40x60 shouse

[Shouse133]

So recently I stumbled upon a 10 acre parcel of land that I would like to build a shop house on. I've been thinking of a 60x40 shop with a 20x40 living area. I've been pricing things out and the building itself costs approx 25k-30k concrete range anywhere from 15k-40k. The framing, drywall, appliances and all finishing costs are the parts I'm unsure about, any tips from anybody with experience in this area would be greatly appreciated! I'd be doing most the work myself FYI.

 

[Pluribus]

I know someone building that size as a pole barn in Skagit County, but it will have a full 2nd floor. It's going to run over $100k for concrete and building before adding wiring and plumbing. Basically, builder is being provided with a graded and compacted site, and they're going to do the slab plus a shell with a 2nd floor. Not sure if they're going to frame the walls on the 2nd floor as part of it, but I'm guessing they are.

If you're permitting it as a dwelling, I think you need a blower door test now, and my understanding is that pole barns are a bear to air-seal to meet requirements. Have you talked to your AHJ yet? If so, are they helpful?

 

[Falcon67]

If I was going to do that here, I would put up the building then do conventional framing inside the structure without trying to use the metal building walls as part of the "home". If needing to service any of the exterior (hail storm, wind damage, etc) in the home area, I'd not be keen about having to deal with exposing the home interior or dealing with spray foam on the back side of the siding.

We have looked at it hard and - being that we're 4 years from possible retirement - the numbers do not work out. We owe about 95K on the current house and there isn't any way to out-of-pocket a 40x60 slab and shell. Which would be the ONLY way to make it work - financing the construction ends up back in the 90~100K area, so why go to all that work and end up in the same place.

It could be a consideration, provided we wanted to sacrifice the slab and shell out of 401K money - but thanks to 2008~2010 that's half of what i should be.

 

[My Old Tools]

I had built a 30x60 red iron building, then framed a 30x38 two bedroom apartment inside of it. I lived in it over 10 years. It was warm, quiet, economical home. I did all of the framing, wiring, plumbing, and sheetrock. I paid someone to tape and bed and paint. I built all the cabinets. I did the stained concrete floors myself. I did as Chris said and framed 2x4 on 24" centers inside the already insulated building shell. I then insulated the 2x4 frame. 24" centers is sufficient as the frame is just supporting the sheetrock. I floored the attic space for storage and had stairs to the attic in the shop area. I eventually added another 20x30 to the shop are making it 30x80 overall.

 

[mrpizza]

I built a 40x64x10 pole barn house, 1200 sqft is the house side. I built the barn and finished it all out and had the well, septic, and power ran for a smidge over 100k. Utilities were about 20k of that.

I had the barn put up, the plumbing roughed in, and the concrete done. Also had the drywall finished. The rest was me.

 

[pogrelis97]

My brother put up a 40x60x14 pole barn with 20x40 living quarters (which I now own and live in) in 2012 for around $120k. he did a lot himself and finished the living quarters nicer than I would have.

 

[Shouse133]

This might be a good time to add the fact that this will be my first home and with everything altogether I need to stay under 170k if worst comes to worst I can put my parents fifth wheel in the shop and live in it until funds allow otherwise. So now the question, do you guys think it'd be wise to do as a first house? I'm not liking the sound of buying a fixer upper in town and in the end it would probably be close to the 170k I planned on spending for the shop house anyway. Plus I get acreage!

 

[My Old Tools]

I did mine for maybe 80k 20 years ago, and a lot of sweat equity.

 

[Pluribus]

Does the $170k include the land plus infrastructure like power, well, septic, etc. or is that just the building? Depending on what you need at your location, it might cost close to $100k for power, well, and septic.

 

[Shouse133]

The 170k would include land, land is 50k,power is already there and neighboring wells are right around 150ft.

 

[kj_mustang]

Still a lot of variables to costs. Is the power there adequately sized for your future plans? Well cost can vary a lot depending on depth, neighbor may be 150 ft doesn't mean yours will be. Septic system cost can vary depending on the type of system the govt agency will approve for your area. Concrete expense has gotten insane in my area. I just paid $124 per yard for my last job. I would try to nail down a pretty good estimated range on all the utilities expense first and then see what you have left for the building.

 

[pogrelis97]

I'd say as long as you don't get to fancy you could do it. you could even leave the shop portion gravel for now to save a nice chunk of money.

 

[brownsmustang]

I researched building a pole barn house before the wife and I bought. Only one bank would finance it and they demanded Morten buildings build it. The cost per square feet was really close to a nice stick built home. And my wife has since discovered they're near impossible to sell (she's a realtor).

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[JamesW84]

I researched building a pole barn house before the wife and I bought. Only one bank would finance it and they demanded Morten buildings build it. The cost per square feet was really close to a nice stick built home. And my wife has since discovered they're near impossible to sell (she's a realtor).

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This.

I would think long and hard about resale. It's similar to buying a new manufactured/trailer home. The market for selling isn't very wide, so they probably don't appreciate very well.

**ALSO** along the lines of financing **: I bought an earth-berm a couple years ago. To get financing, they have to pull comps (a regular house wouldn't be a comp) that have sold in the last 12 months within a small (10 mile or so) radius. Turns out, not many had sold, so they had trouble finding comps. I wouldn't have gotten financing if I had not found a helpful real estate agent to do some digging for me. My point is, selling it later to someone who needs financing might be near impossible.

Around here, you can get a fairly nice 2-3 bedroom on 5-10 acres for 170k.

If you were to purchase that land, I think your idea of a camper inside a shop would be a winner since you could move it if you had to sell.

A guy at work bought 20 acres and built a shop, but finished it as his house then he lived in it for a while and built his house. Now he has a house and shop.

 

[fourjeepin]

A guy at work bought 20 acres and built a shop, but finished it as his house then he lived in it for a while and built his house. Now he has a house and shop.

This is what I advise shop minded folks starting out to do as it is what I wish I had done.

 

[Diesel Dan]

Our 40x72 shouse is built on a foundation and stick built.

Was looking into a pole structure but decided against it. Not long after I started construction the county updated their building code to address all the shop/homes being proposed. Inspector told me the issue is pole structures are not engineered to human occupancy with wind load ratings etc. You can still build a shop/house out of a pole structure but it has to have engineering approval showing it meets all residential standards for wind load/shear etc.

I'm a fan of a block foundation for rodent/pest control.

 

[Diesel Dan]

A guy at work bought 20 acres and built a shop, but finished it as his house then he lived in it for a while and built his house. Now he has a house and shop.

We had our 4 walls framed (16' studs) and parked a 5th wheel inside. Have the shop plumbed for RV hookup. Then we lived in the RV while working on the house portion.

 

[My Old Tools]

Mine more than tripled in value over 15 years or so. You will need comps to sell, so look around and see if there are others in the area. I lost about $25k because my best comp aged out.