What Does It Cost To Build An Axe Throwing Business

The actual cost of building an axe-throwing business can vary significantly based on various options. It’s like asking, “How long is a piece of string?”

Will you opt for a do-it-yourself (DIY) approach or hire a contractor for your build-out? Are you considering custom lighting, projected targets, high-quality woods, and a polished finish? Or will the setup resemble a dog kennel with basic boards on the wall?

These considerations play a pivotal role in determining the overall expense.

What is your place going to look like? How Many Lanes? One target per lane or 2?

The cost of an Axe Throwing Business will be determined by the space available and the number of lanes required

The first decision to make is determining the size of the axe throwing business you intend to build. Successful establishments range from those with 8 targets to larger facilities housing 18 targets or more. For instance, we’ve recently worked on a 26-target facility.

To start with a little information, let’s look at the amount of space a target lane takes up. The first thing we want to address is we do not feel that anyone should run lanes with 2 targets side by side in one “pit”. While that is a system that is required for some affiliations like WATL, we feel that is an inferior facility design for multiple reasons. We have a complete blog post on that. So when we are talking about a “lane” we are referring to a single lane with a single target. See the image below.

The above image is an aerial view from a security camera at one of my locations. Each target lane is 6′ wide, and the depth of that room from the target wall to the back wall is 26′. The dividers come out 12′ off the wall. So in that room which is 26 x 68 feet, we have 10 lanes plus a little space for a closet where we keep extra axes, wood, etc.

Now the above lane set up is inside one of my facilities, and the check-in counter, restrooms, etc are in a different room, as that also houses our paintball fields, lobby, etc. But that can give you an indication of the size required for a build-out.

So planning the space you need for any common area and then determining the number of lanes you need, we need to calculate the lane costs.

We have another article that shows you some size layout information for how many lanes you can fit in your space.

We know a contractor that will come out and do a complete turn-key install of the back wall, dividing walls, target, and no-bounce border system. The basic cost is normally in the $7500 range but can vary depending on whether you want the LED lighting package, flooring, or other options. Added to that you would have our projected target system pricing of $1,175 per lane, so around $8,500 – $9000 per axe lane would be a very close estimate for your calculations.

If you compare that to other lane-building companies, they will run that much or more for some simple boards screwed to a wall with no dividers between targets, no end grain, and no projected computer systems. If you have the skill set or contractors that want to do the build-out yourself, you might save $1000 or more per lane depending on your local lumber and labor costs or spend an extra $1,000, which should give you a good ballpark for planning.

Then obviously, the amount of other internal finish out will determine your costs in the facility. Building out a bar area, how nice of tables, chairs, and bar stools, do you need refrigerators, remodel restrooms, flooring, lighting, etc? Your local contractor and architect can help you design those aspects of your business, but we wanted to give you insight in this article on the actual costs of the Axe Throwing Lane build-out. Take a look at our page on Building Axe Lanes to see some different locations we have built for customers.

Many have also asked us about the cost of Axe Throwing Insurance so we have an entire blog on that topic!