If you’ve been following my blog posts all summer (links at the end of this write-up), you are probably as excited about this video release as I am! Welcome to the Dream Shop Build!
Every woodworker (I think!) dreams of someday being able to construct their own dedicated woodworking space. To date, I have bounced around from garage to garage (about 4 times), making the best of a crappy real estate situation. And while I have been lucky to have fairly large spaces to work in, I still daydreamed about the possibility of designing a shop from the ground up, with both woodworking and video production in mind.
The “Perfect” Shop
In my opinion, the best shop space is a flexible one. I know many folks expected that after setting up my shop so many times, I would be able to design the PERFECT shop space including a finishing room, a dust collection closet, and even some internal walls. But the truth is, the most important lesson I learned over the years was to expect change. My shop is not a static entity. It is more like a living breathing creature that adapts, evolves, grows, shrinks, and changes configuration. Committing to an internal spacial arrangement too early could yield disappointing results. This is why you won’t see me placing dust collection ductwork in the floor. I need to work in a space for at least a few months before I can be confident in my initial setup. Even then, I fully expect things to change at some point. If I made too many restrictive and/or permanent decisions ahead of time, these changes could be difficult or impossible to implement. So my best piece of advice is to forget about the concept of perfection. Instead, focus on flexibility. The ideal shop, in my mind, is little more than 4 walls, a roof, and a butt-load of outlets and lights. So here are some of my basic general goals for my new shop space.
Size
I want the shop to be big! Not only do I have a lot of tools, but I tend to frequently bring tools in for testing. As you probably know by now, I also do a lot of filming. So I need a space big enough to allow for full movement around most of the tools. My tripod has a pretty good-sized footprint and having more room allows me to get the best vantage point possible. More space will also allow me to stage larger pieces of furniture, whether for the show or for jobs I take on locally.
The final size I decided on was 1800 sq. ft. Yeah, that’s big! I actually balked and second guessed myself after we received the estimate from the contractor. Sure, more space is nice, but at what cost? I then asked for a second estimate, bringing the shop down to 1500 sq feet, which is still huge. As you might expect, the savings just weren’t that substantial. By the time you get over 1000 sq. ft., the price per sq. ft. is really low, making it very difficult to justify down-sizing. So I bit the bullet and stayed with my original choice of 1800 sq. ft.
Power
The more outlets the better! I have a good mix of 220v and 110v outlets throughout the shop. I even included a few in the ceiling and the floor in hopes of avoiding power cords in the walkways. And although this contradicts my previous comments about over-committing, I picked locations that would likely work for various tool configurations. If at some point they don’t work for my setup, I just won’t use them.
Lighting
Every shop should have good lighting, whether natural or artificial. My video work dictates limited natural light, so I was sure to have plenty of overhead T8 fixtures (6500k). You’ll hear me mention in the video that I was disappointed to see that the ends of the shop were just a little dark. Thankfully, I was able to get the contractor to come back in and drop in 4 more fixtures for me, two at either end. Now the light is bright, crisp, and evenly distributed from one side of the shop to the other.
Just a quick note about light spectrum. I went with 6500k because that’s what I like to film in. The daylight spectrum makes it easier for me if I decide to open the blinds, letting in some natural light. For the average woodworking shop, I think 5000k is probably a good choice, although some folks really enjoy the crispness of a 6500k light. But you should test them out for yourself to see what you prefer.
Bathroom
I have to admit that I am very easily distracted. So working from home can be very inefficient. In order to remove my primary excuse for going into the house, the shop would absolutely have to have a bathroom. As you’ll see, I also included a slop sink for various shop cleaning/rinsing needs.
Cost
Nicole and I decided not to go public with the cost of the build. Although we are very open about most things, we are a little uncomfortable about making an expenditure of this magnitude public knowledge. Furthermore, unless you live in the Phoenix area and plan on building the same size shop with the same patio and with all of the same finishing touches and labor requirements, the price isn’t all that helpful to you.
But here’s a quick back-story so you know how things went down. The reason I moved my shop so many times was because the sale of our old house fell through at the last minute. This is the house with the original Wood Whisperer shop/garage. We took the house off the market to recuperate and wait for the market to improve. In the mean time, I decided that I should probably make the best of the shop space that I was already paying for, so that’s why I moved my tools back there. When we eventually put that house back on the market, it sold on the first day. That was a BIG surprise! While we weren’t financially (or mentally) ready to build the new shop, I wasn’t about to lose a chance to get that 2nd mortgage gorilla off my back. So all of our resources went into the sale of the old house and the purchase of my mom’s new place. Truth is, there really wasn’t much left to put toward the new shop. Thanks to some financing wizardry, we made it work. But let’s just say I’ll be paying this off for quite some time!
We did our best to keep costs down, but there was only so much we could do. We needed the shop to go up quickly, which eliminated the prospect of me doing some of the work myself. Additionally, we live in a neighborhood with a homeowner’s association. This means we have very specific restrictions for what we can and can’t do on our property. So the shop must have all of the same finishing touches as our house.
Time to Build Stuff
Overall I am very happy with the final results and I can’t wait to get back to making sawdust. The first project to be completed in the new shop is going to be a Queen Size Platform Bed for one of my favorite clients. I mentioned in a previous post that one of my goals this year was to get back into doing client work and this is me making good on that promise. I can’t wait to get started!
Of course not everyone needs or wants a space this large, but this was the right move for me. I hope the sharing of my personal experience with you will provide some ideas and inspiration for your own shop, regardless of its size.
Congrats on the new shop Marc, it looks fantastic. I’m curious to see it a few months later and whether it’s still as nice and clean as it was a few months ago!
Hi Marc! Congratulations mate! Nice shop and nice family, you look like a happy man :)
This is a great idea of building your own shop. I have always wanted to do something like this, but as I am not very good at doing work with wood.Hence I dont want to take the risk of spoiling things around. The video is awesome. All the best.
I am new to your web site and I have enjoyed all of them so far. I have gotten many new ideas and learned things I didn’t know. You new shop looks great and it is a dream of mine and probably many other woodworkers. Keep up the good work.
Thanks
Don
Thanks for the video. I’m watched it twice! My wife just gave me the go-ahead to turn our shed into a shop. It’s A LOT smaller than what you’ve got here and I’m on a much smaller budget, but your video is a good model to aim for. Thanks again!
I love that work shop I wish I could one of my own!
WOW!!! Now that’s a shop. I don’t know what else to say….
You are soooooo lucky to have such a lot of space to make that dream shop! i’m building mine in a small place at the garage, very small! but in the future i’m going to take all the garage!!! El carro va a dormir bajo la luz de la luna!! jajajaja!!! Saludos desde Venezuela!!!
I am very curious about the cost of your dream shop, but I respect your privacy on that.
However, my guess is around $250,00 t0 $300,000. So as you say you will have a good mortgage to pay for. So excuse me for being nosy. I am retired and I have started setting up my shop in my two car garage. It is not insulated just bare walls and open ceiling. I am going to start doing some projects and will keep watching your shows. I was a Computer Engineer and although I liked my job i always had that desire to get back in wood working and now I am doing just that.
Well I won’t go into details, but I can tell you it definitely wasn’t that much. :) Best of luck getting back into the craft!
I was really excited after seeing your shop video. It was almost like you read my mind (except my plans does have more windows and a wood burning stove as I live in TN). I realized the importance of more 22o plugins after you explained your reasoning. I was just planning a couple. Love the floor and ceiling plugins. One quick question. Is each plugin area on it own breaker, or do you have more then one on each breaker. I was planing on each one to have its own breaker. Love your approach on your projects and how you introduce new items or products. Thanks and Merry Christmas
Dennis Suits
My plugs share breakers. I have them split up so there are no more than 2-3 receptacles on a single breaker. Ideally, each plug would indeed have its own breaker. But in a one-man shop where only one tool will be used at a time, I thought it would be more efficient and cost-effective to consolidate a bit. But the dust collector is on its own circuit since that will always run concurrently with other tools.
I really enjoyed the shop construction film. Planning was very good with the in floor electrical and 220/110 combinations. Surprised there is no shower. Great job and very worthy video report. Thanks.
Mark,
Love the new shop, and the considerations you have put into lighting though I am curious as to why not more efficient brighter T5 fixtures? Was it initial cost? My other hobby is marine aquatics and with reef tanks and algae growing we work with varying spectrums of light (from 3400K to yes even 22000K) and many many fixtures.
What I have done in my man cave of a shop is to install above my finishing table a strip of track lighting where I have fixtures ranging from the typical bright white incandescent (typically around 4700k) all the way to the average halogen spot that I figure someone would use with an art piece (normally around 3700K). this allows me to point each light and view my piece and finish under varying light conditions to judge whether or not I prefer a particular finish or not. It also helps in photographing items (though filming is a whole nother story, I still have my 5400k T8 overheads for working).
Might be worth noting for those of us in the smaller hobby venue that a track type solution while Generation X-ish…. lends a great deal to examining and finishing a piece, especially when / if it is an art piece.
Thanks for all the good tidbits, words cant say how much help your efforts have lended me learning this craft.
Nice shop Mark. I to am looking at building a new shop 40′x80′. Cant wait
Great build, Marc. Hope you are enjoying it. Could you add something to improve the acoustics of your videos? They are good now but do have just a bit of empty echo sound compared to your old videos. Keep them coming though, I am enjoying them and it sure is helping me get back into woodworking and re-honing the skills after a 20 some year hiatus.
Boy you guys are spoiled, lol. There will always be at least some echo in the shop. I wouldn’t judge the acoustics based on this video though since the shop was still being put together at the time. No cabinets and no floor tiles, so the echo is to be expected. Have you seen the latest video? http://www.thewoodwhisperer.co.....rock-star/ The sound is dramatically improved over the Dream Shop video and all I did so far was add a few floor mats here and there. By the time the cabinets are in and I get some nice rubber floor tiles in place, the sound should be at least to the level of the old shop if not better. Right now though, my priority is on building a bed and I do consider the current sound to be “acceptable” for web videos. I’ll focus on tweaking things when I finally get some spare time. Considering adding some acoustic tiles to the ceiling.
Great shop just what you need. You mentioned your lighting was a little thin on the ends of your shop. The best way to lay out rows of lights in an open space like yours is to figure out how many rows you want. Now in your shop six rows would give you a good coverage, so you would divide the length, 60′, by the number of rows, this gives you the space between rows, then divide this in half, this gives you the space from the wall to the first row. For a 60′ room with six rows this would be 10′ between rows and 5′ off the end wall. This will give you consistent light from wall to wall.
this video was suggested to me on face book so i watched and i actually liked it a lot and had to subscribe to your youtube channel very well done great looking shop well planned too.
Congrats on the new shop Marc, it is drool worthy. Keep up the great work.
Loved watching the video and dreaming of the possibilities. I’ve been slowly working on creating my psyudo-workshop for a number of years. My son is finally taking a real liking to wood working and now we can dream together about what we’d like to create.
Thanks, WoodWhisperer for the ideas and lessons.
Okay, all I have about this one is Wow. Did get a laugh out of the woodworkers concrete terms.
I am shure that shop is going to work out very well for you.
Wow, that really is a dream shop. Best of luck getting everything setup to your liking and starting with new projects. I’m new to your site and love your content so far. I’m currently expanding my basement shop and I’m quite jelly of your new massive square footage.