Every sensei envisions the perfect training hall: expansive mats, clean lines, the sound of uniform snaps, and eager students. However, commercial real estate leases usually crush that dream before the first bow in. Building your own facility is a massive undertaking, but it gives you more control over your overhead. And it turns out that you don’t need a limitless budget to a spacious dojo construction if you approach the project with these tips for building affordably.
Choose Steel Over Wood
Among the thousands of materials and building designs you can go with, prefabricated steel kits are most likely to be the most affordable and practical for your purposes. These structures offer clear-span interiors, meaning you won’t have structural columns obstructing your sparring matches or equipment storage. Wood framing usually cannot provide that kind of open square footage at a comparable price point. A metal building allows you to maximize your mat space while minimizing material costs, labor hours, construction waste, and long-term maintenance.
Handle the Finishing Work Yourself
Do you have some DIY skills? Do your future students or fellow MMA community members want to volunteer their time for your cause? If so, you can probably wrap up the building’s finishing work without hiring contractors. These tasks can include hanging drywall, painting interiors, installing baseboards, laying down the subfloor, and other manageable projects.
Optimize Your Subfloor System
A proper sprung floor is an important dojo feature because it protects joint health, but professional installation might be too costly for your budget. Instead, you can build a floating subfloor yourself using tire chips, foam blocks, plywood, and dimensional lumber. This system is vastly cheaper, and it still works! It absorbs impact effectively as you and your students perform throws, takedowns, rolls, and jumps.
Focus on Insulation and Climate Control
Metal structures conduct heat and cold well, which isn’t great for your dojo’s comfort or energy efficiency. You must set the building up to be thermally efficient to keep utility bills low. Invest in high R-value insulation, industrial fans, efficient HVAC units, and quality sealants. On a related note, waterproofing your metal building is absolutely vital to prevent condensation from dripping onto your flooring or making dojo construction generally humid, uncomfortable place to practice.
You might think that your dreams to build a spacious dojo will be crushed by the reality of modern material and labor costs, but that might not be the case. If you follow these tips, you can construct more affordably and hopefully stay within budget.
