[Idea]: Rent out your home space for businesses

[mitchw]

I have been thinking of this for a while and would love to hear what you all think.

What if you could rent out your home space (living room, garage, den, study etc.) on an hourly basis for businesses. E.g. Example: nail salon, hair spa, comic book seller, startup founders who want to meet and discuss projects (and not go to a noisy coffee shop), tutor, art lessons etc.

Couple of questions:

1. Would you be willing to host this business for $25-$50 per hour?
2. Would you be ok with strangers (mostly limited to a mile radius- let's say neighborhood people) to come and go into your house for this hour or 2 you rented out?
3. What about liability, are you concerned about this? Any thoughts would help, I think this is the one of the biggest hindrance.

It's more like an AirBnB but for supporting small business owners who can't afford a retail space rent instead of travellers.

Does this idea have legs?

 

[hubble9458]

@mitchw some places have zoning regulations. residential areas are not meant for manufacturing paints. there are at least several differentiations. residential, industrial, financial, etc. a city in Southern California, I won't name it here, allows businesses to be registered in a residential address with some limitations. no high traffics are not allowed. the idea is to prevent a house to be visited by a lot of customers and causing too much traffic. potentially increasing the rate of traffic accidents.

 

[mitchw]

@hubble9458 I guess the categories of businesses would really need to be limited. The type of experience I was going for was as follows: Example: Let's say you own a home, you search on the platform and find an Art Class you are willing to host. Lets say the usuals of the Art Class Provider or teacher ratings, picture, etc. is all there and you can select the one you think is the best to host this lesson in your home. You interview them and decide on the day and time to host the class. Now your listing of this class becomes active on the platform and to your neighborhood people. Anyone interested can sign up and pay. This would bring bulk business to the Art Class Owner (who doesn't have a retail space of their own). You would get say $100 for hosting the class. Let say the class itself is for $100, but since the Art Class Owner is getting a bulk business, they might reduce it for $80. Finally the neighborhood people might just be ok paying a premium for the convenience. The hassle to drive to the class, find parking etc. is gone, they just want next-door and go to the class.

Does this seems like pie in the sky. What do you think?

 

[hubble9458]

@mitchw sounds like a good idea. when will you start ? someone else might have started doing something similar, or will start soon

 

[mitchw]

@hubble9458 I have been running surveys and collecting feedback to shape up this idea. I hope the outcomes of all this collected data shows some cost/revenue model. So far it isn't.

 

[zephcom]

@mitchw I could see this working for storage

 

[russel]

@mitchw Deleted comment

 

[mitchw]

@russel That's a pretty cool idea and I think fairly novel. I haven't seen any sharing concept for complicated/expensive equipment. For me personally learning woodworking would be cool but then again I don't know if I would like it, buying all the tools is costly, but if someone is willing to share that's kinda cool.

 

[daniel6321]

@mitchw Other ideas involving homes:

Rent their garage for storage.

Second address for deliveries when you are not home.

 

[mitchw]

@daniel6321 Nice ideas. Garage for storage is an easier concept, it removes complications and issues around parking etc. there is something there.

 

[nj_]

@mitchw There is a business that does this in the UK called Vrumi. Take a look at their model to get a better idea of pricing/user journey - although obviously the rules/regulations around planning/zoning would be very different depending where you are based.

As there's already someone in the market offering a similar service I'd say this definitely has legs!

edit: typo...!

 

[mitchw]

Thank you so much, this gives me hope!

 

[mitchw]

That’s such a good idea. Simple with less complications. Thank you!

 

[613jono]

@mitchw This idea has legs. Liquid space offers hourly space rentals. Not sure if zoning codes allows for anybody anywhere but the idea of breaking down utility space on an hourly level is common in inner city

 

[mitchw]

@613jono I appreciate the feedback. You are right about the hourly utility space, craigslist had good evidence of this as well.

 

[mitchw]

Btw, if i get about 50 upvotes I would really consider building this. But do tell me your genuine thoughts.

 

[tyler6547]

@mitchw Working from a home is usually a terrible idea. What if someone gets injured at work, which is also your house?

Most people think they'll keep everything separate, but they tend to start blurring boundaries between work/home.

Took a job in someone's home office who claimed that the area was work only. I was bored, and said why not....

His family and kids kept coming downstairs, contractors were being called into the same space we were working at (who were loud as hell). It was a fucking mess, yet the utmost "professionalism" was being expected of us...

Zoning in most areas would never allow this in the first place, but in general, people PAY for offices for a reason. And when they don't there's usually a red flag. Financial or personal issues.

There is a lot of office/warehouse space going unused. Start there.

 

[mitchw]

@tyler6547 That's truly valid feedback. I have been thinking through which business would want to rent. Plus, the cost/benefit model. Margins might end up being very low. Retail spaces/office/warehouse are quite expensive. The concept is more like this following example:

Example: Let's say you own a home, you search on the platform and find an Art Class you are willing to host. Lets say the usuals of the Art Class Provider or teacher ratings, picture, etc. is all there and you can select the one you think is the best to host this lesson in your home. You interview them and decide on the day and time to host the class. Now your listing of this class becomes active on the platform and to your neighborhood people. Anyone interested can sign up and pay. This would bring bulk business to the Art Class Owner (who doesn't have a retail space of their own). You would get say $100 for hosting the class. Let say the class itself is for $100, but since the Art Class Owner is getting a bulk business, they might reduce it for $80. Finally the neighborhood people might just be ok paying a premium for the convenience. The hassle to drive to the class, find parking etc. is gone, they just want next-door and go to the class.

Does this seems like pie in the sky. What do you think?

 

[giget]

@mitchw I think this is a bad idea because it’s just not very realistic due to parking and zoning. Home owners that are interested in this have an option to host a pampered chef party or something like that.