Stand Alone Shops?

[bushwacked]

If all goes well Friday we will be putting an offer in on a house. It will have plenty of room on .85 acres for a shop in the back.

 

My question is .... what is good and what is bad as far as those buildings go? I assume having a cheap all tin building would make it a little tougher to hang things on the wall. Then would I need an at least all wood sided building with then a possibly tin roof or shingle roof. Do these buildings normally come with any insulation or not? I am thinking I will need some insulation in the ceiling at the minimum?? Or will it be a lost cause if I do not have any in the walls?

 

Would it be cheaper to just build my own building instead of ordering it? By building it I mean contract it out for someone to come in and build it.

 

No sure on budget, but lets say the cheaper the better, but not a POS. Size is also something I am not sure of, I will need to figure out how much the building I would need/want will cost then I can go off size then.

 

 

I was thinking something like this... just hopefully could find something like it, but cheaper in price? I was thinking possibly the 18x20 size (360sq ft) would be big enough if I have that big shop door?

 

 

 

 

Tool List would be ....

Table Saw

Bandsaw

Jointer

Planer

drill press

sanding station

 

 

Furniture

Outfeed table

1-2 work benches

wood storage area, most likely hung on the wall

MFT table

 

 

 

Thoughts?

[Eric.]

Mike just finished putting one up (estesbubba Mike).  Go dig around for his threads and I bet you'll find every nugget of info you're after.  His new shop is awesome and it came with a big YOU SUCK tattoo right across his forehead.

[Tom Cancelleri]

+1 to what Eric said.

 

 

I would say go bigger than 18x20. My shop is 17 1/2' x 24' and I wish it were bigger. My brother in law's garage is 26x34 and I want to steal it because it's the perfect size for a shop for me. The bigger the better, once you have room you will fill it and be glad you have it.

[Raefco]

A steel building would be quick and if you had it spay foamed, very efficient, but the cost of electrical, foam, interior walls and concrete will most likely put you in to shock

[bushwacked]

Mike just finished putting one up (estesbubba Mike).  Go dig around for his threads and I bet you'll find every nugget of info you're after.  His new shop is awesome and it came with a big YOU SUCK tattoo right across his forehead.

 

yes I followed that build and have been researching his type of building. It looks great as well. I just cant find pricing on his type of stuff without submitting a plan.

 

 

 

+1 to what Eric said.

 

 

I would say go bigger than 18x20. My shop is 17 1/2' x 24' and I wish it were bigger. My brother in law's garage is 26x34 and I want to steal it because it's the perfect size for a shop for me. The bigger the better, once you have room you will fill it and be glad you have it.

 

hmmm I will definitely have to think about that then. I do have some time to figure out actual size

[Tom Cancelleri]

A steel building would be quick and if you had it spay foamed, very efficient, but the cost of electrical, foam, interior walls and concrete will most likely put you in to shock

 

I know Mike (estesbubba) did a lot of the work himself. If you're comfortable and knowledgable with electrical and want to run the wiring yourself, insulate yourself and then get it inspected, seal up the walls, etc you could save some cash. 

 

Lure others to help, pizza and beer go a long way.

[bushwacked]

I know Mike (estesbubba) did a lot of the work himself. If you're comfortable and knowledgable with electrical and want to run the wiring yourself, insulate yourself and then get it inspected, seal up the walls, etc you could save some cash. 

 

Lure others to help, pizza and beer go a long way.

 

Yes, I can run the electrical myself.

 

insulation I do not think will be too bad?

[Tom Cancelleri]

Yes, I can run the electrical myself.

 

insulation I do not think will be too bad?

 

I insulated my garage solo with rolls of insulation (spraying 1 wall was gonna cost 900 bucks) vs $80ish total for rolls of insulation. 

 

You'll need to wear a mask (I wore my sanding mask with pink filters), goggles, long sleeve shirt, pants and gloves. Insulation is miserable on your skin, and even worse in your lungs.

 

There are places that you can rent spray systems but still the cost is pretty high.

[Coop]

I like the one pictured, as long as the goat was included!

[bushwacked]

I like the one pictured, as long as the goat was included!

 

haha not for that $11K price 

[Tom Cancelleri]

Have you thought about how you're going to heat/cool it?

[estesbubba]

I'm busy right now but here is some quick information on mine. I went with Lester Buildings and in some areas you can actually price online. I couldn't do that but my builder emailed plans and a quote within an hour after a quick call to him. Of course it took several months and iterations to settle on exactly what I wanted.

 

http://www.lesterbuildings.com/

 

I paid to have the building put up, concrete done, and electrical ran from transformer to building. I did all the inside electrical, insulation, walls, ceiling, and paint. I was really pretty easy and just takes time. I did pay for the attic to be blown in but that labor was pretty cheap. The good thing about doing the inside yourself is you can do it right and how you want. 

 

A lot more pictures here than what was in my build thread. It should give you a good idea of all the steps and how I did them. Feel free to contact me with any questions.

 

https://plus.google.com/photos/117092316076175299488/albums/6064873343272832017?authkey=CKjdyrjlutb6TQ

[Eric.]

The big question is, how long do you plan to live in this house?  If you're in it for the long haul, I'd pull out all the stops.  Go big.  Because in the long run, the difference financially between 8K and 15K or even 20K is pretty insignificant.  If you're only gonna be living in this house for five years...I'd just set up in the garage.

[dwacker]

Here it was less expensive to do a stick build, even with the higher roof line I saved over metal.

[Vyrolan]

haha not for that $11K price 

 

To be honest if that price is gonna make you scoff, you should consider whether you should really build a shop.   I mean if just the raw building is $8-10K, that probably doesn't even include all the stuff you need to make it a shop (more power, more/better insulation, more/better lighting, etc) let alone the shop equipment itself.   An underpowered underinsulated poorly-lit stand alone shop is probably a lot worse than part of a garage. =p

[Raefco]

To be honest if that price is gonna make you scoff, you should consider whether you should really build a shop. I mean if just the raw building is $8-10K, that probably doesn't even include all the stuff you need to make it a shop (more power, more/better insulation, more/better lighting, etc) let alone the shop equipment itself. An underpowered underinsulated poorly-lit stand alone shop is probably a lot worse than part of a garage. =p

The concrete floor in a 20x24 shop is going to cost between 3500-5000 depending on location and that is not including the foundation

[estesbubba]

The big question is, how long do you plan to live in this house?  If you're in it for the long haul, I'd pull out all the stops.  Go big.  Because in the long run, the difference financially between 8K and 15K or even 20K is pretty insignificant.  If you're only gonna be living in this house for five years...I'd just set up in the garage.

Good point and at least with pole barns, going from 30x30 to 30x40 doesn't add much to the cost. Of course it will take more concrete and materials to finish the inside. 30x40 seems big now and hopefully will still be enough in the future but I can always extend my building if needed. We plan on retiring on this property, and since the building will add value and appreciate, why I decided to do it now.

 

Estimate that you'll spend at least 50% of the building cost on concrete, insulation, walls, heat, etc. 

[Brendon_t]

To be honest if that price is gonna make you scoff, you should consider whether you should really build a shop. I mean if just the raw building is $8-10K, that probably doesn't even include all the stuff you need to make it a shop (more power, more/better insulation, more/better lighting, etc) let alone the shop equipment itself. An underpowered underinsulated poorly-lit stand alone shop is probably a lot worse than part of a garage. =p

I'm going to have to agree here. A friend just built a separate building for a photo studio with a huge developing room and comPuter space. The 4 walls and roof was the least expenSive part.

[dwacker]

Its going to vary greatly by location and even builder, you have to shop around. Mine is 26x26 and cost 37K. 3K of that was taxes. It included the stick build building with steeper than norm trusses, bringing 200a electrical 75ft, custom by machine electrical with great lighting (inside and out), concrete for shop  8" thick and a 18' approach in front, insulated roll up, man door with 8x8 pad and no insulation or drywall. Price also included permits for build and electric, new panel at house, tear down of burned shop, excavation of old shop foundation and floor, haul away, one tree removal, variance fee for county and over price mechanical inspection for dust collection. I had a patio laid on the back of the house while they were on site included in price. The patio is aggregate concrete 20 x 28 with included trenching for 50a hot tub electric and they moved my hot tub off the old deck and back onto the patio. To finish things off they excavated/leveled my whole back yard hauled away old sod, thew down crappy grass seed. Brought in 20 yards of gravel for the driveway and area behind shop and side.

 

Drywall and insulation cost just over $600 and are still sitting in my garage waiting for the drywall fairy to come and install them.

Heater cost $800 with chimney and 100 lb propane tank. Its waiting for the heater fairy to get it installed, in the mean time the electric heat works fine.

 

My daughter build the exact same shop just this last year the cost was almost identical instead of the patio she got drywall, insulation and a spray booth. Heat is the same except her heater fairy already showed up.

 

My brother has one that is very similar but lives a few counties away he paid almost double and didn't get nearly as much. You really have to shop and buy at the time of year that construction work is slow and companies are hungry.

[Larry Moore]

I have my shop started. It is 24x22 and is a pole construction foundation (real short pole barn, 12" above grade) with 2x6 stud walls osb and vinyl siding, shingle roof,  concrete slab with in floor heat runs. I have had everything done so far except laying the pex tubing by a contactor and have $14000.00 in it.

Hope that gives you some idea of potential cost.

[Janello]

My 24x36 Morton Bldg was 22k to construct. It's costing another 15k-18k to finish it off doing most of that work myself. 

[dwacker]

Then you will have to have all new machines and they all have to match. That will cost more than the shop.

[bushwacked]

Have you thought about how you're going to heat/cool it?

Not yet. Down here in Texas I'm not as worried about heat as cooling. I figure I need to get the building picked first before I figure that out.

I'm busy right now but here is some quick information on mine. I went with Lester Buildings and in some areas you can actually price online. I couldn't do that but my builder emailed plans and a quote within an hour after a quick call to him. Of course it took several months and iterations to settle on exactly what I wanted.

http://www.lesterbuildings.com/

I paid to have the building put up, concrete done, and electrical ran from transformer to building. I did all the inside electrical, insulation, walls, ceiling, and paint. I was really pretty easy and just takes time. I did pay for the attic to be blown in but that labor was pretty cheap. The good thing about doing the inside yourself is you can do it right and how you want.

A lot more pictures here than what was in my build thread. It should give you a good idea of all the steps and how I did them. Feel free to contact me with any questions.

https://plus.google.com/photos/117092316076175299488/albums/6064873343272832017?authkey=CKjdyrjlutb6TQ

Ya I went back through your build and saw them and went to the Lester site. They make some nice stuff. I may submit a request and see what they come back with just to get an idea.

Thanks I will check out all the pics when I get time.

The big question is, how long do you plan to live in this house? If you're in it for the long haul, I'd pull out all the stops. Go big. Because in the long run, the difference financially between 8K and 15K or even 20K is pretty insignificant. If you're only gonna be living in this house for five years...I'd just set up in the garage.

I agree with that. That's one thing I will need to figure out once we get the house. If we get this one I think it will be ours for a long time. At least till we retire in 20-25 years

To be honest if that price is gonna make you scoff, you should consider whether you should really build a shop. I mean if just the raw building is $8-10K, that probably doesn't even include all the stuff you need to make it a shop (more power, more/better insulation, more/better lighting, etc) let alone the shop equipment itself. An underpowered underinsulated poorly-lit stand alone shop is probably a lot worse than part of a garage. =p

It doesn't. I was commenting on the goat not being included.

I agree though a half ass shop would be absolutely terrible.

The concrete floor in a 20x24 shop is going to cost between 3500-5000 depending on location and that is not including the foundation

Thanks for that. I was curious what something like that would cost. That's not too bad.

Good point and at least with pole barns, going from 30x30 to 30x40 doesn't add much to the cost. Of course it will take more concrete and materials to finish the inside. 30x40 seems big now and hopefully will still be enough in the future but I can always extend my building if needed. We plan on retiring on this property, and since the building will add value and appreciate, why I decided to do it now.

Estimate that you'll spend at least 50% of the building cost on concrete, insulation, walls, heat, etc.

50% eh? That's nice to know as a rule of thumb.

I'm going to have to agree here. A friend just built a separate building for a photo studio with a huge developing room and comPuter space. The 4 walls and roof was the least expenSive part.

Yep I figured the building in the grand scheme of things will be one of the cheaper things in this build.

Its going to vary greatly by location and even builder, you have to shop around. Mine is 26x26 and cost 37K. 3K of that was taxes. It included the stick build building with steeper than norm trusses, bringing 200a electrical 75ft, custom by machine electrical with great lighting (inside and out), concrete for shop 8" thick and a 18' approach in front, insulated roll up, man door with 8x8 pad and no insulation or drywall. Price also included permits for build and electric, new panel at house, tear down of burned shop, excavation of old shop foundation and floor, haul away, one tree removal, variance fee for county and over price mechanical inspection for dust collection. I had a patio laid on the back of the house while they were on site included in price. The patio is aggregate concrete 20 x 28 with included trenching for 50a hot tub electric and they moved my hot tub off the old deck and back onto the patio. To finish things off they excavated/leveled my whole back yard hauled away old sod, thew down crappy grass seed. Brought in 20 yards of gravel for the driveway and area behind shop and side.

Drywall and insulation cost just over $600 and are still sitting in my garage waiting for the drywall fairy to come and install them.

Heater cost $800 with chimney and 100 lb propane tank. Its waiting for the heater fairy to get it installed, in the mean time the electric heat works fine.

My daughter build the exact same shop just this last year the cost was almost identical instead of the patio she got drywall, insulation and a spray booth. Heat is the same except her heater fairy already showed up.

My brother has one that is very similar but lives a few counties away he paid almost double and didn't get nearly as much. You really have to shop and buy at the time of year that construction work is slow and companies are hungry.

Oh wow double your cost and not as good? Man I'd be angry haha.

Do you have any pics of the outside of your shop? Drywall and insulation are nice and cheap though!

[Brendon_t]

Then you will have to have all new machines and they all have to match. That will cost more than the shop.

This cost cannot be overlooked. .

[bushwacked]

Regional costs vary quite a bit. I had a 2 1/2 car garage (about 24 by 24) built at my old house for about $13,000, including demo of the old building and a new concrete pad. It was 2x4 construction with vinyl siding and asphalt shingles, and I did a steep pitch on the roof so I could have storage in the attic area (I was planning on building a music studio up there but never go around to it).

Not insulated, very basic electrical. To insulate, drywall, heat and get a 100amp sub would add about 5-7K, so all in would have been about $20K. I don't know anything about pole barns or tin buildings, I don't think building codes and HOA around here would allow for such structures. My old town was very restrictive about utility service to an outbuilding, plumbing was a no-no because they didn't want them used as rental apartments.

Here is a picture from the side facing the house.

garage.jpg

That's a great looking 2 car there. Not a bad thing price either for that! Even the 20k all in would of been a good deal.

I have my shop started. It is 24x22 and is a pole construction foundation (real short pole barn, 12" above grade) with 2x6 stud walls osb and vinyl siding, shingle roof, concrete slab with in floor heat runs. I have had everything done so far except laying the pex tubing by a contactor and have $14000.00 in it.

Hope that gives you some idea of potential cost.

Thanks for that! Sounds like a great shop start so far!

You have any pics of the building?

My 24x36 Morton Bldg was 22k to construct. It's costing another 15k-18k to finish it off doing most of that work myself.

What is left to finish off? Electrical , insulation, walls and what?

Then you will have to have all new machines and they all have to match. That will cost more than the shop.

Haha I'm not sure I could deck my shop out in all that mustard color sadly

It may have more of a green tint to it