Building an attached garage

[Low50s]

Hello everyone I was wondering if anyone here has built an attached garage on their house?

The wife and I are thinking about adding one on our ranch house we want to carry right off the end of the house and continue so it will be attached, our house is 26ft wide and we are wanting to make the garage 36 or 40 ft long and just continue the roof line and everything for the garage.

my question where would you start in this project? I do not have to worry about any building permits or approval from the local gov.

but I would like to get an idea on costs for stuff and was just looking for input.

 

[maxpower_hd]

Well first off, are you planning on building this all yourself or hiring a contractor to do most of it? If you are hiring out for most of the work simply call around for estimates. But you will want to research and get good contractors to bid. Ask neighbors, friends, etc. who they have used and if they were happy with their work.

I did build my garage a little over ten years ago. Cost will depend on a lot of factors. For example, mine is 24x28 with a room above and no posts or beams on either floor. So there was additional costs for engineered lumber. You will need to know what you're going to need for electrical, heating, ac, etc. All cost adders. Mine has 6" walls and heat. I had to upgrade my electric service to 200 amp from an old 60 amp fuse service. More money. I ended up close to the $60K range and I did a lot of the work myself. I hired the concrete form guy, the framers put up the main frame and plywood only. I roofed it, did the windows. Had the electrician do the service change but my brother and I roughed the addition and the electrician inspected our work. I also hired floor guys for the garage floor and did all the sheet rock, paint, finish etc with the help of some friends. There were lots of unexpected expenses for me. For example my boiler was old and not large enough to supply my heat so I had to get a new one installed. That was about $5K for the parts and plumber. I had to pay a lot more for my land survey, that added about $1800. I had ledge I had to deal with that we weren't expecting so that added another couple of thousand. I ended up way over budget. I was hoping for around $45K originally.

 

[bmes1982]

I've been in the process of building my attached garage for about 18 months now. My garage is a 1,672 sq ft. garage with an L-shape to it. 18'x8' and 12'x8' overhead door, 6' sliding patio door, 5 windows, 4/12 pitch roof. Since it's attached we had to put in a foundation wall which ended up being over 5' tall in some spots.

Total cost is going to be about $40,000 when all is said and done. I know a fair amount of people in the trades and construction industry so I was able to get people to do work on the side or for cash so that helped keep the cost down. I helped with building the foundation walls, rough framing and setting the trusses. Did all the sheeting, roofing and siding on my own. Electrical got some free help but did most of that on my own. I have the inside insulation 75% finished and the wall coverings about the same.

My plans got away on me a little bit but not too bad. I was hoping to keep it closer to $35,000 but there's the little things that I didn't put too much thought into. For instance, insulation, I never thought too much of it but it's going to be close to $2,000 by the time I'm done with it. Outside lighting, I have 4 coach lights and 2 motion lights, and 5 soffit can lights, total cost of $450 plus the wiring. Just a couple things to think about when planning out a budget, try to factor in everything and get costs on it to get better baseline costs.

 

[Cyberbear]

To figure costs for your area, simply make out a materials list and price things according to where you are located. Call your material suppliers as well as the concrete company and determine what it all will cost + 10% for misc. Then it's a matter of what the labor will run, doing it yourself or using an experienced carpenter and concrete finisher. This should get you pretty close. I've done several of these over the years for myself.

 

[OzarkMan]

We added an 1100 sq ft garage to the house which once had a carport turned into master bedroom by a previous owner. I hired an architect to blend it all together along with a new front entry. Permits were a must for me as I wanted to make the house sellable if I had to leave and the extra square footage of the interior from the entry expansion gave us better competition with surrounding homes. The tax assessor shows the greater size. Our taxes went up by $100. We have about 100k into the project which included a new expanded kitchen, all new flooring, raising the ceilings to 9' in the living room and kitchen, appliances...etc.
I did alot of the work myself aside from the concrete and framing. Anything can be done to a house if you have the space, money and guts to go with it.


Before:



























































The windows which used to be behind the bed were moved to the side of the house. Windows are larger to provide egress in an emergency.

 

[555]

I would start with an architect. We have two houses in our subdivision with additions. One used an architect and is perfect. It recently sold for $100K more then the average for this area. The other was a combined owner/contractor abortion and it looks like ****. Both started with the same basic house.

 

[Stuart in MN]

Without knowing what state or country you're in it's difficult to provide any cost estimates.

 

[rburke65]

MesaAZguy......I think you did a great job for $100k. Looks great.

 

[rwilner]

I would start with an architect. We have two houses in our subdivision with additions. One used an architect and is perfect. It recently sold for $100K more then the average for this area. The other was a combined owner/contractor abortion and it looks like ****. Both started with the same basic house.

This.

It costs the same to build something ugly and poorly designed, as it does to build something awesome and well designed. My guy actually saves me money probably as much as his fee, by designing the thing to be built.

Architects can often turn you on to good contractors too.

 

[thammel]

I added a 32 x 28 with 12' ceilings ad a second floor attic storage room. Added this and a mud room/pantry/laundry room as the interface to the house. I had it all planned and sketched out but still went with an architect to develop a set of plans that worked. After a few iterations with him, we settled on a plan and went with it. This was in 2008. The way I did it was to get quotes from about 5 builders with my ideas all written out and gave them these plans and my sketches. Selected one and he suggested the architect. I got the minimal electrical and did the rest myself. I did all insulation. Oh - I also had a plumber because I ran water to the garage for a half bath and utility sink.

I also did the heat - reznor heater and 2 minisplits. What's left - drywall and epoxy floor. Don't think I'll even try all that drywall work at the young age of almost 67.

Tom

 

[Low50s]

wow those are some sweet buildings here!!! I would like to do as much as I can myself. i am not worried about resale as I am not moving ever.

I am looking around for concrete contractors I am located in NE Iowa to get some est from local people. the only thing I need to be careful for is I have to have fost footings because I want to be connected to the house, but I have tile lines that run around the house and the foundation to bring water away and tie into field tile