Building a garage, cost $$$$

[Suregrip391]

Hi Guys, I was thinking of getting a garage built in my backyard. Was thinking something along the lines of a 24x28 with a 10 foot height and a concrete pad. I received two quotes for this build, one was $15K and the other was $24K. Maybe I am behind the times here but I thought that was a lot! 12 years ago my father had one built 24x24, with a 8 foot height and concrete (he had to side it himself and roof it to save money) for $4500. Has anyone recently built a garage and is this the going rate??

 

[Darius]

Hi Guys, I was thinking of getting a garage built in my backyard. Was thinking something along the lines of a 24x28 with a 10 foot height and a concrete pad. I received two quotes for this build, one was $15K and the other was $24K. Maybe I am behind the times here but I thought that was a lot! 12 years ago my father had one built 24x24, with a 8 foot height and concrete (he had to side it himself and roof it to save money) for $4500. Has anyone recently built a garage and is this the going rate??

Consider that concrete is $105-115 per yard you have about $2300 in material alone just for the slab and that does not account for the labor and materials to prep for the pour!
T-111 siding is going to be around $35 per sheet and that is 9' sheets... you can do the math on that. A decent roll-up garage door with a good belt drive system will be $12-1500 MINIMUM.
I haven't ,mentioned framing materials or electrical considerations....a 200' roll of 12-3 copper is about $90 last time I checked, how many rolls will it take to wire what you want, and what about light fixtures????

Seems to me that if you got this done by a professional for around $20k you would be getting a good deal.A $9000 swing is too much. Either one of them is gouging or the other is lowballing to get the job and will "change order" you to death. Ask for itemized specifications of everything that is included and not included, you don't really need each line item price but you do need to know what you are getting!
Oh yeah, do you want to insulate it and sheetrock the walls also???

These are California figures and we have outrageous building permit issues that add to the cost as well.
Just do one thing ...PLEASE... whoever you are considering for the job, get MANY references and call ALL of them. Anyone can give you three names of people who will say nice things about them. If a guy has been around a while and has his stuff together, he should be able to produce a good sized reference list in short order.
You get what you pay for in the construction industry...unless you are buying a new production home ,in which case, you are getting f@#$%d!
Good Luck
Darius
A remodeling contractor in No. California with 26 years in business.

 

[STR-14]

As much as it dismays you, that is probably an accurate quote (the higher one). Here where I am, the prep is $2.25 per sq. foot, finishing is $1.75 per sq. ft PLUS the cost of the gravel,plastic,rebar,ties,anchor bolts,forms and the concrete (w/hardener) itself, just for the pad. My concrete will run about $165-170 per yard (5-6 " deep, 27.5 mpa with 1% calcium, 35-38 yds). I also had to wait 4 months for them to come. My 2 carpenters are going to get paid a cool $40.00 per hour each. My shop is going to be 40 X 60. The shell will be 2 x 6 - 10' tall with one large door and one 36" man door, no windows. The sides and the roof will be tin. That materials package alone will be $15-16k plus installation as per above prices. A crane to lift the trusses in place wil be $225.00 per hour. I haven't included the cost of insulation, electrical, heating, interior or exterior walls and ground finishing yet. That'll have to wait until next year.:clock:
Daryl

 

[gts340]

I'm glad I work at a firehouse with a bunch of skilled guys willing to work for beer.

 

[Longgone]

24 x 36, 2 story with Mansard roof ,1 garage door ,4 windows ,1 36" entrance door ,insulated, and sheetrocked -8 years ago $17K in SE Va.

 

[DARTLARRY]

22x24 9 Foot High, 1 Service Door No Windows 16x8 Insulated Door. Never Got My Hands Dirty (all Done By Contractor) 7500. Just A Simple Garage For A Good Price.

 

[flyboy01]

Get about 5 bids. Prices vary quite a bit. You can get a slab, have soemone frame it, then you can finish it yourself. Or at least have the shell built, then install insulation and drywall yourself. Also check into a metal garage, they are a lot cheaper and they have more usable height (think lift).

http://metalbuildingdepot.com/aspx/photogallery.aspx

 

[sweatybetty]

Consider that concrete is $105-115 per yard you have about $2300 in material alone just for the slab and that does not account for the labor and materials to prep for the pour!
T-111 siding is going to be around $35 per sheet and that is 9' sheets... you can do the math on that. A decent roll-up garage door with a good belt drive system will be $12-1500 MINIMUM.
I haven't ,mentioned framing materials or electrical considerations....a 200' roll of 12-3 copper is about $90 last time I checked, how many rolls will it take to wire what you want, and what about light fixtures????

Seems to me that if you got this done by a professional for around $20k you would be getting a good deal.A $9000 swing is too much. Either one of them is gouging or the other is lowballing to get the job and will "change order" you to death. Ask for itemized specifications of everything that is included and not included, you don't really need each line item price but you do need to know what you are getting!
Oh yeah, do you want to insulate it and sheetrock the walls also???

These are California figures and we have outrageous building permit issues that add to the cost as well.
Just do one thing ...PLEASE... whoever you are considering for the job, get MANY references and call ALL of them. Anyone can give you three names of people who will say nice things about them. If a guy has been around a while and has his stuff together, he should be able to produce a good sized reference list in short order.
You get what you pay for in the construction industry...unless you are buying a new production home ,in which case, you are getting f@#$%d!
Good Luck
Darius
A remodeling contractor in No. California with 26 years in business.

i agree. but, 24x28 will be too small. if you have the room go bigger. its cheaper in the long run. youll be wishing you did. my shop is 24x32 and its too small.

 

[POD]

I built my 20 x 20, (that's all the county would allow), myself 4 years ago. 6 inch slab with huge footers and a driveway about 130 ft. long that wraps around the back to the shop. 8 foot walls. Again, that's all I could permit. Nice steep roof so that a lift is possible and I have a nice storage loft on one side. It is fully insulated, drywalled and air conditioned. Power on every wall. 100 Amp. service. TV cable, computer, alarm, phone and sprinkler system all wired in. Every nail, screw and tool included ran me $11,000.00 ... I hired a few guys to hang the ceiling drywall and help with the roof as I have a bad back. Also hired out all the concrete work. Again it was at a total cost of $11,000.00.

I had about 5 or 6 contractors give me estimates. $30K down to $11K. The $11K guy was just to dry it in and I had to buy all the materials.. I said screw it and built it myself. It took me a long time to do it all, but I have a bad back and sit more than work..

The biggest thing I can tell you is to make a great plan. You have to reallllly know where you want things and place what you need where it needs to be now. Later will make it a real pain in the ***..

You can never have too many lights or outlets.

Don't forget to wire in lights outside too...

Once you have a plan go over and over it. Go to your buddy's shops and ask them what they would do differently and what they really like about their shops. don't forget about heat and A/C.

I also buried a PVC (sch.40) pipe in the ground from the shop to my house garage for compressed air.

My only regret is that I didn't buy a place with a larger yard so that I could have built much bigger. Do your homework....

 

[GTGrinly]

I have seen, in the past four years, sheetrock go from $4./ sheet to $12., 12-2-Romex go from $29/250ft. to over $100/250. Deck screws went from $1.99/lb to $4.99/lb...I too am attempting to get a workable price on an addition to my daughters house and a garage. Codes / permits also add costs, along with snow load calculations. And, since my property is near the river I have flood plain and hydraulic issues, not to mention the wet lands issues we've had. I've gotten prices from $20,000 for the addition to $57,000 for the same work. Thats with me doing the heat and electric. Building costs are out of site. With liability insurance costs, workers comp, commercial vehicle insurance, and $40 an hour labor, what cost $5000 five years ago is now more like $25,000.-$35,000. Five years ago, around here, you could have bought a house on an acre or two for about $90,000.....today the same house is $225,000, if you can find a decent one.

 

[H22A4]

Make your garage as big as you can afford.

Have you ever heard anyone saying, after their garage was built, "I wish I built a smaller garage".

 

[littleman66]

Make your garage as big as you can afford.

Have you ever heard anyone saying, after their garage was built, "I wish I built a smaller garage".

when the tax bill comes in, or the heat bill

 

[moparmade43]

I am in the progress of building a nice garage, I can let you know where I am right now. My garage I'm building is a two story garage, 26x40, three bays in the bottom and three bays up top.

First Floor- I had the three walls poured for the weight of the upper floor, 10 ft. high, that cost $11,100 dollars approx. Framed fourth wall for garage doors. Concrete floor below, poured it ourselves, got the concrete at the contractors price who poured the walls, cost right around $1,300 dollars. Engineered floor joyces and two laminated 26 ft. long beams, $4,500 dollars.

Second floor- Roof trusses, standard 4/12, were $1,600. The 8 ft. walls were just framed, and the plywood is on the roof. I havent figured up the 2x4s and plywood yet, but they arent gonna make a huge dent in the long run.

All the work was done by my father, me, friends and family, except for the pouring of the walls.

This is as far as I've gotten, as you can see its pretty well dried in for around
$20,000. At only 24 years old, with the poured walls and concrete floor, this garage will outlast me. only major cost left is garage doors and metal siding, plus the lift im getting for the bottom. Hope that helps

 

[dgc333]

When I started looking into building a garage I got quotes around $40k for a turn key 2 car garage all stained to match the house. I looked into some pre-fab units that were advertised for $12k but they were built on piers and didn't include a floor, electric or windows, closer to $20k when complete.

My wife suggested one of these:

Which is what I wound up building. The kit price was $3500 but my town insisted on a footing down below the frost line so excavating and concrete work cost me $3k. I poured the floor with 6" thick reinforced concrete for an eventual 2 post lift which was another $k. I have a 12' wide roll up door which was $600. I did the electric and air myself so the material costs were about $500.

 

[flyboy01]

If you are in Mass, how are you going to heat it? Insulation?

 

[dgc333]

If you are in Mass, how are you going to heat it? Insulation?

I have a propane heater that I use when I am working out there in the winter. It takes about 20 minutes to heat it to a comfortable working temp from zero degrees. You can insulate these with a metalized foam but I didn't bother because I do not heat it all the time.

 

[abodyjoe]

When I started looking into building a garage I got quotes around $40k for a turn key 2 car garage all stained to match the house. I looked into some pre-fab units that were advertised for $12k but they were built on piers and didn't include a floor, electric or windows, closer to $20k when complete.

My wife suggested one of these:

Which is what I wound up building. The kit price was $3500 but my town insisted on a footing down below the frost line so excavating and concrete work cost me $3k. I poured the floor with 6" thick reinforced concrete for an eventual 2 post lift which was another $k. I have a 12' wide roll up door which was $600. I did the electric and air myself so the material costs were about $500.

got any pics of the out side....

 

[abodyjoe]

have you looked into the 84 lumber kits?? they seem pretty reasonable.. you have to build it your self but the few guys that i know that have built one says it is really easy. it goes up in 8 ' sections....



also what about a pole barn? i have guys telling me that you get bigger for youre money with them...

i have been asking around because i want a garage in the next few years...

 

[lilcuda]

Be thankful you don't live in the San Jose, Ca area! Bay Area construction costs are insane!!! 2 years ago, I had a 26 x 35 detached garage built. It cost about $65k!!! That didn't include the driveway. I'm attaching a few photos. Please ignore the GM product on the right in the last photo. ;)

These photos were taken shortly after construction was completed. It's much messier now.

 

[Realest]

i helped my uncle build his garage last year. even doing it our selves i believe he said the last estimated total was $30K. Given that- The shop is 24x38, footer/grade beam foundation,9 foot walls, vaulted ceiling, 18 windows on the west side, 7 skylights, a 10x10 cold room meat room, 5 zone in floor hydronic heating, plying wood sheathing inside instead of drywall. I hope to build mine about the same size, minus the skylights windows and in floor heat, if the city lets me build that big on my property.

here are some pics

 

[Keith Mopar]

I think a big thing to consider is the local regulations first. When I went to build my Garage they had lot coverage rule a max size limit on a secondary building. I ended up with a 24 X 36 and a 10 foot ceiling. I built it with a 10'4" and they let it go. My original plan was for a 26 X 36 with a 11' ceiling but was told NO! And because my garage base was over a certian size my walls had to sit on a footing below frost line and the floor had to be poured seperatly and my concrete cost me $6000.00 and I did all the grade work myself!

 

[cold85]

There are many things to consider when building a garage but one thing I can say is build as big as you can afford even if you have to make cutts on other things because once its done it fills up fast. I know

 

[dodge-n-it]

those are some nice garages guys. I miss my old garage, 26x30x11 standered garage cost $18k about 8 yrs ago. The only thing I did was the insulation, had a pellet stove to heat it and window ac to cool it.
My new house the garages are attached with a supporting wall down the center. I think they are 15x24 but 1 has 15' cieling for future lift and i will be losing the other to make a play room for the kids and a pool table when they are a little bigger. I'm saving now for a new garage.

 

[mikedevore]

I had a metal building built, kind of like a pole barn type const. Its a 26' x 28', with 10' walls, 1-overhead door & 1-walk-thru door, & insulated. The price included the concrete, was $8500.00. I had to wire it & build a driveway to it, this was another $2000.00.

 

[1969340dart]

First let me say that BUILDING MATERIALS ARE MUCH HIGHER NOW THAN 8 YEARS AGO! My Wife and I are going through a Home remodel right now and believe me it is expensive! VERY EXPENSIVE! All new kitchen,walls being torn out,new sheetrock,new plumbing,flooring etc. Also about 4 years ago I had my 24 X 40 metal building built with full insulation,central air and heat and it was around $14000.00 finished! Today I would expect this building to cost in the area of $24000.00 or even more due to price increases in Concrete,steel and other related materials.As one member said there is too much difference in prices on your quotes! Someone is not on track with the bid.I also would say that the HIGHER estimate is more realistic! Would not hurt to get another bid and make sure all are bidding on the same thing,size,type of materials used,thickness of concrete,electrical etc. You can also get a book called a Cost Means Construction book and do a cost estimate yourself just for peace of mind.It is something I always do on any project.Also find out from your contractor if they have references on previous garages built in your area, and contact those people to see how everything went using the contractor and there satisfaction with the work,contractor and finished product! Us Mopar people got to spend our $$$ wisely so we always have a little to spend on the MOPAR PROJECTS!

Bobby