Looks like we are building a new home...in addition to the standard 2 car garage inc. w/ the house, I have the opportunity to build a 2 stall shop. I am thinking a metal building as cost is about 1/2 a trad. build. Any advice from those who have built their own little hot rod garage?
go as big as you can afford,you will always be able to fill it up. go to http://www.garagejournal.com and go to there forms section http://www.garagejournal.com/forum
I'm getting ready to build a new shop and everyone I have talked to say's build as big as you can afford, I understand that but man was I in for a surprize when I started getting prices on just the concrete alone$$$$$.
I've got room for four cars under the house, a metal 3-car shop and a couple of storage buildings. It still ain't enough room for all of my junk. Metal shops are indeed nice though.
I'd take into consideration how your going to heat it also while your planning the build. The way fuel prices are these days, I'd build a metal building for cars and parts storage and use the 2 car as the building area. Just my 2 cents though. later shawn
If you can do some of the work yourself you'll have some sweat equity... Here's my $5000.00 shop...1500 sq. ft. I bought an existing 5000. sq. ft. building, used what I could at my place, and sold the rest. Lots of work but I wouldn't have ever been able to do it any other way...
My dad and I are building a shop right now...40x80 Steel with concrete floor all insulated with finished walls. the old shop was 25x60 and was to narrow...so this will be really nice. The concrete was the expensive part. Oh and as for heat...we are using the same system in our house...Radiant Heat Coils...it's basically these "heat coils" or wires that run through drywall on the ceiling...If wanted you can set it up so different areas of the building heat individually with seperate thermostats...Each room in our house has a seperate thermostat. The shop will have one in the booth, the bathroom and the office. It's pretty cool. I'm not sure where you can find it where you live but a quick search on google should help you out. Also if you can...Build a loft...you'll want one to store crap, it doesn't have to have to be a full story maybe just 5 or 6ft ceilings...but you'll want one when you run out of places to put crap.
I built my 30x40 for right at $5000.00 4 or 5 years ago. That was with me doing all the work except for getting a place to put up the roof/metal studs. I also have a 1500sf carriage house, 3000sf barn and several sheds and still don't have enough room. Like everyone says build it as big as you can or bigger than you think you need.......
before you make ant decisions on what you want to build for a shop , check your local building codes to see what THEY want you to build...sometime you do not get your first choice
if you have to submit to the city tell them that you want to build at least a third more than you want then when they kick back a lower square footage you still can build what ya want
I'm still in the planning stages and dont plan on having a building up for another 2 years but I have been pricing them lately, will be going with a 40' x 60' x 12' w/ 3" insulation. I have heard of a few guys going through a broker and getting some pretty good deals ( 30' x 40' for 6,000 $ ) My estimate delivered from Fla to TN. was 21k. + assembly which I will be doing. And then another friend just had a 30 x 40 pole barn installed for under 10k w/o concrete.
Bigger is better, BUT, look at property taxes. You may find you dont want to pay what a huge shop turns your assesment into.
I bought a fully insulated 60x40 building for $40k. Didn't lift a finger When you put the plumbing in the floor, leave it 1/4" under the concrete. Have the building inspected, and then hammer the concrete to expose the plumbing. That will save a lot of city/county inspections and time. Have the electrician come out and do one outlet and the service box. Have that inspected. Plumbers and electricians are a huge rip off. They will charge you about 10 times what the parts cost and bitch all day. String your own wire. I mounted my conduit on the walls, and made it industrial looking. No sense hiding it behind the walls. I put the 110 outlets above the workbench, and the 220 below. Generally, you need to start with the county assessor, and start the paperwork. You pay them for all the inspections up front. Then as each one is completed you progress on the paperwork until you get the final inspection. Do not talk to the inspectors. They will probe and they know everything, as they've seen every trick in the book. As long as you don't insult them, they are on their way to the next job.
Rule #1: No matter how big you build it, you will fill it up and faster than you think - we're hot rodders right? Buy a building with tall side walls - that way you can put in a hoist and get extra car space for relatively little $. 12 ft sidewalls will do it nicely. This saves you on property tax as it gives you more potential sq ft without paying more property tax or for extra concrete. A decent four poster hoist can be had for under $2k new. Mine are made in USA and an absolute godsend. Metal Halide lights are expensive but the best way to go for working light. They take a few minutes to warm up. But man do they ever show up every tiny flaw in the car's paintwork.
if you can, show the location of the future shop on the house plans, including the future power route. my last local the shop couldnt be bigger than the main structure. the solution was a 1000 sf carport attached to the house...... it will pay for you to spend some time at the permitting office and wear your car shirt - may get lucky and find a fellow car nut who can help steer you thru........
I had a 38' x 65' shop (2,470 sq ft) with a 12' x 24' front porch/carport built in 2003. It has a full bath, hot/cold water, 220V with four outlets, and 110V with twelve; lights, insulated, and has three insulated overhead doors and two walk-ins. I was able to save a bunch on this because it was built on the foundation of my house, which was destroyed in a tornado earlier in the year. I built the new house next to it. All I'm lacking is heat and air (it's ungodly hot in there in July and colder than the proverbial witches' tit in December, believe me!), plumbed air from the compressor, and a hydraulic lift. These, I plan to do in the next 18 months, finally! What people have been saying about building it as big as you can afford, let me add to that: Build with what you anticipate adding in the future! Lift? Paint booth? Bathroom? Even if you can not afford those things now, plan FOR them, and you'll not regret it! Also, wire the electrical for as much as you anticipate use for! Having one 220V circuit won't work if you want a 220V compressor, water heater, welder, and a lift! Think and plan what you want to be able to do in the shop five years from now, and go in that direction.
All the above offer good, sound advice with which I agree. But, having about 55 years of time with an obsession,for cars in general and hot rods in particular. With a "Major" in wrench twistings, and "hands on" modifications, I've been in and under hot rods in many variety's of places ranging from just a flat spot in the dirt, thru the next step of this flat spot being beneath a big old oak, whose limbs could support the chain hoist for pulling engines. This continued up the path, visiting actually under being under a roof, first on a dirt floor and then actually a concrete floor! And on up to what we see on TV and drool over today! And I'll freely admit, this idea is not mine, but was passed to me by a friend when he built his shop from scratch started with a plan. Where he got it, I dunno. But any serious gearhead, or wanta be, should include it in a custom design, or in any situation where you could for only cost plus additional basis, features could be added in basic infrastructure at minimal cost, beforehand. In at least one bay, at strategic locations, recess in the floor some U bolts anchored in a deep area of the concrete, for use with hydraulic jacks, porta power and their clones to apply pressure from below to a frame horn, or such,, chain it down at the highest point, and push from the lowest point. Just stop and ponder the times they would have been great to have! Neatest ones I've seen were little mini-manhole covers, 6-8" and their cast iron recepticals. They are usually used for water valves to branch lines. Recessed in the floor,fully levelled with the U-bolts recessed within, and anchored securely in extra concrete below, they were minmized in hindrance in conventional usage, yet invaluable in usefullness in others. Think about their potential value vs the minimal cost, amd I beleive you'll agree on their worth. Dave
All the above offer good, sound advice with which I agree. But, having about 55 years of time with an obsession,for cars in general and hot rods in particular. With a "Major" in wrench twistings, and "hands on" modifications, I've been in and under hot rods in many variety's of places ranging from just a flat spot in the dirt, thru the next step of this flat spot being beneath a big old oak, whose limbs could support the chain hoist for pulling engines. This continued up the path, visiting actually under being under a roof, first on a dirt floor and then actually a concrete floor! And on up to what we see on TV and drool over today! And I'll freely admit, this idea is not mine, but was passed to me by a friend when he built his shop from scratch started with a plan. Where he got it, I dunno. But any serious gearhead, or wanta be, should include it in a custom design, or in any situation where you could for only cost plus additional basis, features could be added in basic infrastructure at minimal cost, beforehand. In at least one bay, at strategic locations, recess in the floor some U bolts anchored in a deep area of the concrete, for use with hydraulic jacks, porta power and their clones to apply pressure from below to a frame horn, or such,, chain it down at the highest point, and push from the lowest point. Just stop and ponder the times they would have been great to have! Neatest ones I've seen were little mini-manhole covers, 6-8" and their cast iron recepticals. They are usually used for water valves to branch lines. Recessed in the floor,fully levelled with the U-bolts recessed within, and anchored securely in extra concrete below, they were minmized in hindrance in conventional usage, yet invaluable in usefullness in others. Think about their potential value vs the minimal cost, amd I beleive you'll agree on their worth. Dave
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