Builder Estimate for 23 x 32 garage!!

[Jagman]

I received my first estimate to build a 23 x 32 garage with a small second story storage area accessed by drop stairs. It includes a 40 foot driveway(stone) and insulation and electric with a ceiling gas heater. The walls would be 2x6 with insulation in the walls and ceiling. It will have a 16 ' door and a 9' door and 11 foot ceilings. Inside walls would be sheetrocked and painted. Additional electric servive will provide for two 220 volt circuits. The grand total...$78,000 before any taxes!! I'm a bit shocked and will get other estimates.

Any thoughts on a rough cost estimate for a build like this.

John D.

 

[elvee]

Need more information - location, finish on the building, windows, type of roof, etc. Might be a great deal, might be insanely high. Really depends on where you're at, and the level of work they're doing.

 

[Jagman]

I'm not sure..as yet.. of this builders quality but I assume it is adequate. The exterior walls are to be covered with cement board. The roof is spec'd for a metal roof. There are to be three 24" x 48" windows and a 30" entry door. The garage is to be attached to the rear of a small ranch house that my son owns in Syracuse, New York. It is problematic that the estimate is nearing the cost of the house.

As a general matter, am I better off to have just a basic structure put up and try to get lower cost contractors to do all the extras, i.e. interior sheetrock, insulation, lighting, electrical?

John D.

 

[Greg-nwo]

Did you price out the materials cost for what you want to do?

 

[tdkkart]

It comes out to right at $106/sqft, which is pretty close to what it costs to build a house, and from what you've specified as finish level it's basically the same as building a house, hence the cost.

 

[srmofo]

I was quoted 25k for an unfinished, no electric, no driveway, no insulation 2x4 24x36. This was last fall BEFORE osb tripled in price.

 

[slddnmatt]

i was quoted $100 sqf for my shop originally, 50X60 clearspan with 16' walls no electical or plumbing....you do the math. i ended up doing a metal one...although i am in Ca. so people are usually pretty nuts to begin with

 

[Justanoldguy]

It comes out to right at $106/sqft, which is pretty close to what it costs to build a house, and from what you've specified as finish level it's basically the same as building a house, hence the cost.

How did you work that out?
As this was part of it.
" It includes a 40 foot driveway(stone)"
Or is that a freebie?

 

[larry_g]

It comes out to right at $106/sqft, which is pretty close to what it costs to build a house, and from what you've specified as finish level it's basically the same as building a house, hence the cost.

I would think that without kitchen and baths it would be a bit cheaper. However I was quoted $200/ft for a new house so maybe $100/ft for a fully finished building is not that far out of line. I assume that the OP intends to just write checks and do none of the work.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[rowdyhillrambler]

where do ya'll live? That seems crazy to me. Average cost of a finished home here is about $55 per foot. That is a nicely finished home. We built our house last year, it is 2200sq., hardi plank, full hardwood/tile, and no skimping for about $52sq., we finished my brothers house in may for about $55.

I just bid on a 24'x32' barn with 16' sidewalls, fully enclosed for $12800. Granted, it was not a finished building, i.e. drywall, electricity, etc.

 

[tdkkart]

Or is that a freebie?

Considering that they probably need to put down some gravel just to be able to drive on the lot, yes part of it is figured into any construction project.
In the grand scheme of the project, 40' of stone drive way is a tiny portion.

 

[TRC51]

I was quoted 25k for an unfinished, no electric, no driveway, no insulation 2x4 24x36. This was last fall BEFORE osb tripled in price.

Very similar here. I am in Albany, NY and quoted out a 24 x 30 last fall as well. Just excavation, foundation (footer with 6ft wall), pad, 2 x 4 construction, no attic, two standard garage doors, one window, 32" man door and 25 year shingles was priced to me for $20K built.

That said, given all the other adders that you are putting in, I would say the price is probably not that bad. With all the work I have in mine, I probably have about $17K in so far and I haven't even completed the electric and no driveway. It's just a shell. Granted, it's way better than what I was quoted, but I did all the work and it still cost a lot. I will probably have $25K in it by the time I am "done" to a level where I can fully use it. If someone else did it for me, the price would probably be near double that.

BTW, you may want to consider making your man door a 36".

 

[Wingnut65]

The $106/sq ft seems high for what is basically a big open room with no plumbing. We just finished builing 4 Assisted Living Facilities in Florida for $112/sq foot and the finishes were mid to upper end. Your layout with conventional framing and construction should be at the lower end of home construction costs since there are basically for walls, ceiling, roof and a couple of doors and no air conditioning or plumbing. Consider getting other estimates from other builders. Or, consider doing some of the work yourself or at least contracting it separately. The driveway can be done later by you hiring a site guy directly and skipping the first guy's mark-up.

FYI Justanoldguy, typically some sitework, sidewalks/driveway and landscaping are anticipated with most projects and are included in the overall cost per square foot breakdown. It is what an owner can expect to pay to open a facility and doesn't need to include a bunch of add ons.

Jagman, on another thought, you didn't mention if for that price, they planned on throwing in a full load of Lista cabinets and RaceDeck flooring??? Then it may be a good price...

 

[GeorgiaHybrid]

You guys need to move down south....

For what is basically a box with 4 walls (plus a small mezzanine) with minimal electrical (compared to a house) as you have no wiring required for water heaters, stoves, ovens or HVAC and few fixtures, that price is crazy. When you add in no plumbing (or the fixtures for it), no HVAC costs, no finish flooring costs, no cabinets, no kitchen, no bathrooms, 3 windows total, 1 man door, (1) 9' garage door and (1) 16' garage door, you are about 3 times what it should cost.

For around $120 a sq ft, we can build a brick home, nicely decked out (granite counters, tile/hardwood floors) with a concrete driveway, 2 car garage and it INCLUDES the lot the house sits on. You will need to build a house of 2200 sq ft or more to get the economy of scale to include the lot in the price but I can't imagine a garage costing that when the land is paid for.

Where is the OP located??? Manhattan Island?

 

[Falcon67]

Wow. Makes the $12/sq ft I spent building my 20x24 back in 1997 sound like a lie. Ouch.

 

[elvee]

OP said this is in Syracuse, NY. As has been said here many times, location makes all the difference. GeorgiaHybrid, if you're at the GA/TN border, then I can believe that price for finished space. Come down to Atlanta, and that number becomes $200 to $250/ft.

OP also said metal roof. Sounds like a small detail, but if there aren't a lot of metal roof contractors (more urban than rural area, or contractors prefer commercial jobs) then I can see the roof finish being three to four times the cost of shingles. This also isn't a freestanding building, according to the OP. Add in aggravation factor for the tie in, and most likely needing a more involved foundation than just a monolithic slab (especially being that far north).

Get at least two more bids, for the exact same package, and you'll know if that number is in line. I'm betting it is only slightly above the average.

 

[tdkkart]

The garage is to be attached to the rear of a small ranch house that my son owns in Syracuse, New York.

Here's an important point that most of us missed on the first go-round.

Splicing into an existing house drives the price up.

What could have been a monolithe slab now turns into frost walls and footings, plus tieing the two foundations together. Easily doubles the price of the concrete work.

Possible upgrades to the house electrical.

Somewhere the roof of the house and garage has to be spliced, which could(very likely) involve re-roofing the entire house. This alone could easily add
$10,000 to the total price.

Walls, siding and possibly windows have to be torn into and re-worked.

It's a big job, I looked into it at my old house, it gets expensive in a hurry.


The other possibility is that the contractor in question either doesn't want the job, or he just prices everything high. If he misses out fine, if he gets it, all teh better.

 

[mo2872]

Wow....glad I'm an Okie.....will have around $32 per sq ft in mine(shop), when it's all done...full brick, insulated, rocked, shingles......Did our house in '03 for around $85 sq/ft....it is also full brick, granite, cherry wood cabinetry.....

 

[Gary S]

That is probably about what you can expect to pay for what you want. If that is too much money, consider making it more practical. Lose the upstairs room. Put in a cheaper driveway. Finish the interior yourself. Put in 2x4 walls instead of 2x6. (you will never notice the difference between a well insulated 2x4 wall and a well insulated 2x6 wall in a garage)
With cuts like this, you could likely get by with 1/3 that estimate.

 

[TRC51]

That is probably about what you can expect to pay for what you want. If that is too much money, consider making it more practical. Lose the upstairs room. Put in a cheaper driveway. Finish the interior yourself. Put in 2x4 walls instead of 2x6. (you will never notice the difference between a well insulated 2x4 wall and a well insulated 2x6 wall in a garage)
With cuts like this, you could likely get by with 1/3 that estimate.

Quick note on this. Code will require you to have 2 x 6 construction if you plan on heating it. No way around that here. Plus, it doesn't get much cheaper than a stone driveway (if he was talking about crusher run).

But I agree, if you need it cheaper, have them get the basic structure up and then do the finishing work yourself piece by piece. If you do not do that work typically, you can always hire it out little by little as well. Easier to pay out over time sometimes rather than one lump sum. Unfortunately I have to do it that way because I cannot afford it any other way.

 

[wbclassics]

There are a few specialty garage builders in the Central NY area that will be considerably cheaper. I recall seeing an advert a few months ago in one of the local junkmail fliers for a 24x24 complete garage (unfinished bare stud interior), including concrete, from $13k.

When we bought in Camillus (just west of Syracuse) last Fall, the previous owners had an oversize two car erected a few years previous. I don't know the cost, or who did it, but it looks representative of a firm that does nothing but garages. Overall construction was good, I have some issues with finishing details, but I'm picky. I don't like when windows and doors are butted right up against the stud on one side and only shimmed on the other side. I also don't like how the garage door track hardware was mounted to the front walls, making it difficult to finish out the garage over the winter. Anyway, I'm picky.

Construction prices do seem high here in the Central NY area. On one of the other homes we had considered, we priced out having a new roof put on, and it was $9500 for stripping to sheathing and architectual 3 tabs. I had the roof done on my larger home in suburban Philadelphia for $4500 only a few years ago, which was also a complete strip with arch3tabs. I can't figure out what warranted the extra $5k on the two Syracuse area estimates, but maybe they don't have the immigrant labor like they do in Phila. (contractor in Phila used crew of Guatamalans, and they did an excellent job and didn't skimp and were done in a day - a long day, started around 7AM finished after 8PM).

 

[nate379]

Wow!

My Dad built slightly smaller 2 years ago (26x26) and it was not much over $10,000 all said and done. Electric is just a few lights and outlets. Insulated but no heat. 2x4 walls.

He did all the work other than putting on the roofing shingles and installing the 2 doors (10ftx8ft)

 

[TRC51]

Wow!

My Dad built slightly smaller 2 years ago (26x26) and it was not much over $10,000 all said and done. Electric is just a few lights and outlets. Insulated but no heat. 2x4 walls.

He did all the work other than putting on the roofing shingles and installing the 2 doors (10ftx8ft)

Slab, right?

He needs full foundation.... unless you can get a PE to sign off on a slab attached to your house. That would save you a ton.... but I doubt you can get it.

I have the break down of my build somewhere. I was getting quotes to do just the excavating and concrete work for my 24 x 30 with full frost wall and footer and 2ft knee wall @ $10 - $12K. I ended up getting it cheaper than that, but I had a total mess to go through to do it. The materials from the lumber company (if you include the doors and windows I picked up on my own) was about $6500. That said, if I had gone the way of the original concrete guys, I would be in for about $17K.... and that is STILL with me doing the stick built portion... and again, it's just a shell right now.

 

[mikeyr]

It pays to look around. I was quoted $55k for a 22x24 addition to a 20x20 garage, I could not tear down the existing garage because of zoning rules so I had to add on. I was in shock from that quote, I got other contractors to give me quotes and they all 3 came in around 30-35K. My original contractor found out I was getting quotes from others and came over to talk (he really wanted the work), he got a different concrete guy, left the electrical to me along with the siding. Basically gave a building wrapped in tyvek and one light bulb for code, just under $30K. I think it would have been around 25 but I added some skylights and we redid the original garage roof so they would match.

Shop around and talk to your contractor, mine was willing to work with me and once he found out I was serious about getting the addition he came down in price and worked with me. He actually told me later that at first he did not think i was serious about doing this as most guys dream about bigger garages but wifes don't allow them to spend the money on a garage...obviously he did not know I was a member here

 

[nate379]

Yeah slab. Detached garage.

No inspectors where they live. Need a building permit and that's it.

Slab, right?

He needs full foundation.... unless you can get a PE to sign off on a slab attached to your house. That would save you a ton.... but I doubt you can get it.

I have the break down of my build somewhere. I was getting quotes to do just the excavating and concrete work for my 24 x 30 with full frost wall and footer and 2ft knee wall @ $10 - $12K. I ended up getting it cheaper than that, but I had a total mess to go through to do it. The materials from the lumber company (if you include the doors and windows I picked up on my own) was about $6500. That said, if I had gone the way of the original concrete guys, I would be in for about $17K.... and that is STILL with me doing the stick built portion... and again, it's just a shell right now.

 

[6768rogues]

Too much money for the Syracuse area. Subbing out the trade work yourself will save the general contractor's overhead and profit, but it does involve some work. The general contractor works for a living, too.

 

[garagedude]

I received my first estimate to build a 23 x 32 garage with a small second story storage area accessed by drop stairs. It includes a 40 foot driveway(stone) and insulation and electric with a ceiling gas heater. The walls would be 2x6 with insulation in the walls and ceiling. It will have a 16 ' door and a 9' door and 11 foot ceilings. Inside walls would be sheetrocked and painted. Additional electric servive will provide for two 220 volt circuits. The grand total...$78,000 before any taxes!! I'm a bit shocked and will get other estimates.

Any thoughts on a rough cost estimate for a build like this.

John D.

Wow, I guess I live in the wrong part of the country when it comes to purchasing materials, when I see some of the posts on this thread. I don't know NY, but I am not surprised to see your quote come in at that level. If you are good on finish work, you could save a considerable amount. Time is really what you have to weigh and where you want to spend it compared to your budget goal.

You mentioned using "lower cost contractors for interior work..."regardless if it is exterior/interior work, I would find quality contractors that are competitively priced and can provide references to similar work. I am a garage interior contractor (Portland, OR) and although I consider my company competitive, I can tell you interior finish work can be very costly in materials and labor.

I would get additional quotes, regardless, as you can gain some insight on your project from the contractors.

Best Success on your project.

http://garagethemes.com

 

[anna_starr82]

Hi Jagman,

I think 78,000$ is crazy.However there are few steps you could follow.
Planning comes first, not need to explain why.Then it is important that you are aware of the cost of every step to build a garage,there might some stuff you would be able to do yourself and save a few bucks.And finally the way you will organize it. After that enjoy.
Hope this will come in handy
Anna

 

[kvom]

My finished 2-story garage build out of pocket cost was $58/ft2. However we did a lot of the work ourselves (painting, stairs, doors, electrical, bathroom, flooring). Upstairs is habitable apartment, which added to the cost to meet building code requirements. I pulled permits myself, although I hired a builder to supervise subs on foundation, framing, etc.

Attaching it to the house definitely adds to the cost, as there are extra fire code requirements. I also needed to make the roof match the house, although the house was going to get a new roof anyway at the same time.

 

[Sarki]

Do you have the option of a stand alone garage or does it have to be attached to the house? I ask because I'm just finishing up on a pole barn style garage in the Lower Hudson Valley and I used CB Structures who are located right down the road from you in Liverpool. They did a fantastic job and the price would be much more reasonable. Let me know if you want contact info.

 

[southernfriedcj]

OP said this is in Syracuse, NY. As has been said here many times, location makes all the difference. GeorgiaHybrid, if you're at the GA/TN border, then I can believe that price for finished space. Come down to Atlanta, and that number becomes $200 to $250/ft.

I can build you that house Metro Atlanta for $110/ft, including the lot, all day long. I've built 600-700 just like it. I'd make a nice 10% profit while I was at it.

 

[southernfriedcj]

Here are a couple that I built.
Around 2,200 sq ft, granite counter tops, tiled baths & laundry rooms, 10 pallets of sod, hardwood floors, 9' walls, brick water table, stacked stone accents, heavy trim, architectural shingles, 3-4 bedrooms, finished bonus room.
These were built on $55,000 lots. Those same lots would be $15,000 $20,000 today.

 

[Shocker]

Nice looking places there CJ.

My 24x32 was 15k in 2008. 2x4. T1-11. Arch Comp roof, 18" footers, 6" slab reinforced rebar and grid. 2 20 amp wall and 1 15 amp light circuit plus dedicated garage door, 16x9 door. One 4x3 window.

Love it. Wish it was bigger.

 

[blue dog]

I am not sure where you are, but to my math, that bid is around $105.00 per sq ft. I build custom spec homes in los angeles and the last 3 i did i brought in at $150.00 a sq ft.stainless appliances, hardwood, jacuzzi tub, integrity windows, steel troweled stucco, high tech low voltage wiring, video security, you name it. $850,000 homes 3 bed 3 bath 2200 sq ft. $105.00 seems to be on the way high side given that you are just putting up a shell , and drywalling it. Do your homework, you can build it cheaper. My suggestion, put in floor drain in the slab, Add a laundry sink, use side mounted garage door openers [Martin], run a gas line for a furnace if you are some where cold, if it is a shop install a 200 amp panel and 4 gang plugs every 10 feet and 220 plugs, one on each side. If you are going to add a lift in the future, pour the slab 8" where it will be. Happy building.

 

[Daniel Dudley]

where do ya'll live? That seems crazy to me. Average cost of a finished home here is about $55 per foot. That is a nicely finished home. We built our house last year, it is 2200sq., hardi plank, full hardwood/tile, and no skimping for about $52sq., we finished my brothers house in may for about $55.

I just bid on a 24'x32' barn with 16' sidewalls, fully enclosed for $12800. Granted, it was not a finished building, i.e. drywall, electricity, etc.

Try buying milk in NY. It costs more to live here. I would spec a storage loft truss system. Cost seems about right to me, unless you get the scurvy pirate guy to build it. You might get a lower price, but just the materials, excavation and driveway are going to add up...

You could call the pole barn guys ...

 

[southernfriedcj]

...unless you get the scurvy pirate guy to build it.

WTF?
I'm sitting here in my Pirate 4x4 T-shirt, I haven't shaved in a couple days and I haven't cut my hair in 14 months. You talkin' about me?

 

[kvom]

My garage has 9 220V circuits: 2 utility outlets, lift, compressor, water heater, 2 air conditioners, 2 for machinery. Don't skimp! Same goes for 110V outlets.