Between 705 & 1200 SQ/FT Budget Build 24x30

[five-oh]

Ok, since I've now found where to do a Build thread, I'll post up here now..
As I posted in the general section, I've tinkered with antique and sports cars for years. However, a decent garage has always been a dream. For a short time I had a makeshift 17x20 shop but it was so small I had to turn the vehicles around to work on opposite sides, and you could forget walking around them.
With the recent interest rate drops, I realized that here was the chance to tap into a small amount of home equity and maybe build my shop.
I broached the subject gently with my wife, and she was surprisingly for it- with conditions.
The conditions being that after my shop was built, I would connect the current 17x20 to the house and convert it into a master bedroom.
Yeah, I'll take those terms.
However, I didn't want to be too irresponsible and greedy by building the huge shop I wanted.
Besides, I currently am halfway through a driver quality resto on my beloved 52 Chevy truck and didn't want to spend all of my play money either.
So a slab was poured....
It turned out my boss's husband does concrete for big projects. He told me the price would be a bit steep due to the cost of materials at the time, but it'd be done right. So we got a 25x31 pad, six inches thick with a moisture barrier and smooth finish, poured.
Yeah, I cried a bit at the $4500 price tag, but at least it's done right.

 

[five-oh]

Then, as it cured, after much research, off we went to order a metal shop.
I'd wanted a nice stick built shop, but material prices made it clear THAT wasn't happening with my meager budget.
We went to a dealer for National Metal Buildings out of Clarksville, Arkansas, just a few miles from our home.
Their carport/ buildings seemed to be the most sturdy I had seen and the price was right.
A short time later we had selected colors to match our home and an order was placed, on May 5th for a 24x30.
The dealer said it would be 8 to 10 weeks.
Since this was literally in the middle of Covid pandemic , I was okay with that and figured by August, the shop would be up. Perfect. I wrote the deposit check and I don't think the ink dried before it was cashed.
While I waited, I went to everyone's favorite junk store, Harbor Freight, and stocked up on several items, including a hose reel and other goodies
I know they aren't snap on quality, but since I'm just a hobbyist, they'll do. These and any metal sign or brikbrak I saw on my wife and my excursions to flea markets began to fill up the spare bedroom. Well, them and the '52 Chevy parts.....

 

[five-oh]

When 12 weeks passed without hearing anything from the company that took my deposit, I began to get antsy. Trying to be understanding and not a ****, I let it ride until week 14.
At that point, I telephoned and was told they were behind due to a material shortage and they would call me in a week or so.
At week 16, with no contact, I telephoned again. I explained very politely that I would call once a week for updates since they couldn't be bothered to tell me ANYTHING.
At this point, I just wanted a rough idea of whether my shop would be here before winter.
On week 18, they told me they'd call me within the week and set a date. Nope. Week 19, I called them. Surprisingly, they pulled a date. The next week on Thursday. Then they called that Monday and informed me the color I'd selected, pewter, was no longer available. I told them at this point, I'd take it in pea green, just get it here and I'd deal with the color. They offered a light gray which was close. Close enough.
Excited, I took vacation days and called my bishop/ pastor who is like a father to me, and who had promised to help wire the shop.
We made arrangements and I excitedly lost sleep for the week, like a 12 year old at Christmas.
On Wednesday, at 4pm the company calls. I'm expecting a time of WHEN they would be at my place with the building.
What I got was told they couldn't make it Thursday.
I lost my cool. I not so politely explained that now they were costing me vacation time and since I was now at nearly twice the time I was quoted , I expected a building.
After a call back, they decided they would work on Saturday and put the building up. Saturday arrived...and at 830, this showed up...

 

[five-oh]

A group of four Hispanic gentlemen stepped out and proceeded to communicate with each other in a language that I , a whitebread redneck,had no hope of understanding.
They spoke very little southern English, but we managed to communicate.
First off, I discovered I had been mislead on the needed size for the pad. I'd had it poured six inches too large both ways.
The foreman explained through a few words I understood and hand gestures how he would center it.
I nodded and pulled my high school Spanish out. "Si!"
He smiled and went to work. Before long I was pleased to see this:

 

[five-oh]

Having now somewhat grudgingly forgiven the company- well, not really, but at least understanding that the crew presently working on my property was not at fault for the delay- I fired up the Pitboss and began cooking some of the fresh ground beef I had in the freezer into that most American of meals, the burger.
They continued to work while myself and my bishop/friend sat and watched. It wasn't long and I began to see progress.
And then:

 

[five-oh]

By the time the burgers were ready, we were at this stage:

 

[five-oh]

After the burger break, the crew went back to work.
As they got close to finishing, like a kid, I had to go get a special sign my wife had gotten for me at Silver Dollar City in Branson while on vacation. The foreman then smiled, and with hand gestures, offered to put it on the building.


Perfect. With a smile, my new friend said "Twenty dolla". We both laughed...

 

[five-oh]

By 430, the building was up and all the trash picked up.
I wrote a painful check and told the foreman through a translator, (one of the workman's girlfriend, who'd shown up about lunch time and stayed) that while I was still unhappy with his company's communications, I had nothing but praise for he and his crew and the final result.
He smiled and thanked me, telling me he and his crew appreciated dinner, and if I needed anything to call him directly. As they drove off the entire crew leaned out , yelling some of the few Spanish words I understood - "Adios, Amigo!!"
I sat and contentedly drank in the sight of my building. Finally. Now to start the real work of wiring, insulating, and flooring choice

 

[five-oh]

While waiting on the shop, I'd gotten on Amazon and bought a 10 pack of 8 foot long single tube led lights. So , it was time to put them in. The instructions were to use double sided tape, but in Arkansas heat, that's a recipe for falling lights. This is a cheap build, so temporarily, they got attached to the rafters by that wonderful invention, nylon cable ties.
Wired in series, they light up the little shop very well.

I wired them with a plug in temporary, so I'd have lights in the shop to see to work with. Plugged into an extension cord, since they don't have much of a draw, this let's me see what I'm doing.
Yesterday pastor came over and we installed a 200 amp breaker box. Oh, and wired two outlets on each wall.


And I went ahead and installed the mounting kit for a small flatscreen- I'd bought the mounting kit years ago at an auction for $5 and my wife bought the little 19 inch flat-screen for a little of nothing for me.
A trip to Walmart and the purchase of a Roku... And voila, we have quality car content (Frieburger and Roadkill, looking at YOU) and access to YouTube for those how to videos when you are scratching your head.
Not bad progress considering I've had the building for all of a week and working a full time job...

 

[ChadsWord]

nice. i see your slab was $4500. what did the final cost come to approximatily for the garage? i'm going to be following suit pretty soon here in Sc. I have a HOA that states the secondary bldy cant exceed a certian percentage of the home ect...

 

[Kevkx125]

Hey five-oh great story on your build! looking forward to seeing what you do with it.

 

[five-oh]

nice. i see your slab was $4500. what did the final cost come to approximatily for the garage? i'm going to be following suit pretty soon here in Sc. I have a HOA that states the secondary bldy cant exceed a certian percentage of the home ect...

I'm not sure what the final cost will be- are they ever done? The shop was around $8400 I think; I'm probably around $13500, $14,000 total right now, and that's without any insulation or interior paneling. Ultimate goal is insulated, paneled, and a new 220v air compressor; and two "lean-tos" one on the north side to store the tractor and air compressor and one on the south side, for my daughter's project 1979 Corvette. I'm hoping by dint of my hard work and possible bartering, to have it "completed" at the $20k mark, no more. Preferably under.
I've already cast out the dream of sprayed insulation- a $3100 quote meant that wasn't gonna happen.
After all, when this is finished, I still have around 400sq feet of remodeling to do, and that includes a half bath, in the old "shop-turned master bedroom" project. And trust me, my wife is not gonna let me cheap out on ANYTHING in that project- she's already picking out tile. My back and knees hurt thinking about it.

 

[jbrentd]

Congrats on the new shop! I am in the waiting phase myself and it's trying my patience.

 

[Bobdog]

Very nice!

Been thinking about doing something similar.

 

[five-oh]

Wired up the outside outlet for the current small air compressor. I went ahead and ran the hose indoors, and added a water trap. Still have to buy some u bolts and some connectors so I can mount the 50' hose reel.
Wife came home from a friends house with a gift too- a small A/C unit. I suspect it'll be way too small for any meaningful cooling, but the thought was tremendous, and a little air is better than none. She told me that she and a friend were going through things for the friend to give to a charity garage sale, and the a/c unit was on the chopping block. It's nearly new, and my wife mentioned me- the friend gave it to her. So if nothing else, mounted over the workbench, it'll give me a place to cool down.
Hopefully this weekend will see the finishing touches on the wiring and maybe a bit of insulation being put up. That and the copper ran for the propane heater. Depends, as it's hard to plan a weekend between my jobs- parole officer and pastor of a small church. Seems like either someone is in jail or the hospital all the time, requiring one side of my attention or the other. LOL