Large Garage Shop design and cost

[skidoo]

I am looking to build a large garage, shop, or barn this spring. I am thinking maybe 40 x 60 or 40 x 80, insulated, and a concrete floor. I would like a 40lb or better snow load capable and a door to fit a slide-in camper and JD110TLB through. I want fire resistance from the outside (i.e. from flying embers of a forest fire). There already exists a septic system, electric, and a well where it is to be located. I should be able to do my own excavation and prep.

I will be using it as shelter for two tractors, two garden mowers, a pickup, 1 or 2 cars, camper, boat, maybe a 18" flat trailer, perhaps 6 or more tractor implements, and anything else that comes up.

Is this size reasonable and big enough? (I know you can never go too big!)

What would you recommend for an efficient and practical design and what $$ should I expect to be reasonable for a contractor bid?

How would you go about finding a suitable contractor?

 

[john_bud]

Around here we say that you can't have a shop that is too big, only too big to heat.


You should probably plan on 4" to 6" of Styrofoam under the concrete and in floor heating. It would probably be smart to do it in several zones, so you could build an insulated building inside the walls and just heat that, or the whole thing if need be. It's much cheaper to do in floor heat before you pour the 'crete! Nice thing about that is you don't have to connect the hoses if you don't want to.

 

[EddieWalker]

That much concrete is going to be expensive. Living up north in Montana, your requirements for freezing and having footing deep enough to support your roof are going to have a big impact on the overall price. Here, $3 a square foot if reasonable for a slab to for a house.

For materials, I'd say $10 a foot for the building, but that's not going to cover the snow load. Probably another two bucks a foot to be safe there.

What is labor like there? It's going to take them a few weeks to attack all that metal, plus they will need to rent some equimen. Better figure $15,000 grand in labor.

Now none of these numbers mean anything because I'm in Texas and don't have the same rules that you do. What you need to do is find a few local suppliers and see what they are selling buildings of that size for. Ask about doors. Do you want one? two? three? How big? 10ft x 10ft is pretty good for most things, but too small for a few things. How big are those tractors and will they fit through a ten foot door? Do you want insulation? Add a few more bucks per sq foot for that.

Do you want any of the interior finished out? bathroom? storage rooms? Office? TV area or kitchen area? Price goes up a fair amount for these thing depending on what you want and how nice you want it.

To find a good contractor, you have to find people who are happy with the one they hired. Drive the roads in your area and find buildings similar to what you want. Go talk to the owner of that shop and take notes. Ask what he did right, what he did wrong and what was his contractor like? Would he use him again? would he recomend him to his mother?

Good luck,
Eddie

 

[Redneck in training]

We live in a barn converted into a house. Morton Buildings built it at cost of about $35/foot. Price was based on three pane Pella windows, all perimeter doors, insulated walls, reinforced concrete slab insulated by pink styrofoam, all under floor plumbing, water line about 1200 ft, septic and all building site preparation. Built 2004 at the peak of building boom. So far we are happy with the building. We have geothermal floor heating that wasn't included in the Morton price.

Morton used to brag about the warranty but the info disappeared from the web site.


Morton Buildings - Pole Barns, Horse Barns, Steel Buildings, Metal Buildings, Storage Buildings, Farm Buildings

 

[skidoo]

I don't need it finished inside, just the shell, roof, and well insulated. I don't think I can justify floor heat, but may use a wood stove if I need to be in it for a while in cold weather. I'll plumb it in the concrete for future possibilities. I don't plan to live in it, but want it attractive to a potential buyer should the need ever arise.

 

[john_bud]

One thing I should have done was to extend the in ground insulation 3-4' outside the walls. A buddy has that and his floors are much warmer around the edges.

 

[CurlyDave]

When you think about heating and insulation, consider just heating one bay, large enough to work on your biggest piece of equipment, and keep all your tools in.

I have sort of that setup, with one garage bay 15' x 35' which is sort of heated by having two heat pump air handlers and two hot water tanks in it. Maybe 60 degrees all winter and 75 or so in the summer.

I don't mind anything else being cold, as long as it is sheltered.

But, I live in a much warmer area than you.

 

[Mike Costello]

View attachment 119807Here's my garage/shop I completed in October 08.

View attachment 119808It is 30'X60' with 2 16WX10H doors and a walk in

View attachment 119809door. The shop has insulated walls and roof as well as the garage doors. It called a post frame building (pole barn). The floor is concrete with 1800 sq ft.
Currently I have one tractor and attachments, plus 2 vehicles inside; and there is plenty of room for my shop area at the other end. I built storage racks up high on the back wall so the family's "other stuff" is out of the way in plastic containers. I'm having fun organizing the place, so I'm sure I will be able to create more space. I just finished a corner workbench that runs 15' on one wall and 21' on the intersecting wall.
I think the size building you're talking about will give you plenty of room. Don't know if this information will help any or even if my type of building would work in your part of the country but it might give you some food for thought. I live in Missouri...temps got down to about 1 degree two weeks ago and after a little heat the shop was comfortable. Hope this helps, Mike.

 

[skidoo]

I'd love to see the pictures, but the links don't work.

Sounds like a nice shop.

 

[Redneck in training]

I don't need it finished inside, just the shell, roof, and well insulated. I don't think I can justify floor heat, but may use a wood stove if I need to be in it for a while in cold weather. I'll plumb it in the concrete for future possibilities. I don't plan to live in it, but want it attractive to a potential buyer should the need ever arise.

I would advice you to investigate the cost of steel finishing inside. Morton finished my garage of about 1400 sqft for only few hundred dollars.

When you use wood stove pay attention to design of the chimney so you don't get creosote on your roof because it is very corrosive. It gets washed down by rain and cause black smear on the roof, eventually damaging the paint and rust the roof panels. Solution is to install the flue gas duct from the stove horizontally trough the wall with artificial draft by a fan operated by a thermostat.