Urban Workshop

Urban Workshop rented the facility to our STEAM class. All year the receptionist has been rude to the parents. She refused to allow our teacher to open the door today even though we pay for the facility. She actually walked to the door and opened the door to tell me she would not let my son in!
This woman should be fired and she reflects poorly on the whole business, which frankly has not operated with integrity in many ways.
It’s too bad as I was going to buy a family membership. There is no way I would ever do that now.

A great big workshop to build anything your creativity will allow for.
Cad/​cam, silkscreen, metal shop, wood shop
You name it they have it. Centrally located and reasonable membership prices.
You’d be hard pressed to find a bigger space in the country.
If you wanna build prototypes or just make a fun project, check UW out.

Dustin C’s and Lee H’s reviews are so well rehearsed with such details that it is not a genuine review. This is the work of the staff giving themselves a better review to increase their 5 star rating. I find that dishonest. If you cannot motivate real members to put in a real review, please don’t lie to real potential customers.

Wow, what a great place! I jealous that we don’t have an Urban Workshop in my town. Steve’s such a great and helpful guy! I even noticed that he helped carry out a very cool project for a member walking by. Maybe I should sell my house and move there so I could become a member, take their classes, and move my business right inside!

This is a great place to learn something and get your hands dirty! Like going to a gym and paying a membership but instead of gym equipment it’s a bunch of industrial equipment to make things. The disadvantage is that in order to use the equipment you must take a class prior. It’s an understandable liability issue, they want you to be safe. This place is HUGE, clean, and very well maintained. Staff are very nice and knowledgeable and willing to answer questions and help out.

I came in for a tour of Urban Workshop, and all I could think was why isn’t there a place like this in Portland.
The 18,000 square feet space is well utilized with a co-​working space for meetings, a computer lab equipped with workstations, a 3D printer, 5 lifts for working on cars, a CNC milling machine, a CNC wood router, industrial sewing machines, a laser etcher, a machinist lathe, and a ton of other things that look really cool, but I have no idea what they are or do.
Oh, and if you’ve always wanted to learn how to use the above-​mentioned CNC wood router, there’s a large selection of classes you can take to become a master.
The pay structure is set up like a gym membership and the pricing is reasonable, especially considering all of the equipment is under one roof.
Urban Workshop is the space for making anything And the community feel with the members working individually on their projects was a great vibe.

Sort of like a DIYer Disneyland!
Checked out their open house event for the new location on Clinton St. I had been meaning to drop in and see the outfit for quite a while, but it was perfect timing to get a tour of the brand new facility!
All of the equipment here is production/​professional grade. Not the typical stuff you get at a regular hardware or tool store. This is important because more often than not what you can get on the mainstream consumer market is not designed for all day, every day abuse. This is important for longevity, quality of results, and even safety reasons. In any case, about the facility…
It’s very nicely laid out and of course has an intensely cool collection of fabrication equipment. The layout allows for ample working space at each workstation/​toolstation.
Some things I was wary of but would need to look into further…
Seems like there are lots of «basic» classes that are required to even start using the facilities here. Some of the equipment also requires specific training, and some even require multiple classes. They charge for each one, so it can add up quickly into the many hundreds of dollars (and probably well over $ 1000). This is in addition to the monthly or annual membership fees. It is understood that this is a business and is trying to turn a profit, but having some sort of certification or testing for certain things would probably net them more money in the long run.
Also, I’m not sure how crowded it gets, but that would be quite sucky to keep coming here and having no available equipment or area to work. Not sure if there are any rules on reserving or time limits, but that can start to become a hassle if their schedule (s) actually start to control your visits. The purpose of the anytime-​visit membership is so that you have the ability to work at your own particular convenience. Definitely need to investigate this further. I’m sure with more members, this could start to become an issue.
Overall, a nice facility, and a great workshop opportunity if it actually works as the theory suggests.
I actually pondered signing up and getting a membership on the spot but didn’t get much help with getting my above questions answered from staff during the open house. Some were energetically helpful but were busy, and the not-​so-​helpful ones were… well…not very helpful nor friendly. Go figure. Perhaps a visit during a regular day might paint a better picture of how all of this stuff goes and if this really is a usable workshop. I do have to say that having access to this shop even in addition to the pretty good spread of equipment I already have was quite inviting!

Thanks for an outstanding event! Highly accomplished and well presented speakers. Terrific facilitation. Well attended and the opportunity to make many professional contacts. Thanks Urban Workshop for arranging such a productive evening!