Thread: Building a house around a workshop

Peter Egan, an American writer whose columns appeared in "Road and Track" and "Cycle World" - in other words, mainly a gearhead - did a great column some years back, discussing meeting with the real estate agent as he and his wife Barb prepared to move back to Wisconsin, their native state. The agent asked, "What are you looking for?" and Peter proceeded to describe the shop space in great detail: level concrete floor, good power, a sink, etc., etc. (there was quite a bit of etc., and he got pretty lyrical). When he ran down, the agent, somewhat stunned, asked, "And bedrooms?" and Peter's response was, "yeah, that'd be nice."

I've never met him, or his wife, but I suspect Barb has the patience of a saint.

When a single friend of ours retired he sold his house and business and bought a factory unit to store all his toys and set it up with a workshop so's he could continue his hobbies. By way of living space he built a rudimentary 3 room apartment (bedroom/kitchen-living/bathroom) on a mezzanine floor at one end of the factory unit. To enter the apartment you had to go inside the main factory unit and push past piles of dusty old "stuff" to get to the stairs.

Not long after that he met a new lady friend and after a while they decided to move in together. However, she said, given she already had a nice place there was no way she was moving into "that", and he said he wasn't going to move from "that". Despite this disagreement they have remained an item for more than 10 years.

Originally Posted by BobL

When a single friend of ours retired he sold his house and business and bought a factory unit to store all his toys and set it up with a workshop so's he could continue his hobbies. By way of living space he built a rudimentary 3 room apartment (bedroom/kitchen-living/bathroom) on a mezzanine floor at one end of the factory unit. To enter the apartment you had to go inside the main factory unit and push past piles of dusty old "stuff" to get to the stairs.

Not long after that he met a new lady friend and after a while they decided to move in together. However, she said, given she already had a nice place there was no way she was moving into "that", and he said he wasn't going to move from "that". Despite this disagreement they have remained an item for more than 10 years.

I can't comment on that experience but I know of a similar approach locally to me and it is very illegal and got swift action by the local government authorities when the found out about it.

Originally Posted by Chris Parks

I can't comment on that experience but I know of a similar approach locally to me and it is very illegal and got swift action by the local government authorities when the found out about it.

Yes illegal it was. Word is he knows someone in the local council.