building detached garage NLC

[rdssdi]

Has anyone in the U.S. built a detached garage for storage and workshop?

I am getting prices to build a 40 foot by 32 foot garage with three doors. I am being quoted costs around 47 dollars / sq. foot. This DOES NOT include insulation and drywall, electricity or heat. It also does not include tree removal and required asphalt driveway.

Is excavating and pouring footings and floor that expensive. A completed 40 x 32 garage/shop with power, lights, heat will cost almost 70,000 dollars!

Bob

[gjz30075]

Bob, I'm sure prices depend on the area you live, but I found lots of good info for this question over here:
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/

[Frank Howard]

Bob,

I built my 22' X 28' garage 26 years ago. I paid people to do the following:

$300 remove large Ash tree that was in the way of planned driveway
$125 remove old (1921) single garage
$4,500 remove old concrete driveway, install new concrete driveway and slab.
$2,500 stucco

I installed the following myself:

$8,075 materials including Timberline roof, insulation, drywall, 60 amp box, 22- 120V 20amp outlets, 2-220V outlets for compressor and welder, 84" of florescent lighting, telephone, 2 windows, 1-service door, room-in-attic trusses (22' X 14' attic), 22' work bench, 16' X 7' double door with opener.

The mistake I made (besides not pulling a permit) was omitting a natural gas pipe. Someday, that will get taken care of.

Because I did much of the work myself, the grand total was $15,500. Of course, that was 26 years ago. To compare apples to apples, if I didn't count the cost of the insulation, drywall, electrical, cost of removing the tree and old garage, and the cost of the new driveway, the cost would have been around $11,000 or $18 per square foot. I would guess that if I attempted to do it again, the cost would double or possibly even triple which would put it at $54 per square foot. $47 per Square foot seems reasonable in 2010 especially if you're planning on doing nothing more than writing a check. It's really hard to compare as such things as room-in-attic trusses cost substantially more money than conventional trusses but you wind up with an upstairs. Also, stucco has to be one of the most expensive finishes you can use and concrete costs substantially more than asphalt.

If you can fix a Lotus, you can build a garage. Have you considered doing most of the work yourself? Best of luck.

[1964 S1]

Hello Bob, I ditto what Frank said. It depends on where you live in the USA. Where are you?
Your 70K price seems Very reasonable to me. What would it cost in Manhatten?
Eric

[rdssdi]

I appreciate the response. I cannot see 70K as a bargain but it may be a sign of the times. I live in eastern PA.


I have 6 acres but most of the property is not flat and the excavation and foundation will be more complicated and expensive. As my property is wooded, approximately 8 trees will have to be removed. With heat, electric, paving and all the finish work it may come in at 72 to 75K. That is for a 40 ft by 32 ft garage with three doors. Two 9 ft and one 10 ft wide.

The garage will not have a room upstairs but should have trusses which will offer more height so I may install a car lift. The walls will be 10 ft high and the trusses will offer a bit over 13 ft at the highest. I hope to have 150 Amp electric service and propane forced hot air heat.

Is a garage with a 32 foot depth large enough to accommodate three cars, a 14 ft car trailer and a workshop? I may be out of room as soon as the garage is completed.

Finished cost will be around 56 dollars / sq. foot.

Bob

[prezoom]

Seems dirt cheap to me. I am in the process of "trying" to build an addition to my shop/garage. My county, San Diego, is punitive in its permit process. Won't go into details, but for a 31'x38' building construction costs are over 80k, not including permit fees and driveways. Having/wanting/restoring too many cars is expensive.

Rob Walker
26-4889

[anna_starr82]

I suggest to get several estimates for the job .

[Galwaylotus]

Is a garage with a 32 foot depth large enough to accommodate three cars, a 14 ft car trailer and a workshop? I may be out of room as soon as the garage is completed.

Just for reference, I built a small garage years ago that was 12.5 ft wide and 20 ft deep (limited by building regs). It was big enough to fit a car and a workbench against the rear wall. I rebuilt a Kawasaki GPz in it and had a table saw and pillar drill so 32 ft deep would have been a luxury! Why does the covered trailer need to be inside?

[anna_starr82]

Helllo,

According to this cost estimation guide to build a detached garage the price looks fair since they range from $58,432 (2 cars) to $86,400 (4 cars).
Hope this helps

[Greg Foster]

Why not look into a post frame building? Pole building have been around in agricultural uses for many years. I had a 32 x42' with 3 closed sides and 3 bays. Drive in height was 16' (for hay storage). This tall open building cost me 15k. I framed in one bay (my labor and some Hardie plank siding) Call it another $5,000 and had a 10' x 12' garage door installed for $1,800. Concrete and gravel are a little salty but call it $4,000 for the one bay. All in all I have 2 open bays with concrete floors, 1 enclosed bay with concrete floor and garage door. For about. $40k. It has metal roofing and siding. There are a number of pole builders who may be able to help you with a shorter building and less industrial looking siding. Check the local papers, phone books etc.
The basic building was completed in less than 3 days by a crew of peach fuzzed bearded, slouching, pants hanging off their asses, hats backward with sayings on them like "I get off on the crack of dawn" ,pimply faced, cigarette smoking late teens with a crew leader about 25 years old. They were fast, the building was plumb, level and square. To say the least...I was impressed..... in more ways than one. This was in Virginia and the crew was CONESTOGA BUILDERS.

Greg

[rdssdi]

Pole buildings are not allowed in my township. Further the garage will be placed on land with a slope. This will require excavating and setting footings and block walls and the concrete floor. Also it will require a drain along the footings at the rear, uphill, portion of the garage.

It is like building a small home.

I may have the building permits this week. It took 3k dollars for the engineering/surveying company to do the site plan. The town requires a tree survey and a water runoff analysis. Its looney. This is certainly not the wonderful country I grew up in.

I wonder if the town has restrictions on flying a Gadsden flag? I will soon find out.

Bob

[rdssdi]

I have some finalized costs for my 40 ft. by 32ft. garage project. With paving and all electrical etc the cost is around 95000. dollars.

Its back to the drawing board or drop the project. The costs got too high.

I am now faced with the prospect of renting storage for the Lotus or TVR and selling my Jaguar project as I will have no place to work on it.


Bob

[Frank Howard]

Bob,

If I were you, I would consider building it myself. That's how I built mine. If there is no plumbing involved, it's really quite simple. Pay someone to pour the floor and apron. You can construct the walls and install the windows and service door yourself. You can purchase the roof trusses from any building supplier and with a friend, you should be able to install them, cover them with chip board, tar paper, and shingles. If you're not familiar with the electrical part (and it's really quite simple), pay someone to do that as well as someone to install the garage door. You'll get a lot of satisfaction knowing that you built it yourself. Use the money you saved to purchase a fully restored Elan. Good luck.