Greg,
Wow, that really hit home with me. I started (and am still working) my project outdoors. During the winter I kept seeing all these vacant tenant spaces and wondered how I could wrangle a deal to use the space temporarily. I decided not to pursue it only because I was sure that my work schedule would not allow me to work on it alot in order to finish and clear out of the workspace. I also figured it would take a lot of time to convince some owner to let me do this and then would come the money. I would have been willing to pay $50 to $75 per month for the privelege. I think your idea is valid. I don't know if the demand would make it lucrative. I think once it got started that the community of renter/builders would spread the info on the deal for sure. I am sure sponsorship from local outfitters, material suppliers, specialty tool companies and kayak supply houses could be worked in too. I started a business seven years ago which I did not think there would be an overwhelming demand for. Boy was I wrong, I can't hire people fast enough to service just the Mid Atlantic area much less the whole US. I mean to say that you may have a bigger response than can be predicted accurately.

Good luck. Good idea!

--Tony

: During my work commute (which has gotten longer recently due to road
: construction), I started spinning out scenarios on how to merge my job
: (real estate) with my interest in kayak building. Consider this
: "market research" and your posts (good, bad and ugly) are
: requested: Here goes --
: Background. In many metro areas, the downturn in the economy has created many
: high vacancy situations, most notably in industrial real estate (at least
: in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area). This makes for attractively priced
: lease rates. After securing some modestly priced industrial warehouse
: space, I would offer (for a modest fee) individual boat makers their own
: space (demarcated on the floor) to construct their wooden boats. They
: could be anyone who is pressed for space or doesn't want to slop up their
: living quarters (or whose significant others won't let them slop up their
: living quarters). I envision a sort of "wooden boat building
: incubator", where folks were unified in their hobby and could get
: pointers by a seasoned builder who might be next door.

: Prices would have to be low to make it appealing -- say $100-$150/3 months
: (haven't run the numbers to know if they make sense) with options to buy
: other tools or supplies on site or even rent a boat building
: "toolkit" or the like for an additional fee.

: It sounds like a good idea in theory, but I may just be misjuding the
: interest level that is out there that could support something like this.
: Look forward to reading the responses.

: Greg