Crawl Awah
Well-known member
In 2013, we sold our first home in a claustrophobic neighborhood with tiny lots and an overzealous HOA and moved to a larger home on one acre with plans to build a shop. Nearly 11 years later, the shop is built and only needs final punch list items addressed and final payment.
The shop is stick-built with Hardy siding with a little brick and 14’ walls and garage door. We also added an 8-ish x 30covered porch. It is served with 100-amp sub-panel from the house
I hired an architect in January 2023. He was to design the shop and manage the construction. By July he had completed the design and gotten a first round of bids. With no interior finish out, no HVAC, and generally no extras, the initial bids were unaffordable.
I asked the architect to do some value engineering to see if he could tweak the design and find some savings. In response, he made a half-hearted effort to revise the exterior finishes, remove all windows and reduce the drive and parking flat work and then he quit.
I had two contractors bid the job and they were more than the initial bid, even with nearly a 90% reduction in brick and hundreds of square feet less in parking/driveway area.
I had just about given up when I found my current contractor. He didn’t want to build the shop without windows, HVAC, and fully finished drywall. In the end, we worked out a price that was significantly less than any of the other bids and with a better value.
The construction wasn’t perfect and there are a few items that, aesthetically, while irritating, are not a big deal.
The shop is stick-built with Hardy siding with a little brick and 14’ walls and garage door. We also added an 8-ish x 30covered porch. It is served with 100-amp sub-panel from the house
I hired an architect in January 2023. He was to design the shop and manage the construction. By July he had completed the design and gotten a first round of bids. With no interior finish out, no HVAC, and generally no extras, the initial bids were unaffordable.
I asked the architect to do some value engineering to see if he could tweak the design and find some savings. In response, he made a half-hearted effort to revise the exterior finishes, remove all windows and reduce the drive and parking flat work and then he quit.
I had two contractors bid the job and they were more than the initial bid, even with nearly a 90% reduction in brick and hundreds of square feet less in parking/driveway area.
I had just about given up when I found my current contractor. He didn’t want to build the shop without windows, HVAC, and fully finished drywall. In the end, we worked out a price that was significantly less than any of the other bids and with a better value.
The construction wasn’t perfect and there are a few items that, aesthetically, while irritating, are not a big deal.
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