Another ancient thread pops up out of the woodwork. I recall this one from - eight years ago, wow! It will be interesting to see what comments are added to it now.
How to make money from a darkroom? By selling the gear But expect only cents on the dollar.
Bad jokes aside, for the past thirty years I've offered an occasional film processing and print-making service to fellow photographers who either couldn't find these locally or wanted specialized work (pull/push processing, hand made prints with dodging/special effects, C41 cross-processed, and the like). On average, I did from 6 to 12 jobs every year. One factor that may have worked against me in this, was my pricing structure - whoever wanted my work had to pay my prices, and I never, ever cut my fees or for that matter my costs, which often as not came dangerously close to what I was charging. I did it purely for the love of the work. Unrealistic or unreasonable demands were declined and more than one an objectionable would-be client was politely but firmly shown to the door and told to shop elsewhere. In other words, I did it for the enjoyment of it.
In the last ten years my work flow went down by half and more, which didn't concern me as I was basically into it for the fun anyway and not the profit. Last year in Tasmania, where more film shooters seem to congregate (retirement age is a key factor in this, unlike in the rest of Australia where young film shooters are now on the increase), I did four jobs and a fairly big (and much too time-consuming for my liking) archival printing project for a state agency which got cancelled halfway through the printing, but I was adequately paid off for my curtailed services and extra stocks of printing paper and chemistry I had pre-ordered at client's request, so I didn't lose money. For the rest of the work I just about broke even after costs, not including my time which again wasn't a concern as I'm now retired. At year's end we relocated back to the mainland and we are now in country Victoria, so it seems unlikely I'll get any darkroom work in 2020, some friends do ask but so far nothing has eventuated. Again, this suits me fine.
Helge (#22) hit the nail on the head with all this. According to my Melbourne suppliers, B&W films still sell reasonably well to mostly older photographers, but the young'uns are now shooting C41 and want to get it processed quickly and cheaply at small city labs, those few that still exist in this digi-everything era. With old SLR cameras being flogged off on Ebay at an average price of A$100 including lens, the Two And Six mentality prevails (for those of you unfamiliar with the English monetary system, this means 2/6, two shillings sixpence - small change) and nobody is prepared to pay any serious money for anything photographic, even assuming a few out there still now quality results when they see it, let alone how to achieve it.
I know of one community darkroom in Ballarat, our nearest regional center, but it's now closed due to the Covid crisis. There may be a few in Melbourne, but i have to say I'm now completely out of touch with most of what goes on in photography there. Not even sure if that venerable institution, the Melbourne Camera Club, is still in operation, I recall they did have a darkroom at one time but the majority of their members are likely centenarians now and this facility may well be closed like the rest.
Small home darkrooms are probably the way of the future. I've kept the best of my gear including two fine enlargers (Leitz 35mm and multiformat LPL) and of course my Jobo units, but when we moved back to the mainland a large box of still usable processing tanks and quite a bit of chemistry was donated to various photographers who still use these and, sadly, the rest went to a local charity shop for want of a good home. For me it was all very Marie Kondo and it at times it felt like trying to give away a litter of kittens.
Others may differ in their thoughts about all this. Will the OP kindly give us an update? I will be greatly interested in the response.
