The Shop Decision: Your First Commercial Space

A first commercial space gets signed on two feelings: "I'm drowning at home" and "a shop will make us look serious." Both true; neither is a number. This workbook produces the number: the space costs this much a year, it saves you this much (the storage unit, the daily loading circus priced at your hour's worth), and the difference must be won by new work at your margin.

How it works

• The Space — the lease in front of you, per year and up front, with the questions that surface the real NNN and insurance numbers
• What home-based costs now — most owners have never priced the 5 hours a week of loading, shuttling and tool-hunting; at your hour's worth it's five figures
• The bar — extra revenue the shop must win, per year, as a percent growth on last year
• The refused-work comparison — the jobs you turned away for lack of space, held against the bar; when they cover it, the decision has already been made for you
• A four-branch verdict, six lease terms that hurt later, and four cheaper middles (shared shop, containers, month-to-month sublets) to test before you sign anything

Built for

Trades and contractors staging out of the driveway · makers and woodworkers out of garage space · detailers, fabricators, and mobile services · any home-based business with a storage unit and a nagging feeling.

What you get

One .xlsx file, four tabs, instant download. Excel, Google Sheets, Apple Numbers, LibreOffice. No macros, no subscription. Re-run The Bar with each cheaper middle's numbers — spreadsheets are cheaper than leases.