What is the perfect size shop, and the perfect amout of hot rods? My wife said one time that I could have anything I wanted as long as it was in an enclosed shop in and out of sight at night. I built a 34 x 38 foot shop. Before long I kicked out the back and added a 22x20 out th back end of it. Then, I added a 12 x 20 off that.....where does it stop? I even made a removeable wall on the last addition for ease of future addition! And what constitutes a Hot Rod anyway....is there a year cut off? Can a 1985 be a Hot rod?
Hard to say what is the perfect shop size, I have a 30x40 shop that I am filling up fast. I would love to have 5000 sq ft shop but would fill it up too, and more space to lose shit. As for a 85 Hot Rod, I had a 85 Monte Carlo SS Hot Rod, You could "Hot Rod" anything I guess, but a 85 would not get much love on this site.
I built a 24w x 30 deep garage and My wife said I should've paved the back yard and put a roof over it. Buzz
I'd have to agree with the sentiment that 5-6000sqft is about right! By the time you have your areas lined up for various activities like chassis building, sheetmetal fabrication, wood working area for plugs for the casting area, (2 different areas), the machine shop, the upholstery area and the mechanical bay it takes up a lot of space! Not to mention the other storage shop for the projects, the parts accumulation and the finished projects area! Don't for get about the bike shed either! No, I don't have that yet, and it may never happen but one can have a goal to work toward! Dan Stevens dba, Steelsmith
I have a 26' x 26' shop and it is to small to work on one car at a time. But at the cost of heating it it is plenty big.
There ya go. The only limit is the space available on your land and in your wallet. But I know guys who are just as perfectly happy with a one car garage to work on one project at a time in as they would be with a 40x60 with a full spectrum of equipment and projects. Right now a 30x40 would make me more than happy especially if it had room for a storage loft and "man space" over part of it. But I'll settle for my 10x18 or so and the Costco style carport out in front of it to keep the sun off me in the summer.
If I had my wish, I'd level the house and build a 10,000-12,000sqft shop area below and living quarters up stairs. Of course there would be no money left for all the rides of my dreams...wait, I still don't have the money. My opinion, for what it's worth, is a hot rod needs to be pre-smog at least. However I can understand that the hot rod is in the eye of the beholder.
The shop has to be large enough that you cant see from one end to the other because of the curvature of the earth.
I bought a 30 X 40 storage unit at a local complex about 4 years ago (before real estate went to hell). I bought it outright because I had the money then. It had 14' ceilings, which meant a lot of wasted space; I had a local carpenter put in a 30 X 8 mezzanine over the back part, with an 8 X 8 "office" area off of that with a flight of stairs down. (If I were to do it over again, I would have made the mezzanine 16 X 30.) It would be plenty big enough for me if I didn't have to store my boat and snowmobiles. I see a lot of guys in the same complex that are wasting over half of the space they purchased, because they don't have anything over 6' tall. The real estate taxes are $180 per year, and the maintenance on the place (including security and electricity) is less than $300 per year. I see a lot of threads where guys can't seem to rent something like this for less than $1500 per month. I believe that you've got to think outside of the box here. Why not look at buying something. My place cost less than $40,000 total. If I had paid 20% down on a 20 year mortgage at 6%, I would have had a monthly payment of $229.26 a month. I know an $8000 down stroke may be hard to come by, but if you can come up with it, you have a 30 X 40 insulated shop for $229.26 + (480/12) = 269.26 per month. Plus, when you're done, you OWN it. I posted this here once before, but nobody seemed to appreciate it. This is one of the best things I have done in the last 20 years. Try it; you'll like it.
The shop is were you work on things, and yours sounds about right, spray booth and welding shop to go with the full machine shop, and panel fabrication room. I think a 100x200 STORAGE building would be about right for the finished cars and future projects. This thinking is based on winning LOTTO.
My shop is 60 X 28. I chopped off 15 feet on the ground floor for woodworking that never really happened. I have a half story above for storage that is size of building. Now let me tell you, it is full and I can never find shit I am looking for. One can say that I need to be organized, but I gaurantee if you store shit in a room that size you are going to lose stuff. Also due to the crowded conditions I still can only work on one project at a time which for me is good cause it seems I really can't do more than one project at a time due to time and wallet size.
I built a 24w x 30 deep garage and My wife said I should've paved the back yard and put a roof over it. I like your wifes thinking as well. My Dad always said that you need to build a shop twice as big as you think you need and maybe you can get by with it. You can never have too much shop space....
It has been my experience that stuff expands to fill the space alloted. In otherwords, we're screwed.
The perfect size shop? I think most of you are close to the answer. I think the answer is . . . somewhere between a little bigger and much bigger than whatever you currently have!
Always built as big as zoning and your finances allow! It still won't be big enough,but at least you gave it your best shot! My son is building a 40'X50' "shed", we can't wait for it to be done!
Shop Tool box Workbench Trailer ( open OR enclosed ) All things that will make you say " I should have gone with the next size up ! " Dave
I have had several builders tell me that 30' x 40' is the point where the square foot cost evens out. Anything less and the cost go up. Anything more and it is just about the same. So I built a 30' x 40'. It is a good size for a working automotive hobby shop. But it is two small if you plan on using it for storage. My wife never throws anything away. She has our attic stuffed and here storage solution is to "find space for this in the shop." My next project is a dedicated garden storage shed. All of my plans are subject to change if I win Lotto.
if i ever build another shop, it will be an eight car garage w/ 10' doors & a 2 bedroom apartment overhead - canopy roof over the drive - balcony deck on the backside
There was a huge antique truck and tractor auction in Minnesota?, advertized about 30 years ago in hemmings. I'm reading the ad about the collection and it mentioned a 1250 ft garage....well I am there trying to do the math to tell how small that is at 1250 sq feet.......duh........the freaking shop was 1250 feet LONG