Maker Factory Style Liability

I was thinking about how cool it would be have a shop where you could pay a fee and have access to a welder, lathe, mill, etc. I know this has been a topic here before, but I'm curious, how do places like Maker Factory navigate liability issues? I thought they certified people to use certain equipment, so it was very much like a technical school, where you pay $250 for a few week class to learn welding, and then you were "certified" to weld without supervision in their shop.

I'd think this would also be necessary to keep out riff-raff. You probably couldn't just charge an entry fee into a studio shop, because you'd probably get a lot of nimwit who'd hurt themselves, pester others, or break your machinery.

I do think there is a market for this type of environment though. A lot more young people are working office jobs (like myself) but still want to learn trades-based skills. Adult vo-tech courses are great, but it doesn't allow the students to come back later to use equipment. I know so many young professionals who will never touch a tool at work, never build anything physically, but love coming home to wrench on their 70's motorcycle, remodel their home, or fiddle with some elaborate DIY project. Heck, most of the people on GRM do this.

So, what keeps more of them popping up?

Distinct lack of profit margin.

People, even well meaning ones, tear E36 M3 up. Even some 'pros' are hacks.

People who have a real 'need' to 'make' find a way.

Long list of negatives and very short list of positives.

(But I do agree with the sentiment and wish it were in fact easily possible).

There are very good reasons I won't lend out my tools anymore, and I can only imagine a place like that would be worse.

I've had this thought for years. Basically setting up a nice high school shop in an old big box store and charging a membership fee for users much like a gym. I can't justify a $3000 lathe to play with making some bowls but for $50 bucks a month it could be a fun place to get out of the house on occasion.

Adults don't like being treated like children, and for this to work without people getting maimed and/or killed, and destroying equipment, you'd have to treat them as such.

Here's the thing, I could buy the stuff myself and rarely use it, or buy it and rent it to people. Seems like I'd be making money on the second thing.

The downside of course is that liability insurance would probably eat up any of that profit.

I just found out we have two of these in my area. The one closer to me is in an old retail warehouse space. It was pretty cheap: I think $30/mo for the top level, but they don't have a ton of stuff and they are more into computer stuff than wood or metal working. They do have a 3D printer, but its broken. Their "big" projects right now are arduino/raspberrypi based.

KyAllroad wrote: I've had this thought for years. Basically setting up a nice high school shop in an old big box store and charging a membership fee for users much like a gym. I can't justify a $3000 lathe to play with making some bowls but for $50 bucks a month it could be a fun place to get out of the house on occasion.

The problem is when you work out the costs for these large/expensive tools + liability, its probably more like $500/month per member. Maybe $1000 Unless you have a whole lot of members, in which case tool availability is limited, which will suck also.

PHeller wrote: Here's the thing, I could buy the stuff myself and rarely use it, or buy it and rent it to people. Seems like I'd be making money on the second thing. The downside of course is that liability insurance would probably eat up any of that profit.

You'd be far better off just doing small jobs under the table for $50 an hour or so.

Or make small simple stuff and sell it. I don't know what a golf ball mortar barrel goes for(a very easy lathe project), but I bet it's a lot more than 8" of 4" dia 1018 bar stock is worth and pretty quick to make if you invest in a 1 1/2" bit to make the boring stage faster. Muzzle loaders aren't firearms on the federal level, so you aren't putting yourself at much risk.

Find one of the places that does it, visit and ask questions. If it's a chain hit them up for franchise info. All your info should be in the packet.

A bit of insurance info from my experience: random insurance companies who don't usually insure that type of business just quote you ridiculous rates to blow you off. Prices usually get reasonable if you find someone who specializes in that type of business.