£3K budget, what would you do??

[NeilO]

Not me personally, unfortunately

but the brother in law wants a workshop of his own, and his missus has kindly agreed to a £3k :shock: budget..

now he affectively has a blank canvas in regards to his plot (virgin soil) and hes looking at a 15` x 20/25` shop ( lucky B*%$£$d)
and kit it out?? hobbyist not pro..

so Q1, buy or build?
BUY OPTION PROS: ready made installed in a weekend.
BUY OPTION CONS: expensive, would probably take the lion share of the budget.

BUILD OPTION PROS: build it as big has he can afford, still (hopefully)leaving cash for tools.
Build OPTION CONS: longer time frame to build, needs tooling to start.

what tools should he buy if he decides to build?

what would you do if you could start over?

suggestions?

 

[davy_owen_88]

I wouldn't be too optimistic with only 3k to be honest. It's a great start for tools or a workshop, but I very much doubt you'll get both unless you seriously scrimp on both fronts

If you are building then I suppose you need to budget about £500 on tools before you can even start - a good mitre saw, a decent compressor, a first fix nailer and a crap load of nails and that will probably be the end of that £500, if not more if you buy tools that are going to last.

For ideas of cost for the build itself there are a few great threads where the cost has been broken down to give you an idea.

 

[jonny boy]

Hi, Build it himself. The posh sheds that you can pay up to £5000 for are very flimsy. That's what i'd do anyway.
jon.

 

[jonny boy]

Hi,
If he's looking for any tools, I have Jet supersaw and a Dewalt DW733 thicknesser for sale, both absolutely immaculate and harly used, he could do a lot worse than giving me £625 for both of them.

cheers,
jon.

 

[motownmartin]

I doubt if you would get much change if you built one yourself, i've seen these kits (self assembly) 5m x 5m for about £2500, then you still have to do the base, and maybe you'd want to damproof and soundproof it.
I have been looking into it myself and came to the conclusion that I need to re-mortgage On the kit side of things I have spent about £2500, but don't tell the Mrs :wink:

Good luck

Martin

 

[NeilO]

hi Davy, i told him the very same thing, `bout £3ka not being enough to buy/build and kit out...
I suppose if it came to the crunch , he could use some of my tools(reluctantly :lol: ) to build, but would probably buy these tools anyway at a later date so , he may as well GET HIS OWN.... :twisted:

I know you really need a plethora of tools to be a "proper" woody...... :lol:
but supposing hes builds, and uses whats left to buy his kit what necassary tools would you suggest? ( he can buy bits and pieces when he hits the slippery slope :wink:


john , thanks for the offer but i think hes more interested in getting the build finished first , but it not my call, i`ll tell him , and see want he wants to do about your tools "for sale" ...


Martin , sounds like good material for blackmail to me. :twisted: bought any tasty tools lately??? :lol:

 

[mailee]

I built my own workshop for just over £2K including everything but that was building everything myself including the windows and doors. Mind you I would do it again as I have a very sturdy shop and a pretty one too I think. As for the tools a good mitre saw, nail gun, screw driver, and drill. As for the rest of the woodworking kit....how long is a piece of string or how far is that slippery slope. :wink:

 

[RogerS]

a decent compressor, a first fix nailer .

I agree - build it yourself - but not sure I agree with buying a compressor/nailer for what might be a 'one-off'. Having gone down this route while renovating a cottage, I curse dragging the hose around all the time and would rather have a portable nailer...if you're intent on getting one rather than use a hammer, I reckon that's the way to go.

 

[inventor]

For £3K, I'd think I could build the shop, but not buy the tools.

I'd definitely build rather than buy the shop. I'd want it properly insulated - really seriously insulated - so that my shop with the expensive tools stays warm and dry without much heating. And you can't buy sheds like that easily.

I might buy a festool saw with guide rails for cutting the sheets of the workshop, and a good cordless drill/driver (>£200) for screwing them together. Or I might use a hand saw and a hammer. Either way would work!

 

[Anonymous]

Tools required to build a workshop:

Hammer
Saw
Screwdriver

Hmm, sounds like you could get change from 25 quid.

Ok, so I used a drill/driver rather than the screwdriver to build my workshop.

As for the rest of the comments on cost I completely agree. I'm sure I've spent loads more than 3k over the years.

Dave

 

[davy_owen_88]

a decent compressor, a first fix nailer .

I agree - build it yourself - but not sure I agree with buying a compressor/nailer for what might be a 'one-off'. Having gone down this route while renovating a cottage, I curse dragging the hose around all the time and would rather have a portable nailer...if you're intent on getting one rather than use a hammer, I reckon that's the way to go.

Good point. While I think a good compressor is of great use in any workshop, a first fix nailer might get very little use after the build and a decent one is going to be quite costly. A high quality drill/driver will probably be a better idea as it will have many uses after the build.

 

[Lord Nibbo]

Tools required to build a workshop:

Hammer
Saw
Screwdriver

Hmm, sounds like you could get change from 25 quid.

Ok, so I used a drill/driver rather than the screwdriver to build my workshop.

As for the rest of the comments on cost I completely agree. I'm sure I've spent loads more than 3k over the years.

Dave

Got to agree with you, for someone starting out a nail gun is way over the top. I would add to your list a block plane. All of these could be bought for less than £10 at a car boot and the money left over could go to buy some clamps

You cant have too many clamps can you? :lol:

 

[ike]

£3K for a 15' x 20' shop - hmm, probably just about do it but not tools as well.
From my experience, I built my shop in Y2K, 10'6" x 16', concrete floor, block wall to 3', timber framed above that and double pitch, wriggly tin roof. Fully insulated frame and roof, electrics - about £1300. But that was using some recycled (free) material including timber for roof trusses, doors/door frames, windows, secondary glazing units, and internal panelling so would have run nearer £2K even back then.

At the moment I'm just finishing off a 7' x 10-6" extension to one end and materials for that will have totaled around £900. I've saved some here and there by using recycled materials but if I was building the whole thing new today it would come to around £3K for 11' x 23'.

As for tools and machinery, £2K would get a a decent starter setup of machinery (PT, a table saw/bandsaw, extractor, a (S)CMS), and some basic, decent quality handtools.

cheers,

Ike

 

[promhandicam]

Got to agree with you, for someone starting out a nail gun is way over the top. I would add to your list a block plane. All of these could be bought for less than £10 at a car boot and the money left over could go to buy some clamps

You cant have too many clamps can you? :lol:

:shock: If he bought all those clamps he'd have enough left for a dog kennel - and not one big enough for one of your newfies LN :lol:

 

[motownmartin]

Martin , sounds like good material for blackmail to me. :twisted: bought any tasty tools lately??? :lol:

Yes but you will have to look on some other threads to find out what :lol:

Martin

 

[Adam]

If you trawl back and find my workshop build posting - its over £3K for about the same size 'shop. If you buy something, there isn't too much too it - and you still end up lining the inside.

Adam

 

[NeilO]

Yep, i`m in agreement with most if not all of you..
£2,500+ would get his "shed" built (insulated, electrics, and the like)

as for tools he could always go on the "rob", he being a liverpudlian :lol:

but he`ll probably trawl Fleabay, and spend way more then he tells his missus......
its his "shed" , so I guess its his shout...

 

[ByronBlack]

Take the 3K and gamble it on red 18 at your local casino. Then use the winnings to get someone else to build the shed/workshop and give the rest of the money to Mr Felder and Mr Festool. Job done.

 

[DomValente]

Or you could just spend the £3000.00 on the clamps LN displayed which by my reckoning was £3000,00 worth

Dom

 

[Lord Nibbo]

Or you could just spend the £3000.00 on the clamps LN displayed which by my reckoning was £3000,00 worth

Dom

£3000 worth :shock: :lol: Not really Dom this is the original pic
http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/attachment.php?attachmentid=22911&d=1146363232

It's all done with mirrors, and photoshop :lol: