Costs involved moving a garage shop out of state

[Superburban]

I think the biggest factor is machine availability in both locations. I had many great tools when I lived in Pa, not hard to find good stuff, so not thinking, I sold and gave away most all of it when I moved to Colorado. Finding machine tools here, is next to impossible. Looking back, I would rather have paid for another Penskee truck, and made another trip to still have the tools I parted with. You should know what Arizona tool availability is like, let that be your guiding light.

 

[Weldingrod1]

My shop is in a shipping container too; works great!
If you bolt down or brace stuff I'm sure you could pick the whole thing up...

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

 

[Superburban]

The thing to watch with shipping containers, the county here considers them as industrial, and does not allow them in residential zones areas. Cannot even get past the planning department, to take the next step with the permit department.

I moved out of the city, because of their crazy controlling codes, only to have the county adopt even more stringent codes a few years later. I swear these code nazies are chasing me across the country.

 

[NCjeeper]

A lot depends on your friends and the equipment they have that you can use. I had the friends but they didn't have much to offer o I had to rent everything. I moved my shop from NC to VA. 167 miles so not that far. I had a trucker haul my mill, lathe, and shaper on his flat bed low boy trailer. That cost me 1100 bucks. Rented a large off road fork lift from Sunbelt rentals to load the 3 pieces. They screwed me. Charged me 150 deliver fee, 150 pick up fee, and 500 for the day. Over 800 bucks. I was pretty hot over that. Rented a 26 foot box truck to haul pretty much all the other machines and stuff. I think that ended up 300 to 400 bucks for the 2 day rental? I also had one friend with a 20 foot enclosed trailer haul all the miscellaneous stuff that we had that wouldn't fit in the box truck. I paid him 300 bucks I think.

 

[P-Ritch]

If you want to piddle and learn, buy a mini-mill or mini-lathe. There are some very nice ones out there these days (not a combo machine, though). You could learn a lot on one of those in the next two years and either sell it or carry it with you when you move. Either that or wait. Like many have stated above, the worst thing you could do is load up on equipment and find yourself needing to move it, or store it, or both. $$$$$

Regards

I'm thinking this is the way that I'll be leaning. I'm actually looking right now at that new PM-728VT mill. Would be small enough for me to move on my own fairly easily. Then it is readily set up to be converted to a little CNC mill which could be a lot of fun when it takes a back seat to something bigger down the road.

For the lathe, I may look into the the PM1022V or PM1030V. They seem to come pretty loaded and would also be easy-ish to move.

We'll see, I still have to mess around with the garage here some more before I'm willing to add anything new to it.

 

[projectnut]

Tough to make that call. If (when) you're certain that you will be returning to AZ, start shopping for equipment there and put it in storage. Your once and future employer might even have some space. Just a thought.

That sounds like a good idea, BUT there can be some serious drawbacks. If you're certain you'll be moving, it will be within 6 months or less, and have a place picked out that will hold the equipment once you arrive it might be worth your time. On the other hand if you don't have a definite timeframe as to when you'll be moving, or don't have a house picked out with enough room to store the machines it could be an expensive venture.

Personally I had a 1948 Chevrolet 3/4 ton pickup truck I loved. It was the 5 window deluxe cab and in decent shape. I drove it intermittently for over 20 years and decided it was time to do a total restoration. It sat unused in the garage for over 2 years while I contacted vendors and body shops. Finally the wife had enough of it cluttering up the place and suggested I rent a storage locker until the time came for the work to begin.

I rented a place and drove the truck out there. Now that it was out of sight it was also out of mind. I procrastinated another 2 years before finally deciding I had too many projects going and would probably never get to the truck. I found a buyer and he offered what I thought was a decent price. We both walked away happy until I realized I had spent almost as much money in storage fees as I had gotten for the truck.

My point is that storage is expensive over time. You might be able to find some reasonably priced machines in the area you intend to move to. However if you have to store them for any length of time the cost of storage could easily raise the total cost higher than buying them when you get there or the cost of shipping your current machines.

 

[tjb]

I'm thinking this is the way that I'll be leaning. I'm actually looking right now at that new PM-728VT mill. Would be small enough for me to move on my own fairly easily. Then it is readily set up to be converted to a little CNC mill which could be a lot of fun when it takes a back seat to something bigger down the road.

For the lathe, I may look into the the PM1022V or PM1030V. They seem to come pretty loaded and would also be easy-ish to move.

We'll see, I still have to mess around with the garage here some more before I'm willing to add anything new to it.

Wise choice. I don't know much about PM's in that size range - I'm sure they're fine, but depending on your budget, you may wish to look into used equipment in a higher price range: something like a Sherline mill. They're pricy but very heavy duty small machines and would not be a big deal to transport. There are lathes out there similar in size and quality. Any of these type of machines, PM's or other, would be definite keepers - even if you upgrade to larger heavier machines. It's always nice to have a second machine for a one-off application.

Regards,
Terry

 

[P-Ritch]

Wise choice. I don't know much about PM's in that size range - I'm sure they're fine, but depending on your budget, you may wish to look into used equipment in a higher price range: something like a Sherline mill. They're pricy but very heavy duty small machines and would not be a big deal to transport. There are lathes out there similar in size and quality. Any of these type of machines, PM's or other, would be definite keepers - even if you upgrade to larger heavier machines. It's always nice to have a second machine for a one-off application.

Regards,
Terry

Yeah, then I was thinking since I'll have the space in this garage as I won't be filling it up with other items. I can keep the crates/pallets/dunnage they ship them in on hand and can reuse those items for the possible move back to AZ.

 

[TORQUIN]

There are a lot of options here. I like having my own storage containers, but, I live in the country and have plenty of acreage to do so. I have three 40 footers now. They don't cost me a dime after the purchase and delivery of them. A tractor trailer could come in, load them and take them anywhere for me.
Now, as the far the machines in the garage, I have a truck and a 27' flatbed trailer. I'd have a wrecker come in and load the big machines onto my flatbed and cart them wherever, having a wrecker unload them at the destination. Could also rent a forklift at each end, but that might be more expensive. Maybe you don't have a truck and trailer now, but you could buy one and sell it after you have done the moving you need to, then you aren't beholden to anyone else's schedule or costs, if you have the gumption to do it yourself. I have heard of this several times. I read about one guy who purchased a used tractor, cleared his land on his schedule then sold the tractor for more than he paid.
Another possibility is Pods. The company brings you a container and you load it at your leisure. Then they take it to the destination and you unload it. I do not know if they have any weight limitations, though.
With research you can get an idea of the costs and weigh that against machine availability in your destination area, plus the time it will take to find the machine(s) you want.


This was me moving machines for a dealer I know.


Chris

 

[mattthemuppet2]

cost for someone else to move you depends on whether you pay by weight or by space. We moved from PA to WA, paid by weight (small shop) and it cost ~$6000. From WA to TX, paid by space (shared trailer) for a slightly bigger shop and household and it cost ~$3000. We'll be moving in the near future, though not sure where to, and that will cost us more - much bigger shop (equipment wise at least) and much more household stuff as we were planning to settle here but the job has gone t!ts up in a major way.

Unless you're sure there's an excess of machinery where you're going to, I wouldn't sell what you have in hopes of buying it again somewhere else. I also wouldn't buy anything large if you're expecting to move soon, one reason I didn't get a mill until we moved here.