A typical New Zealand garage...

[NZMacca]

Hi Guys,

I am a relative newb to the GJ Forum, but not so much to garage/workshops. I visit here daily, and am in awe of the size and scale of what you build in the US. Also, the range of products you have to choose from is truly breathtaking...as is the price!

I used to operate out of a tiny little single car shed in Wellington (New Zealand), but eventually we bought a small 10 acre block and I built a new shop. With all the other costs in developing a small farm and the associated infrastructure, my budget was limited to a 10 meter by 6 meter garage with a 6 meter x 4 meter lean to on one side. It has a concrete slab, sectional tilt front door, personal entry door and windows. One thing lacking is any form of wall lining or insulation (except for buildign paper under the roof to stop condensation), which I see you guys tend to install. Here in NZ that seems to be an expensive option on these types of buildings. Its not overly cold here in Winter, but in summer I fitrted a roof extractor fan which did a great job of cooling the shed down. Eventually I will build a new shop, hopefully double in size with a mezzanine level. However for now, I am very happy with what I have to work in.

My interests are electronics, IT, automation, (I work in the industry) and restoration of old cars, so my shop is geared towards these hobbies. You can see the front end of a 1970 Series 2 Landrover and a 2001 Holden Rodeo 4x4 which slot in in front of my work area. A 2002 Mk4 Golf GTI that the wife drives can also squeeze in behind the landrover to keep her dry.

A couple of 19 inch cabinets house all of my HAM radios, Home and Systems Servers, Weather Station equipment, home network patch panels, switch gear, power monitoring etc. All the cabling is routed from the house to the garage via underground conduits and overhead trays.

Anyway, a picture paints a thousand words, so here are a couple of pictures for you all....

Cheers,
Macca

 

[nickw86au]

Seems tidy and well thought out - plenty of bench space.

Here in Australia we rarely gyprock (drywall) our garages unless they are attached to the house - and even then, its only the walls that back onto the house - the brick wall/s are usually left bare.

Do you guys have a lot of steel framed sheds? - We have lots of steel frame/colourbond clad shed/garages over here...

Nick.

 

[east_tn_emc]

Nice looking shop. Clean and well organized.

I am also a fellow IT geek, but I would have to draw the line at having an "HP" cabinet in my garage!

 

[NZMacca]

Gday Nick, yeah mate, there are a heap of steel building company's in NZ. They end up more expensive though unfortunately. I had my heart set on one, but could'nt make the $$$ stack up unfortunately. I kind of see this garage as a stepping stone to something bigger, but that will have to wait till my kids leave home

East - I hear ya on the HP cab, but a data centre was chucking two of them (they are actually Rittal cabinets with HP and Compaq door badging) and I could'nt say no

 

[regguy1]

Looks nice in there....good bench area and things accessable. Good use of the space you have

 

[NZMacca]

Cheers Regguy - the inspiration for most of it comes from this very forum. So really, I should be thanking you guys I wish we had the choice of products you guys have there over here in NZ... our local manufacturing industry has been swamped by cheap and nasty chinese imports. I love your guys patriotism for your country, and your support US made tools and products, its a pity that us Kiwis can't easily do the same.

 

[rob05]

Nice shop you have there. New Zealand is one of my favorite countries to visit. Been there many times to fly fish and hike.

 

[Fleetwiz]

Looks good...

 

[uniongoon]

If that is a typical NZ garage, then it must be an industrious place. really nice shop. Looks really useful, not a window display like some that show up here. And New Zealand is one place in the world I want to see. Have seen some spreads in Yacht magazines where they describe it as the most beautiful place on earth.

 

[jmauld]

Nice garage! Looks like you have made good use of the space, which is something I really need to work on in my small garage. Post more pics!!

 

[John in OH]

Nice shop for your varied interests.

What is the green floor covering? It looks to be outdoor/indoor carpet squares.

My youngest son spent a semester at QUT in Brisbane. During a school break he and two friends flew to NZ, rented a Toyoto SUV, and spent the week traveling and camping over the South Island. He said ... and his many photos support his claim ... that it is one of the most beautiful places he had ever seen.

 

[kngkong]

Great looking place! Organised and functional. From a fellow Wellingtonite

 

[JMURiz]

Love the NZ garages, the usually contain stuff to do stuff differently. See John Britten and Bruce McLaren for examples

 

[NZMacca]

Gday lads - thanks for all the comments, much appreciated.

Jmuriz - I think us Kiwis have to be innovators and make do with what we have, reason being, we are so far fromt he rest of the world which means the gear we can access is both limited and freakin expensive!! McClaren and Britten were pioneers, but I'd also add one Burt Munro to the Hall of Fame list of Kiwi "sheddies".....

John in OH - the floor tiles are actually anti static computer room tiles that I "acquired" from a job site. Im an electrician by trade, and there is the odd bonus to the job

KngKong - gday mate! Awesome to see a fellow North Islander close by

 

[jabberwoki]

Hmmmm i was expecting a cardboard box?

 

[boarderline]

Hi Macca nice garage..also a fellow north islander im in hamilton

 

[gorilla]

Good job on the Rittal cabinets there too nice to be scraped. I think that when we bought them they cost about $1,000.00 per bay. You have a nice shop. I'm KJ6FPE.

 

[JMURiz]

Gday lads - thanks for all the comments, much appreciated.

Jmuriz - I think us Kiwis have to be innovators and make do with what we have, reason being, we are so far fromt he rest of the world which means the gear we can access is both limited and freakin expensive!! McClaren and Britten were pioneers, but I'd also add one Burt Munro to the Hall of Fame list of Kiwi "sheddies".....

John in OH - the floor tiles are actually anti static computer room tiles that I "acquired" from a job site. Im an electrician by trade, and there is the odd bonus to the job

KngKong - gday mate! Awesome to see a fellow North Islander close by

Ahhh, how could I have forgotten old Burt.

 

[naki kid]

Wellcome to the site Macca,I live just a little way up the highway from you
We have a steel building, look on my profile It is a Kiwi Span barn.Been living in it for 18 months now and love it.As you have said it is a good site with a lot of info. Ray.

 

[NZMacca]

Re: A typical New Zealand garage...November update

Gidday lads, I thought I would update my workshop thread, as I have done a bit of GJ inspired remodelling during the New Zealand winter..... I know we all prefer pics...so here we go....

 

[kngkong]

Damn, looking great in there. So youre the one who's bought up all the red toolboxes

Whats that server tower do in your last pic on the right?

 

[NZMacca]

Cheers Kngkong, its a work in progress... I contine to be inspired by some of the guys creativity on here who also have small workshops. To anwser your question, i have a couple of server cabinets, and they house my home server, weather station and systems control server, HAM radios, and external back up drives. Also, all of the house Cat6 and RG6 cablign terminates in this central point. I work in the comms industry, so yeah, its kind of a hobby as well. Behind the camera, is a 1972 SIIA Landrover and on the opposite side is the wifes Golf GTi.