• Important! If you attempt to register and do not get an email within 5 minutes please check your spam box. This is especially true for Microsoft owned domains like Hotmail, Outlook, and Live. If these do not work please consider Gmail. Yahoo, or even AOL email which works fine.

Detached Garage/Shop

wct097

NPD Club President 2021-2022
Staff member
Super Moderator
VIP
I realize that it'll never be big enough, but what's a reasonable number for the type of stuff I do? I'm thinking 3 bays plus room for tools and workbenches. 28x30? 28x40?

I have it in my mind that I should be able to build a substantial garage at the same time as the house for about $15k. Maybe I'm way off. Dunno.
 

slideways

Member
I had a pole building built last year completed fall 2015 24x28 2 garage doors 1 man door no windows for 8k.. concrete i believe was 2500. That was the cheapest amish guys i could find. They were pissed to find out it was a 3hr drive i guess.. dicked me around for literally 3 months before they actually built it but no complaints now that its up. 1 bay for wife's car and a couch/tv. Next bay for 2 racecars and fastener bins/chemicals and a toolbox/workbench across the back wall.
 

wct097

NPD Club President 2021-2022
Staff member
Super Moderator
VIP
That seems like a good price. I figure that it's always going to be cheaper to have a shop framed up when the house is going up than to have it done later.

I think 28x40 would be a really nice size. Should allow for 3 doors (double door and a single door) with some space to one side for my workbenches and tools.
 

abqtj

I'm a damn delight!
Staff member
Administrator
VIP
Friend built one that was 40x40 I believe and it was awesome. 1 taller door to fit his class A RV in, 2 others for vehicles. You could stack 3 jeeps end to end in the bays and still have room. The side was wide enough for work benches, tools, compressors, etc.

It was tits. Wish he didn't die.
 

BobKid

Bite me!
VIP
Looking to build a 25' X 30' detached garage at my place right now. Only problem is it has to be finished to look just like the existing house, so best bid I've gotten so far is $45K.

Know several friends who've had 24' X 26' detached garages put in, and they all paid right around $30-35K for stick-built brick exterior with minimal interior finish. Don't figure you'll get by for less unless you do a metal building.
 

slideways

Member
Mine is under pine trees so its somewhat cool in summer but heating it is tough in winter. I need insulation. I've been slowly putting sheetrock on the rafters with styrofoam blocks above for insulation but i'm not even 1/2 way yet. My dad put a pellet stove in there but you may as well light a candle. Kerosene bullet heaters are what i use to get by now. So keep that in mind when you overbuild.. lot of cold air in there.
 

themonk

ex-monk.
VIP
I think if I were building a huge shop, I'd partition it inside so I have a smaller work area but lots of covered space inside for things in "cold storage" so to speak. Projects on hiatus etc could be rolled in the un-conditioned space, tractors etc stored there. Minimal work would take place in such an area.
 

GreenGeep

Timber Baron
VIP
Dad's shop was 100x40. 50x40 of the center was enclosed with two 25x40 open air bays on each end. End bays were originally rock, but then dad concreted them in, with the left bay(shaded northeast side) having a center drain for washing cars. Right bay is where the ATVs, Kubota M8200, lawmowers, and a bush hog or two lived. Dark green and brown to make it less visible from the road. Two double-wide overhead doors tall enough to drive a JD 310SE backhoe inside. One man door between those. 10k lb. two post vehicle lift in the left bay. 996 turbocar lived in the left bay before it moved to ABQ. LS430 and dirt bikes lived in the right bay. Big roll around toolbox in between the bays with wire shelving. Pegboard on both end-walls of enclosed space. Insulated, but not heated or cooled. Cranked up a bullet heater occasionally. Floor is 12" thick with twice as much rebar as normal. Guy installing the lift didn't believe it until he started drilling. :rotflmao:

Front left side.



Front right, during hurricane Irene, 2011. Dad had to put the LS430 on jack stands inside the shop to keep it out of the water.




Left bay before the lift install. Brock remembers these pics I am sure. jjj






Left bay after lift install. jjj





Right bay from inside.





Main focus of those last two photos was my KTM light bar.
 
Last edited:

Jays89YJ

Udaho
VIP
slideways, you got a deal of a century at under $12/SF. Holy shit. Amish you say? Or were they Hutterites?

At 28x40 and a pole barn style, tough rib 29ga metal panel (cheap), concrete pad, very minimal wiring for receptacles and 4-6 lights on one switch, garage doors, man door, uninsulated, no HVAC, one or two small windows, one gable vent at each end, and the cheapest roof construction/composition (pole barn truss and purlins w/ clipped SE 7/16" OSB and flat shingles over felt paper and the cheapest ice and water shield at the perimeter), I'd say you're pushing or north of $25,000.
 
  • Like
Reactions: gcb

abqtj

I'm a damn delight!
Staff member
Administrator
VIP
X2. I'm pretty sure I recall the number being around $50k all-on for my friend's at 40x40. His was a decent metal building, no insulation that recall, some "sky lights", 3 garage and 1 man door, electrical, concrete, etc.
 

wct097

NPD Club President 2021-2022
Staff member
Super Moderator
VIP
Do you disagree that the price when building with a house would be substantially lower than having a contractor build after the fact?

I figure the material costs for 28x40 would be about $10k. Could be way off as that's just a ballpark without a detailed material breakdown.
 

wct097

NPD Club President 2021-2022
Staff member
Super Moderator
VIP
Substantially? Yeah I do disagree.
Interesting. My builder claims that I'll never be able to build a garage as cheaply as I can get it built when building the house.... unless I build it myself. I think there is some truth to that, unless times are slow.

We'll see what his carpenter says. At minimum, I'm going to have him pour the slab and rough in the electrical. I can build it myself if I have to. 84 Lumber sells a 32x40 kit for under $10k.

http://www.84homes.84lumber.com/Garage%20prices.pdf
 

abqtj

I'm a damn delight!
Staff member
Administrator
VIP
Sure it'll be cheaper, but you said substantially.

You're looking at almost 50% of the cost Jays89YJ is saying. I think you'll be fortunate to be 10-20% cheaper, which puts you over $20k.

You just need to price it and see how it shakes out.
 

wct097

NPD Club President 2021-2022
Staff member
Super Moderator
VIP
I'd expect a 28x40 to be over $20k. I'm thinking I could get a decent sized one built for around $15k (smaller than 28x40).

A couple things will add cost for me. I'd like to have a tall ceiling so I can fit a lift in at some point. I don't think that's a huge deal, but an added cost for sure. I'd also like to rough in a sewer line to the main septic tank so I can add a toilet or at least a urinal later. I don't have any real issue with having a urinal drain out to grade with grey water from the sink, but that's probably not legal. From a practical standpoint, it's no different than taking a piss outside, but w/e.
 

Jays89YJ

Udaho
VIP
The only thing you'll save is mobilization and demobilization. Other than that, material cost and labor are the same. I could see some sequencing with concrete placement potentially saving you, but it's all logistics savings. So mob/demob. To be brutally honest, your builder is embellishing. There are builders out there that exclusively build shops. Your builder won't be able to touch them, even excluding mob/demob costs and his special equipment costs.

It's a shop. Your ceiling height will the the underside of the bottom truss chord and the roof framing. A lift will require a thickened slab and/or beams in certain locations. Put the lift between the trusses and he roof framing will be the height limit.

The cheapest I've ever heard of shops being built (besides slideways) is just over $18/SF and that's by the bottom tier shop builders who only build shops. The higher quality built shops are $23/SF+. These costs are for Canyon county, ID and the overall shop description falls into what I previously described. After seeing what you get for $18/SF here, pass.
 

Hooligan

Employee of the Month
VIP
I'd expect a 28x40 to be over $20k. I'm thinking I could get a decent sized one built for around $15k (smaller than 28x40).

A couple things will add cost for me. I'd like to have a tall ceiling so I can fit a lift in at some point. I don't think that's a huge deal, but an added cost for sure. I'd also like to rough in a sewer line to the main septic tank so I can add a toilet or at least a urinal later. I don't have any real issue with having a urinal drain out to grade with grey water from the sink, but that's probably not legal. From a practical standpoint, it's no different than taking a piss outside, but w/e.
I wish I had water to my garage. That's the one thing I'll do for sure in the future if I build my dream garage. A drain in the center of it for winter and a wash basin. If you're doing a urinal, you might as well do a commode as well.
 
I wish I had water to my garage. That's the one thing I'll do for sure in the future if I build my dream garage. A drain in the center of it for winter and a wash basin. If you're doing a urinal, you might as well do a commode as well.
may as well go for a sink and shower too.....
 
Top