Opening a Rehearsal Room Studio

ZootELoops

Senior Member
Due to recent problems finding a decent rehearsal space, and having been disappointed with the lack of quality, cleanliness and cost with the one's I have found, I have started working on a business plan to open a rehearsal room studio.

I have a unique concept and am researching and investigating costs/profitability.

What do you think the interest would be for something like this and does anyone have any advise?
 
I suspect you are significantly underestimating the capital requirements for such a venture. I suggest you contact the owners of existing facilities and ask them directly. Pick up the phone! A business owner loves nothing more than talking about their business.
 
I have owned my own business for the last 7 years. Trust me, I am not underestimating anything.

I am just doing research and investigation on costs, talking to other business owners, speaking with contractors, warehouse space, etc at this point. I realize it can get quite expensive depending on the size and 'features'. My last 'brick & mortar' facility cost close to $100,000 in build out costs and I expect this to be about the same (looking at roughly the same square footage).

I was posting here more because I was hoping that there may be someone here who HAS a recording or rehearsal space business that could give me more specific advice and lessons learned.
 
As long as you think you can get enough people to rent from you...
 
Right now is an uphill battle to start a new business, secondary market conditions have just only now started opening back up thanks to tarp and talf. My family has been looking for funding for our second restaurant for 13 months and finally, just this month have been approved even though our first cash flows 10k per month and we have 130k in CASH in the bank. If you're looking to go SBA, forget it, that well's dry well into next year. 100k seems awfully high to me though for buildout. I'm sure there are tons of vaccant industrial space that you can buildout for much cheaper. To construct such a rehersal studio, i think all you need to do is frame up the walls, wire them and then use soundproof drywall like quietrock as your walls. I know that rehersal studios down here in Miami are running about $15-25/ per hour. There are no monthly rated places here, when i was in Denver, the monthly rated places were about $300/ month for a 15x15 space and were 100% occupied with a waiting list. I think it's fair to assume 100% occupancy even charging double per footage vs market industrial rates. If you have 100 grand though to drop on this "business" why not just buy a house to jam in??
 
That's the question - will there be enough interest..

As far as costs, nothing is set in stone, I am still in the preliminary stages of gathering information and making 'exaggerated assumptions' in many cases, until I get hard data.

.. and I do not have 100 grand myself, nor am I in a position to get a loan. I would look for either partners or investors.

Right now I'm just the ideas-man. This is how great businesses start - out of necessity! I appreciate the participation and encourage any real-world advice.
 
Market research. You need to find out how many people would rent from you. Take a craigslist ad out, fib a little and say you have rehearsal space to rent and see the response you get. Just an idea off the top of my head. It's free so why not? When ppl call just say you're rented out until September or something.
 
I thought about that (without the lying part), but wanted to get a bit more research on the cost/expense/location front first. I actually wrote out an ad earlier today advertising pre-opening reservations to collect an initial marketing/mailing list but didnt post it because I thought it was a bit premature.

I think when I get enough information about the cost of a lease, estimate on build out costs, and can nail down at least a location (how many rehearsal rooms, features, etc) and approximately what I would need to charge per hour, week, month - then I can go that route.
 
Places like that here in Texas do really well, especially in towns that are metropolitan. I know even in the mid-level market towns here, they stay full. Good luck! I would love to have the funds to do that. At least commercial real-estate should be a easy market for a buyer in this crazy market. Good luck! Keep us posted on the development.
 
That's encouraging because there are NO places here - either by design (because they cannot be supported) or because it's an untouched market.
Can you send me a few links/names so I can call some of the placed down there to ask some questions?

..btw: I wish I had the money too.. again, right now I'm only researching without funding - but I'm hoping if it looks like a viable business opportunity that I can find an investor willing to give it a shot.
 
Here's my local practice studio:

http://www.kindredstudios.com.au/

Good points: different pricing for off-peak times. on-site gear technician. on-site instrumental rental.

It's pretty much a converted warehouse, it's cool.
 
I suspect you are significantly underestimating the capital requirements for such a venture. I suggest you contact the owners of existing facilities and ask them directly. Pick up the phone! A business owner loves nothing more than talking about their business.

No offense to this poster, but DO NOT take this persons advice.

The last people you want advice from on your potential business are the people you will be competing with directly. 99% of all businesses hate competition and the other 1% are most likely ambivalent about it, but in the least would likely NOT encourage further competition.

You would have to do market research as a few above have said. Do you have a big customer base potential? Are the assinine prices being charged (in my area at least) a product of NOT enough supply and high demand? If that's the case in your area, you bet your ass you could make a go of this.

But don't go into it haphazard, because if you're paying rent/mortgage on a facility and no one is renting the space, then you're tossing good money after bad.

Here in the Northern Virgini area, Uncle Bob's storage is a place bands rent and place and its booked, BarcoRebar is a craphole and expensive, the soundry in falls church is a nice place but hard to get bookings and has some strict rules many bands won't dig, etc...I am looking for a place right now, I have a 3-piece Johnny Cash with electric guitars rock band and this is a delima we're looking at right now as the current place is someone's basement and that situation isn't very good.

Best of luck, but I'd definately look into this idea more.
 
Zoot, you are a BRAVE man! Having to put up with feral muso crap all the time. Beer bottles, ciggie and joint stubs, spilt drinks. People nicking stuff. Slow decay of the house drum kit through it being beaten into submission, cracked cymbals, fittings broken through over-tightening by Neanderthals and godawful tuning (I know, I hired a studio's kit many times for rehearsals last year before I bought myself another kit. It took me ages to sort out the mistreatment before playing). Then you have the no-shows. And credit ... "Hey man, I haven't got any cash on me now but I'll get it to you next week - promise, man!". Guitarists tend to be skilled at this game. Then there's the long hours.

The guy who owns and runs our practice studio is also a friend. He looks tired most of the time ...

But hey, but I don't want to be discouraging! lol ... Go for it! You will have my respect and admiration (and sympathy :) At least your band will have its own space, priority bookings, you can play kit at any time, you'll have lots of contacts and be integrated in the scene. It's just not for the faint-hearted, but you already know that, I'm sure.
 
Storage would be a big concern. I've looked into a few here in the LA area and most don't provide a storage service.

Us drummers have a ton of gear to haul so having a rehersal studio that can store drum kits on site would be a big plus. That said, storage would have to be secure so potentail customers would have peace of mind leaving their gear there.

How many times have we read on this board that someone sold their kits because they moved into an apartment?
 
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