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drusy
Samba Member
Joined: March 08, 2021
Posts: 32
Location: Oakland, CA
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 Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2025 1:47 pm Post subject: Bay Area Shared Shop Space |
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Is there anyone here that lives in the San Francisco bay area that wants to rent out a shop space together? Preferably in the east bay around Oakland, Berkley, Richmond.
I currently live in a house but have to do all my repairs and interior upgrades just on the street in front of my house which is not ideal but the street is quite enough that it's fine but would really love an actual space.
My vision with this shared space would be that we could get a big enough pool of people in the area to make renting a space affordable. We could use it to work on our vans and or other things as we sit fit. If the idea got rolling we could work out details and discuss what kind of space would benefit all our usage to make it worth out while.
Anyways if anyone has any interest or questions feel free to reply here and or message me and we can try and get this project started! |
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4Gears4Tires
Samba Member
Joined: October 08, 2018
Posts: 4195
Location: MD
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| Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2025 3:15 pm Post subject: Re: Bay Area Shared Shop Space |
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https://www.diyautolabs.com/diy-auto-repair/
I have a friend who is part of something similar in Atlanta. It's a big warehouse for storing your car but it also has several lifts for working on your car that you can rent. It seems to work well for him. Doesn't look like DIY auto labs offers storage though.
If you can't find some people to go in on a garage, it might be close enough to what you're looking for.
_________________
'87 Syncro Ferric Oxyhydroxide Superleggera Edition
'85 Westy Sciuridae Domus Edition |
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drusy
Samba Member
Joined: March 08, 2021
Posts: 32
Location: Oakland, CA
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| Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2025 11:28 am Post subject: Re: Bay Area Shared Shop Space |
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Hmmm that sounds like a cool idea but I think I'm looking for something that has a bit more of a personal feel where we can call it our own space.
Could also be open to it the space being used for other things like a wood shop or art space or some sort, kinda just looking to get the ball rolling and discussion going in person to see if the idea can pan out.
I'm sure there has to be some local in the bay area that want this type of setup, guess I'm just trying to figure out how to get a hold of them and hoping they see this topic but maybe I'll have better luck if I put a note on the windshield when I see a Vanagon parked.  |
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MarkWard
Samba Member
Joined: February 09, 2005
Posts: 18752
Location: Retired South Florida
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| Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2025 11:57 am Post subject: Re: Bay Area Shared Shop Space |
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| In life it’s difficult to get a 50/50 partnership. Perhaps finding a small spot you can afford and overtime bring in a partner. Whatever you do, spell out the arrangement in advance. |
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skills@eurocarsplus
Samba Peckerhead
Joined: January 01, 2007
Posts: 17839
Location: sticksville, ct.
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| Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2025 4:34 pm Post subject: Re: Bay Area Shared Shop Space |
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| MarkWard wrote: |
| In life it’s difficult to get a 50/50 partnership |
^^^
This 100%
The only ship designed to sink is the partnership.
We're going thru a messy eviction process. No fucking way would I co-rent anything with anyone
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| gprudenciop wrote: |
my reason for switching to subaru is my german car was turning chinese so i said fuck it and went japanese....... |
| Jake Raby wrote: |
| Thanks for the correction. I used to be a nice guy, then I ruined it by exposing myself to the public. |
| Brian wrote: |
| Also the fact that people are agreeing with Skills, it's a turn of events for samba history |
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zerotofifty
Samba Member
Joined: December 27, 2003
Posts: 3762
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| Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2025 5:11 pm Post subject: Re: Bay Area Shared Shop Space |
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Bay Area rental costs are much too high, even in dangerous parts of the area, such as high crime Oakland. Sure the hills are safer, but so is the cost higher..
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Sorry About That Chief.
Give Peace a Chance.
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fxr
Samba Member
Joined: December 07, 2014
Posts: 2646
Location: Bay area CA
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| Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2025 5:34 pm Post subject: Re: Bay Area Shared Shop Space |
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An unmodernised three-bad one bath ranch house around here rents for upwards of $3,000 a month. What a commercial place big enough to house some vans, a lift or two, tool space, toilets etc would go for wouldn't be less!
Even if you found a hundred people willing to chip in $30 each p.m. - that's far too much for the average van owner year in year out.
I'm sure there are plenty of people in the area who'd be willing to let you work on their driveway if it was just for a day or two.
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Jim Crowther
1984 1.9l EJ22 Westy Wolfsburg Edition
Vespa GTS 300 |
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Abscate 
Samba Member
Joined: October 05, 2014
Posts: 23863
Location: NYC/Upstate/ROW
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| Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2025 5:53 pm Post subject: Re: Bay Area Shared Shop Space |
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Talk to the people who have made Maker spaces work, not the keyboard naysayers. There are many of these that make it work.
I guested at the Brooklyn Navy yard Space and used the Manchester NH space to fix my battered v70 on a trip
One hour of shop rate cash got me a lift and aces to every tool needed and more, even a metal glue gun
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Last edited by Abscate on Fri Jul 11, 2025 3:41 am; edited 1 time in total |
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skills@eurocarsplus
Samba Peckerhead
Joined: January 01, 2007
Posts: 17839
Location: sticksville, ct.
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| Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2025 5:58 pm Post subject: Re: Bay Area Shared Shop Space |
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| Abscate wrote: |
| Talk to the people who have made Maker spaces work, not the keyboard naysayers. There are many of these that make it work. |
go ahead and share a space, tools, materials, rent, utilities etc and lemme know how it works out. it's rare that it does
_________________
| gprudenciop wrote: |
my reason for switching to subaru is my german car was turning chinese so i said fuck it and went japanese....... |
| Jake Raby wrote: |
| Thanks for the correction. I used to be a nice guy, then I ruined it by exposing myself to the public. |
| Brian wrote: |
| Also the fact that people are agreeing with Skills, it's a turn of events for samba history |
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MarkWard
Samba Member
Joined: February 09, 2005
Posts: 18752
Location: Retired South Florida
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| Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2025 4:47 am Post subject: Re: Bay Area Shared Shop Space |
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| skills@eurocarsplus wrote: |
| Abscate wrote: |
| Talk to the people who have made Maker spaces work, not the keyboard naysayers. There are many of these that make it work. |
go ahead and share a space, tools, materials, rent, utilities etc and lemme know how it works out. it's rare that it does |
But video it and upload it. A lot of makers earn their actual income from You Tube content, sponsors, and patreons. Drama is good for views.  |
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dhaavers
Samba Member
Joined: March 19, 2010
Posts: 8400
Location: NE MN (tinyurl.com/dhaaverslocation)
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| Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2025 10:40 am Post subject: Re: Bay Area Shared Shop Space |
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To the OP: Go for it, live your dream! 
(Just don’t invite skills, he’ll ruin it for everybody…)
- Dave
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86 White Wolfsburg Westy Weekender
"The WonderVan"
<EDITED TO PROTECT INNOCENT PIXELS> |
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Saturn
Samba Member
Joined: April 06, 2019
Posts: 247
Location: San Francisco
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| Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2025 3:26 pm Post subject: Re: Bay Area Shared Shop Space |
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| drusy wrote: |
Could also be open to it the space being used for other things like a wood shop or art space or some sort, kinda just looking to get the ball rolling and discussion going in person to see if the idea can pan out.
I'm sure there has to be some local in the bay area that want this type of setup, guess I'm just trying to figure out how to get a hold of them and hoping they see this topic but maybe I'll have better luck if I put a note on the windshield when I see a Vanagon parked. |
Some thoughts and experiences of being in a shared work space in the Bay Area.
At the beginning of the year I moved out of a warehouse just over the SF/San Mateo border in Brisbane near the Cow Palace. There were 6 “spots” within the space and had either 5 or 6 tenants during my 5-year time there. For a couple years one tenant rented two adjacent spaces. The space I had for a majority of the time was roughly 15’ wide and 30’ deep or 450 square feet. While I could squeeze four cars into the space, the usual configuration was two cars in back two slots, my tools, table, parts, storage in a front space and a spot for the vehicle I was currently working on.
When I started there it was $650 a month (+ utilities), when I moved out it was being raised to $1650 a month due to the 5-year lease needing to be renegotiated. As a hobbyist, this was just too much money to justify staying. The other tenants of the space were two other hobbyists like myself, a 24 Hours of Lemons race team, a fabricator/woodworker, and the master tenant (who originally rented the space to start a craft brewery operation). Both the other hobbyists moved out at the same time for the same reason.
One area of consideration when sharing the space is accounting for communal access aka “public space”. For us this was 8-9 foot wide corridor 2/3rds of length of the so tenants could drive into their respective areas as well as open walkways to the bathrooms, office area and exits. This is critical for when the Fire Department stops by for an inspection. One tenant started to expand outward into the main corridor and this necessitated taping off their “boundary lines” after this became an issue. Some other aspects to think about, granted some of this may not be applicable depending on the Landlord and/or Management company. The master tenant had to carry CA worker comp due to terms of the lease. Within the new lease was specified all tenants had to submit a credit check and specify the type of work being done in the warehouse. Additionally a Lawyer was needed when the management company attempted to take away some outside parking spots which were outlined in the original lease. Those are some unrealized costs in renting what would normally be a business/commercial space. Start to think about these work spaces in how much they are in $ per square foot.
Renting this space certainly provided me with the opportunity to do some significant wrenching on several of my chariots and projects as well as friend’s cars. While I do not own a Vanagon, I do have two Eurovans which both have had extensive work done at this work space (dash-out heater core replacement, suspension & shocks, steering componants, timing belt, general maintenance and upkeep) https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=763731
For T3-related content, this is where my brother Sanchius and I field-stripped a 2.1L engine (https://www.flickr.com/photos/21563006@N04/49845936607/) so he could drive it back to Reno, recondition it, and get it into his 1986 Weekender. https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=9343757#9343757
One other benefit to the space was during the summer of 2020 and the establishment of a Saturday night drive-in theater. The original place was to project movies on the front of the warehouse and to broadcast the audio over an FM transmitter. The outside sodium lights were too bright so we ended it moving inside where the movies could be shown on the large interior wall with a projector sitting on the 4-post lift. There were usually 4-5 families who would sit together and far enough away from other to maintain proper distance. The large roll up door would be open for providing plenty of air flow. With a kitchen and a bathroom available it became the social event of the week. The drive-in premiered with the original Herbie the Love Bug since it does take place in SF. For the rest of the summer we showed car-centric movies (LeMans, Grand Prix, Repo Man, Ronan,Genevieve, Bullitt) and ending just before Halloween with Christine. When life hands you lemons, make popcorn…
Do I miss having the space? Most definitely. THere is something to be said about stopping work and leaving all the tools and parts where they sit to pick things up on another day. During my time there I worked on several projects including reviving a 1967 Volvo 122S Sedan, a 1963 Volvo 544S, and partially restoring a 1967 Volvo 122S which was last registered during the Reagan Administration (1984). That said, I would not share a space like this with a woodworker again due to all of the dust and debris generated. While they had dust collectors in place, there was a fair amount of fallout throughout the entire warehouse (see last picture). The one positive aspect was a pretty much endless supply of sawdust for cleaning up oil, coolant or other liquid spills.
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NorCalbuggy
Samba Member
Joined: March 06, 2006
Posts: 128
Location: Tracy, California
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| Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2025 6:24 pm Post subject: Re: Bay Area Shared Shop Space |
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This can work… I’m sharing some subleased space in Stockton along with my son and a friend of his. Really nice to have it! It helps that it is (a) old and (b) in Stockton, so much more affordable.
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do.dah
Samba Member
Joined: August 27, 2015
Posts: 797
Location: Washington
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| Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2025 6:46 am Post subject: Re: Bay Area Shared Shop Space |
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Here's something,,, interesting?
Sorry, but it appears to only be for a few select locals..
https://theshopclubs.com/ |
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metahacker
Samba Member
Joined: May 26, 2010
Posts: 891
Location: san.diego
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| Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2025 1:58 pm Post subject: Re: Bay Area Shared Shop Space |
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there are a couple places on the west coast for doing shared shop space.
The Shop in Seattle (mentioned above) is awesome ... been there several times, my buddy is a member. nothing but good things to say and there's a cool public restaurant and private OG gentlemen's club type area too. they're in other cities too.
i rented an amazing space on the Neighbor app once... others have had great luck with that. worth checking out. mostly used for renting other people's unused garages. that app can be a real winner, just make sure you do your homework, inspect in person, etc.
partnering up with someone can work....but just as marriages and roommate situations.......can be very stressful/ volatile at times.... i've been sharing a real shop space for a couple years now...it has its "moments" but overall it's been great. it helps if you know how to find and negotiate a commercial lease.... tenant rep brokers generally aren't interested in helping some random dudes find a 3000sf space with a short lease.
it's nice to have other people around, most of the time :)
i'm extremely grateful for my shopmates.... we can piss each other off at times, but overall it's very much worth it when you're around good people.
it's harder to find good people, than a great shop space, however. but once you do, they can be a blessing. there are lots of risks....but the rewards of partnership can be very worthwhile.
it has been for me. |
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