What should I pay to have a 25'x25'x15' tall (can't go bigger by code) shop built ?

Nothing fancy, just a garage, slab, stick frame, cheap siding, good roof, 8ft garage doors, unfinished inside no hookups, no windows (I can do this stuff). Contractors are telling me 15k and up. Seems like way too much but maybe I am out of touch.

Ron

a slab is easy to lay yourself. (time) all the other stuff can be bought as a prefab place for less than 5k I think.

Me, I would probably have the slab done and then erect the building myself. You can have steel beams and sheet siding pre-fabed and delivered to the site much cheaper than that. Then it's mostly just "bolt together". Although, having a torch and welder handy to "tweak" things is a good idea. You'll probably need to rent or borrow a backhoe or front-end loader to raise the cross beams too. All in all, it's not that bad. My uncle built a 40+x30+ (don’t remember the exact dimensions) welding shop like that along with a bunch of u-store-it units. My stepfather did the same thing for a smaller shop and hired a local grunt-laborer to bolt it together. If I had room for more than the pathetic little 1 car detached garage/shop (that my rig won’t even fit inside) that’s what I would be doing.

I am building a garage right now

I have a wierd shaped lot and the "Nag Fu" wife does not want to dominate the yard with views of the garage so I am building 21' wide and 36' deep with a 10 wall and a sissors truss with 12/12 pitch (cape cod) so I can have a lift.

So far -

Tree Removal $3500 - LOTS of trees. I could have done this myself, but I don't have time.

Excavacation and building a driveway bed 180 feet back into my yard $3500

paving $4000

Concrete pad $5000

All of the building materials cost me $5000

Builders here in DC were quoting me $35K BASE, not including the tree removal or the excavation/driveway. They wanted $35K for just the building.

I am figuring about 22.5K to 25K total costs for my to pay for part of the work and build the building myself.

To put things in perspective - I live just outside DC and the median income in my zip code is like $150,000. My dad lives 70 miles west of me and in his area you can get a contractor to do the whole garage, concrete and all for $10,000 for a basic 2 car...

-Stumbaugh

I had a 30'x48' pole barn built last year for $12k. Excavation was free since I have the loader, but I had to move a lot of dirt (18 hours or dirt moving). Concrete was almost $3k ($2 per square foot). I trenched in the electrical myself. The pole barn was from Cleary buildings and is a wood framed one. The steel ones are cheaper but they are a pain to run electrical in or to frame in any areas you want separated.

The median home price in my area is 7 figures (I am below the median :()

So the builders know it is $$$$$$ area which is the real catch 22

I am thinking about pouring the slab myself (grading and framing and then having a truck come in) and doing the walls and then subbing out the roof trusses and then doing the rest myself.

cleary buildings? Anyone else know any "kit" type places like this?

Thanks
Ron

Has any one looked at military acutions? I talked to this guy one time that bought a prefab army building. He said it was like 20x50 or so and came on a bunch of pallets. He bid $50 for the hell of it thinking that he would never get it. Apparently he was the only one that bid on it. All he had to do was go down and pick up the pallets. I don't know what kind of building it was or what shape it was in, but hey I bought a 2 person tent for easily double that! I don't, its an idea.

Kevo

Originally posted by evilfij
cleary buildings? Anyone else know any "kit" type places like this?

Try www.clearybuilding.com . They aren't a kit, but a totally turnkey building. You only have to prepare the site. There's also Morton buildings www.mortonbuildings.com and Lester (I'll let you search for their website) which are both pole barn companies. Check out agricultural papers or want ads in your areas for local companies that deal in such buildings.

hey ron, try conestogabuilding.com , they do pole buildings out of new hope pa. the quoted me last month for a 24x32x10 with attic trusses, board-batton siding, 40yr shingle roof, and a 8' lean-to of the side with slab for 21k. can save alot of money by not using attic truss's, they are about double the price of regular trusses. a regular 30x32x10 with 4/12 pitch and metal siding was 8500.

also check out miracletruss.com, there buildings for a 32x30x10 with 4/12 pitch, metal siding was around 9k. then you need to assemble it and poor a slab.

dave