At any hour, a member’s key fob would open the door.
Bench Time is a 24/7 membership woodshop with classes and lumber for Lake Country. It would open in July 2027 between Pewaukee and Menomonee Falls, 12 to 25 minutes from Hartland.
Bench Time is one building with three parts: a woodshop members can use 24/7, a lumber room that sells wood, and a flex classroom for adult and kids’ classes. The same manager, tools, and brand serve all three.
Shops like this in other cities run 100 to 150 members in 5,000 to 8,000 square feet. About 262,000 people live within 25 minutes of Hartland, and the nearest membership woodshops are an hour west, near Madison.
Four answers come before any lease is signed: insurance quotes, zoning, the building, and presale demand.
Base case, months after a July 2027 opening
Part 1 of 6 The opportunity
About 262,000 people live within 25 minutes of Hartland, in some of the highest-income towns in Wisconsin. The nearest membership woodshops are an hour west, near Madison. The one shop that tried on this side of the state charged $200 a month, opened only when staff were there, and closed.
Select one to find it on the map.
More work is moving onto screens. At the same time, more people want hands-on work and time with other people. A woodshop offers both.
Enrollment at trade-focused public two-year colleges is up almost 20% since spring 2020. Sawdust Studios, The Joinery, Saratoga Joinery, Workbench Collective, and Members Workshop have all opened as membership woodshops since 2020.
What those households don’t have is $200,000 of equipment, instruction, and other people who make things. That is what the shop offers.
Members get a key fob that works at any hour. The lumber room sells them wood. The classroom brings in new members and fills the weekday hours while members are at work.
A new member takes the two-hour Safety Shop Course and gets a key fob that opens the door at any hour. Each major machine turns on only for members trained on it, so a member who hasn’t been trained on the jointer can’t start it at 2 a.m. That lets one manager run the shop.
From opening day it stocks walnut, cherry, hard maple, white oak, and poplar for members at a 35% margin. Once membership is established, month 16 in the base case, it becomes a retail lumber and slab store paid for from earnings. Lake Country has had no local source for slabs since July 2026.
Five-week intro courses, Saturday project classes, an apprenticeship, after-school and summer courses for kids, and group builds for companies. A 10-foot overhead door opens the room to the shop floor.
Drag across the week, or press play, to see who would be in the building at each hour. Members can use the shop floor at any time. Programs run in the classroom and the assembly area.
Staffed hours, with the front desk and lumber room open, are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Every class and kids’ program runs with an instructor present. Second Saturday of each month: Shop Talk open house. Summer weekdays, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.: kids’ camps.
The main plan is $149 a month for 24/7 access, with no contract. Each step up adds hours, storage, and perks, and Overtime is priced to be the easy choice. People who aren’t ready to join can book shop time by the hour.
The model assumes 25% of members choose First Shift, 45% All Shifts, and 30% Overtime. After annual plans and $49 household add-ons, the average member pays $138 a month, and the forecast uses that figure instead of the $149 list price. Founding members get $20 off any plan for two years.
At 6 hours a month, All Shifts costs less than paying by the hour.
Non-members pay $25 an hour with a two-hour minimum, or $99 for a full day, during staffed hours only. An All Shifts member who uses the shop 12 hours a month pays about $12 an hour, so hourly time costs about twice as much and doesn’t pull people away from joining.
Every comparable shop in the research file that has grown runs classes. Community Woodshop in Los Angeles expects students to take several before joining, and The Joinery gives intro-course graduates a free month.
The first class every member takes. No one can test out of it.
Eight seats. Graduates get their first month of membership free.
A key fob that works at any hour, and 10% off classes.
Six hours of teaching a month with the manager, in a group of four.
Kids’ courses run by age group. After-school courses meet for eight weeks, 90 minutes a week, with eight students, for $350. Summer camps cost $300 a week for half days and $400 for full days, the same prices Sawdust Studios charges.
Kids are never in the shop without staff. Instructors pass background checks, and there are no more than five kids per adult. Team Builds would bring in companies from the business parks of Pewaukee, Menomonee Falls, Waukesha, and Brookfield, at $120 a person for a two-hour build.
Year three, base case. Birthday parties, date nights, private parties, and homeschool groups are not in the forecast. They are extra upside.
Owner-run membership woodshops have operated for a decade or more in cities smaller and less wealthy than Lake Country. They follow the same formula: a required safety class, 24/7 key access, $120 to $170 a month, classes that bring in new members, and one or two owners who teach.
For-profit woodshops charge $120 to $200 a month for 24/7 access, and volunteer makerspaces charge $40 to $95. Incomes in Lake Country are well above those in Columbia, Missouri, where Sawdust Studios charges $120.
Monthly price for unlimited or 24/7 plans unless noted. Prices from each shop’s website on September 22, 2026, except The Woodworker’s Gym, which closed (Woodworking Network, 2016).
| Shop | Opened and size | Membership | What else they sell |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sawdust StudiosColumbia, MO, population 130,851 | 2020, moved to 7,000 sq ft in 2023, two owners | $120 a month for 24/7 access, $150 with supplies | A $350-a-month apprenticeship, Saturday workshops, team outings, kids’ camps, and finished goods |
| Philadelphia WoodworksPhiladelphia, PA | 2012, 8,000 sq ft | $169 unlimited, $129 day pass | Lumber and private lessons. 125 active members by 2016 |
| The JoineryMiddleton, WI | 2023, 5,200 sq ft, 100+ members | $95 a month per household, 24/7 | A $350 intro course with the first month free, hardwood sales, and spray finishing |
| The ManufactoryCincinnati, OH | 2014, 17,000 sq ft | $120 for all shops, $90 for the woodshop only | Metal, machine, and laser shops, plus a retail store. Price unchanged since 2014 |
| AsmblyAustin, TX | 2019, 13,000 sq ft, about 575 members | $95 a month, volunteer nonprofit | $672,000 of revenue and a $45,000 surplus in 2024 with almost no payroll (IRS Form 990) |
| Workbench RVARichmond, VA | Not listed | $169 a month, or $139 on a 12-month plan, 24/7 | Lumber and a safety class |
| Workbench CollectiveSpringdale, AR | 2025 | $125 for 5 days, $199 for 10, $299 unlimited with a locker | Kids’ semester courses for ages 7 to 18, date nights, team building, and homeschool groups |
| Community Woodshop SLCSalt Lake City, UT | Not listed | $150 for 8 days or $200 unlimited, 24/7 | Classes, with video onboarding before tool training |
For-profit woodshops charge $120 to $200 and have kept those prices for years. The Manufactory hasn’t raised its price since 2014, and Sawdust Studios hasn’t since 2020.
Every space with a large paid staff lost money from 2023 to 2025. Every space that lasted ran on one or two owners who teach, or on volunteers.
Community Woodshop in Los Angeles expects students to take several classes before joining. Sawdust Studios’ second owner started as an apprentice.
Three lessons from the 29 shops in the research file.
TechShop’s CEO, on closing all ten locations in 2017, said a network of staffed makerspaces is “impossible to sustain without outside subsidy.”
Part 2 of 6 The shop
Rents along this stretch run $6 to $9 a square foot a year, plus taxes, insurance, and upkeep. Only 2.1% to 2.5% of industrial space in Waukesha County is vacant, so the plan expects a five-year lease and a build-out the shop pays for.
The fastest option. Every number in this plan assumes a lease at $8.00 a square foot plus about $2.00 for taxes, insurance, and shared costs.
A building an investor owns through a separate company and leases to the shop. For a $750,000 building with 10% down, owning costs about $77,800 a year against $75,000 of rent.
Before land, with 12 to 18 months of construction. Only if a custom building matters more than cost and time.
Select a room. Drawn to scale at about 100 by 75 feet. Not an architect’s drawing.
The classroom wall is a framed partition that can come out in a weekend if members need more room for good.
Large machines are bought used at auction, where they sell for 40% to 60% of the new price. Late-model SawStop and Festool equipment is bought new, because it keeps 85% to 95% of its value. Phasing gets the shop open for $145,000 and lets membership decide what comes next.
| Category | What’s included | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Cutting | SawStop ICS 5 HP and PCS 3 HP table saws, two Bosch 12-inch glide miter saws | $11,185 |
| Milling | Used 16-inch jointer, Grizzly 20-inch planer, used 18-inch bandsaw, Laguna 14BX bandsaw, JessEm router table | $13,998 |
| Sanding | Jet 22-44 drum sander, used edge and spindle sanders, 12-inch disc sander | $5,009 |
| Turning | Laguna Revo 18/36 lathe | $3,649 |
| Drilling and joinery | Powermatic drill press and mortiser | $3,153 |
| Dust collection | Used Grizzly 10 HP cyclone, ducting to 25 machines installed in-house | $16,950 |
| Compressed air | Quincy 5 HP 60-gallon compressor and line kit | $2,931 |
| Benches and fixtures | Twelve shop-built benches, four assembly tables, 60 clamps, lumber and sheet racks, tool cabinets | $17,947 |
| Supplies | Blades, bits, sandpaper, and glue to open | $2,000 |
| Finishing corner | A ventilated area for water-based finishes | $3,000 |
| Facility | Electrical to 25 machines, LED lighting, Kisi door access, cameras, Fabman machine locks, safety gear, signs | $51,180 |
| Classroom | Tables, stools, a whiteboard, and a kids’ tool set | $6,000 |
| Subtotal | $137,000 | |
| Total | With 6% for freight, rigging, and sales tax | $145,000 |
Prices from vendor websites on September 22, 2026. Hand and portable tools, including a Festool Domino and a track saw, are already owned and contributed, worth about $10,000.
At opening: two SawStop table saws, a jointer and a planer, two bandsaws, a drum sander and three smaller sanders, a lathe, a drill press, a mortiser, a router table, two miter saws, twelve workbenches, assembly tables, and central dust collection.
A CNC router, a laser, and a second lathe follow once membership passes 85, month 7 in the base case, paid from the shop’s cash. A wide belt sander, a shaper, and a spray booth come later, as members ask for them.
The 5,500-square-foot shop floor can hold about 210 members comfortably and about 350 at the absolute limit. The plan stops counting at 190, because that is about how fast a new shop can sell memberships. The real limit is the busy hours: weekday evenings and weekends.
Average hours each member spends in the shop a month
The model’s assumption: three or four visits of three to four hours each.
At 190 members, the floor averages six or seven people on a weeknight and ten or eleven late on a Saturday morning. That is a busy shop with a bench for everyone.
Part 3 of 6 Team and operations
The payroll is one full-time salary and one part-time wage. The comparable shops in the research file that have lasted run on small teams like this. The plan depends most on hiring the right manager.
Brand, marketing, website, technology, member systems, the operations manual, finances with the CPA, and vendor and insurance relationships. Runs marketing and websites for an existing local business, and owns the Ax & Blade wood brand. Contributes the hand tools.
Brings some or all of the capital, and owns the building if they buy one. Spends as much or as little time in the shop as they like.
A carpenter, cabinetmaker, or experienced woodworker who can teach beginners patiently and keep a jointer tuned. Runs the floor, the machines, safety courses, machine training, and the apprenticeship.
Runs the front desk and member lumber sales during business hours, then the retail counter in year two. Handles class sign-ups, kids’ program planning, supplies, and bookkeeping support.
Outside instructors teach Saturday Builds, specialty classes, and some kids’ courses. They get 50% of tuition on adult classes and 30% on kids’ courses. A CPA, an attorney, an insurance broker, and an electrician are hired before the lease. If membership grows faster than planned, the first new hire is a second shop tech for evenings, paid for by the extra dues.
Part 4 of 6 The numbers
In the base case, the shop opens on $390,000 and loses $41,400 in year one while membership grows from 50 founding members to 127. It earns $131,100 in year two with 175 members and $231,400 in year three with 190, a 32.2% margin.
Profit figures are operating profit: after paying the manager and the store lead, before equipment bought after opening, payouts to owners, and income taxes. Every figure comes from a 36-month model built on the assumptions at the end of this section.
The number that moves every forecast is how many members join each month.
The presale tests that before any lease is signed.
Equipment bought after opening, about $13,000 a year once the shop is built out, brings the 32.2% margin to about 30%. Separately, the plan pays Mike nothing. If the shop paid him $60,000 plus payroll taxes, the margin would be about 23%. Each owner pays income taxes on their own share.
Private equity firms that buy franchise brands typically look for margins of 15% to 20% at each location (VettedBiz, August 2026). In the base case, Bench Time runs above that range because membership dues keep about 95 cents of each dollar and Mike’s work is unpaid. With Mike paid, it would still sit a little above that range. The downside case keeps about 17 cents in year three, inside it.
| Base case | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Members at year end | 127 | 175 | 190 |
| Membership dues | $135,000 | $242,100 | $308,800 |
| Storage, CNC and laser add-on, machine time, and safety course | $27,400 | $38,700 | $43,000 |
| Shop time by the hour | $10,800 | $9,900 | $8,100 |
| Adult classes after member discounts | $45,800 | $66,600 | $83,300 |
| Shop Class Jr. | $15,400 | $41,100 | $51,300 |
| The Apprenticeship | $14,000 | $33,500 | $41,900 |
| Team Builds and events | $6,300 | $16,800 | $25,200 |
| Lumber sales (members only in year one, retail from month 16) | $40,000 | $105,000 | $144,000 |
| Trailer events | $13,200 | $13,200 | $13,200 |
| Total revenue | $307,900 | $566,900 | $718,800 |
| Instructor pay | ($20,600) | ($35,600) | ($44,500) |
| Materials, event costs, and member perks | ($22,300) | ($35,100) | ($41,400) |
| Cost of lumber sold, with waste | ($28,000) | ($73,500) | ($100,800) |
| Card processing | ($9,200) | ($17,000) | ($21,600) |
| Revenue after direct costs | $227,800 | $405,700 | $510,500 |
| Rent for 7,500 sq ft at $10 a sq ft with costs | ($75,000) | ($75,000) | ($75,000) |
| Shop manager with payroll taxes and bonuses | ($89,900) | ($95,300) | ($99,800) |
| Part-time store lead | ($27,500) | ($27,500) | ($27,500) |
| Utilities, insurance, maintenance, software, marketing, cleaning, professional fees, and contingency | ($76,800) | ($76,800) | ($76,800) |
| Operating profit | ($41,400) | $131,100 | $231,400 |
| Operating margin | (13.4%) | 23.1% | 32.2% |
| Equipment bought after opening from the shop’s cash | ($19,900) | ($53,000) | ($13,000) |
| Cash at year end, before payouts to owners | $33,200 | $111,300 | $329,700 |
Revenue is shown before costs. Operating profit is after every cost of running the shop, before equipment bought after opening, payouts to owners, and income taxes.
| Input | Assumption | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Space | 7,500 sq ft at $8.00 a sq ft, plus $2.00 for taxes, insurance, and shared costs | Listings and Q2 2026 market reports |
| Before opening | A four-month build-out with two months rent-free plus a deposit, $17,500. Build-out work, $66,000. The manager’s first three months, $21,000. Utilities, $3,000 | 2026 cost guides. A contractor’s bid replaces the build-out estimate before the lease is signed |
| Dues | $99, $149, and $199 list prices, chosen by 25%, 45%, and 30% of members. $138 average after annual plans and $49 household add-ons. Founding members get $20 off for two years | Other shops’ pricing. The presale will test the mix |
| Members | 50 at opening. The shop grows by 7 a month in year one, 4 in year two, and 2 in year three, after 3% of members cancel each month. Limit of 190 | The Joinery reached 100 members in two to three years |
| Storage and add-ons | 35% of First Shift and 30% of All Shifts members rent storage. 12% add CNC and laser access from month 7. Machine time of $100 per member a year | Conservative guesses; other shops don’t publish these rates |
| Shop time by the hour | 40 hours a month in year one, 50 in months 13 to 16, then 30 once Saturdays close to hourly. $22.50 an hour on average after day rates | Our estimate |
| Adult classes | 4 a month at opening, rising to 10 by year three. Six seats, $120 average. Outside instructors teach two-thirds for 50% of tuition | Class sizes and prices at other shops |
| Shop Class Jr. | 60, 120, and 150 enrollments a year at $350. Instructors get 30% of tuition, and materials cost 10% | Workbench Collective and Sawdust camp prices |
| The Apprenticeship | 4, 8, and 10 apprentices at $349 a month, taught by the manager | Sawdust Studios’ program, listed at $350 |
| Team Builds | 1, 2, and 3 a month at $700. Materials and a second helper cost 20% | Sawdust’s per-person prices for small groups |
| Wood | Members only in year one, at $40,000 of sales. The retail store opens in month 16 at $10,000 a month, growing to $12,000. The wood costs 65% of its price, plus 5% for waste and supplies | An assumption to test with suppliers |
| Trailer | 22 events a year, May through December, at about $600 each | Our estimate |
| Payroll | Manager at $75,000, $80,000, and $85,000, starting three months before opening, plus 12% payroll taxes and a $50 bonus per membership sold. Store lead at 24 hours a week and $20 an hour, plus 10% | BLS wage data for similar jobs in Wisconsin |
| Other fixed costs | Utilities $18,000. Insurance $11,000. Maintenance $9,000 rising to $12,000. Software $6,000. Marketing $18,000, then $15,000. Cleaning $4,800. Professional fees $4,000. Contingency $6,000 | Vendor prices and other shops’ reported costs |
| Financing | No bank loans. No payouts to owners in the forecast. Income taxes not included; the LLC passes its profit to its owners | Section 14 of the plan |
The plan asks for one raise. It doesn’t have to come from one person: a lead investor can fund all of it, or part of it, with other investors putting in the rest on the same terms. In the base case, the shop pays for Phase 2, the store, and later equipment from its own cash. In the downside case, it would need about $53,000 more.
Where the $390,000 goes. Select a piece for details.
The first 50 members get $20 off any plan for two years and hold their spot with a refundable deposit. Fifty deposits prove Lake Country will pay. Fewer than 30 after 60 days stops the plan before any equipment is bought.
Pick how much and how it goes in. The figures scale the plan’s own example, so the rate of return is the same at any size.
An investor can buy a building of about 7,500 square feet through a separate real estate company and lease it to Bench Time at market rent. This is in addition to the $390,000 for the business, and it can be combined with a share.
Before any rise in the building’s value. Rent at $8.00 a square foot, with Bench Time paying the taxes, insurance, and upkeep.
The building is the safer half. A 7,500-square-foot industrial building in a county with about 2% vacancy can find a new tenant within months. The business is the half with more upside: at 190 members, the shop would earn about $231,000 a year with no debt in the base case.
Who owns the brand, the manuals, and the classes. If the business owns them, everyone who invests in the first shop shares in any franchise company built on them. If a separate company owns them, the business licenses them, and the owners of that company get the franchise upside. Either can work, but the answer should be written down before any money goes in.
Whether investors in the first shop get the first chance to invest in a second shop or a franchise company. Neither question changes the first shop’s plan or numbers.
This section is an example for discussion. It is not tax, legal, or investment advice. A CPA and an attorney should set up the companies, the lease between them, the operating agreement, and the buy-sell terms, and confirm current mortgage and SBA loan terms before anything is signed.
Part 5 of 6 Risks and timeline
The shops that closed ran out of cash while waiting for members. The Mill in Minneapolis closed after 14 months with 90 members, and TechShop’s bankruptcy filing said none of its locations had made money consistently. This plan is built around that lesson.
Sell memberships before spending. Buy used. Keep a reserve. Let membership targets decide each purchase.
The Mill never reached enough members. The downside case here loses $109,900 in year one.
The shop goes at 50 deposits, stops below 30 after 60 days, and extends a month in between. Phase 2 waits for 85 members and the store for 140. In the downside case, the shop would need about $53,000 more, so a presale near the stop line is the signal to raise it before opening.
The Woodworker’s Gym charged $200 and closed. The Joinery fills up at $95.
24/7 access, storage, finishing, a CNC, and classes that the $40 spaces don’t offer. If every plan had to drop $20, the shop would still break even at about 121 members.
TechShop’s post-mortem said, “once people had accomplished their goals, that’s it.”
The class calendar, the apprenticeship, storage that keeps members’ lumber in the building, prepay discounts, and a monthly cancellation count. If more than 4% of members cancel each month, the shop would replace about half its members every year, so that number is watched from the start.
The CPSC counts about 2,800 table saw amputations a year in the U.S. The Wisconsin Supreme Court has thrown out every liability waiver it has reviewed in 25 years.
No testing out of the safety course, written training records, a $2 million to $3 million umbrella policy, parent waivers, and kids only during staffed hours. Waivers teach members the risks and help settle claims. The plan doesn’t rely on them for protection.
Six insurers declined to quote Dallas Makerspace.
Quotes from brokers who insure manufacturers and trade schools. An alarm and cameras. Water-based finishes only until a code-compliant spray booth makes sense. The model budgets $11,000 a year, more than the $7,000 Makerspace Blueprint reported for basic coverage.
Hartland’s code has no makerspace category, so the village planner will decide.
Call the planner first. Prefer business-park zoning, where training centers are allowed. Budget 90 days for a conditional use permit. Each month of delay after a lease is signed would cost about $6,300 in rent.
Waukesha County rents rose 6.4% in a year. Dallas Makerspace raised dues because of rent, utilities, and insurance.
A five-year lease with capped increases, or an investor owns the building and leases it to the business at an agreed rent.
Owner-run shops depend on one person.
Pay that rises to about the Wisconsin median for construction supervisors by year three, a bonus for every membership sold, and a 5% share earned over four years. A 90-day review. The safety course and machine settings written down from day one, with Mike as the backup instructor on evenings and weekends.
A new store roughly covers its space and staff at $200,000 of sales.
The retail store opens in year two with $35,000 from the shop’s earnings. The sawmill is optional, and it is built only if the store proves the demand and the space pays for itself.
TechShop carried $1.4 million of tools per location.
Everything after opening is paid from the shop’s cash, and only after it reaches a membership target.
TechShop carried $1.4 million of tools and a professional staff at each of its ten locations and closed all of them in 2017.
The first shop has to stand on its own numbers before any franchise is offered.
Woodworker’s Journal readers named poor maintenance as the reason they left makerspaces. Nobody signs up for an unfinished shop in February.
Maintenance is in the budget and in the manager’s job from day one. The shop opens in summer, complete and running before the first winter, when cold garages push people indoors.
Training and SawStop saws are how the shop manages liability. A Wisconsin attorney still drafts the membership agreement and separate adult and parent waivers, written for this activity.
It takes about nine months. The dates below are one example. They assume a start in October 2026 and an opening in the first week of July 2027, so the shop is running before its first full winter, when garages are cold and members are easiest to find.
Bench Time opens as one shop, and the first job is to make that shop work. Every system is written down from day one, so a second shop or a franchise can follow once the numbers are proven. None of this is in the financial forecast.
In 50 countries by 2023, built on a gym members can use at any hour. Founded in 2002 in Cambridge, Minnesota.
Hands-on wood projects. The first studio opened in downtown Hartland in 2015.
Woodworking stores with classes, franchising since 1997.
We found no franchised membership woodshop in the U.S. that combines 24/7 member access, classes, kids’ programs, and lumber.
The plan sets five steps before any franchise is offered. In the base case, the earliest franchise decision comes in year four, starting in July 2030. The idea may also work better as a small group of shops in Wisconsin than as a franchise, and that would be a good outcome too.
Buyers price a business as a multiple of its yearly profit before interest, taxes, and depreciation, which they call EBITDA. For Bench Time, that is close to what this plan calls operating profit. The figures below use what buyers paid in 2025 and 2026. They are examples, not forecasts.
At $231,000 of operating profit. Gyms and fitness centers sold for 2.55 times owner earnings from 2021 to 2025, and small businesses for an average of 2.7 times cash flow in the second quarter of 2026.
Four shops earning about $825,000 together, after $100,000 of shared costs, at 4 to 6 times EBITDA.
About 100 franchised shops at mature sales after about five years, earning about $3 million after about $2 million a year of support costs, at 9 to 10 times. The value depends on how many shops have reached mature sales. If many open in year five, year-five EBITDA would be closer to $1.2 million.
Examples of how the model works, not forecasts.
262,000 people live within 25 minutes of Hartland, and there is no membership woodshop. The one shop that tried charged $200 for limited hours. Bench Time is $149 a month for a key that works at 6 a.m. or 11 p.m., with wood on the rack and a class for your kid on Saturday.
The short version of the pitch, from the plan.
The next step is a conversation about which part of the plan you want to test first. The full research file is available on request: 29 comparable shops, 20 local competitors, 25 property listings, and the equipment price list.
Every price, listing, and statistic in this overview comes from the source cited, checked in September 2026. Figures that couldn’t be confirmed are labeled as assumptions in the model. They are the first things to test.
Market and demand. NEA Survey of Public Participation in the Arts, 2022. Gallup, AI use at work, 2025. Pew Research Center, workers and AI, February 2025. World Economic Forum, Future of Jobs Report 2025. BLS American Time Use Survey, 2025. U.S. Surgeon General, advisory on social connection, 2023. National Student Clearinghouse, spring 2025 enrollment. Make: makerspace directory, 2024. Census QuickFacts for Waukesha County and each town.
Comparable shops. Sawdust Studios and its coverage in the Columbia Missourian (2020) and Columbia Business Times (2025). Philadelphia Woodworks. Workbench RVA. Workbench Collective. Community Woodshop SLC. The Manufactory. The Joinery. Members Workshop. Grand Inspired. Asmbly. Maker Works. Dallas Makerspace. Artisan’s Asylum. ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. TechShop’s closing in Forbes and Hackaday. The Artisan’s Asylum planning series in Make:.
Local competition. Waukesha Makerspace. Milwaukee Makerspace. Wisconsin Woodworkers Guild. Rockler Brookfield classes. Woodcraft of Milwaukee. The Woodworker’s Gym (Woodworking Network, 2016). The Bodgery and Isthmus. The Wood Station Co-Op closing (Oconomowoc Enterprise).
Real estate. Cushman & Wakefield Milwaukee Industrial MarketBeat, Q2 2026. Judson Market Trends, Q2 2026. Paradigm Waukesha County update, Q1 2026. Listings on Showcase, CommercialCafe, and CityFeet. Waukesha County 2025 tax rates. We Energies 2026 electric rates. Hartland zoning code, chapter 46. Cauble Group on tenant improvement allowances, July 2026. Morton Buildings pricing. BuildingsGuide steel building prices, February 2026.
Build-out. HomeGuide, partition wall costs, 2026. Terrapin, commercial drywall costs, 2026. OfficeFinder, commercial overhead door prices, 2026. DGR Construction, commercial restroom costs, 2026. City of Waukesha, commercial building permits.
Equipment. SawStop, Powermatic, Laguna, Grizzly (via US Tool Depot), Oneida, Avid CNC, ShopSabre, Thunder Laser, Kisi, Fabman, Wood-Mizer, Nyle, paint-booths.com, and IRS Auctions. Carbide 3D. Woodcraft. Rockler.
Trailer. UtilityTrailersToday listings from Wisconsin dealers, September 2026. Hunt’s Custom Cargo. Road Rage Designs, “Trailer wrap cost 2026.”
Team, operations, and law. O*NET Wisconsin wages, 2025. CPSC table saw rulemaking, 2023. State Bar of Wisconsin on liability waivers. Wisconsin DWD on workers’ compensation. Wis. Adm. Code Tax 11.65 and DOR Publication 201. Wisconsin DFI fees. 2023 Wisconsin Act 12. Makerspace Blueprint on insurance. Dallas Makerspace insurance notes.
Franchising and selling a business. FTC Franchise Rule, 16 CFR Part 436. Wisconsin DFI franchise registration. Drumm Law, December 27, 2023. Woodcraft franchise program. TMJ4, May 9, 2017. Sharpsheets, Board & Brush franchise costs. Wikipedia, Anytime Fitness. BizBuySell Insight Report, Q2 2026. BizBuySell valuation benchmarks for gyms and fitness centers, 2021 to 2025. Parkland Capital Partners. Lopes Law, March 13, 2026. Kaufmann Gildin & Robbins, July 24, 2026. VettedBiz, August 7, 2026.
The model. A 36-month, month-by-month calculation. It will be rerun once the presale count, the rent and lease terms, and the insurance quotes are known.