very own KOUMotorsports has the lowest hourly rate I know of at $40 per hour.

I owned SloPny Auto Repair as a partner and ran it for a year. I do not intend on the DSMCentral work Shop being this kind of shop.

This work shop is not meant to take work away from shops with technicians. This is meant for people that are mechanically inclined or want to be. There will be no overly long projects done at the work shop due to the time constraints of sharing the lift.

DSMCentral Shop - will not have any full time people at the shop

DSMCentral shop - is not a business to repair other peoples vehicles

There will be no tools left at the shop - so each member will bring their own

Each paying member will have a scheduled amount of days they can use the shop

If a project runs over it will need to be buttoned up and pushed out to make room
(So good planning and having most of the parts ahead of time will be required)

Only paying members will have access to the shop without supervision
(We will work out something where all paying members are responsible for the area - as in refunding loss or repairs as a group at the end of the year to keep everyone on the up & up and keeping an eye on things. Watch your own)

These are just preliminary details and the rest will be worked out along the way. But nothing brought up so far is any surprise or insurmountable issue.