Thanks for the comments, it's been a long time coming, my first workshop I rented was in 1997 and I've moved 7 times since then, I'm over it. (And Mark, thanks for your offer, just rec'd your pm, I'll let you know if I need a hand).
It looks like it will be the best part of a month before it's all up and running, so we can have a mid spring meeting there. I've been busy these last 10 days simply cleaning. It's amazing just how much cutting compound has been washed out of the place (It was panel shop prior). Additionally, simple jobs like removing extraneous wiring and making doors close and lock properly is so time consuming, but the effort is well worth it. I have to get up on the roof to clean the sky lights and clean the spoutings over the next week. Another scrup of the floors should see it habitable. I've started moving the cars in, the Germans can come first, the Latin shit can come next week! I've also picked up a fair bit of used racking and benches which will go in shortly. You can never have enough of that, provided you can keep the top of the benches clean.
I've had a few PMs about what it cost, you might be surprised, not as much as you might think. Firstly, the place in Richmond some of you have been to has been valued at 1.45 million. I cannot afford that, simple! This plce, which is the same size is near the corner of Sydney road and Bell Street Coburg, not as nice in terms of location but it's over a million dollars cheaper. However it is 21mins by car from home which is nice, but actually I like to take the train so I can catch up on some reading, the train station is a 7 minute walk. The property went to Auction in September 2011 and didn't make the reserve of $495K. I eventually paid $380K, which works out at $702 a meter, which I thought was very fair. I split the purchase with a friend who needs some space, we went 50/50. We need to garage 11 cars plus two hoists and a bar area. But it's surprising just how quickly 400 meters fills! Some more pics of the progress....
