The wife and I are starting to do retirement homework... and by "retirement", I mean where we want to live when I get out of the Navy in about 9 years. Hopefully, I'll be able to have my final duty station at the same place we settle down. Florida is looking more and more promising.

Anyways... basically my only requirement (zero room for negotion) will be enough land to build my own garage not attached to the house. I want a workshop/storage/mancave/gimp-locker.

Most of the websites want you to fork over a nut's worth of personal information before they'll tell you what something costs. I know that there will be numerous contractors, land-prep, foundation, plumbing, electrical, HVAC, permits, blah blah blah... but what does it really cost (all said and done)?

The first picture below is what I'm really looking for... with a side awning/carport on the shady side for outside storage. So like 60wide x 30deep, standard height ceiling, insulated, big rollup door, one or two people doors, some windows, skylights... wood or steel doesn't matter, but definitely a slab floor, heat&A/C, bathroom.

What is a reasonable budget for something like this?

 

Reasonable in my area for something like that is in the ballpark of 80,000-100,000 with some additional outside concrete pouring like a driveway or outide parking. My neighbor just did a 30x40 metal building for $50,000 with an additional 2000-2500 sq ft of concrete for extending the driveway back and having parking area back by it.

I have no idea what the HVAC or bathroom would add to that though.

 

Have you been here? http://www.garagejournal.com/

 

I almost warn you not to go there, because you will want to do sooo much more stuff once you see what some of these people have done. It really is an awesome site that can give you some good ideas. Some of them can even help you locate a good contractor.

 

^Too late, already registered... hook, line, sinker.

 

Hmmm... work comes down to:
Land prep/grading
Concrete
Electrical (run and panels)
Plumbing (feed, sewer)
The building (material cost)
Labor cost to assemble building
Permits

Building options:
Insulation
Doors
Windows
Ventilation
Hot water
Heating
AC
Radiant heat floors
Skylights
Interior finish (walls, loft, bathroom)
Gutters

Guys seem to price everything by square foot... My 30x50ft would be 1500sqft. I'm seeing bare-bones simple structure of $15-$20sqft, to $40-$50sq ft for fully insulated, water/elecrical, etc...

So... somewhere between $30k and $75k. Hmmm... kinda what I thought.

 

call the amish?

for ground-up construciton you're looking at $70-100/sq ft if you do almost no work. depending on the going rates. find a design-build firm and give them a rough idea what you want and see what number they pull out of the sky. then divide that by 2 and shop around for the new number.

 

I've worked on a good dozen of these before. Ranging from metal buildings to livable garages. The best one I worked on was a 2 story garage with a drive on turntable in the bottom level. I heard wind that the entire "garage" project cost $1 million.

Depending on who you know and how much you can do yourself, you can get much more for your money. If you get a builder involved or have to pay full price for contractors to do the work, it'll take a lot more money out of your wallet.

I'm planning on getting a piece of land sometime soon and build myself a smaller livable garage type structure, then work on building up the house over time. That's if I don't move out of the country before then. lol

 

Why not look into a "pre-built" unit? They usually can be put up by someone with half a brain, that way your only costs would be wiring/plumbing and the concrete, and the cost of the kit of the building..

That's what we did for my house and it cost <$100k all said and done and its far from a small house.

 

I'd think it would be possible to put one together yourself if you had some help, rented equipment and that materials. Maybe you'd need help with the electrical, water and foundation, but other then that it doesn't look too difficult. In any case, you'll need one of these.

Build thread?

 

I purchased a galvanized a style garage, approx 900 sq feet. Regular $15,000 at the time, bought it a few days before Christmas for around $6,000 delivered.

Foundation is quoted at $5,000

Havent done the front of it yet but I am guessing we will be upwards of 10k for garage doors, insulation, wood, siding etc. Then theres running hydro and adding a lift that surely will never actually get used for anything other than hoisting the tractor or storing a car.

 

I am getting a 24x32 10' high garage built right now. I'm not concreteing the floor until next spring, but it's about $10,000 installed. 1 side entry door, 2 garage doors, a few other minor options. It's a pole building from these guys: http://www.pioneerpolebuildings.com/ They're about 15 minutes from my house, so local is cheaper.
My garage will look like this, except the garage doors will be centered, and the entry door will be on the side. There will be no attic, so the roof will be a 4/12 pitch, not as steep as pictured.

 

bah, I'd build mine out of cinder blocks, concrete and rebar

 

Around here it's pretty easy to find a house with a detached garage/workshop, making building one not economically wise.

However if you're going to build one, I'd recommend putting a bay on one of the small walls so you can easily get a trailer/boat/rv/etc into the building. I'd still do the awning as well for covered outside parking.

Also make sure you build a room for the compressor. It will make you much happier to not hear it.

 

Good timing, I'm breaking ground on a shop in the next six weeks. 40x60x16 on six inch 3500psi rebar concrete. Building is a steel unit with insulation, 14x14 rollup door and a mandoor. general contractor quoted 110K, that's not happening. Building is about 23K, concrete is 20K, still trying to find someone to erect it for me. Figure 60K plus filling it up with stuff, electrical, etc.

 

Just throwing this out there, but if the price was right I'd travel a ways to do the concrete work. Depending on how its drawn its a 1-3 day job to have it formed and poured. Floors are the hardest part of the whole deal. Lots of sitting around waiting for it to set and finish it.

 

how far?

 

how far plus one!

 

plus two. I want y8s to get a garage.

 

You guys in VA aren't TOO far away. It would just be a matter of getting what we need down there.

So you guys are def in the range that I'd be willing to travel. I'd just have to make sure I can get forms, equipment, etc there to do the work.