Metal Buildings and Monster Size Garage

Flynlow said:

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Pole barn thing.  The skirt boards (the 2x6 pressure treated at the bottom of the poles) act as your form. 

Today I learned! Thanks.

Flynlow (FS) said:

Also, the regrowth in these photos makes me happy.  The land was clear cut in 2016 or 2017:

And here it is just 4-5 years later:

And keeping with the theme:

Be pretty cool if you had a neat car to put in there. 

In reply to Mndsm :

Monday updates, the concrete (inside and out) is poured, and pretty much all that's left is hanging the garage doors and final walkthrough.  For this stage at least.  When I've reloaded the money cannon in a couple months, (years, decades?) the plan is to wire it up for lights and outlets, run the heavy wire for welder, EV charger, compressor, etc., and hopefully insulate and drywall.

The lean-to is stamped concrete, hopefully to be used for hang-outs, with a grill and some patio furniture to arrive in a month or two when it warms up:

I just made an offer on some land closer to you, if I remember where you are correctly (I can't find our emails).  

How do you like your builder so far? 

If they accept, I'll be about a year out from starting to build something. 

In reply to yupididit :

Awesome, congrats!  How many acres?  Did you walk the property already?  If you're down this way and would like to grab a burger and a beer, please let me know.

The builder was excellent, with one small caveat.  Pros: He was fast, communicative, had great ideas and suggestions/improvements, and appears to have done very high quality work.  The caveat is we're way over budget, which stings a bit.  Most of the overage is additional site work, and the line item in the quote did say it was just an estimate, but mentally I put in a 10% contingency, and it's been more like 30-40%.  I wish the quote had been a little more accurate, because while I'm very satisfied with the work and the final product, if I knew what the final cost number was going to be, I would have considered stretching and doing the garage with the apartment above it that I was working on on page 2.  Having gone through the process now, I know for next time to discuss all this during the quote stage and making sure to put a "not to exceed" on some of the estimated costs.  Live and learn.

Just over 30 acres. I hope they accept the offer, I think they're asking for too much lol. I did walk the property a few months ago. 

I'm always down your way lol. I'm still trying to talk my family into restoring the home on Lake Caroline which might end up being a historical property for the state. 

Flynlow said:

In reply to yupididit :

Awesome, congrats!  How many acres?  Did you walk the property already?  If you're down this way and would like to grab a burger and a beer, please let me know.

The builder was excellent, with one small caveat.  Pros: He was fast, communicative, had great ideas and suggestions/improvements, and appears to have done very high quality work.  The caveat is we're way over budget, which stings a bit.  Most of the overage is additional site work, and the line item in the quote did say it was just an estimate, but mentally I put in a 10% contingency, and it's been more like 30-40%.  I wish the quote had been a little more accurate, because while I'm very satisfied with the work and the final product, if I knew what the final cost number was going to be, I would have considered stretching and doing the garage with the apartment above it that I was working on on page 2.  Having gone through the process now, I know for next time to discuss all this during the quote stage and making sure to put a "not to exceed" on some of the estimated costs.  Live and learn.

IME this is just how it goes when you build a house on property that's never been cleared or developed.  I built on acreage last year and I was into the site prep work for over $50k before we had a stick of wood or concrete poured.  My builder actually came in roughly on budget but after getting the C.O. I spent well over $50k doing things like concrete aprons and sidewalks, slag for the driveway, 16 loads of dirt around the septic drain field.. you get the picture.

Worth it to me now, I'm happily working in my new shop just about every day.  Hope it's the same for you.

I spent many years building structures with very little knowledge of sitework.  I built on developed lots- they had their streets, curbs, storm drainage, rough grading, driveway aprons, detention ponds, and utilities already completed when I started.  I had no idea how much that stuff cost before I started building a building.
 

Now I build everything.  We start with raw land and finish with multi-million dollar commercial structures.  As much as I love building structures (that's the fun part), 50% of the final cost is usually below the surface of the dirt.

We had a rainy day last week, it was a great time to check the roof for leaks and look at the site grading for any water pooling.  Found a couple of spots to regrade, and they'll be back in a month or two to do that and scrape/level the driveway one more time (it needs to rain/dry/rain/dry a few times to compact the gravel).

Took an artsy shot, it really shows how much bigger it is than it looks (those 14' doors shrink cars):

Update for today....got my first quote to install the garage doors last week, and it was almost $5000...I know we have a few construction and commercial door folks on the forum, could I get a sense check?  I have another quote pending, but better informed is better prepared, so any feedback is most welcome.  I was hoping to be in the $2-3k range, but I don't know if that's reasonable or not.

Job details: 2 14'x14' roll up/sectional doors (CHI brand, insulated panels, already on site, springs/hardware/etc. included and verified complete by first contractor that quoted).  Extra 2x6 and 2x4 lumber for additional framing of track and spring pad is available onsite.  So quote was only labor to install, adjust, etc.  No openers at this time, manual opening until I get the building wired. 

Thanks for any help you can offer.

2nd quote was just over $3k, and their lead time was 2 weeks, rather than 4.  Sold.  Time to get this done.  Just one more massive credit card bill, and then maybe I can go back to saving money next month :P.  Probably not, there's framing, a loft to build, electrical to run, etc.....but I can dream.

Done!  Woohoo!!!

(still have to frame, wire, insulate, drywall, etc., etc.).....but it's weathertight!!! :)

Looking great!  Very jealous of the pimpy new garage.

Sooooo great. 

Seeing the doors in makes the size really show. DAMN.

Got a couple of days off around the 4th, trying to make some progress.  My buddy is a rockstar and has been building walls:

And I've been digging the trench for the power company to land a meter and site connection:

Hoping to set the post and pour some concrete tomorrow, and then keep chipping away at the walls.  Digging that by hand today in VA July heat was an experience.  Going to sleep well tonight!

Congrats!!

Looks awesome!!!  

I bought a 25' wide x 60' deep unit in a commercial development about 10 miles from my house. It's a real nice complex and zoned for "no auto repair businesses". I did confirm (in writing) that I can perform auto work there just not a auto "business". It's a parking issue really.

I installed a lift and added a mezzanine one the back 20'. It super secure since the rear man door of my unit opens not a police department parking lot. I bought it in 2012 and have never had an issue.

I do have to pay property taxes and HOA fee each year which totals about $5000/year. But the unit next door just sold for 4 times what I paid for mine and when I'm done tinkering with cars and boats and what ever, I'll rent it out for a nice monthly income.

My only wish is that it was 60' wide and 25' deep. I only have one 10' wide roll up door so I have to jocky stuff around often.

In reply to 67LS1 :

That's awesome!  Any pictures of the interior of your shop?  I am planning to put in both a two post and four post, hopefully side-by-side in front of the mezzanine.

My buddy said the same thing, he likes a wide x shallow shop.  It definitely makes more sense for getting daily drivers in and out.  In this case, I'm hoping to group project cars and storage towards the back, and keep the ones that get driven often towards the front.  We'll see how it works out.  I've been delighted with the 14x14 doors, concrete truck fit, boat trailer fit, the only one that didn't was I couldn't bring the forklift carrying the 16' lumber in....ah well.  Hopefully that's a one-time narrow point. 

Awesome shop!

In reply to Flynlow : Here are a couple pics of the inside of my shop...

In reply to 67LS1 :

Very cool.  Love the '66 Chevelle.

I am planning to do an upper level very similar, should be 16'x24' when done.