I would Love to have the opportunity to rent time on a longarm machine. I have sought for training and rental; however, I have yet to find availability in my area (half way between Nashville, Knoxville and Chattanooga). I think this is a great opportunity to learn properly about longarm quilting, get experience, finish quilts and maybe prepare you for a purchase.

I have a few blocks away who lets people use her Gammill for 1 cent per square inch. She does the set up and provides the thread, I think. I haven't tried it yet, but would definitely do so before I consider buying a machine of my own. I could do a lot of quilts on her machine at this price without spending nearly as much as the cost of a longarm, and I wouldn't have to deal with the loss of space in the house or maintenance costs, etc.. This person in the area has two longarms in her house and it's an official business arrangement. She most likely has insurance, but I didn't ask her about that. I found out about her merely by chance because we were shopping for fabric at the same time and started a conversation about what would go with what.

I don't yet know if she has some requirements about the renter having basic instruction (and paying her for the time that would take). There is a company some distance across town from us that rents the use of their machines for a similar price, as I recall, and they definitely require you to take a class from them first. You provide the materials. I don't remember what the fee was. This was a few years ago, a dealer I talked to at a quilt show. I didn't do it mainly because of the driving distance. Worse than that, I've lost their business card and don't remember the name.

If you are in a guild, you could poll the other members to see whether they'd be interested. I would think there would be many who would love the idea. If there is enough demand for this it is not an insurmountable problem to get a business license and appropriate insurance. Running a business could be a whole new "hobby", however.

One other issue that might come up would be deed restrictions. Many neighborhoods do not allow people to run businesses from their homes. One like this would have very low impact on the neighborhood because you'd only have one person at a time visiting, but if they enforce these restrictions they have to enforce them across the board. It's very interesting to pull up Google Maps and see the names of businesses that often pop up in residential neighborhoods where I'm pretty sure they are not allowed. In some cases, a variance can be granted, but you should go through proper channels to make sure they don't throw a monkey wrench into something after you've put a lot of work into it.

Rose, Quilt Country in Lewisville rents time. I've not been there, so don't know the details (My cousin has rented there.). Also, Urban Spools in Casa Linda Plaza rents time. They charge $175.00 for a private class, but I'm not sure about the per hour charge. Her rental machine is not computerized. Sew Lets Quilt It in Richardson used to rent time. I think their machine is computerized. I'm not sure if they still rent time.

I think about renting time, but have not ventured there yet.

bkay

I was thinking about this too. Personally, I wouldn't let anyone in my home I didn't know. There are too many bad things that can happen in today's world. Granted, most quilters are good people but you never know.

Thanks for this information, which is useful to anyone in the north Dallas area.

My insurance agent said I'd need both business insurance (which also means getting the ok from county to have business in my home) for liability (i.e. someone falls coming into my house,etc). Just too many hassles and not worth it to me. Around here, the shops that rent time on LA charge about $75 for a 3 hr certification class (basics) and then about $25/hour for time. Several have stopped renting time as they are busy enough with customer quilts and don't want to mess with it.

Thank you everyone. Seems that 20.00 and hour is a pretty standard rate. I have my longarm in a separate studio from my house, but it does seem kind of risky in a way to let strangers hang out. Certainly I would have to be present while they were using it. I'll ask my insurance agent about liability....if I had to establish an LLC etc I don't think it would be worth it.....perhaps some sort of a legal waiver?? Sounds like I need to do additional research in this day and age where everyone and everything is suspect :-) I would have to have a class with them on use, care, and loading and unloading of machine. I guess maybe I should just determine if I should just sell it. Thanks everyone!

Seems as if the biggest concern from everyone is the liability/insurance issue. Really didn't think of that in depth. Nor about the time I would need to spend "supervising"

What machine and frame setup do you have? Do you have robotics?