Private Ten Pin Bowling Alley?

Just been dreaming a bit lately.

Was wondering if they would even allow you to build a bowling alley at a residential house? Brisbane City Council area?

Does anyone know of anyone that actually supplies bowling alleys to the public in Qld?

I wonder how hard it would be to DIY if you had all the equipment supplied.

I did see a supply and install company that listed 1 lane as $75k but that was in the USA.

I reckon I could build a 26.5m x 2m extension down the side of my house that could work as a bowling alley. Could probably build it for say $25k, then whatever it costs for the bowling alley equipment.

Have a pic attached of where it could potentially go. The house gets extended back a further 15m, current length is 11.5m. I think for a bowling alley you would need approx 25m length, doesn't have to be very wide though.

Would be very cool to have your own bowling alley.

Maybe one day :p
 

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You'll need a good flooring contractor, decent bit of space for the machinery room, subterranean trench for the ball return channel and most importantly a good bar area. ;)
 
If you want something that you will never use, why not just buy a pool table, a ping pong table, or one of the three York gym sets that are transported between houses in Brisbane by trailer every weekend.

But seriously, wouldn't 25k build yourself a garage, or a wrap around deck for the lower level?

Can we have some updated pics on the inside progress :) ?
 
How much does it cost to go bowling? $10 maybe?

A cost of $75k is 7500 bowling sessions.
If you use it twice per week it would take roughly 70to recover your investment.

Wrap it up how you like - but you'd never break even on the project. That's fine if you really love bowling. Like boats. They never return your investment. But if loved and used the cost is irrelevant.

Blacky.
 
If you want something that you will never use, why not just buy a pool table, a ping pong table, or one of the three York gym sets that are transported between houses in Brisbane by trailer every weekend.

But seriously, wouldn't 25k build yourself a garage, or a wrap around deck for the lower level?

Can we have some updated pics on the inside progress :) ?

Yeah may well be something we never use. Been doing lots of blowling lately though. It's good fun.

But novelty will probably wear off. I figure that if the novelty hasn't worn off in 5 years when I have the money to do something like this, then I may go ahead with it.

And have a look at the plans, there's space for a pool table already, may have to add a ping pong table as well :p Or I was thinking air hockey.

Pretty much want the downstairs back part of the house to be a kick *** games room setup.

As for the wrap around deck. We are already going to have soooo much deck, 100m2 all up, don't think we really need one around downstairs too.

As for the garage, we are going to do a shade sail down the right side of the house for the cars. Kind of like this http://www.outriggerawnings.com.au/auto/sb-plugin-gopix/Carports/carport05.jpg

We will have a storage shed too, but going to put that over at the back of the investment property next door so we don't take up our yard with it. That way we can have half a basketball court in the existing shed's space.

As for progress inside of the house. Not much has been happening. I've been finishing off lots of bits and pieces trying to get the place ready for the valuation. The last job I did was knock down the old back half of the house that was still there behind the new house (didn't think that would go well with the valuation). Plus for the rear extension that obviously had to be knocked out of the way. Pic attached. Took me and my wife 2 days to knock those 2 bedrooms down. But haven't really been posting any updates on pretty new things at the place because there's not been much exciting stuff happening. Just hand rails, replacing old weatherboards, deck ceiling, all random little jobs that don't really change much in the way it looks, and nothing interior except upstairs where I've been putting chair rail around and finishing off painting...

Will get exciting again in about 4 months when I start on the back extension. Have to do a removal house for an IP first though.
 

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How much does it cost to go bowling? $10 maybe?

A cost of $75k is 7500 bowling sessions.
If you use it twice per week it would take roughly 70to recover your investment.

Wrap it up how you like - but you'd never break even on the project. That's fine if you really love bowling. Like boats. They never return your investment. But if loved and used the cost is irrelevant.

Blacky.

Bowling is expensive. We currently do a weeknight special, 3 hrs of bowling for $20 each. Normally one game alone is $16.95! And one game can last 15 mins...

So it's $40 per bowling session. We are doing that once or twice a week. So say you spend $40 per week normally, that's still only around $2000 per year. So it will take 38 years of regular weekly bowling to eventually break even.

Although if we each got two coronas while bowling you are looking at an additional $14 per person. Instead of having them at home for $2 per bottle, so $4 per person. So that's an extra $10 per person to have drinks at the bowling alley, if we were paying that then that's an extra $1000 per year, so $3000 in total for weekly bowling and beer so in that case it would only take 25 years to break even :p

Then say you have friends over for weekly bowling, 4 friends all who drink 2 beers each, will pay an additional $6000 per year for weekly bowling and drinks. Add that to the $3000 we pay ourselves. Plus add the additional cost if you bowled on a friday or saturday night (double the costs of the bowling at the centre)...

Then bam we should break even in 7 years. hahaha we simply can't afford not to have our own private bowling alley! :p wonder if the wife will buy that one :)
 
If you are going for a home system make sure you get string pinsetters. They're much less maintenance and I believe a lot more reliable.

Prices are cheaper than you would think actually.
 
If you are going for a home system make sure you get string pinsetters. They're much less maintenance and I believe a lot more reliable.

Prices are cheaper than you would think actually.

Hmmmm sounds like unlike me, you may actually know what you are talking about.

Any idea of prices for a setup, or any other useful info?

Thanks
 
Why not get a quote from a commercial fit out person that has done bowling alleys before!

Sounds like fun - money is there to be enjoyed!
 
I'd do it for 75k if I had a suitable sized block, don't care what the wife says...
Would be playing 10-20 games a day.
The new house across from us installed bowling lanes (Sydney), but it's an absolutely massive house, there's not much they don't have...
 
A bit off topic but never understood why people want these recreation type things at home. The only thing like that i would want is a pool. Everything else happy to go out for. It's good to get out of the house!
 
cant believe how expensive bowling is too,

went on a friday night with a girl on a date about a year ago, 2 games and shoe hire, no drinks was something stupid like $68!!!

no wonder its not so popular here!
 
You'll save even more money by not going to the cinema or timezone again, or paying for parking at Chermside...

Charge your friends and you'll recover the purchase price in no time! :p
 
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