Above 1200 Sq/FT Garage West to Midwest and a toy barn build

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Hello all, Ryan. I have enjoyed so many threads people have shared so I wanted to give back. Here's my journey!

Been in AZ my entire life and our last house was a typical suburban place with a 4 car attached. It was a new build which is rare so we jumped on it in 2019.
I work in CyberSecurity so I get to work remotely and have been doing so almost my entire career. Love the flexibility to also pursue things outside of work.

This is what I started with. Already had epoxy floors from the builder. It was done well and no hot tire pickup even in the scorching 120* sun.


Builder also put in cabinets which was great. Nothing fancy but worked fine.


Ripped these standard **** lights out and put in recessed lighting





Insulation in the west (detached) wall and added some Mr Cools. 2 - 24k and they kept the garage cool no problem. I even had a rack of servers contributing to the load, but temps stayed at 75*.

All of this is contributing to being kept happy working on my hobbies which are motorcycles, cars and computers.

I am a big fan of toys. I’ll intro them quickly

19' Ducati
Started out red which many people love, but it just wore on me
Took the bike apart and resprayed.



I’m passionate when it comes to paint so nicks and rock chips are out of favor with me. All the bikes have been PPF wrapped and its been great.




2023 Busa
My wife bought this for me a few years ago when I got my Master’s Degree. Great woman. We flew to MO to buy it and then shipped to AZ.
Stock bike except exhaust and swingarm


2013 Busa (boosted)
Lots of work done to this bike. Full engine build and lots of boost. More pictures for anyone interested. On C16 and 30lbs of boost it throws down 450. Nasty


21’ RKS. Lost of work done to this guy. It’s endless but worth it. Recently had a larger cam installed and the bike moves for an 800lb tank


97’ wideglide that was my FIL’s before he passed. We’ve taken care of it since. Priceless in emotional value.

 

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97’ wideglide that was my FIL’s before he passed. We’ve taken care of it since. Priceless in emotional value.



Wife and I decided we wanted a second home where it’s not so hot. Some friends of ours moved out to MI and we met up with them and fell in love with the area.
In 2024 we bought our own little lake house. Our intention was to travel back and forth for the nice weather. We have never lived anywhere else so being in the Midwest was unique. House on a well? Something we had no concept. House had a new 24x36 built. That was fine with the intentions we initially had.

97’ wideglide that was my FIL’s before he passed. We’ve taken care of it since. Priceless in emotional value.


Wife and I decided we wanted a second home where it’s not so hot. Some friends of ours moved out to MI and we met up with them and fell in love with the area.
In 2024 we bought our own little lake house. Our intention was to travel back and forth for the nice weather. We have never lived anywhere else so being in the Midwest was unique. House on a well? Something we had no concept. House had a new 24x36 built. That was fine with the intentions we initially had.




Typical pole barn build here in the Midwest and what I started with.

Our neighbors do construction so they helped finish out the building. Electrical, full insulation, mini splits for heat and cool and the list goes on. Construction is not my forte so I tried paying attention as the work was done.
Here it is today and yes, it’s a mess. I keep everything organized and hence why I started this thread. As you can see there is not enough space.
Over Christmas Mrs Shade and I went back to AZ to spend time with our kids. We were fortunate enough (my wife and I were just dumb kids ourselves) that we had kids very early. We are in our mid forties and have a 29/26/22 year olds. Tough times when the kids were little, we grew up struggling financially but worked hard and persevered.




Now back to Christmas 2025. Wife and I looked at each other and said its time to go back to MI and we don’t want to come back. Right then we decided it was time to sell the AZ house and move permanently.
Wife said you are going to need to build a big *** barn and quick. Well things during Feb/March don’t move so fast in MI mostly because of this stuff


I found a builder and recently started work on a 40x48x17

Site prep starting. Now nothing can be easy of course. Electric and internet come off the pole right through the site. I do have to say our local electric has been amazing. In less than 2 weeks they dropped a new line around the site and out of the way. They abandoned the existing copper. I learned they do direct bury out here. Back in AZ everything is in conduit. Same with fiber, they rerouted that as well.

 

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Builder excluded site work from his contract which is fine. Gives me a verbal of its going to be about $2500 for site excavation, which I verbally agree to. I get an invoice recently for about $8k for the site work..
I kindly explain I did not agree to a change order for that amount, nor did I agree to site work in writing for any amount. We’ll see where that goes but as of now that ‘change order’ isn’t getting paid.

Concrete footers/columns getting poured. There were about 3’ wide and like 4 ft deep. Pretty big holes. Interestingly enough, as they were digging the column holes, they hit the old electrical line.



Columns in so now they could start building


When the full crew was here, they got it up quick.


Roofing was a few days later and again that went on fast


The existing shop doesn’t have a drain so snow just puddles. Well that ***** and I try not to put up with **** like that. I told the builder first thing, this will have a drain. Concrete guy fitted in the drain. Concrete is going to be sloped. Its 4.5” and 5k PSI so a good slab.



Pour day
They finished up around 8p getting everything done and power troweled. I like a smooth finish. They came back the next morning for joint cuts. I think it was 4 truck loads to get enough. Good work and happy with it.

 

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Today here is the slab
Tomorrow and Sunday siding should go on and electrical Monday

 

[runit]

following along....

 

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Got tired of the hose being on the ground.
4x4 and a little concrete

 

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Electricians came and got a ton of work done. Wires ran for all the outlets and lights.
Breaker in.
Barn will have its own dedicated 200A service














Electricians also got a conduit in for fiber. There is a run from the smaller barn to the house and to the basement.
They got the conduit into the smaller barn and will run through the existing back to the house.





All so I can connect back to the server room
I do need to spend some time tidying up the cabling

 

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When to clean up around the propane tank that runs the generator and saw some twigs under the valve cap.
Tiny little eggs. Smaller than a jelly beans it looks like

 

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On our existing barn we have a roll up door. Its time for this to go. Its letting in so many time mosquitos its no good.
Here is what exists behind the paneling. To make this a high lift, will the opener need to go to the direct side or up high. Would the header way up be good? More blocking needed?

 

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While the barn build is ongoing, a little more work done to the house.
When we moved in there was a standard 40g water heater.
That's a no go. Rinnai for the win. Love this tankless brand. Second tankless between the last house and this