> Anyone here involved with one of those "group of
> racers who rent a warehouse" projects?
No, not personally. I myself do not get along well with other people
playing in my sandbox (if I could turn my shop into a NASA clean room, I
would). But I have a good friend that rented a garage with some of our
buddies and here is a run down of his experiences with a shared shop:
1) Just like in college, even if your roommates have likeable
personalities, that doesn't mean they will clean their crap up.
2) Broken / lost / stolen tools. He said, she said, he used it last,
blah blah blah. Just like whiney little kids.
3) I had to laugh about this one when I heard it. Someone was rebuilding
an MGB engine in this shared shop. While another person was replacing the
rocker panels on his MG. Well the engine guy never kept his engine covered
up during assembly, and blamed the rocker guy for contaminating his engine
with grinding debris when the MGB engine wasted some bearings in no time
flat. The B engine guy to this day still does not think he did anything
wrong by leaving the motor uncovered, and he no longer speaks to anyone who
shared that shop.
4) Rocker guy from #3 had some scratches show up one day in his new paint
job after he completed the body work. He assumes it was the angry engine
guy, but is also suspicious of the other two guys who shared the shop as no
one was willing to admit guilt.
5) The above MG community shop also had a community refridgerator with
beverages and snacks of all sorts. Quite a nice idea until one of the guys
realizes he doesn't utilize the shop that much and feels that he shouldn't
have to contribute to the fridge fund. Or you've got the one guy who is
happy eating the food everyone else supplies, but when it is his turn, the
quantities of food and beverage are a 1/4 of what everyone else brings.
If you are seriously going to attempt to setup a community garage, there may
be a few solutions that would help you solve such situations above... not
prevent them, but solve them. Closed circuit surveillance of the shop and
punch-in/out requirements for anyone entering or leaving the shop.
Oh, and just because your tools are locked up in your $2000 snap-on chest
does not mean that someone just cannot wheel the entire chest out of the
shop and onto their pickup truck. Take the castors off if the chest is
stationary most of the time, or somehow inhibit its movement.
Kai
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Kai M. Radicke
Wishbone Classics
* British Car Parts *
www.wbclassics.com
Ph: 215.945.7250
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