Creating a DIY Destination: with Project Hub, Laney Alverson aims to fuel the creativity of makers in the Upstate.
Twenty-four-year-old Laney Alverson has ideas – lots of them – and Upstate residents soon will see one of them: a place to go with ideas and projects of their own to do.
Within three months, he expects to have Project Hub open either in Spartanburg or Greenville as a workshop for DIYers to do and learn things they’re not equipped or able to do at home or at work.
Think of it as a place for refinishing furniture, fixing something, building an engine, sculpting in clay, cutting and forming wood, metal, glass and plastics, weaving and sewing, printing in 3-D – “really anything,” said Alverson. “It is basically a fabrication shop where you can make whatever your project is.”
Two of his biggest boosters are Elizabeth Smith, manager of Clemson’s small business development center in Spartanburg, and Eddie West, a mentor with SCORE, the SBA’s entrepreneurial support program.
“This Project Hub is one of the strongest ideas I have heard since working with entrepreneurs in Spartanburg,” said Smith.
A Place to Make a Mess
Unlike days past when people had space to work on things in garages and basements, today’s homes, while “splashy,” commonly have no place to go to make a mess, Smith said.
And, she added, “You can’t even work on stuff at the schools because they are locked up in the afternoon.”
West sees Project Hub drawing members “from both Spartanburg and Greenville counties, and Cherokee, too. With the right groups involved in supporting this, I think it will be a dynamite thing.”
While not a new concept and related to the growing makers’ movement, Project Hub will be the first of its kind in South Carolina, charging a monthly membership fee for use of space and equipment.
Every member will have a Wiki-style digital vault to keep track of their projects with different levels of public access. A member “can make this stuff visible to the public, this stuff for members, this stuff for his eye only,” explained Alverson.
He expects Project Hub to attract engineers and others, including retirees, with craft skills willing to “work off their membership” by serving as tutors to learners and to make or fix things on order.
Extra Work for Average Joes
“We pay the member to work on the project, and the customer pays us to get the project done,” Alverson said. “It will be an easy way for your average Joe to pick up some extra work on the side.”
Project Hub will conduct classes on “everything from Electronics 101 to welding certification and anything in between,” again utilizing professional members qualified to teach.
Alverson is lining up a hardware store to partner with Project Hub as a supplier of materials so “we can get a cut of the profits.”
Aside from membership fees, classes and materials “are our two biggest revenue streams,” he said.
Alverson anticipates setting the monthly fee at $75 to $100 with children added at half price. His break-even point is 65 members.
Coming Soon: Driverless Trucks
Once he gets project hub going, he plans to return to his grander ambition, one begun while still a student at Wofford College: developing automated systems “you eventually will need for full autonomous trucks, like driverless vehicles.”
He holds a provisional patent on a system that cuts the time for hitching trailers to big-rig cabs from 20 or 30 minutes to just a couple. “The drivers back up to the trailer, hit a button and are on their way in two or three minutes instead of having to get out, hitch everything, connect all the lines, check the electricals and all that.”
Alverson formed Spartan Automated Systems to develop the hitching system as its first project. There are plans, too, for automated fueling and anti-theft systems. John Warner’s InnoVision has included the projects on its “big idea” website.
Because driverless systems are neither legal nor illegal in South Carolina, Alverson promoted a bill in the General Assembly to allow testing and operation of autonomous vehicles. The bill was referred to committee in April.
Project Hub is more than a separate business venture for Alverson; it is a stepping stone on the driverless transportation path. Alverson intends to utilize the fabrication equipment himself to “tremendously reduce the equipment costs” for building his automated hitching prototype.
Looking for Space and Capital
With a self-imposed deadline to open project hub in the fall, Alverson is looking for affordable space of 4,500 to 5,000 square feet in a high pedestrian traffic area so people can see busy activity inside.
While his preference is downtown Spartanburg, he is being drawn to Greenville “because of the interest we have received” from Clemson’s International Center for Automotive Research.
With the help of SCORE’s West, he is seeking donations of workshop equipment to cut a projected shop tool outlay of $100,000 in half.
Working off “a huge list” of manufacturers as large as BMW and Michelin and as small as “the machine shop down the road,” Alverson is offering sponsorship visibility, maintenance of equipment and discounted memberships for employees.
To cover the rest of his startup costs, he has applied for a low-interest loan of $50,000 from the Michelin Development Fund. If necessary, he can use donated equipment as collateral.
When interviewed by UBJ in mid-June, Alverson had “only a few things we own,” but was optimistic, as were mentors Smith and West, that he would find what he needs.
“I think he will get 50 percent of the stuff that he needs donated,” West said. “We are getting some equipment. It will have to be refurbished a little bit, but a lathe is a lathe is a lathe even if it was made 40 years ago.”
Smith has no doubts, either. “He decides what he is going to do about it, and gets it done. I wish I had 20 more Laney Alversons.”
Alverson designed Project Hub as a smaller version of the TechShops that originated in California and have spread to Detroit, Pittsburgh and Austin, Texas. One between Raleigh and Durham closed because of a poor location.
“I believe they have 800 to 1,000 members, and I want to keep 125 max to promote collaboration,” he said. “Our market is students, artists, engineers, hobbyists, retirees, veterans – anybody who makes anything or has any type of project.”
The workshop concept is related to the revival of hacker or maker spaces, primarily nonprofit clubs for collaboration in electronics and computer programing. The Greenville Makers is one. Another is located in Columbia.
