I started building a home gym shortly after getting serious about strength sports. They gym I frequented had the basic tools for recreational lifting but not for weightlifting. I asked the owner about some basic equipment changes & he told me it wasn’t safe in that setting…and I thought he had a pretty good argument especially from the perspective of the business owner.
I bought a chapman barbell directly from chapman. I purchased hi temp rubber bumpers and rubber floor mats from jesup gym. I purchased a squat rack from new york barbell along with a cap barbell weightset. All together that cost me $1530.
I’m still using all that same equipment today. So that works out to $66 a year. Not sure how that compares with gym membership expenses but the fun and memories I have from working out in my garage gym can’t be replace.