Hello CD!
I am a student on team NRG 948, a team that just learned it will be losing its build space before the beginning of next school year. We have no idea what that time frame looks like or where we will be relocating to next year. The few things we know for sure are that we will have to relocate most if not all of the team’s possessions and that our school district will most likely not be sponsoring or aiding in this movement. If you have any advise whatsoever please let me know, I’d like for my team to continue working at the rate we have these last few years.
Cheers!
Our team worked out of a community college for some time, then moved into a warehouse after completing construction of the robot. The warehouse had enough space for us to set up a full-size practice field, and had very helpful air and electrical hookups.
I would definitely contact any local warehouse owners and see if they would be willing to sponsor your team and provide some build space.
We have the same fate. We are working hard looking for build space ourselves. Fortunately, we have a “container” and a small storage room at school that we store all the stuff the team has. We just finished “moving out”. Now we begin the search for build space.
Hey man, sorry to hear about losing the space. My team has been bouncing between places for most of the year, but we’ve thankfully found a place we’re able to use for a while.
First and foremost, ask parents on your team if they’d be willing and/or able to house machinery, tools, and parts that you guys undoubtedly have. If all else fails, you’ll need some sort of backup for at least keeping what you already own. Our entire Build Season was done in a couple of garages.
As someone mentioned earlier, it’s a good idea to look into someone who can sponsor your team with space. It will be hard, but if you can find a somewhat temporary home, at least enough to get you through a season, you can guarantee yourselves another year to keep the team going. Don’t be afraid to look into other spaces as well, even after you’ve gotten a home - you never know how temporary these things may be.
In my team’s case, we were hopping between garages for the majority of Build. The two days before Stop Build, we had reached a deal with some realtors who gave us a space in a small plaza (thanks to some connections members and parents had). We’ve got the space for a while, but at some point, our lease will be up, and we’ll need to move again. So keep looking, don’t give up, and talk to everyone and anyone you know to keep you going. Seriously. Connections are some of the most valuable things a team can have.
If you’ve got any specific questions feel more than free to PM me!
78 moved at both the beginning of the 2015 & 2017 seasons. My biggest advice is to have a plan:
- Inventory your items that take up floor space and dimension them for future floor plans.
- Asses your power needs (# circuits, amps, voltage) before you move into the new space and start blowing breakers.
- Pick some regular meeting times to start packing and recycling/throwing things out - or find a rookie to donate to.
- Make sure there is one person who has final say on where items go and what is going to the new space - avoid too many cooks in the kitchen.
Try finding a building that no one wants…something that has had a for sale sign up for a long time. When one of our sponsors had to remove our field because their business had picked up, the owner went around with me and his realtor and we looked at buildings that had been on the market for a while and not getting any offers. The real estate company may be willing to let you set up shop in exchange for a tax exempt letter. Especially if you have some corporate muscle backing you.
I understand your issue with your build space. Roughly a week into build season, when we started to plan what we wanted to prototype and made plans to go to our build site (had been meeting at the school’s meeting room), we got notice that we were getting kicked out. We lost quite a bit of time trying to get everything packed up and out of the old building. We were able to reach out to a friend/ local business owner that had a little area in the back of his shop we could set up, but it was only about 20’ x 10’, we basically had our pit setup and a few tables around the other area. We worked here a lot. Slowly we started working out of one of our mentor’s shops, which helped but it was difficult having the team split in 2 locations and our stuff being scattered among 3 buildings. Somehow with all this struggle of building hopping, we were able to create an Einstein capable robot. Right now we are in the same boat as you. Both of those locations were short term agreements, just to help us get by. But what you should take from this is just find temporary places to meet, talk to local businesses and explain your situation. You may find somebody who starts off and says you have 6 months to be there, and they realize they enjoy the team being there and let you stay. It’s a pain having to pack everything up and move multiple times, especially in a 6 week period, but it’s better than being on the streets.
Thanks for all the suggestions. We are basically doing all that. The difficulty is that our school is located in an area with very high real estate value and space is at a premium, purchase or lease (not to mention that we have no budget to do either). So the only viable option is for donated space from sponsors. We were lucky for the last three years because a local business donated their warehouse space as our build space. Unfortunately, the business has changed their plan and decided to consolidate their operation to a site that’s far away from our school. They were gracious enough to offer space in their new place, but we were not able to take up their offer because imagining students and parents have to drive an hour one way fighting rush hour traffic to the build place every night.
So we are still reaching out to various connections (parents/industries) looking for sponsors and donated space.
To make things worse, we have both FTC and FRC teams and FTC season starts in September!
Sorry to hear about your build space issue.
My team works out of the school that is nearby. We have seen the school spend thousands of dollars on sports teams, but almost nothing on robotics teams. Why? My best guess is the school sells tickets to games and most of the school goes to watch. When FRC can do that, every school will have an industrial quality build space and practice field with seating.
On a more practical note, try setting up a meeting with your school’s principle.
If you can get that meeting, have all the parents and students show up to help sell the school on providing the needed space.
Dave
Our build space from the last two years is being demolished to make room for a new wing of the school. 
Space is at a real premium right now, and the school does not want us working off school property for liability reasons. We’re currently in a bedroom and a hall closet of a house adjacent to campus that the school board owns. We also have stuff stored in our trailer and our workbenches and field elements are being stored in a screened patio. When we have more than about four people, we’re getting in each other’s way. We’re lobbying the principal to let us have the two upstairs rooms, as the only sort-of-large room in the house is being used as a classroom, and the patio will become a workshop for an electrical class by August.
For those of you losing space, I would recommend you contact a well known engineering company especially one related to education, you can also talk to other schools in your area to see if they are willing to allow you to move their. My team did that with Sparhawk Upper school so we technically are from 2 schools even though my school does not give support but Sparhawk does. On chief delphi someone named Larry Lewis may be able to help you get funds for a location, (he typically helps with funds for the national advocacy conference)
Thanks everyone for the feed back, we are currently pursuing multiple avenues to figure out a space. Luckily, our issue no longer seems to be immediate so our stuff should be okay in the mean time. Will update once a solution is figured out.
You have two things to think about. A new build space, and liability insurance. You were probably covered under the schools blanket coverage when you were working there. Moving to someone’s house, or a business, may be a problem unless your team has their own coverage.
Something you might consider in the short term is finding abandoned buildings that are for sale. Contact the reality company selling the building, and see if you can work out an agreement to use it for a couple months. They (the owners of the property) can write off the cost of the lease as a donation to your team assuming you are a 503C.
Oops… that’s a third thing. If companies want to write off things you’ll need to become a charity. Schools have that built in as well. It’s not hard - you can find the info around here.
I could be wrong but I think you mean 501(C)(3). 501(C)(3) nonprofits can authorize donations to be tax exempt.