How to Build Out Your Shop For Your Wood Company Ft. Bearded Moose Woodworking

May 30, 2022

How to Build out Your Shop For Your Wood Company Ft. Bearded Moose Woodworking

“The big thing I need help figuring out is shop space. I live out in the country, I have five acres, and the previous owners put up a barn, but it’s only about 380 square feet. So as you can imagine doing big tables fills that up.

Do you know of any resources, especially if we’re a newer business, that can help us have building-type or shop loans? I’ve looked a little bit at commercial real estate, but there’s not much to offer because of where I’m at, and I like being on-site because I tend to work until midnight, one in the morning.”

Colton Rosman

Finding enough shop space to work with is a challenge that plagues most, if not all, Woodpreneurs, especially those who are expanding their business. However, simply building a shop can be very expensive if you don’t have access to funding or other financial workarounds. Fortunately, Steve has plenty of experience solving this problem, and he jumps right in with a solution for Colton.

“My father-in-law did this, so he built a lean-to and an add-on to his current shop. That’s one thing you could do is start adding to the space. But to take that one step further, I would work with somebody like Vinnie, or I’ll make an introduction to my father-in-law, and you should get some local dimensional lumber.

You don’t need commercial-grade things. You can add to what you’re currently doing. Knock down a wall and then frame it out. You could get it up by summer, and it wouldn’t even cost you that much. If you have some investment right now, just take it, and it’ll probably be up in a month.

I like the idea of like working with a local sawmill. Cutting the timbers yourself doesn’t make sense for you to spend your time doing. Then work with a framer and say, ‘Hey, this is what I want.’ Don’t do it yourself because you don’t have that kind of time.”

Steve Larosiliere

Financing and Developing your Space to Grow

“Take the profits from your next two jobs and dump them into the space because that will give you much more return on investment. 300-380 square feet is not a lot, so I would take what you have and grow on it or figure out how you can build something bigger on your own property.

You’ll need electricity, you’ll need insulation, you’ll need all that sort of stuff, and that takes some more money. But if you’re dying for extra space, just build out what you already have, frame it out, run some extension cords, and get a concrete slab in the area. But I would go local. Don’t get the regular building materials because you could build out your own trusses, and other people could do that for you too.”

Steve Larosiliere

Building or adding onto an additional space can seem very daunting, but it can become easier by figuring out what is needed and what corners can be cut. In Colton’s case, he’s not trying to build a commercial space, and therefore it does not need to go by the same standards as a regular business building.

Additionally, Colton’s business exists entirely on his own property, which allows him to get around a lot of the additional costs of building on commercial land. Since Colton isn’t running a sawmill, having trucks coming and going all the time, or other major commercial endeavors, he can use Michigan’s lax restrictions to build what he needs for a reasonable price.

Build What you Need as you Need It

“So if you need a good finishing room, work on that. If you want to get into epoxy, build out a pour room. There are so many things that you should do, and it’ll be fun too. Have friends and potential clients come by so you can be like, ‘Oh, this was the original place. Then we built out this part and this part.’ The fun part about having something existing is that you can build on it instead of starting new.

When you’re killing it with $20,000-$30,000 tables, and you’ve outgrown, and maybe you have one or two people, you can spend 40k on a new shop. But you’re not there yet, so build on what you got.”

Steve Larosiliere

It can be highly tempting to build or buy everything you need for your business ahead of time, but it can be easy to get ahead of yourself and spend too much too quickly. Pacing yourself and only spending money and time where needed will go a long way to building your wood company effectively and set you up for better long-term growth.

Website: https://beardedmoosewoodworking.com