Are You Ready for a Dream Shop—or Will Your Home Garage Suffice?
Every 'DIY' mechanic, serious motorhead, restorer or collector would like his or her own shop. This guide helps you decide whether or not it is practical and timely to create a 'DIY' shop. Whether you are considering a showcase dream shop or need your home garage to double as useful workspace for maintaining vehicles, this guide describes what can be done with available floor space.
Do you have the space to create an automotive or motorcycle 'DIY' shop? What space does it take? I have worked at all kinds of settings and conditions, from rolling a creeper over a chilly cement floor in a single-car residential garage to enjoying our purpose built 2,400 square foot shop/studio with 1,800 square feet of working floor space, 600 square feet of designated office space plus 600 square feet of mezzanine storage above the office. Overhead for that "dream shop" was, well, exorbitant. At the brink of the Great Recession, the opportunity arose to sell that property at a fair price and downsize. We created a fully functional, smaller shop.
Note: After studying this illustrated PDF download guide, if you decide to set up a shop, the Road and Trail Ready Teachable course, "Equipping a 'DIY' Automotive or Motorcycle Shop", will cover shop floor plans and how to set up and equip any size shop. Available soon, the HD video course will include specific details on individual tools, vital test equipment, parts cleaning options, waste and draining, storage, safety, the air supply, electrical system demands, tire service and wheel alignment equipment needed for a fully functional, self-sufficient 'DIY' automotive or motorcycle shop. A welding station and basic metal fabrication tools will be covered.