Place to do conversion? Mini-storage? Commercial warehouse?

[Technomad]

Looking for suggestions. Where did you do your conversion?

I plan for my conversion to be ongoing, but there’s an initial period of a couple months where I’ll put in insulation and the basics to get registered as an RV. No clearly good locations are coming to mind, so wanted to ask in case there’s something obvious I’m missing.

I’m out of my apartment in April. I could extend the lease but this is not a god place to do it- no parking lot (even if they wouldn’t frown on it, the truck literally can’t fit in the garage.)

I’ve seen some people working on their conversions at a mini-storage place. Not bad if you can get away with it, but not optimal.

I expect I’ll be getting some large packages, like 9 foot extruded aluminum bars. So a place I can receive mail would be ideal.

I looked at commercial warehouses and there are plenty of those— but they want a commercial lease- a company, bonded insurance and 3-5 year lease term.

I’m very flexible geographically- eg somewhere 1,000 miles away is possible.

In Colorado they have “garage condos” which can sometimes be rented. I’d have to get an apartment too (so another 6 month lease. I don’t want to sign a lease ever again but I will if I have to.). That’s the best I have so far but they are meant as Man-caves/storage not really for workshops.


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[deadwood]

When I first started to get ready to build my van out I was in a similar situation. I'm in AZ and I did find a great place up in the Prescott Valley (North of Phoenix) where they rented units that were bigger then mini storage size but smaller then commercial. It was mostly used by guys running small businesses so working there all day was no problem. 10' door so I could pull the van into to work on it. It was the perfect set up except is was a long drive from work for me.

I ended up getting lucky and had a friend rent me a cheap room and let me work in her garage and driveway all I needed to to get the van built. If it weren't for such a lucky break I would have taken the place up north. I think it was about $550 a month for rent.

I did look at the commercial units and they all wanted a year lease and then I needed commercial insurance as well. It just wasn't worth it to me. You might keep looking and find a smaller commercial type unit where it's not run by a leasing company. You could have better luck then getting them to rent it even month to month and not make you have insurance on it as well.

 

[DLTooley]

A storage unit is good in transition and will frequently be able to accept packages. Some units have power plugs. A phone call is pretty quick. Let them know you have some projects, but that you aren't starting a repair business or such.

 

[WalkaboutTed]

We're doing my solar install (not small-660 Watts) and finishing my husband's van conversion on BLM land. We sold our house early December, so once we left, we had no place to work. Commercial or public trailer parks won't permit such. But, we minimize our outside messes and so far, noone has said a thing. Been here for three weeks and waiting to get kicked out. At this point, now, all the work is pretty much inside, so we no longer have to be so concerned about someone not liking our "construction". We are using a 3 person tent for our "garage" to store our lumber, ladder, sawhorses, construction trash and recycling.

We have an 1100watt inverter from my van in order to charge the Ryobi tools and run my heatgun for my heatshrink connections.

We get our Amazon and other packages at our PO box-we use their street address. Its a pain, about 35 minutes one way from where we are camping. The nearest hardware store is 10 minutes, 25 minutes to the nearest Home Despot.
Ted

 

[ZoNiE]

Those man cave garage condo toy storage unit things are not entirely cheap to rent, but some seem to allow overnight stays as they have full utilities and some guys build apartments in them... Something to look at.

 

[Technomad]

We're doing my solar install (not small-660 Watts) and finishing my husband's van conversion on BLM land.  We sold our house early December,  so once we left, we had no place to work.

Are you hating it?  Other than the 35 minute drive to pick up mail (which to me seems like not too bad.... the "working and living in the same space at the same time" is the part I'm concerned about.  I'll be working full time as well-- so I'll need to be somewhere with LTE service... but probably not too difficult to find BLM land like that with a bit of looking. 

Glad to hear your experience, just bit worried about winging it.

Those man cave garage condo toy storage unit things are not entirely cheap to rent, but some seem to allow overnight stays as they have full utilities and some guys build apartments in them... Something to look at.

Yeah, I found a really killer one that had a nice apartment attached, massive RV garage, etc.... up in the mountains in Colorado.  Only problem was they wanted $3,500 a month (Which wasn't actually bad for that space) and at least a year lease. 

Most of the regular ones (eg garage with mezzanine) have a "no living there policy" clearly stated in the ads, which makes me think that a lot of people want to try it.

If you know of any places like this that would work, please do let me know.  Like I said, I don't mind driving across the country for a good conversion spot.

 

[tnvangirl]

I have the same question. Having not found a good spot yet I built my bed last weekend at the State Park where I am staying off and on. I had the lumber cuts made at the store and just had to use my drill to screw everything together. There aren't a lot of campers there this time of year but it was still awkward having all of my totes and tubs scattered outside the van for a few hours while I did the work. I Kept looking over my shoulder to make sure the rangers weren't coming to shut down my operation

 

[Technomad]

Fortunately I will have enough space in the box truck to mostly do it inside, and plan to build a workshop inside for the conversion period and then disassemble it or turn it into the kitchen counter after. But being so remote like that means getting sufficient battery power to drive a chop saw which will require regular plugging in to recharge the batteries, as I need the chop saw to build the solar array... and if I had a location with power I could delay all that until later. So I guess I need power more than I need location since I can do the cutting work etc inside the box. Hmmm.... maybe a generator would work.


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[Motrukdriver]

How much are you willing to spend on a place? Would a 2 bedroom house with a huge concrete pad out back work? Quiet small town with a Lowe's and Menard's just 10 minutes away. Spectrum internet that is blazing fast. Local hardware/lumber store in town for immediate needs stuff if you don't wanna drive to Lowe's or Menard's. All electric with central heat and air, all appliances including washer/dryer and counter top microwave. I have two houses here side by side and I'm remodeling one of them, the one I mentioned is ready to live in so I'll be in and out most days with all my tools in the other house. If you don't have all the tools you need I probably do. Lots of free camping in this area for test runs and shakeouts.

 

[Minivanmotoman]

You might have to do some digging but you did get a decent offer here from Mo. Nice guy.
Suggestion would be to chat up some locals, investigate and you might find something.
Or put up an ad on Craigslist with pics, details, info on build etc... Someone might see that and want to help you out for a reasonable fee.
Basically, get the word out, seek out and keep posting till something pops up.

 

[RenataAllison]

Behind my apartment until my lease is up or I have to move. After that will be a friends driveway if the 88 E350 cutaway van will fit.

I have a friend that runs a storage unit here in Nashville. She said getting electricity for tools will be an issue as there are usually are not outlets available outside and definitely not in outdoor non temp controlled units. Some indoor units have them but tend to get rented by bands for practice space. However this is Nashville.

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