My husband is into cars, but more so than the average person. He loves working on them, building them, taking them apart, etc. He is very handy and it’s a passion of his.
He had always wanted an industrial style home workshop but we never had the space. That was until we decided to buy a new house and we found one with a workshop on the property. He was so happy and set out to transform it into his own little space that he could enjoy and use for his hobby.
We were on a budget and there was no way he could outfit the workshop with everything he wanted if he purchased the equipment new. He wouldn’t use it enough to justify the cost and it was a hobby, so he set out to find the lowest possible prices for everything he wanted.
In the end he finished his dream home remodeling project and we didn’t break the bank. If you are trying to do the same here are some suggestions.
Local businesses closing down.
Businesses fail all the time. It’s sad, but they close down often. When this happens they will often sell all of their equipment, or if their assets have been taken by the bank they will then liquidate them in an effort to recoup some of the money owed.
If you know a business is closing its doors and they use some of the equipment you are looking for see if you can negotiate a deal to take it off their hands. You might be able to work a deal directly, but if they lease or finance it you will have to talk to whomever technically owns it.
Online classifieds.
You really never know what you will find for sale online until you look. If you make it a habit to check the more popular sites on a regular basis you might come into something that is appealing. Different things will have different classified sites to look at.
Some of the most popular online classified sites can be found here in this post. See what ones have a high likelihood of having something you are looking for and spend a few minutes a week browsing them. It doesn’t hurt to look and you might find a steal once in a while.
Auctions and liquidation events.
If there are some big manufacturing facilities closing near you they will often have huge open door liquidation events where you buy and carry out on the spot. The prices are usually dirt cheap just to get the stuff removed.
There are industrial auctions that you can check out as well that will often feature very rare and expensive pieces of equipment you can buy for a fraction of the cost. These are typically online and have a large selection to skim through.
Auto repair shops upgrading their tools.
Sometimes shops will upgrade to newer model tools and then get rid of the older stuff cheap. You probably don’t need the latest and greatest for a hobby workshop, so keep your eye open. My husband was able to get a lot of specialty tools this way.
Estate sales.
There are estate sales all the time. If the property happens to have a workshop as well then everything inside will usually be sold off. Opportunities like this are very rare, but it doesn’t hurt to keep your ears and eyes open locally.
Jacklyn Morris is a consumer rights activist and lover of all things tech.