Premises size

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Mikey the 2nd
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Premises size

Post by Mikey the 2nd »

Hi
We have been looking at new premises which are smaller than our current place (which in fairness is too big). i was wondering what sort of size premises do most of you folks have (sq ft). I'm strugglking with seeing what we could get away with? Also how do yuou have them laid out?
We have the usual, Morso, Pinner, Excalibur 5000 & CMC to lay out. We are not so concerned about a shop area so reception can be small.

Thanks in advance
Mike
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GeoSpectrum
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Re: Premises size

Post by GeoSpectrum »

If you are organised you can work in quite a small area. I have approx 1300sq ft, excluding storage and spraying space, which is a bit small, but there is only one of me so I probably just need to be more tidy....and organised. I sell online only so no need for customer access.
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Re: Premises size

Post by Not your average framer »

I thought tht my previous premises were really small and I used to joke that there was not enough room to swing a mouse. My new premises are considerably smaller and yet there is even more stuff crammed in to much less space. I struggle to inagine how to organise the space and to make it all work, but amazingly it seems to gradually getting there. It's a very old building with all sort of little cubby hole and nooks and crannies. I never had much choice where I moved to, is was where I now am, or nothing. It may indeed sound crazy, by smaller specing can lead to particularly efficient workshops where everything is fairly close together and you don't actual need to move very far from one working area to another. I don't walk very well and I find it very helpful to steady myself as I move around the workshop, so walking about hanging on to various work benches, shelves and racks is actually very helpful.

I am still fitting out my workshop and this occupies the whole shop, there is a limited are for customers and also space to enable me to do a bit of training as well. The space under each and every bench is used for storage, some benches also will have shelves above them where this is possible. Small hand tools don't get put aways, I have different working areas for different tasks and like to keep the tools handy in each location according to what tasks get performed at each location. I like disposable bench coverings at each location and use grey board, or backing board to work on, when the board starts to look grubby, it gets turned over to use the other size. I don't necessarily throw these boards away, but they often get used for other things, such as laminating layers together to make frame spandrels, spacers and such like.

I don't know how this works, but some how everything seem to fit in to this really small space some how. Everything seem to fit in somewhere, if I can sit down on a chair, I can slide out a little table from under a bench and on this little table is my oval mountcutter, or cold roller laminator. I have learned the technique of working at different levels, within three dimensions. I know that it sounds crazy, but it works. I have one of these little step on things on casters called a push along, the casters are spring loaded and if you stand on this, it drops down on to an immovable surface. At my previous shop I used to stand on it to use my oval mount cutter, which live on a shelf about one of my workbenches. Since the stroke I no longer feel safe to do this, but I am happy to screw handles on to shelving racks, so that I can stand of the push along holding the handle in one hand while using the other hand to grab something that I want from one of the higher slelves. Everything all fits in some how, if you have the imagination. Welcome to the Tardis!
Mark Lacey

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Abacus
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Re: Premises size

Post by Abacus »

We’ve got 2,500 sq ft but don’t use some of it. It’s handy because it’s split into 4 work areas (one a Mazzanine).

We use them like this:

Customer area approx 400 square ft (sell cards & prints)
Mezzanine above (same size) is used as clean area, has cmc, heat press, Excalibur 5000 and is where we do assembly.

Main area approx 1000 square ft, has moulding storage (60 bays) double headed saw, morso, couple of underpinners and 4 large work tables for various uses included packing. Also houses the completed work in 100 different sized bays.

“Dirty area” approx 400 sq ft, has wall mounted glass cutter, glass storage, mdf storage, table saw, router table & Hoffmann router

Mezzanine above with bogs & kitchenette
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Re: Premises size

Post by GeoSpectrum »

"...Luxury, when I were a lad..."
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Mikey the 2nd
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Re: Premises size

Post by Mikey the 2nd »

Wow. I didn't realise all your premises would be so big. How many square feet is yours please Mark?
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Re: Premises size

Post by Gesso&Bole »

I work from home, and have just over 450 sq ft. My main working area is a detached double garage, I have built a stud partition with windows just inside the roller shutter. This way it looks like a garage, but I can open the roller shutters and have daylight in the workshop. I also have a 100 sq ft lobby leading into the garage/workshop where I have my samples, and design table. Oh, and I have a shed at the end of the garden with the dust generating woodworking equipment.

It's not as much room as I would like, but for one person, with pretty much all the equipment I could ever need, I can just about fit it all in. By choice I don't do volume jobs, and that's probably a good thing, as I would struggle if I was trying to do 50 large frames!
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Re: Premises size

Post by Not your average framer »

The main part of my shop is about 180 sq ft, with a smaller room at the back of about 120 sq ft. I'm not particularly aware of how small my shop is, I've never had a really big shop, so I never really been able to notice the difference.
Mark Lacey

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Mikey the 2nd
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Re: Premises size

Post by Mikey the 2nd »

Thank you Mark
We are looking at somewhere with a main work area of 480 sq ft (15 x 32) a small office and very small reception area. I'm trying to make it work just concerned that it won't
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Re: Premises size

Post by Justintime »

I have about 450 sqft home studio and 100 sqft carpentry workshop. I can't imagine having too much space, it sounds like a dream!
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Re: Premises size

Post by pramsay13 »

My workshop is 5m x 3m which is around 160 sq feet.

The only thing I struggle with is having to cut glass on the floor as there is no space on the wall and I don't want to do it on my workbench.

Storage is a bit tight but as long as people aren't slow to pick up it's manageable.
Not your average framer
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Re: Premises size

Post by Not your average framer »

I am not the most tidy person, so it's probably easier for me to keep tidy in a small space. Larger spaces allow more space moving things out of the way and not being sure where you left then. A smaller space is a lot easier to get around now that I don't walk very well and it's cheaper to keep it warm as well. Over all, I'm probably much happier in a smaller shop.
Mark Lacey

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Re: Premises size

Post by prospero »

I know a framer who had an electric Morso, underpinner, mountcutter and Excalibur cutter in an area about
8' x6'. He didn't have to walk far.

It is surprising just what you can get in a small area. Start with siting the Morso and fit everything in around it.

Another chap I knew managed to get an industrial unit rent-free for six-months (there were a lot of empty ones at the time).
Plenty of space. He had a workbench on one wall and a desk about 40ft away. OK in Summer, but the heating bill in the winter
was enormous. :lol:
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L.frames
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Re: Premises size

Post by L.frames »

I work from home and my work shop is the garden shed/summer house which is about 36 sq feet. The moulding lengths have to stick out the window when I’m chopping. I’ve got a morso, underpinner and Excalibur (fixed to the wall). I store all my glass in there too and have a small amount of shelving and tool storage.
All my moulding and board is kept in the house in a corner of a room that I use as my studio- a plan chest works as a work station and storage while all my sample chevrons are on Velcro boards on the wall that I can take down and move to where ever I’m seeing my customers (currently outside due to Covid).
My mount cutter is on a purpose made trolley that also has storage underneath.
It’s amazing what you can achieve if you’re organised and creative.... but golly I dream of a proper space!!
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