Dream Garage - How Much?

Yeah, that thing is a bit over the top. My ideal garage is not some underground bunker or a spotless multi-bay building with expensive tile floors. Give me an old shop building with some history to it any day.

 

I wouldnt look at a house unless it had a garage or ample room to legally build one. I needed a yard and a garage. Those were my only must haves. I ended up with a decent yard and a long 1 car garage. It's not much. But we got in to a great area (read expensive) for very little money. Now we just need to get the bank to agree to it all.... 45 days into a short sale thus far.

 

I have roughly 8k in an 18x26 garage with a 10x26 carport attached. Thats including the 100 amp service. I wish I had a bigger lot so I could have a bigger garage. With the next house maybe.

 

$90,000.00 is not unbelieveable!!.....Keep in mind that $90K does not mean the same thing to everyone, I have about 25K in my 30 X 40 garage, But I am a poorboy, I built it, And it added about 10K to the value of my home, and about 30K to my property taxes....LOL, but whata gonna do??.....A good friend of mine has about 110K in his home garage, But Unlike me he is not a poorboy.....It is a 40 X 100 and has 10 inch thick floors with a floor heating system, It is fully Insulated, a full batroom and 1/2.....and looks like something I would live in on the inside. anyhow 90K is not crazy considering some people pay up to 30K just for kitichen cabinets.....LOL

 

LOL, the wife and I have discussed turning the garage on the new place into a house. And the house into a multi level garage, the only thing stopping us is the cost of the lift to get the stuff up to the upper floors.

But it would keep visitors guessing, can you imagine going in the front door only to be greeted by a half finished Stude coupe, or a rusty '38 sedan?

 

We all have to remember that construction costs are very different in different parts of the country and the time. About 6 years back I got a cople of quotes to build a 50X50 garage. Now remember that I live in So Cal and it was the top of the building and real estate market. The quotes I received were in the $300K range for the building, cement, basic electrical, no drywall, etc. I was completely floored by the price even considering the location and time. I am now in the process of starting a build that has a much more reasonable price tag.

 

My dad always says "If you have to shoot someone, make sure you put them down. Otherwise, they will sue you for everything you have and win."

Honestly, it was more of a joke than anything. I've never had to pull a weapon in defense of self or property, and I hope to never have to. Hopefully, the sight of this and a "Get the F out of here and never come back" would be enough.



We live out in the sticks, but there have been a few break-ins and home invasions over the past year. We've got motion lights and all, and the only outside access to the garage is from the big door, which we'd hear if someone tried to open it. I'm getting paranoid, though. If someone follows me into my neighborhood while I'm in my Chevy, I will lap the neighborhood first and make sure they turn off somewhere. Things are getting really bad out there. If you have a big garage, invest in security!!

 

I sure hope that's Brandy in those fancy glasses....

 

40x100 and 50x50 would not be considered a "garage" by any zoning board or regulation that I am aware of.

 

How about a garage and shop????

The proposed building I am looking to build is 25X40 Shop and 30X40 car parking. All of it will eventually be considered "the garage".

 

We found our house when the owner was having a garage sale. She was motivated to sell, house had a 2.5 car garage, behind which was an office: 12 ft. X 25 ft.
First plan was to tear out the office, and do a drive-thru with rollup door.

But I have control line planes, so the office became a hobby shop.

On the other side of the house there was a 12 foot wide space to the fence...I made an RV entrance, ran a drive way 125 feet into the yard: the lot is 175 feet deep, so I planned a shop.
Never enough money to commit to a building, the recession hit and there was less.
My bud was selling his house 80 miles North of us, and asked if I wanted his shop.
It was a metal building, heavy gauge steel, 12" on center ribs. The frame was 2.5" heavy conduit, with prebent trusses.
My wife and I had to take it down, and he loaned me his car trailer to move it, behind my trusty '55 F100...
Wife Joey and I started on a Friday, 7:00 A.M. She was on top, I was down below; we worked with 2 DeWalt 18 volt screw guns, and removed 1,700+ screws...she slid the 21 foot long sheets down one-by-one, then climbed down and we stacked them.
By Sunday, (after one trip home with the first load) we were bringing down the 16-foot wide rollup door, with a 5/8" heavy Nautical rope, 3 feet at a time, alternating ends with a step ladder...
This is heavy stuff, Joey is 135 lbs., 5'6", and wiry. Thank God for her.
We had it all loaded Sunday at 5:00 PM, were on the road and home by 6:30.

Stacked it in the yard for a year, then dug out to pour concrete. We went a little larger, to include a man-door in the front, alongside the 16 ft. rollup door. Building is now 25' X 25'.
They were building a school behind us, so I asked the Superintendant about his concrete company...he advised me to order concrete from them, and the driver could back right up to a section of fence if removed. I said great, we would pour Tuesday.
And we did. I hired a friend to spread-and-finish, I wanted 2 tie-downs, and service for electric...His 2-man crew ran rebar, floated a mesh, finished forms, set down a plastic moisture barrier, received 12 yards of concrete, and finished it to 'mirror-smooth'...Two days labor.
I paid him $1K. Concrete truck 12 yds. was $1200.

I went to work with 2" angle iron around the perimeter, setting the poles, and raising the trusses: 150 lbs. each. (Raised them with my cherry picker, using an extra 10' long 2.5" dia. conduit, single bolt thru the boom; a pair of '28 Chevy running board brackets welded in a "V" and saddle-clamped to the end of the new boom sat in the apexes of the trusses nicely. Ballast on the back of the cherry picker was a '53 Merc flathead, stood on its rear, (no crank) and chained behind the main mast.
After erecting the main door jamb, (two 2 X 10s sandwiched with 3/4" ply, and a lam-beam from a contractor friend) the high-reach cherry picker also hoisted the 16-foot rollup door, and end at a time, using the trusty step ladder.
A few niceties were incorporated, and the rollup door is now opened and closed by way of bicycle chains (2) and sprockets, by a boat hand winch. (that will be replaced by an electric garage door opener: same #45 chain, simple retrofit)

My '27 tub will be first, frame jig is up and ready...Just finishing the 240 volt service this morning.
Total cost of building as it is now? $3100. (includes concrete and labor, extra sheet metal to expand, and metal side doors, two 7' X 8' sliders)

Took a long time, but worth every bruise...

 

Correct. Many if not most municipalities not only have square foot restrictions, but height restrictions as well. You can sometimes pay up and jump through some hoops and get a variance but it's expensive and takes a lot of time.

 

Jealousy is an awful thing and you should really get over it and move on.

 

13 years ago I built a 24X28 garage/shop and had around $6K in it. After awhile it got too small due to filling it with machine tools and project cars.

I approched the city about building a second garage or adding onto the existing one and all I could hear was "NO". So I bought a place with 12 acres in the county.

I am collecting quotes on my new building and so far it looks like around $35K complete for a 40X50 building with electrical.

It's great to live out in the country where the zoning and permit process is almost reasonable. Having the nearest neighbor 200+ yards away is also nice.

 

cant find a decent picture anyway 3 bay post and beam style was 15k with 2 garage doors and one walk in door, I just converted walk in to another garage door fer 1500. at time of build (1998) a 85 foot driveway was also 6000.

 

I built my 32'x 48' garage with 14' ceilings on a 5" 4k lb mix floor with a full foundation. 200 amp electric & radiant heat for under 40k. I had significant help from a lot of good friends and did most of it myself (siding, wiring, insulating, plumbing interior sheathing etc) I also ran a water line from the house and put in a drain to a dry well for a sink. I don't think I could have had it built for that.

 

It's amazing the difference in prices! I am just quoting an addition on a garage that will add 1200 sq ft ( huge!) but concrete alone is a big bill. Up here is about $240. /yd. Foundations need to be below frost (5 ft) foundation is over 10 grand and slab is another 8. Trusses are about 3 thousand and lumber around 4. That job as a closed in shell will be around 75.
I also do high end concrete coatings for " gold chainers" we just did floor coating on a 2500sq ft addition on a garage that cost him close to 20 with all the details ( including a hockey rink in his double wash bay!) and I know his garage cabinets bill is more than that. ( He doesn't even have a cool car! just bikes,quads, ski doos, jet skis and a boat!!)
If you can build a building where you live in a slab, and you don't need insulation, and you have cheap labour, I can see maybe a professionally built 2 car garage under 40 but the $90,000 "average" to me sounds about right.


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When I built my 24x60 x 10-1/2' walls. The county would let you make your own trusses as long as they weren't over 24' wide. I lived in the country on 2-1/2 acres. I did everything myself with help of some friends. The concrete finisher was a husband of a secretary of company I did work for. She volunteered him. (We are best friends now) . I bought some 7' siding cheap so I used 1-1/2 sheets so my walls are 10-1/2 feet tall. I only Put in one door 12' wide and 8' high. Slider. It cost me right at $8000 back in 1992