Atlanta North Fulton Garage Builders

[OldCarNut]

Hello

Thinking about building a garage, nothing ostentatious just 20 x 22 +/- detached, in North Fulton / Roswell / Marrietta area. Anyone have any experience good or bad info, opinions, warnings etc welcome. I have had some terrible experiences working with a home builder in the area and am VERY gunshy of doing any building again.

Would appreciate any comments. If you want to contact me "offline" use [email protected].

 

[twostory]

I built my garage myself (with the wife helping), so I do not have a builder to recommend.

The only thing I paid a crew to do was pour & finish the slab.

If you need a concrete crew, I recommend the guys I used. They are based out of lawrenceville, and would travel to your area.

I live in Duluth, near Berkely Lake.

 

[elvee]

I'm waiting to hear back from six builders for the garage my wife and I are trying to build. If any of them come back with numbers that look at all realistic I'll post up. So far it's looking to be much more expensive than we want it to be.

 

[OldCarNut]

I'm waiting to hear back from six builders for the garage my wife and I are trying to build. If any of them come back with numbers that look at all realistic I'll post up. So far it's looking to be much more expensive than we want it to be.

How long have you been waiting to hear back? I have a rule in dealing with these guys. I won't call someone twice to ask them to take my money. I just plain refuse. If they won't call back with a quote or show up to give me a quote how are they gonna be to work with? I just cannot and will not bring myself to KISSASS to get someone to take my cash.

 

[OldCarNut]

I built my garage myself (with the wife helping), so I do not have a builder to recommend.

The only thing I paid a crew to do was pour & finish the slab.

If you need a concrete crew, I recommend the guys I used. They are based out of lawrenceville, and would travel to your area.

I live in Duluth, near Berkely Lake.

Do you have a slab or an actual foundation that has footings? Could I ask what the concrete work included, how many Sq / Ft of surface area and what this component of the project cost you?

I noticed in your profile that you have a 67 GTO. I had one of the 745 Ram Air 67 cars that were built. I sure wish I had it now but it is likely just a rust spot in some junk yard by this point in tme

 

[twostory]

Do you have a slab or an actual foundation that has footings? Could I ask what the concrete work included, how many Sq / Ft of surface area and what this component of the project cost you?

I noticed in your profile that you have a 67 GTO. I had one of the 745 Ram Air 67 cars that were built. I sure wish I had it now but it is likely just a rust spot in some junk yard by this point in tme

Due to my yard decending 40 inches from the front of the garage to the rear, I dug & poured footers, then a 41 inch stem wall on top of the footers. Then I filled the boxed in area with dirt and stone, then poured a slab inside of the stem walls. The entire building sits on the stem walls. The slab is not connected to anything, it floats on the dirt, inside of the stem wall. My web page shows the entire foundation work.

As for what the "professional" crew did, they only poured and finished the slab. I did all the other concrete work. I put the plastic down and installed the rebar grid. I am very picky about what I am doing, so the "professional" crew only had to pour the concrete, I did all the form & rebar work. As for cost, the slab pour cost me $3,200 (includes the concrete cost), 4,000 psi concrete, 5 inches thick, with a power trowel finish. About 1,100 sq ft.

The crew I used, will do as much of the job as you need. I only needed them for the slab, but they could have done it all (at a high cost to me probably)

I have a 67 GTO convertible. Automatic with AC and power front disc brakes. I disassembled it in 1997. I hope to start working on that car this fall. First I have to finish this garage, which is taking a long time, since we are doing 99.99% of the work ourselves.

 

[MAK]

How long have you been waiting to hear back? I have a rule in dealing with these guys. I won't call someone twice to ask them to take my money. I just plain refuse. If they won't call back with a quote or show up to give me a quote how are they gonna be to work with? I just cannot and will not bring myself to KISSASS to get someone to take my cash.

I've run in to the same thing. Just can't find anyone around here interested in the small jobs. One guy came out and basically had just one reason after another about why he couldn't do the job. Another guy wouldn't even give me a formal bid, just that it would be around 45-55,000. Ridiculous for a 20x22 detached garage. I spoke with these guys www.bradleybuildings.com on the phone and wanted to to have them come out for a formal bid and after calling them back 3 times finally gave up. I mean that's what they do, build and sell garages and I couldn't even get a callback or someone on-site to talk about the project. Unbelievable. I decided to put it on hold until later this summer. Let me know if you come up with anyone you would recommend. I'm going to get the contact info from TwoStory when I get ready to make a move.

 

[mickeypat]

I had the same problem five years ago. Contractors are more interested in $500,000 projects than $50,000 projects. I was able to find a concrete company to pour the footing, lay the foundation and pour the slab. From there, a friend hooked me up with Hispanic workers who finished the project. 25 x 50, 14,500 bricks, 63 12 ft sheets of dry wall. I hired an electrician and a plumber. In other words, I was the general contractor. You should consider doing this. Like you, I left many messages for companies that never returned my calls.

One gets a different perspective on illegals when it is impossible to find Americans who are wiling to do the work.

I would not recommend a 20 x22 garage. 20 feet will barely allow you to park the vehicle inside. You will have trouble walking around the car with the doors closed.

Good luck, brother. Keep asking around, maybe something will change.

 

[elvee]

The six builders I have sent the plans to are working on prices. It has been about a week. With the level of finish we are looking for, and the breakdown I want on the quote, I can understand that it will take them about 1 1/2 to 2 weeks to put together a real quote. I have checked in with each of them for a status report, and so far half have responded in the same afternoon. The ones who don't respond by 36 hours after the checkin definitely get moved further down the list.

 

[Kevin54]

How long have you been waiting to hear back? I have a rule in dealing with these guys. I won't call someone twice to ask them to take my money. I just plain refuse. If they won't call back with a quote or show up to give me a quote how are they gonna be to work with? I just cannot and will not bring myself to KISSASS to get someone to take my cash.

Ditto. I gave up on calling more than once a long time ago. If they are interested then they will be getting back in touch. And if possible....don't pay until the job is done or don't pay more than materials up front. That way if they show up then don't come back, you have your materials. Too many people stung over the years to ever get me to pay up front.

 

[OldCarNut]

As for what the "professional" crew did, they only poured and finished the slab. I did all the other concrete work. I put the plastic down and installed the rebar grid. I am very picky about what I am doing, so the "professional" crew only had to pour the concrete, I did all the form & rebar work. As for cost, the slab pour cost me $3,200 (includes the concrete cost), 4,000 psi concrete, 5 inches thick, with a power trowel finish. About 1,100 sq ft.

The crew I used, will do as much of the job as you need. I only needed them for the slab, but they could have done it all (at a high cost to me probably)

Does this mean these guys would do a "turn key' foundation ....start right at the tree removsal and leave wen the slab is done? If I can get the concrete done professionally and done RIGHT then I am getting to where I will frame the darn thing myself.

 

[Ken P]

I can't remember the name of the company but DO NOT USE the guys who are on Hwy. 41 / Cobb Parkway across from White Water. I drew up the basic plans myself and took them over to them to discuss. They said no problem and it would be about $15K to $20K. Then he came out to the house and did his site survey. Confirmed verbally they could do it for the first price estimate and it would be very easy to put up. Also saw all my Mustangs and stuff. Came back with the formal quote for me to sign to start construction and he jacked his price up to $40K.

This was a 4 car garage with concrete slab, 2' high concrete block knee wall, regular 2x4x8 wood wall construction with Hardi plank siding and a shingle roof. A basic shell with 2 metal double garage doors, 3 widows, and a side entry door. No paint, no wiring or lights, no plumbing, and just a 4' concrete apron across the front of the doors. I was also doing all the site prep / removal of trees and stumps.

 

[terry1769]

Been away from reading the board for a while. I come back and folks are talking about building in my area.

I'm trying to put in a 5000 sq. ft. steel building in Acworth. I've had virtually no luck at all finding contractors who will return calls or talk to me a second time. I've had a grader and a turnkey contractor both disappear after looking at the site. I've had more than I can count that simply won't return phone calls.

Hopefully I'll get lucky soon and find someone to do the dirt work and it will all fall into line from there.

If I can get that and the slab lined up, I'll be golden. Until then, the vast majority of my tools sit in storage for yet another year.