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Moving in to new unit, lots of work to be done
Hi Guys, just thought I would share this. We are moving to new premises. I have managed to secure a new workshop which is directly opposite my house. So, no more 20-40 miles a day back and forth to work, now I just walk the 20 yards and I’m in the front door. No need to sort lunch before I go, I can just pop home and get it!
This has brought me a whole heap of benefits.
Telephone-broadband:
Although it’s a different exchange, we can keep our old number as BT will send it to my router at home with VOIP. As the new office is so close to my house, I can set up a wireless network range extender which I can pick up from the workshop which means only one phone bill (at home)Costs:
The savings to me are enormous, firstly I’ll save about £200 a month on fuel, the unit is one third of the cost of my current one (also no vat) the electric is 6p a unit cheaper, no service charges, no extortionate waste management charges, the phone, the list is endless. On top of all that I’m a part time fireman so the fire service has agreed to pay me extra because I am moving in to range of my fire station.Size:
It’s almost 3 times bigger than my old workshop (I had to rent an extra unit when I did vehicles inside at a day rate of £30 a day, I used it 12 times last month) it has a car port big enough for 2-3 vehicles and separate office and storage spaces inside.Working hours:
At the moment at my present location I’m restricted to working between 8am-6pm Monday to Friday and 8am-1pm on Saturdays. I can’t work Sundays or bank holidays. Which is great in principle but when you work on your own and you have a day away from the workshop, fitting or other stuff then your stuffed and can’t catch up on the business. The new work shop I can work whenever I want with no restrictions. Which is great when I have more orders than I can physically handle in the hours at the old place.Shop Front:
Attached to the unit is a shop front, which currently has a tennant for the next 10 months. When he moves out, we move in giving us a shop front area on a main road but not a high street so the rates are stupidly cheap, we are in a small village with a high industrial population so we are going to be very busy!All in all, moving is worth about £1200 – £1500 a month savings for me (including the extra I will get from the fire service) so it makes complete sense. My family are really happy that I’m going to be so close..
What’s the down side???? ahem….. see below, I got a lot of work to do, and I will be doing it all myself!
I will keep you updated as we move along, I need to be in and up and running by the 6th of August!
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23 Replies
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nah just keep going not much further to the seaside 😀
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Nice one.. Good luck with your new workshop Mo 😀
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Cool.
And where did you get the pictures of my shop?
😀
Happy for you.
And all that will take is some good hard work to bring it up to snuff.
Plenty of elbow grease, slap some paint on it, and of course a new sign.
Love….Jill -
Ah a new sign, can’t wait to do that, thats a double whammy… 4 businesses around the workshop all want signs and the landlord has ordered a community double posted sign to go at the front of the estate….
Thanks everyone for the support….. lots of late nights in the next few weeks me thinks
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brilliant move mo, you will love the convenience of being close to home, I did, but only downside was I had to be dragged out of workshop late at night :lol1: anyway enjoy and good luck 😉
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It sounds ideal Mo. Lots of work to do to get it the way you want it but it’ll be worth all the hard work in the end. And if you are cutting your costs this can only be a good thing. Well done :thumbsup:
Look forward to seeing the end result
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Good luck with your new shop, looks like a perfect shop, your work output
should increase 10 fold.
Regards
Graham -
Thought I better update with how we are getting on… Nearly there, we decided not to plasterboard in the end and opted for putting UPVC cladding, a lot faster to instal and much better when it comes to cleaning and dust prevention. No painting too,,, Yahoooo!
Anyway I have been working on the unit with my Dad and after 4 days intensive labour, hard work and sleepless nights, not to mention the heat we have been experiencing here in Kent over the last week, we have moved on a bit. We still have a lot to do but I’m operating (still need to move in more printers and cutters etc) and managed only one day businessinterruptionn….. heres the pics
I will post more as we get nearer to completion, but we are heading in the right direction..
BigMo
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looks great
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Looks fantastic.
I am determined to make the move to better premises. The only thing keeping me here is the very good ‘family’ rates rent, and the fact I just cannot afford to. 🙁
I wish you the very best with your new premises, sounds like a sensible and profitable business choice.
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Congratulations mate, it’s nearly there!
You’ve done a tonne of work there! Also like the PVC cladding idea. -
Thanks guys, I can tell you it’s the hardest weeks work I have ever done, still haven’t quite finished moving yet, but itr’s great, I can pop home for lunch and whatever I want….. Thought you might find this image interesting…lol
I’m at work now doing a few extra bits, it’s like having a massive garage and being able to use it whenever you want is awesome!
lol see below
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The Hong Kong kitchen would have swung it for me!!!!!
Unit looks cool and well laid out.
Have you any room for vehicles?
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Looking Good Mo :thumbsup:
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quote Neil Davey:The Hong Kong kitchen would have swung it for me!!!!!
Unit looks cool and well laid out.
Have you any room for vehicles?
Thanks Phil! (you started this mate…lol the benches aren’t quite to the specs in your book but pretty close, wait till you see the vinyl racks)
We have a large car port that’s large enough to get luton vans in directly outside our front door. We will be fitting heavy drop curtains to the front of it for the winter. However we also have plans to enlarge the door so we can drive directly into the workshop (cars and small vans only) but thats next years project, we also get the shop front on to the main road in 12 months (only small but ideal for a drop in shop)
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Looking good Mo, well done
when fully operational it will be worth all the effort and expense and all just a short stroll back to the manor…can’t be bad.
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quote David Hammond:Looks fantastic.
I am determined to make the move to better premises. The only thing keeping me here is the very good ‘family’ rates rent, and the fact I just cannot afford to. 🙁
I wish you the very best with your new premises, sounds like a sensible and profitable business choice.
Dave, you can achieve anything if you set your mind to it, you just need a plan.
My fave saying…………
"whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t…. your probably right"
If you have a goal you know where you are going, chances are you will get there, and if you dont know, you will get there too, which is nowhere!
Sit down and write out what you want to achieve, then all you need to do is to find a way of achieving it, then your nearly there, you can do it!
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Cheers Mo, my main motivation at the minute is to actually take a wage… Luckily my partner has been able to support me, but it’s wearing thin. Especially when she see’s the money I’ve spend on the business. 😮
All non essential spending in on hold for the time been, so my take up for the laminator and extra media holders are on stop, I’ve got an effective production line now, so it’s a case of getting more work through the doors. So I’ve got an advert going in a quarterly mag, and 1000 leaflets turning up today for some cold calling whilst I am quiet!
I noticed your ‘job board’ in you photo, that’s something I am looking at sorting out, what info do you keep on it?
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Looks great Mo, well done you mate!
I like the idea of the uPVC strapped walls. nice clean & bright looking and easy cleaned / maintained. not to mention keeping the cold out. we have bare painted walls in most of our place and stood next to them you can feel the cold coming off them in the winter.thanks for taking the time to post your pictures, very interesting seeing how others work places.
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UPDATE:
Just finished my first Vinyl Rack tonight. It’s made entirely from stuff that was left lying around in the unit by the previous tenants. So it didn’t cost a penny..The uprights are part of an old display system, I routed the grooves into it to take the bars. At the moment the bars are just old 44mm planed baton that was left over from doing the walls. I’m waiting for a client to come in who does fitted bedrooms, he has a load of chrome wardrobe rail off cuts all about 800mm so he’s going to give me those to replace the baton in return for basic signs on his van.
I have 3 more uprights that I’m going to add in later for larger and smaller width material, so there will be 3 sections. One @ 800mm one @ 1400mm and finally one @ 650mm. They will all join together to give one rack that is 3m long in.
I did make an almighty upcock though today, because the time was getting on and I didn’t want to make any noise outside with the chop saw and router. I opted for doing it in the workshop.
Fortunately I have my printers and photo studio all covered in PVC sheeting, but the mess is horrific. I will have to come in early tomorrow to suck up all the sawdust…. Doh! Typical me, I couldn’t wait… But I am expecting a large delivery of media tomorrow, so I wanted to be prepared.
It’s all moving on, I will keep posting updates if anyone is interested. One disadvantage or advantage if you like of operating so close to home… lol it’s 1am and I’m sat at my bloody desk in work… BUT, it does mean that I won’t be wasting any production/quoting time tomorrow..
Have a good Monday!
BigMo
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Looking good Mo, I’ve got my media on Steel Rack, same that they use to display carpets in shops, it’s on big castors so can be moved around in my tiny space.
Have you lost your Magenta Ink in transit or is it my eyes? Being an anorak is that a RS-640?
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Nice fridge cover Mo……bet that gets you guys hungry….LOL
Top effort place looks great, know exactly what your going through we’ve only just recently settled into our new home….ended up costing us the price of new high end car by the time all work was done and finished…..600L of paint, should have gone for the cladding youve used.
Good luck matey
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lol… thought someone would mention the fridge. It’s Kelly Brook, she lives in a nearby village, I have seen her a few times in the Butchers, I keep meaning to get a pic with her but I’m a bit un start struck when it comes to stuff like that, I tend to leave the fames alone. I photo shopped it so it looks like a special edition mag cover with our logo on it… (also tattood I luv mo on her tum lol)
Dave the magenta is there it’s just a smaller 220cc cart so hidden, it’s the one I filled from the waste on the others.
Thanks for the poz feedback guys.. much appreciated
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