Thinking of building a studio, need some opinions...

[Mip]

Once again, I am thinking of building a home-recording studio that I can charge other bands to use. I know most of the equipment that I want for it, I think it adds up to about $9000 Australian (or less, I think). But I want to build it to benefit my music, as well as trying to make a bit of money for once. So what I really need is some info and opinions.
What could I charge per hour, considering I have no formal qualifications as a recording engineer? (I have a lot of other music experience).
Is location really that important? I live 30kms out of town, and i'm not sure if bands will be prepared to travel that far.
If I go ahead with it, i'm also going to run it as a practise space for bands. Does anybody know of anything else I can do to try to make it profitable?
And finally, i'd really like to hear other people's success stories of running their own home studio, and I suppose I should hear of any failures as well.
Thanks.

[regebro]

The best way to ake a profit is to identify a marked need, and fulfill it. Unless there in your area is an unfulfilled demand for the type of studio you are thinking about building, you will have a VERY hard time making it profitable, unless you simply can be much much better than all the other studios.

The demo type studios I have encountered here in Sweden are generally built and run by musicians that have the studio for themselves and rent it out as an extra income.

[happy hour]

I would start out doing some free sessions for friends to get the feel of your studio, and to get used to recording bands, then start charging for your services. I learned soooo much my first time in a project studio.

Have fun!