Do I live where it is too expensive?

[Radix2]

There is a problem in doing a square foot comparison between a house and a building addition.

The house price include the cost of the land - the addition does not. While Cali is a bit more expensive on materials it is nothing like those numbers indicate. Nor are labor rates. The big difference is land values - which are not a factor in building a garage on your own land.

So keep shopping for a contractor, hopefully you can find one that is not trying to ride along with the crazy ramp in property values that zero interest rates have allowed.

 

[WVBrady]

Whatever you do don't move to Texas!!!!! Hot as all get out here in the summer! It's miserable. I'd stay in Cali if I were you. Maybe move to the east coast but stay outta Texas!!!

Chester, on Gunsmoke, said that it hard on women and dogs. :=)

 

[ddawg16]

I'm in Livermore, CA about 50 miles east of San Francisco.

We just had a contractor out to do estimates on fixing various things on the house and asked him ballpark what would a 500 sq ft detached garage/workshop with attic space cost? He said about $125/sqft i.e. $60k.

Google had been telling me $30 - $50 per square ($15k - $25k), depending on region. $60k is not doable, not close. Is this just ridiculous in general, or do I just live in a ridiculously expensive place?

I'm cutting to the chase.....

"Pay someone to build your garage?"

This is the Garage Journal. 'Most' of us do our own work.

I built my garage....Yes, I farmed out the foundation....foundation and stucco are 2 of the things better off farmed out. Other than that, it's DIY baby.

As a benchmark.....my garage is 2-story....20x25....I have about $30K into it.

If you are a couch potato garage guy.....then fork over the $$$$

 

[1965gp]

I live in Houston and work asked if I would move to No Cal (probably Livermore or Walnut Creek- somewhere like that) and you just can't compare the two. I figured they could pay 3x my salary and I MIGHT be able to lead the same lifestyle. Yes- it gets damn hot in TX and I love CA (here now) but not enough to give up my shop and cars.

That is a nice area- you may have experienced something similar to a 'corvette tax'.

I will happily get on a plane every week....

 

[kbuhagiar]

I'm in Livermore, CA about 50 miles east of San Francisco.

We just had a contractor out to do estimates on fixing various things on the house and asked him ballpark what would a 500 sq ft detached garage/workshop with attic space cost? He said about $125/sqft i.e. $60k.

Google had been telling me $30 - $50 per square ($15k - $25k), depending on region. $60k is not doable, not close. Is this just ridiculous in general, or do I just live in a ridiculously expensive place?

Short answer: Yes, you do live in a ridiculously expensive place. As do I.

Actually, for the SF Bay Area (where the real estate market is totally wacko), that estimate sounds reasonable.

We live in South San Francisco (a city a few miles south of San Francisco).

Ten years ago my wife and I decided we needed some extra space. We inquired about a 20' x 16' foot 'bump-out' addition extending from our living room. Architectural fees alone would have been $8K, and the bids from two different contractors were 90K and 75K. Needless to say, we were gobsmacked, and decided to look for other options.

We eventually purchased a separate outdoor structure from an outfit called The Shed Shop, a 14' X 18' structure which provided the extra room we needed. Total cost for everything, including the permits, concrete slab and on-site construction of an honest-to-goodness stick-frame turn-key building, installed and completely finished to a very high standard (including light fixtures and wall-to-wall carpet) was approximately 13K, which we considered a screaming deal.

How crazy are the housing prices around here? Our very ordinary 3/1 ranch-style house (1330 square feet) built in 1948 and purchased in 1983 (for $115,000) is currently valued at just under $1M.

 

[Onewolf]

Florida may have a lot of weirdos, but we don't have a state income tax, draconian firearm laws, and our 2400 sq ft detached garage/workshop was only $50/sq ft "turn key". I can't imagine living in California.

 

[My Old Tools]

Whatever you do don't move to Texas!!!!! Hot as all get out here in the summer! It's miserable. I'd stay in Cali if I were you. Maybe move to the east coast but stay outta Texas!!!

You're right! What was I thinking? Nothing but hot, long legged women, cold beer, lot's of room, land you can hunt, lakes you can fish.....

 

[Falcon67]

Whatever you do don't move to Texas!!!!! Hot as all get out here in the summer! It's miserable. I'd stay in Cali if I were you. Maybe move to the east coast but stay outta Texas!!!

74 here today, feels like Huntington Beach. The trees stick you with what looks like large hypo needles and everything bites. Keeps out the riff-raff and the drug store cowboys.

I've been fortunate to visit many different places - east, west, NE, MW, middle - never came away not thinking "could probably live here". Or at least seeing the attraction of that area to it's residents.

 

[My Old Tools]

That 55 this morning was nice wasn't it. Even better, it will be that way until Thanksgiving or there abouts.

 

[LXCam]

There is a problem in doing a square foot comparison between a house and a building addition.

The house price include the cost of the land - the addition does not. While Cali is a bit more expensive on materials it is nothing like those numbers indicate. Nor are labor rates. The big difference is land values - which are not a factor in building a garage on your own land.

So keep shopping for a contractor, hopefully you can find one that is not trying to ride along with the crazy ramp in property values that zero interest rates have allowed.

You obviously have no clue as to labor rates and overhead costs doing business in Cali. Overhead here is astronomical which drives material pricing as well. Even the Home Depot day labor union looks for a couple hundred a day now. Lol

 

[-Brent-]

... Even the Home Depot day labor union looks for a couple hundred a day now. Lol

I shouldn't have laughed but it's too damn true.

 

[4x4_G30_Sportvan]

Native Texan here, but you can keep TX and the dad-blamed humidity! [And hail, don't forget the hail!!]

I greatly enjoy the dry southwest mountains here in the Land of Enchantment. Excluding Santa Fe & Taos, very reasonable prices, and less permits etc.

Gila mountains are georgeous too.

 

[Radix2]

You obviously have no clue as to labor rates and overhead costs doing business in Cali. Overhead here is astronomical which drives material pricing as well. Even the Home Depot day labor union looks for a couple hundred a day now. Lol

you are missing my point - when someone starts posting that houses for sale are $4-500/ft2 in the middle of a garage build- that isn't too helpful as to what a price should be to add space to a lot. Not for a garage, not even for a house.

Sure, Cali has ridiculous taxes and costs of all sorts - but that is a small part of the million dollar 1200 sq ft tract house .,..

 

[bobmulry]

Come on over the hill..............

Moved from Gilroy to Coarsegold and never looked back...........

 

[Marctrees]

I just had to chime in, because it's so interesting how prices vary.

2 yr ago, we purchased an existing, 14 yr old home in E TX, like 4 miles from the La border, about 100 miles N of the Gulf coast.

2/3 acre well draining lot, tall pine trees surrounding, paved road, septic, city water.

1250 ft sq, 3 BR, 2 full bath, vinyl siding.

Open plan "Great room" layout, 2/12 ceilings, 4/12 roof, 12" eaves all sides.

Yes, it is a "manufactured " home, trucked in two 14' mating halves, joined at site.

Excellent condition, just needed new carpet.

Basic, but NOT super cheap "mobile" interior finish.

Stick built 2x4 walls, just at a factory, not onsite.

Proper poured footings, 2x6 16"OC floors, 3/4" plywood.

Basic 10x14 shed.

It cost 34K.

That's it.

Very nice quiettt neighborhood, primarily retirees, hundreds of feet from Toledo Bend Reservoir, popular for fishing.

Minimal employment opportunity here, but we are retired so it's ok.

Certainly affects the price.

Like, basically almost no crime.

Nearest Walmart, 30 miles.

34K , and we have a comfortable home.

My only point of posting this, is to clarify for some, that have no idea there are options like this.

If a person needs to be employed, but can do "remote", like Online work, and doesn't need the city life, it's AWESOME. Marc

 

[wssix99]

Going against the grain here...

If it makes you feel any better, your area is a low rent district compared to downtown Chicago. Our land alone runs $100-500 per square foot for residential plots.

You have two things working against you: (Like I do, in my area.)
- Codes: Your structures need to stay up and not burn down when "the big one" comes, so you'll be required to have more physical structure/utilities than someone in the south who might be fine with a simple structure on a flat floating slab.
- Labor Cost: You live in an expensive place and the people working for you do, also. I would expect highly skilled carpenters in your area get paid $75-$100 an hour and laborers $50 an hour. ...If you get really silent, you can hear (over the internet) other members from other parts of the country gagging and choking over that.

Have you look into TuffShed? I am putting in your zip code and shows a garage starts at 11.6k for 20x24. Of course does not include pouring concrete. But it is mostly turn key for the building itself. This is where you can benefit from nation wide pricing than an independent contractor.

^ This is going to be your greatest leverage. If you can find a pre-fab option that you are happy with and your City will let you have, this will greatly lower your cost because it will lower your labor costs and potentially some of your material costs.

 

[arielnh56]

It was 100 degrees at our house two days last week. This is Livermore, not San Francisco!

 

[arielnh56]

I'm cutting to the chase.....

"Pay someone to build your garage?"

This is the Garage Journal. 'Most' of us do our own work.

I built my garage....Yes, I farmed out the foundation....foundation and stucco are 2 of the things better off farmed out. Other than that, it's DIY baby.

As a benchmark.....my garage is 2-story....20x25....I have about $30K into it.

If you are a couch potato garage guy.....then fork over the $$$$

10 years ago I'd do it myself. If She'd let me. Frankly, the idea of putting up the 45 degree roof attic trusses and roofing it seems a might hazardous as a beginner project, so even if I go DIY, I'd get someone else to do that. And the concrete, And the stucco. If that's farmed out there's not a heck of a lot left for me to do other than the basic framing and interior stuff, which I know I can do without killing me or my sons. Yesterday She suggested that we build it ourselves and I found some plans online to start from, but now She's changed her mind again.

Also my priority is to have a garage/shop do do the stuff in that I want to do, which is vintage motorcycles not construction. I bought our house as a fixer upper 20 years ago in a market dip, and I've been fixing it up ever since and it's a PITA when something-else-needs-fixing and I can't go make those fender brackets on the weekend again because I'm back and forth to Home Depot.

So I'll be looking at the prefab options people mentioned, might be able to swing that....

She also suggested we move to Virginia. That may be the best option.

 

[wssix99]

This is Livermore, not San Francisco!

There are plans to get you a BART station, so you can't get off that easy.

 

[barnee]

She also suggested we move to Virginia. That may be the best option.

No better here. Just got quotes back on a 28' by 38' shell only and the prices were $150k to $215k, and that excluded the windows and doors.

Most of the reason for the crazy prices is that everyone is booked full this year. I'm going to delay this to spring.

 

[My Old Tools]

My first quote for a 30x40x12 metal building, 8 pitch, on slab (12x24 perimeter and center beams, rebar, etc), 12x12 door, 6 windows, man door, insulated was $34k. I'm looking for other bids now.