Advice -- Shop and Small Apt.

[W2Synth]

Hello,

I am looking for some advice, or for any information or experiences anyone may have with building a shop with a living quarters attached.

My grandmother recently passed away, leaving my grandfather alone with no nearby family over 500 miles away. He would love to move closer and be with the rest of our family who all live in PA, however his only income is Social Security and since he owns his house in a place with much lower cost of living he wouldn't be able to afford to move here because of the additional rent/mortgage payment he would incur.

My wife and I are beginning to explore the option of buying a house or dwelling for him to move to our area. The budget would be pretty tight (right in the area of $60k - which allows for him to pay $300/mo and us to pay about the same which would cover all of the bills on such an affordable property). Obviously it isn't easy to find many nice places in that price range, and its made more difficult because my wife and I live in a relatively expensive part of PA and we would like him to be as close as possible.

One suggestion I've heard is to include a small apartment in an upcoming shop build that I'm planning. I've received a quote of roughly $15k to build a 30x32 shop with foundation included -- which I've been saving up for and now have the money to pay for. I'm not sure how much additional it would cost to add a living quarters but that would likely need to be finances. The additional costs of running water, and gas as well would likely add a significant amount alone without even considering the money that would be spent to finish the room. I'm just wondering if anyone has any experience with these types of builds and if you would do it again, or avoid it at all costs? One other thing to consider is that my grandfather isn't able to live in an upstairs area so an apartment above the shop probably wouldn't work -- it would need to be on ground level which would increase the footprint significantly, and also the price I'm sure.

 

[bdbecker]

Not knowing anything about your lot size/shape or local codes, but does it have to be attached to the garage? If you could do a stand-alone guest house? That might be more desirable than something attached to your garage where you'll be working and parking cars.

If it does have to be attached to the garage, adding 10-12 feet of the end of your garage to create a finished 300-350 square foot space for an apartment should be very doable. That amount of space should be plenty of room to create a comfortable, single bedroom, 3/4 bath space. My first house would have been right around 400 square feet if you chopped off one of the bedrooms. Play around with some layouts, I'd bet you be pretty surprised at what you can do.

Also, kudos to you for doing this for your grandpa.

 

[tomroblee]

I'm a geezer who had a one bedroom "apartment" built onto a 1150 sq. ft garage for a rural weekend get-away a decade ago. It works and we love it---but it cost considerably more than what you mentioned as your budget.

I can't tell from your post whether your grandfather needs a full home (with kitchen and laundry areas, etc.) or just a room and a bath. There can be a significant difference in both size and price.

When planning living quarters for a geezer (and I am one) make sure to have doors at least 36" wide, wide hallways, an oversized bathroom that can accommodate a walker or wheelchair if necessary, lever handles on doors, etc.

It wouldn't hurt to visit some nearby retirement homes and or assisted living places just to get some ideas for sample floorplans. If there aren't any nearby, you can find some ideas from various websites.

It's good to avoid steps (if you can), but a wood floor over a crawl space is more comfortable than a concrete slab floor for older folks with sore feet.

 

[jd_1138]

Sounds like a good plan. You can run water, drain, electricity to the shop and the small apartment at the same time. I'd put the bathroom next to the shop. Then you could use it also when you're out there.

I'd avoid steps if possible and instead of a bathtub, put in a walk in shower (flush with the floor). If he ever has to leave the place or it's empty, you can use the room as a mancave or supplement space for the shop.

 

[ckprax]

Can you add a bedroom to your house? That would add more value to your property and be easier, possibly cheaper. Large garages, while nice to have, do little for property values if that's a concern.

 

[jd_1138]

Can you add a bedroom to your house? That would add more value to your property and be easier, possibly cheaper. Large garages, while nice to have, do little for property values if that's a concern.

Excellent idea. Unless his grandfather would prefer the independence of having a separate place.

 

[matt_i]

Just guessing here but a 30x32 shop complete for $15k is probably going to be a metal skin post frame. Making that into a climate controlled space w restroom is going to be a significant premium.

Were it me, the tack I'd start on would be this. Check into the local requirements for a shop bathroom/shower and attaching it to your septic or city sewer and see if its reasonable or very costly. Assuming that works out OK, then design a bath space as a permanent part of the facility. Next design the living space as a temporary part of the facility, in case you want to change it someday. Id try for a mini-split HVAC for simplicity.

I think its very admirable what you are trying to do here, the "care" obviously extends further beyond just preparing the living space, hopefully your other family members will step in and help out too, so everything doesn't fall on you.

 

[W2Synth]

Thanks for the responses all!

bdbecker: The zoning requirements do not state that the ADU would need to be connected to the garage. I'm pretty new to most of this. I was thinking it would be more affordable to basically build a shop that was a bit bigger, and then box in an apartment inside of it than it would be to build or buy a separate unit. I had considered one of those pre built cabins but by the time I started adding up the costs it was looking like it was going to cost a good $30-$40k to do that. I do think 300-350SF would be perfect for him. He currently lives in a Trailer (I know they are called different things all over, but basically he lives in a single wide trailer like what you would find on a mobile home or trailer park but he has his own land). He only uses half of the trailer now after my grandmother has passed and has the other side sealed up to save heat. I think the side he is using cant be any more than 350sf or close to it.

tomroblee: Thanks, glad to hear that you enjoy a living space similar to this. Could you expand on the costs a bit? Right now I have a quite for a Steel Building (not finished at all on the inside) and foundation for about $15k. I would need to make the building and foundation bigger so I would expect the price to go up to $18k or so based on their stock building listings. I was thinking $30k would be enough to finish the rest with myself and family doing most of the basic labor (I wouldn't be able to do any of the plumbing aside from the basic inside stuff, and I prefer to hire a professional for electrical related stuff). Rather than running gas lines I'm thinking an oil or propane heater would be great. That means I would need to just get water and figure out what I would need to do regarding septic. I'm not sure if a new septic would need to be built or if its possible to tie into the existing septic on my property (I'm totally new to this type of stuff).

cprax: My wife is not really in favor of this option. The main reason being that she is horribly allergic to his dog. We do have a finished basement which would have been fine otherwise aside from the steps to go down. We have a guest bedroom on our living floor but that is when the dog allergy becomes a big issue.

jd_1138: I was definitely thinking making the bathroom accessible to the shop would be great. I really want to combine this with the shop seamlessly if that makes sense. For the reasons you mentioned, but also because my grandfather would really enjoy watching us in the shop (we have race cars, and he loves racing but has never been around us since we started racing so has never been more than a fan really -- he would probably sit in the shop all night and just watch everyone work on the race cars and stuff and be thrilled). I also plan to have a window looking into the shop area so he could see who is out there or whatever when he is in the living area.

Matt_I: I'm definitely not expecting it to be super cheap, and I think equity wise it probably makes more sense to just buy him a separate property. Unfortunately there is just nothing close by at all, and we definitely want him to be close by (he has lived in a small town in Maine his entire life, so I am concerned he would get lost, etc. trying to get here or he would just be afraid to go out at all). As far as the living space that is a great idea, The living space wouldn't need to be complex at all (he lives very simple as it is, the total furniture in his current place is basically two chairs, and his bed he has cleaned the place out since my grandmother passed). I would definitely want a stove, and kitchen area though. That could be an electric stove so that there is no need to run gas lines or anything. A studio apartment would be fine really. As far as his other family, unfortunately most of them either don't care (my aunt was very close to my grandmother, but not so much with my grandfather and hasn't been in contact with him much since she passed) or can't help (my father while he is willing to help with whatever is needed in terms of work he isn't financially in a position where he could help at all.)