Welcome to the next installment of the

Topic of the Week

This week, we're going to design a garage.

Sure, it's easy to say we want a 5 bay garage, three with pits and three with lifts, but who can afford that??? Not me, that's for damn sure. I'm not saying not to mention the finer things in life, but let's also keep it within reach.

How would you design/build/stock your garage? What does every garage NEED? What would be nice to have? What should be left out?

I made a plan for a 28x32 on AutoCAD, if anyone wants it.

gotta have air conditioning, air filtering, and high ceilings. and an alarm system :)

indulf

WIRE IT UP!

Every outlet sould be high current with wire gauge, one size larger then required.

Put 220Volt outlets on your walls with alot of spares, air compressors, welders, youll just get more and more stuff.

Id use florescent lighting, its cheep, and gives off little to no heat.

pre wire some speaker wire, 12aug, 1000watts, some big ass speakers, and some Led Zepplin!

now your WIRED UP.:D

I would put down some industrial grade floor epoxy and fill all the expansion joints in the floor. Definately go heavy on the electrical outlets....and substitute the Led Zep for some Aerosmith.

Living in the "colder climes", I'd make sure and put in a kick ass heater in it.

Some of my buddies have wood stoves in theres, but I don't like the idea of a "large" open flame, and having to stop work to stoke it.

I'd get some sort of a small "furnace" type affair, and mount it in a corner in the cieling.

1. BEER FRIDGE.
2. tools
3. shelving/storage.
4. electrical outlets
5. Lighting
6. concrete
7. lifts

i'd definitely second the forced air heater, and a/c is nice too.

dreams:

a small fabrication and work area that's separate from the vehicles. probably just a room off the back with a mill, lathe, drill press, welders, some quality work benches, shop press, tube bender

oh yeah, downdraft paint room with all needed filters and such

the rest would be the typical stuff already mentioned, the lift would be awesome and they really aren't that expensive..

My 'rents garage (3 car plus a "sun room") has a REAL simple furnace setup that works awesome. It's a simple forced air, gas fired furnace resting horizontally and supported by some hanging brackets. It's tucked up against the ceiling in one corner of the garage (read: doesn't take up any floor space). The inlet is setup with a simple "filter holder" ... nothing more. And the outlet has two "aimable" ducts that blow wherever you want.

http://pages.prodigy.net/coolmank/pics/furnace.jpg

Any yahoo could knock out the tin work with parts from Home Depot and you could probably find a small used furnace for cheap in the paper.

Run some gas line from the house, throw on a $5 thermostat, pipe the exhaust straight up and out, and you're good to go.

And yes, the albino coon is guarding the beer fridge.

cm "say hello to my little friend" k

Mine to date:

23x25 times three floors.
shop on second floor.
parts inventory on the third floor.
eventually machine shop first floor.

Shop:

2 work benches.
beer fridge
microwave
cd player
drill press
tubing bender
torch
mig
tools galore
wood floor:rolleyes: (old barn)
not enough outlets yet

No heat yet and just started insulation...fawking COLD in the winter!!!

beats being outdoors though!

And don't forget the Urinal next to the beer fridge!

i am in the process of designing my new shop. this is what i have come up with so far:

40 x 80 pole-barn / metal building with 12' walls
all insulated
half (40x40) will be storage (not heated) and have its own door
the other half will be work area

14x40 will be work shop
this is where i will put my: vertical milling machine, lathe, bandsaws, and wood working crap for my dad. it will also have a restroom with shower and an HVAC room. above this (8' walls)will be storage area

24x40 will be vehicle work area with a 2-post Rotary lift, hard-plumbed air lines, some work benches, the parts washer, and plenty of electrical outlets


one of the biggest issues yet to resolve is heating the place. i think i have decided to do radiant floor heat and use a Reznor waste oil boiler or a geothermal system for the heat source. just recently i found a book that addresses using radiant floor systems for cooling...this sounds like a good idea for our 90º summer days. if you don't know what radiant floor heat is, do some research if you plan on building a heated garage. i have a hanging LP shop heater in my garage now and its OK. but, after working in a friends heated floor shop in the winter, there is no comparison.

check this out: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0070684995/sr=8-1/qid=1023474588/104-2889513-1334347

http://www.doityourselfradiant.com/

http://www.eren.doe.gov/consumerinfo/refbriefs/bc2.html

matt

I have a janitor sink in mine. Great for cleanup. A non-structural steel beam is also nice to hang the jeep from for suspension work. Cheaper than a lift, and easier than jack stands.

My neighbor put a 3/4 bath in his shop which is really nice. No running back and forth to the house to use the toilet and a shower stall to clean up so his wife doesn't chew his a$$ when he comes in from wrenching, painting, etc... Other than that, lots of elec. and air outlets, floor heat, and twice as many shop lights as you think you need.

Best thing I did was build a small enclosure outside for the compressor. Keeps the noise down, and saves on floor space.

And don't forget the obligatory babe calendar...like the ones that used to come out for Milwaukee power tools...Nothing beats a busty blonde and a hole hog...all that and you'll know what day it is too!:)

dont forget a couple of big ass dogs to keep an eye on things at nite

Radiant floor heat- ROCKS!!
I have a Bridgeport mill, a small lathe, 220 MIG welder, band saw, torches, compressor and tools.
For building a rig, the machines are priceless. I don't remember what I ever did without them!
Sure could use a press though, thinking about building one soon.
Oh, sure could use a bender and notcher too. :D

Try to go as big as you can for the floor plan, insulated, with heat in cold climates, A/C would be nice, so would a bathroom.
Light the hell out of it!
Old barns make kick-ass shops/garages after you re-do everything.

Heat and A/C are nice and in some parts going to be the most important addition but lets look at what you should have assuming you can save the money on that stuff. Here are a few of the things I would say you must have in a shop.
A torch
A beefy steel table with a vise and an section that has grateing for using the torch.
Under that table should be a nice sized water trough for cooling and such.
A real mig welder or arc welder
Grinders. A 7" one and about 3 4/4.5" ones with different wheels. I have 5 different ones but get at least 1 and just change wheels for now.
An air compressor. It is like a welder meening that the better one you get the happier you will be.
I can't live with out my die grinder. I have 3 with different tools but I started with 1
A good set of drill bits and a tap and die set
Automatic center punch
A carpenter squair
Dial calipers
Chop saw comes in nice too

There are a few basic things

How about some pics of shops or floor plans for them?

How 'bout some ideas for those of us that have to live with a 20' X 20' garage and share it with the garden tools, kid's bikes and boxes of the wife's crap she "can't part with"?

Dont forget fire extuinguishers. Also when Im boozing the sink makes a fine urinal. :p

I've heard that old in-the-floor lifts like you used to find in service stations aren't that expensive. Does anyone have a source for these?

http://pages.prodigy.net/coolmank/pics/furnace.jpg


You should duct the discharge away you are short cycling the air back to the return.

My Garage has a room in the back thats about 4' deep by the width of the garage (2 car), with double doors. the doors that we have are cheapie wood doors if you were to add decient metal doors that lock solidly the room would be a perfect place to lock your tools up in. actually even with the cheapie doors we've never had a tool stolen from there. If you made the room about 10' - 12' deep you could turn half of it into a nice metal fab room. The other half can be tool/parts storage. I would also put a solid mount air compressor in there and plumb air lines on both sides of the garage.
For Tool storage I would get a Roll away cabinet. Sears has these nifty plastic socket holders that have the socket size raised beside the corresponding hole for the socket. It makes finding the socket very easy and you know at the end of the day if you still have sockets floating around the garage/vehicle. Something similar would be great for wrenches too. Speciality tools (that can hang) should be hung on a peg board with the out line of the tool on it, as should your hand saws, trimmers, garden tools, etc....
Misc. Storage: Bikes Can be hung from their front tires off the ceiling (near the wall) with some plastic coated hooks. If you have a stand alone garage or an attached without anything above it. get a set of attic stairs and put in the ceiling. Nail down some plywood between the rafters and there you have plenty of storage for the wife's (or hubby's or your) can't live without junk. NOTE: make sure you have plenty of ventilation in the garage attic before you do this as it can be a fire hazard.
If you ever remodel your house take those gawd awful cabinets that your wife (or hubby or remodeler) says are just soooo 90's and hang em in your garage after all you don't care what they look like just as long as they will hold that brand new (with only 150,000 miles on em) Suzuki Samari R&P you got at the auto fair for such a great bargin. Coffee cans make great storage for misc. nuts (:roxy: would love to see your nut collection she might want to tighten a few of em for ya), Bolts, nails, and screws.

Ok thats about all I got for now.....

An 8 or 9ft. garage door, so that you can acutally get your jeeip in there to work on it.

I've heard that old in-the-floor lifts like you used to find in service stations aren't that expensive. Does anyone have a source for these?
We were looking at buying a lift from these people. I dont think they sell the ones that go in the floor like you are talking about though.
http://www.eagleequip.com

Originally posted by withamc
How 'bout some ideas for those of us that have to live with a 20' X 20' garage and share it with the garden tools, kid's bikes and boxes of the wife's crap she "can't part with"?

I hear ya... I'm in the same boat, actually worse, I'm renting a house with a 1 car detached garage, hardly any room... Fortunately along without being able to afford a nice house, I can't afford many tools either, so it has worked out OK :)

First I would seriously look at getting a garden shed, or whatever they are called, put all that extra junk in there. They can be bought or built pretty cheap, and they are small enough that even the biggest pain in the ass neightbor shouldn't mind you putting one up.

Secondlly, I've been looking at a lot of houses lately, I plan on buying in the near future, and I have noticed that a lot of newer homes have a laundry room located off the garage (usually between the kitchen and the garage). If the home has a basement, move the washer and dryer down there, tear out the walls, and you may be able to get an extra 60-80 square feet. Might not work for everyone, but maybe worth looking into, same thing can be done with closets that back up to the garage, just move the junk somewhere else. Just make sure you aren't tearing out a load bearing wall, or at least reinforce it sufficiently...

Also, if you got a nice car on the other side, consider getting a cheap car cover, just toss it overs the wifes minivan, and get out the grinder (or whatever mess making tool you choose), when your done for the night yank it off, and she's ready to take off the next morning.

Otherwise, look for empty space, and try to find a convient way to fill it, shelves, hooks, space under work benches, whatever you got try and use it for something.

Finally make friends with people that have the room (or money) for the tools you don't, seems to work for me...

Chad

If I were designing a garage right now, I'd seperate the fab section from the wrenching session. Rolling around in metal shavings like fishfilets in flour BLOWS. Plus, you could shower and scrub till you have gouges, and your sheets still come out black after a few days of turning metal into dust. A decent solution would be to have a relatively airtight, partitioned section with the welder, the grinders / chopsaw / whathaveyou that you can turn into a ferrous cesspool of human disgust, and then a sweet "cleanroom" with an epoxied floor (great idea) for the wrenching. That way, you can dirty the heck out of the fab room, and then still be able to open a partition when needed to attack the Jeep as needed. I just find myself doing alot of cutting of stuff OFF the jeep, only to fit it up / weld it on later, usually while laying down in the world's highest concentration of iron filings.

Cheers
Bob

Originally posted by 1RUSTYRIG
I would put down some industrial grade floor epoxy and fill all the expansion joints in the floor. Definately go heavy on the electrical outlets....and substitute the Led Zep for some Aerosmith.

RRRIIIIGGgghhhttt:barf:


:rainbow: Aerosmith :rainbow:

Epoxy Rules:D

One thing for small shop is to have things on wheels or some way to get them out the door so you can work. One good example is the chopsaw. This thing make one hell of a mess but when it makes a mess outside I don't really care plus you need room to place the tubing in it so outside works best.

I think I would install an i-beam hoist system that would allow me to pull the hoist over to the rig and pull the engine and then be able to roll it away from the rig and over to the engine stand or cleaning area (see below), these don't take up any floor space and are great for pulling engines, especially if you can afford the electric powered hoist .

Cleaning area - I always wanted a high pressure/steam cleaner and an area in the shop where I could put parts, engines, trannies...whatever (sort of like a parts shower) where I could steam stuff off real good before i started disassembling it etc. course this is a pie in the sky dream along with the big heavy duty hot tank, et.c etc. etc,

kerryp

Originally posted by 1RUSTYRIG
I would put down some industrial grade floor epoxy and fill all the expansion joints in the floor. Definately go heavy on the electrical outlets....and substitute the Led Zep for some Aerosmith.

Fawk Aerosmith...it's SKA in my shop.:cool:

Any thoughts on Epoxy over my crappy oil soaked barn floor? I'm sick of laying on big sheets of cardboard 'cause the floor does not clean in the shop. If it will stick I'll do it this weekend!

Things on my wish list:

-Hoist to get heavy sh!t up to storage on the 3rd floor. Sucks humpin' an axle up a flight of steps by myself.

-Get off my lazy ass and put the compressor in its insulated closet, and plumb air lines around shop walls.

-A kegerator :beer:

-More parking outside. Right now I have 2 XJs, 3 CJs (plus one in the shop), a YJ tub, a trailer and a Ford F-150. Pretty much fills my available parking.

-A more leinient code enforcement officer so I can have more parts vehicles in the yard.

Now what about that epoxy? Think it will seal oil soaked boards?

[QUOTE]Originally posted by gnrrpreacher
[B]

Fawk Aerosmith...it's SKA in my shop.:cool:

Any thoughts on Epoxy over my crappy oil soaked barn floor? I'm sick of laying on big sheets of cardboard 'cause the floor does not clean in the shop. If it will stick I'll do it this weekend!

Garage paint in detail... Classic Rock Rules:flipoff2:
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=54052

Rusty,
That is a great thread, yet it does not answer my delema. I WISH I had a cement floor. Unfortunately I only have 575 s.f. of drive in shop space with a wood floor. Will this epoxy or any work on my wood floor?
My shop does kick ass except for the floor. I can deal with it but...

Just built a new shop .. already have ideas on how to do it differently next time. :D

Shop is 30x30, 10' walls. One side is "parking" the other "work bay"

Parking side has dual 9x7 doors. Work bay has one door, 9x9.

Parking side gets one car and the motorcycles, work bay - well, one rig and shop stuff.

Went with Insulated Concrete Forms - styrofoam blocks 2" thick on either side, with 4" of concrete and rebar in the middle.

R-50. Keeps the noise inside, and the heat inside.

48" frost wall, with gravel, then 2" of styrofoam insulation, then 750' of 1/2" poly pipe, then the 4" slab.

I haven't insulated (blown) the attic yet, or hooked up the Propane powered hot-water heater and recirc pump, but that's the plan for radiant floor heat during a -20 Montana winter.

Ceiling has a boat load of outlets in it, on 4 different switches, with 2 breakers. I'm using the cheap 4' dual-tube flourescent lights, and at $8 each.. when I need more light, I hang another - lots of outlets to pick from.

One switch controls the lights along one wall (two "man doors" in the car-parking side) on a 3-way.

The other three lights - one goes along one wall of the work bay, one along the other wall, and one for the center lights.

Outlets every 3', 40" off the floor (so I only had to notch the end of the drywall). One breaker per wall.

One 20amp 110V outlet on either end of the garage on one circuit.

12ga wire everywhere.

Two outside outlets, one on either end.

Outside motion lights on 3 sides.

From 4' to 8' of wall is 5/8" strandboard for hanging stuff. Two rows of shelves around the top of the walls for stuff.

100Mbit ethernet (into the house and the DSL n' wireless bandwidth feeds).. phone.. WebCams.. :D

Going to be one primary 220 drop between the two doors ("service entrance" and parking bay). That's where the powder-coating oven will go, an extra 220 compressor mounted to the wall above it, and the 220 stick-welder (it has 30' leads, so anywhere in the shop should be within reach), and the eventual 220 MIG (the 110 MIG I have now can plug in anywhere)

My short wall (17' or so) in the work-bay is for benches - currently just an old desk.

Long wall (28' or so inside dimension) is equipment. One corner for the "boiler" (hot water heater) for the heat, then the IH :beer: fridge, the bandsaw, the drill press, the bench grinder, the parts washer, blast cabinet.. then the rollaway and a filing cabinet into the corner for filing misc stuff (service manuals, carbs, whatever)

So far, so good.

Already thinking on the next shop though.. I didn't buy my current tow-rig until after we'd broken ground on the shop.. I had my previous tow-rig (119" WB IH Travelall) in the shop already and it fits alright.. but then I measured out 4' from the grille.. damn.

My crewcab long-box 'Binder (166" WB) will fit in the garage with room to walk around it, but that's it.

No engine swaps in the garage w/o the back end hanging out.

10' ceiling allows enough room to change motors. Most of my rigs fit in the 7' doors barely.. but the 9' "service entrance" door accomodates them just fine (sans CB antenna). The 9' door was more $$$ than the 7s, so we went cheap on the other 2 "car" doors.

Plus that's 2+' of storage space over the 7' doors for putting parts.

It's hard to do a lot of metal fab with a vehicle in the work-bay, but you can do it. There's enough room to get to the shop equipment down the wall. Part of the problem now is I also have an engine on the stand that I'm working around..

Next one.. hmm.. 32x28 might have been a better size, a little more depth.

Of course, I'd much rather just make it, say, 36x36. :-) That would work pretty well - especially if I didn't have to "share" with car parking.

I wouldn't mind having one bay "taller" than the other with a 2-post lift.. with another bay not encumbered by the lift to do normal things, walk around, and/or temp paint booth duty.

Bigger would be better, but $$$, of course.

Also, on the work-bay, the contractor put the garage door too close to the wall.

There's a 5' section between garage doors, but only 2' between the door and wall for the equipment. 3' or 4' along the wall would've been nicer, even at the expense of "middle" room.

I use a 20x20 garage right now to do my work. One wall has shelfs down the side with all my parents crap on it and a bit of mine as we. Then usuall put long stuff like steel and axles in front of them cause we dont have to access that stuff to much. Then against the wall next to the shelfs i have about a 6 foot workbench that is kinda of shaped like a U blocking some of teh shelfs. Then when working on a vehicle I pull it in at an angle so it makes it easy to work around it. Bad thing is you can only access the half closes to the garage door which I usually leave open to shoot sparks and stuff out the drive way. Our driveway isnt close to level so cant to much work out there.

Matt

One thing I didn't see (although I'm sure it might be in there somewhere) is a COUCH!

My shop is only about 20X20, and trying to use it as both a place for woodworking & automotive repairs is no easy task. We had an extra couch that had to get out of the house but salvation army wouldn't take, so we just set it out in the garage. I ended up liking it out there (a place to hang out) but needed the room for a large workbench for wood projects. So I ended up making a 4'X8' workbench that sits over the couch, but can fold up & attach on the wall so the couch can be used. Just one way to make some double-use of some tight space. I also agree with the idea of plumbing a compressor into a separate area, and having every big item on wheels so you can move it around if needed. Another thing I have that helps alot with dust is a attic fan mounted to the roof right under a whirly-bird, controlled by a wall switch. When I'm sweeping, alot of dust goes into the air. With the fan on, it seems to pull the dust up & out of the shop rather quickly, not to mention it helps get rid of the hot air up there in the summer.

- infloor flourecent lighting
- wood stove + forced air heat + AC
- lift or pit
- plumbed air lines in the cement slab with the compressor in a seperate room
- lots of lights and outlets 120 and 220
- paint booth
- work room
- storage room
- cabinets and more cabinets with locks
- stereo

.......

Tony

My garage is a 30' x 80' pre-engineered steel building fully insulated and liner panels inside. vent system turns air over 6 times an hour with powered louvers and fans. White epoxy floor. Went with in-floor radient heat on a gas-fired 50gal water heater. Forced air A/C (and furnace). Includes a full bathroom, 10' x10' storage rooms and 10'x10' "living room" area with tv, vcr, stereo, couch and chair. Kegorator fridge, mop sink, wash tub. Includes 2 mig welders, a stick welder, air compressor with large tank all piped in with 10 outlets, including air hose reels on the ceiling. Electrical is overkill and has flourescent lighting. Extension cords and trouble lights are on ceiling cord reels too. Has three overhead doors with operators. I beefed up the steel main frames to hold a chain fall lift. big ass work benches, and 4' x10' rolling work bench for fab work. Couple engine stands, pullers, bolt bin, power washer, floor drains, tube bender, torches, port-a-power, parts cleaner tub, drill press, and the tool box is a big ass snap-on "war wagon" on wheels right out of the pawn shop. Recently sectioned off on bay to use as a paint/mess room. Decorated with race car doors, racing pictures, jeeping pictures, budweiser nascar stuff (buddy is a Budweiser salesman) and hood autographed by Kenny Schrader.
Oh also has two jeeps and two modified dirt track race cars in it.

I am blessed, (and it doesn't hurt that I'm a construction contractor by trade)

Greg M

so who want's to continue this thread?? i know it's old but really interesting.. i only have a 20x20 which sucks and it also has a 67 chevelle parked in it so i dont get to use it for much.. anyone got a sick garage with pics??

My neighbor put a 3/4 bath in his shop which is really nice. No running back and forth to the house to use the toilet and a shower stall to clean up so his wife doesn't chew his a$$ when he comes in from wrenching, painting, etc... Other than that, lots of elec. and air outlets, floor heat, and twice as many shop lights as you think you need.

Been thinking of that, too. I'd add a microwave next to the beer fridge, and maybe an electric oven for powdercoating and frozen pizzas.

What would be awesome for heat is a heated floor, but probably too much $$$. If I was to go gas heat, I would keep it close to the ceiling in case there are gasoline fumes on the floor you won't :nuke: your garage.

Best thing I did was build a small enclosure outside for the compressor. Keeps the noise down, and saves on floor space.

x2 on that. my dad did that with a dust vacuum. even enclosing it in a well insulated closet would help a ton.

imho, the most important:

1) tall enough garage doors to fit the rig
2) structural ceiling to allow use of ibeam hoist system/any kind of chain hoist
3) LEVEL polished concrete floor
4) heavy, LEVEL workbench.
5) 220v outlets
6) big enough for anything that needs to stay garage kept (classics) and still have room for vehicles that can come in an out (read: at least 2 bays)
7) water...foot pedal/foot bar operated sink and some gojo

amenities:


8) lift
9) outdoor compressor shack. i hate listening to those damn things
10) garage doors on both sides of the building so you can pull cars in and out in the same direction

i've used my parents garage in SC in summer heat with nothing but a fan and been fine. stays warm enough in winter too. I think that's an area i could save money on. I dont do any kind of fancy paint or epoxying that requires a steady temp to perform, so it doesn't matter to me.

Kegerator and a urinal would be sweet, but there's always the tree just out back.

Adding to this waaay old excellent thread:

For those of us that live in the boonies. I'm using a motor (haven't decided what yet, but probably a 4 cyl Jeep motor on LPG) with a rad hooked into the shop for heat (and another for outside to switch over during summer months. If this was a hot area, I would even hook up AC)
This will run my compressor (old '60's Boeing Devilbis unit that currently has an air cooled Wisconsin running it that's getting tired) and generator (@3KW 220VAC) and of course a 12VDC charging system to keep the backup lighting and (eventually) pellet stove operating during winter.
It'll even operate the hydraulics if I hook up a pump (I have a well going in so power for that is also on the list)
It probably won't operate everything at once, but being off the grid requires some changes to lifestyle.

Biggest problem I'm having is getting a loan (at reasonable interest) to build all this and my house so I can live there full time.

Im limited on funds and realestate so I was trying to figure out the smallest I could get away with ... what I came up with 25 deep by 20-22 feet wide. I looked at those two post lifts and they are <2k and about 11 feet wide. so one bay of the shop has a garage door where the 2 poster lives so roughly 11feet wide by 25 and the tools and work benches go in the 9-11 feet by 25 second bay. To save room i would put the furnace urinal and aircompressor off the back. I have all the "standard" stuff (welder,plasma,air comp,hf bandsaw,hf press, drill press, tube bender). I think my sizing limits my "expansion" by that I mean im not going to be squeezing a mill or a lathe in anytime soon which is so far out of reach its stupid but Im only going to get one chance at it. Man door on the non car side.

walls are a minimum of 10ft with I guess you call it cathedral ceilings on the car side.

In my neck of the woods I need heat but no AC .... plenty of power/electrical and insulation. I think I can get by without plumbing but it would nice.

I think one of the keys if you limited is making it purpose built ... if you have to store the lawn crap and kid gear and other "hobby" (boat / dirtbikes) then its going to have to be larger.

I haven't got a price / bid for anything but I roughly the estimate the above in the 35k range.


Thanks,

arndog

hey ok this is still outta my reach but im tryin to get the money 20x40 with 12ft sidewalls and heater and few good buddies and a welder a plasma a jack air a stero and some dp and mtd for the late nites and a few beers and a engin host and work bench and tools

The single greatest mod for a new garage for us Northerners is in floor heat. Its cheap to install when you are in the rebar stage, and super cheap to maintain.

Second most important would be enough height for a hoist.

Then light, ventelation, and a coated floor in no particular order.

Skylights and a painted floor is an exceptional way to reatly increase light for cheap in a shop.

Filling it up with all the great tools and everythinng is a given, but those things would be my main prioities if I were building new.

Big electric service, and possible plumbing would good as well.