FAQs

NextFab is a network of membership-based makerspaces that provide access to tools, technology, education, events, and services for makers of any skill level.

We currently have 3 locations in Philadelphia, PA and Wilmington, DE.
2025 Washington Ave. Philadelphia, PA 19146
1800 North American Street, Philadelphia, PA 19122
503 N. Tatnall Street, Wilmington, DE 19801

Take a virtual tour here. For more questions contact us here.

Nope. Anyone is welcome to take a tour of NextFab, attend events and classes that are open to the public, or to hire Contract Services. Members are also allowed to bring guests for a visit lasting no more than 4 hours. However, in order to use NextFab software, tools, and take the majority of our classes, you must be a member.

Absolutely! We welcome members of all skill levels and backgrounds. Our only membership requirement is for age – you must be at least 10 years old for a junior membership, and at least 18 years old for a regular membership.

NextFab offers membership, educational classes, hardware incubator and accelerator programs, and professional contract services available for hire. For more information about each of these options, please visit the Discover page.

For certain classes, NextFab will provide materials needed. We also have raw materials for sale, including wood, metal, print media, hardware, etc. Members are always welcome and encouraged to bring in their own materials.

Interested in becoming part of the team at NextFab? Check out our current openings on our Careers page.

Joining NextFab is easy! Sign up online under our Join page or by contacting us here for more information. Once you’ve signed up, you’ll receive a welcome email to help guide you through the next steps – orientation, safety training, and classes.

We currently do not offer an option to freeze or pause membership, but you can downgrade your membership to our most affordable option. Membership may be cancelled at any time by contacting our Member Services department here.

Yes! Your membership provides access to all NextFab locations. Just check in at the front desk when you go to a new location for the first time.

Yes, you can change your membership level at any time by contacting us. If you downgrade your membership level in the middle of the month, the changes will take place on the first day of the next billing cycle.

NextFab offers a variety of membership levels at different costs to help you find the option that works best for you. Memberships start at $99 per month, depending on how much access you’re looking for. Learn more on our Join page.

Note, discounts are available for students, recent graduates, senior citizens, educators, veterans, first responders, and members of CEFVA.

While our members are young at heart, you must be 18 years of age or older to use our shops and be a member. We also offer junior memberships for kids ages 10-17, but junior members must be accompanied by a parent or other adult member at all times. For more information on junior memberships, see the Join page.

We do not currently offer a month-to-month payment option. We kindly ask you to sign up for autopay and your card will be charged monthly on/from the date of signup.

Yes. Members who would like to reserve machine time may do so online. The reservation calendar should only be used by those who have obtained unsupervised access on that particular machine. Please note that based on power consumption, operating costs and maintenance some machines require hourly reservation fees.

Yes. In addition to locker storage, we offer larger storage areas for keeping your works in progress, tools, and materials for a fee. You can rent a storage space on a monthly basis. The fee varies depending on size and any special requirements. For pricing and more details, please contact us here.

You can bring in your own hand tools if you would like. However, you will need to obtain permission from a manager to bring in power tools or anything unusual. If you are looking for a particular tool that we do not have, let us know what tool you want to bring in – we may decide to purchase it for the studio.

Members have access to all of the tools at NextFab, provided that they have completed the proper prerequisite classes, or demonstrated proficiency. However, certain advanced tools, such as the waterjet, will require assistance from a NextFab staff member. For more information, please ask your shop manager.

All NextFab facilities are ADA accessible to members and the public, but some workshop areas and equipment may present environmental barriers to members with certain physical disabilities. We aim to accommodate members with access concerns and special needs. Contact us here with inquiries.

Anyone, regardless of English comprehension, can join NextFab as a member. Access to equipment in shops depends on our existing competency check. To take classes at NextFab, members must have an independent working verbal and written comprehension of English.

NextFab’s Contract Services team is based out of our 2025 Washington Ave location in Philadelphia. Our hours are Monday through Friday 10 am-6 pm. We will make every effort to respond to your inquiry within two business days.

We can still find someone to help you out, even if we don’t take on the job ourselves! We have plenty of members eager to take on projects using our online Jobs Board. You can also become a member and learn how to create your project yourself.

The Jobs Board allows you to work directly with NextFab members whereas hiring our Product Development team lets you work with our team of skilled staff.

If you’re looking to work with a local artist, designer, or fabricator, the Jobs Board is the place for you. If your project doesn’t fit into one of the categories in our Contract Inquiry form or meets our minimum budgets it could be a good candidate. Our members collectively have a different set of skills and expertise than our staff and they can often take on projects that we can’t.

Our Product Development team loves a good challenge, so we’re usually looking for projects that are advanced, large scale, or boutique design/production. Check out our portfolio of case studies for a sample of our latest work to see if your idea aligns, and then get a quote here.
We typically do not take on projects where the idea is not clearly defined enough, nor do we do mass-production jobs.

Anyone can submit a Contract Inquiry or post a project on the Jobs Board.

NextFab members can view the posted project on the Jobs Board.

None. NextFab is only providing the venue for you to connect with one of our talented members. The member you hire is solely responsible for the result of the project.

You will receive an email to the address that you supply when your job is posted. Your name and email address are not visible until you reply to an email sent by the member.

Members are able to provide links to their portfolio or website and describe how they plan to complete your project to help you assess their ability. You may also follow up with requests for more information as you see fit.

Members will only see the information that you supply about the project (title, description, attachments, budget, schedule). Your name and email address are not visible until you reply to an email sent by a member.

Projects are automatically deleted 14 days after they are posted. We do this because we don’t want members spending time to contact clients who are already working with someone or are no longer interested in having the project completed. You are always welcome to post the project again.

You may want to consider resubmitting the project with an adjusted budget or schedule. Those are important variables that members will consider when assessing the project. It’s also possible that NextFab doesn’t have the right equipment to complete your project. Feel free to book a quick consult call with NextFab’s Contract Services team to discuss whether this may be the case. Please note that projects are automatically deleted 14 days after they are posted. We do this because we don’t want members spending time to contact clients who are already working with someone or are no longer interested in having the project completed.

You will have the opportunity to choose which person is the best fit for your project.

That’s something that you and the person you hire will need to establish. A deposit is typically requested to cover material costs at a minimum.

That’s up to the person you choose to hire. NextFab does allow members to bring guests into our facilities. Visitors are not permitted to operate equipment.

We offer three types of spaces at our locations:

Private workspaces and studios to work on individual projects. Office space for teams and startups in need of private office space to work on and store projects. Storage space ranging in size from small locker storage to hold materials and projects to larger warehouse space to store and work from.

Yes, you will have 24/7 access to your space. Your access to NextFab’s advanced manufacturing equipment and workshops is limited to NextFab’s regular business hours.

Yes! You should also obtain and keep in force a general liability insurance with a combined single limit of no less than $1,000,000 per occurrence for bodily injury and property damage insuring both NextFab and yourself against liability arising out of use, occupancy, and maintenance of your space at NextFab.

We are looking for hardware entrepreneurs who are beyond the idea stage, are already making sales, and are looking forward to establishing themselves in their respective fields. Ideally, these individuals will become active members in our community and will collaborate closely with our larger membership base.

We are entirely focused on working with hardware startups and our state-of-the-art makerspace facility in South Philadelphia serves as a one stop shop for all their prototyping needs. The selected teams will get funding and direct access to NextFab’s Product Development staff. Think of them as an extension of your team. We’ll offer you advice, make introductions, and fill skill gaps or relieve bandwidth constraints that are preventing you from reaching development milestones. In addition to all of this, we’ll introduce you to mentors and experienced advisors, as well as our broader community of talented designers, artists, engineers, and entrepreneurs.

While we’re open to receiving applications from anyone, our ideal team would have 2 co-founders, a physical prototype, a patented technology, and a good estimate of the market size.

Applicants and participants in our programs are discouraged from disclosing confidential information about their product(s)/device(s). You are solely responsible for your own intellectual property. We respect the confidentiality of your ideas, but similarly to other organizations in the startup ecosystem that are engaged in reviewing hundreds of business plans and ideas, we do not sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs).

We usually accept 4-5 teams or individuals for each cohort of the RAPID Hardware Accelerator program.

If for some reason you and your team are not able to apply for the upcoming cohort, you can submit your application to be considered for a future cohort. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis and reviewed twice a year.

Yes! RAPID participants will be matched with mentors as part of the program.

Yes, we provide seed funding for RAPID participants (up to $25,000 per team). We can provide follow-on capital based on your progress in the program.

NextFab will issue a Convertible Note Term Sheet indicating the key terms of our investment and a proposed investment amount. A Convertible Note means that no equity will be exchanged until the accepted team goes out to raise an equity round of financing. Using this investment vehicle keeps legal costs low allowing for each company to spend more on de-risking their product to attract future investment. In addition to capital investment, you may also receive credit to work directly with NextFab’s Product Development team for 12 months after the start of the program.

No. However, we have a preference for startups incorporated as Delaware C-Corporations.

All events will take place at NextFab’s main location at 2025 Washington Ave.