Bernd,
When working with a small shop, we work in inches not feet.
I haven't told anyone on the web about this, but if you remember, I had a bit of trouble with the lathe being not up to scratch. The suppliers offered an upgrade to a much better specced machine, but I couldn't take them up on their offer, because it was about 3 inches too long for the space I had allocated for the lathe, so I had one of the original ones modified to my specs and fitted that. This shop was designed around the largest machines and bits I could fit in there, with no compromises on anything. Hence I have to use ALL available space. I even had to measure whether I could get my shoulders and head between the lathe and the end wall, just so that I could do belt and gear changes, and let me tell you, it is a tight squeeze, but it can be done.
BTW, you should see the state of the floor in my shop, I can manage at just below waist height and above, but the lower parts have to be done by my better half when she is available. Upset her, and I am soon up to my a**e in crap and swarf. I will post up some more shots when it is all finished.
I know it is only joking about me and your space, I envy what you have, and praise you for being able to put it to full use, but really, we should all just accept what we have, and make it the best place to work as we can. There are ways and means to achieve what we do, and we almost always succeed in the end, no matter how much or little we have. It is the doing that is the main thing, and having friends that can handle the little (or big) bits we can't, makes it much easier. I can manage 3ft long on my machine, but have a mate who can machine me something 3ft 1inch long, it is those people who go the extra inch that makes life worthwhile and enjoyable.
John