Studio Hire Cost Planner: Hiring Pottery Space vs Owning a Setup

How the studio hire cost planner works

The studio hire cost planner adds up what you’d pay each month to hire space: the daily price times the days you use it, or the monthly price, plus your firing by weight. On the owning side, it spreads the price of a kiln, a wheel and your setup costs over the years you expect to use them, then adds kiln electricity and any rent for your own space.

With the defaults, shared space at $33 a day for four days a month is $132, plus 2 kg of firing at $11 a kilogram, so hiring costs $154 a month or $1,848 a year. Owning a $5,990 kiln and a $2,999.95 wheel, spread over five years with $17.84 a month of electricity, works out to about $167.67 a month or $2,012 a year.

The break-even point is the up-front cost of owning divided by the monthly saving once you own. Here that’s $8,989.95 divided by $154 minus $17.84, which is about 66 months, or five and a half years. The more you’d use a hired space, the sooner owning pays off.

How much does it cost to hire pottery studio space?

Pottery studio space usually costs from about $33 a day or $180 a month for shared space, and from about $390 a month for an individual studio, based on Le Studio Art Space’s published prices. Memberships at other Melbourne studios we checked run about $175 to $450 a month, with $280 typical.

Those prices cover different things. A shared space gives you a place to work alongside other artists, an individual studio gives you a lockable room of your own, and a membership typically gives you access to a fully equipped pottery studio with wheels, kilns and shelving. The space for lease at Le Studio Art Space page explains what each of its options includes.

Firing is often the hidden variable. Some memberships include a firing allowance, while others charge by the kilogram. Published firing rates in our sample ran from $8 to $16 a kilogram, so the planner lets you set your own rate, or zero if firing is included.

Shared space, individual studio or membership?

A membership suits potters who need a wheel and a kiln but not a room of their own, shared space suits artists who bring their own work and tools and want company, and an individual studio suits people who work most days, store lots of work or need privacy. Cost is only part of the choice.

Think about how often you’ll really go. A daily rate is good value for a day or two a month, but at $33 a day, six days a month already costs more than the $180 monthly shared space. The planner shows that switch-over clearly: change the days and watch the monthly figure.

Our guide to the differences between an individual studio, shared studio and studio membership goes into the practical side, from storage to opening hours, and the article on how to choose a pottery studio membership lists the questions worth asking.

When does owning your own kiln and wheel pay off?

Owning pays off sooner the more you’d otherwise spend on hire. At the defaults, light use of shared space, it takes about five and a half years. With an individual studio at $390 a month plus firing, the same kiln and wheel would pay off in about 23 months, and against a $280 membership with firing included in about 34 months.

Those numbers assume your own space is free, such as a garage or spare room. If you’d need to rent a space for your equipment, add the rent and the sums change quickly: a $300 a month workshop rent can push the break-even point out by years, or mean owning never catches up at all.

Owning also brings work. You’ll load and unload the kiln, replace elements and thermocouples, clean, store clay and glazes, and manage dust and ventilation. For many potters, the time saved and the company in a studio are worth more than the money.

Costs people forget on both sides

On the hiring side, people forget travel time, parking, clay and glaze if they’re not included, and the cost of firing pieces that don’t make it. On the owning side, they forget the electrician, freight, kiln shelves and posts, cones, replacement elements, a decent ventilation setup, and the space itself.

The planner has a box for setup costs and one for rent, so put your real quotes in. If you’re not sure what electricity will cost, the kiln electricity cost calculator works it out from your kiln’s rating, and the pottery equipment cost calculator has current Australian prices for kilns and wheels.

Resale value is the other forgotten figure. A well-kept wheel or kiln can be sold if you stop, which softens the cost of owning, while hire money is gone once spent. We haven’t included resale, because second-hand prices vary too much to estimate fairly.

Common mistakes when comparing hire and owning

The biggest mistake is comparing a month of hire with the full price of a kiln, rather than spreading the kiln over realistic years. The second is assuming you’ll use your own equipment far more than you used a hired space. A home kiln that fires once a month costs much more per firing than one shared by a busy studio.

It’s also easy to forget that hire prices and equipment prices both rise over time. A five-year comparison made with today’s prices is a guide, not a forecast, so leave yourself some margin either way.

The third is treating the price as the whole story. A good studio gives you teachers and fellow potters to learn from, feedback, and a reason to turn up. Those don’t fit in a calculator, but they’re often why people stay.

Finally, revisit the sums as your practice changes. Someone throwing one day a month has very different numbers from someone preparing for markets every weekend. Save your planner link, and run it again when you start selling, take on commissions or find yourself in the studio more often. The point where owning makes sense tends to arrive gradually, and the planner shows you when you’ve reached it rather than leaving you to guess.