Escape FROM my dream shop

[rmack898]

great man ! sorry to hear about it but salute to your confidence

Stay tuned Harry, I'm only confident that this will end better than it started.

Wow, what a thread. Keep it up!

More on the way this weekend

Sounds like plans are progressing nicely Mack. Looking forward to the build progress, as I'm sure you are.

Mike I wouldn't exactly call it progressing NICELY, but I haven't taken any step backwards lately so I guess you could say that's nice.

I always liked the samis. A buddy of mine had one that was a blast to drive.

Willie this is my third or fifth Sammi, I'm not sure how many I'v had but I have a soft spot for them and alway take in strays.

I am going to finalize the deal with Hornet buildings tomorrow and write them a check. 20% down gets me stamped building and foundation plans with a 7 week delivery time on the building and I pay the balance.

I will be erecting this building mostly by myself but I have a friend or two that can lend a hand when needed.

Since we pinned the location for the house, the original location we had selected for the shop won't work. I'm moving the shop location about 75' to the north. Now I have about a dozen more trees to take down. Since it's only few trees, I'll push then over stump and all and just cut the stumps off. I only have a half day on Saturday but I'll give it all I got on Sunday.

 

[el monte slim]

I discovered this thread for the first time tonight, and just read through all of the posts dating back three years. Thanks for sharing your story rmack898, and for taking us on this very compelling journey with you!

 

[shortykorte]

I’m back. Glad you’re making forward progress. I’ll be at JC’s so hopefully we can share a cold one.


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[54earl]

I also read the whole thing tonight. Looking forward to seeing how it all turns out.

 

[rmack898]

It's official, my house in NJ is on the market.
If anyone is interested in a nice house 4 miles from the beach with a 1600 sq/ft shop, here's the listing.

http://capemay.paragonrels.com/CollabLink/?id=d4ab7b17-a39a-4736-b410-283eeb283eee

 

[zmotorsports]

Good luck with the sale and building of the new place Mac.

 

[rmack898]

Good luck with the sale and building of the new place Mac.

Thanks Mike,
I'm looking forward to actually start building something soon. I've been doing nothing but site work for the last few months and I'm finally about done.

 

[Finallygotit]

Subscribed!

 

[rmack898]

Subscribed!

Thanks for stopping in Dan.

Good news tonight. Our construction project got fully funded so it's game on. Things should start happening fast before the end of April.

 

[shortykorte]

Congrats on funding. Look forward to the build.


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[rmack898]

So here's my next step but I need some help. Septic Systems

I have a signed contract with a custom builder that is doing the house. I am doing all the sweat equity I can on this project and one of the things I am doing is the septic systems. Notice I said systems. I am doing one for the house and one for the shop. I need to supply the design info to the builder to pull all the permits for both the house and shop.

I talked to the county dept. of health and the engineer knew exactly where my property was and said we did not need to do a perk test. He told me he can't design the system for me but once I give him my plans he can then tell me what I need to do.

The house is two full baths and I plan on a 1500 gallon tank for the house system. The shop will be a half bath and I plan on a 500 gallon tank.

So my first question is: Has anyone used a plastic tank and infiltrator system?

Infiltrator Systems has a good website and it looks to be a good product but I'd like to hear first hand from someone that knows.

https://www.infiltratorwater.com

 

[shortykorte]

I assume the soil is pretty sandy there. Does make for good septic systems. In Wakulla Co. with same soil, they use either concrete or fiberglass tanks with black pipe and rock for the drain field. Have you spoke with the Inflitrator folks to see what they say about using in your soil type?


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[rmack898]

Shorty, I sent the infiltrator folks an email and I will probably hear back from them early this week.

I got a good nights sleep recovering from the GTG at CJ's yesterday and got a good start on a long work day at the Grove today.

The original location we had picked out for the shop was not going to work now that we have the house location pinned. The shop electric and septic systems will conflict with the house so we needed to move the shop.

I had placed the shipping container that I use for "Base Camp" in a location that I thought was out of the way. It turns out that where I put the container is where the actual shop will go. So I need to empty the container and move it.

I got it emptied and it was surprisingly easy to move with the Bobcat. I pushed it and pulled it about a 100' to it's new spot where I hope it will stay. I got everything put back in the container and then proceeded to add the latest addition to the Grove base camp.

$79 of on sale Harbor Freight shade The instructions plainly stated that two persons were required to erect the shade tent. I seldom follow instructions and did it myself in about 40 minutes. Since I seldom follow directions I had to take it apart and re-do it since I didn't do it right the first time.

With base camp moved I started pushing over the trees that need to be removed from the new shop site. I got 3 trees down and it was time to call it a day. I'll get some more done tomorrow after work.

 

[ryan in louisville]

The house is two full baths and I plan on a 1500 gallon tank for the house system. The shop will be a half bath and I plan on a 500 gallon tank.

I have to ask, if you're building a shop that far from the house, why not put a full bath in the shop. Even if its a little corner shower, I would want to do that so I could clean up before going in the house. If I go in the house too dirty, I make the Mrs mad and that's not good for anyone.

 

[shortykorte]

In Florida we do outdoor showers, the water hose. Lol.

Mac, you have the Samurai here. Cool.


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[rmack898]

I have to ask, if you're building a shop that far from the house, why not put a full bath in the shop.

Simple reason is that it will take up too much space. Real estate on the shop floor is too valuable to waste on a full bath.

In Florida we do outdoor showers, the water hose. Lol.

Mac, you have the Samurai here. Cool.

Shorty, Both the house and the shop will have outside showers.

i brought the Sami ( we call it "Sardino" ) down on my trip up north last month. I need to get the title and tags changed over. Once my work commute gets shortened next week I'll get it legal and start driving it.

Today was a bust as far as work at the Grove is concerned. I had planned on working for about 2 hours on my way home but just as I left work, the skies opened up and it poured. I'll see how it goes tomorrow but it looks like they are still calling for rain.

 

[mybigwarwagon]

Today was a bust as far as work at the Grove is concerned. I had planned on working for about 2 hours on my way home but just as I left work, the skies opened up and it poured. I'll see how it goes tomorrow but it looks like they are still calling for rain.

I have a tractor about 30 minutes from done. It has rained for 6 hours now.

 

[rmack898]

Wow it's been almost a month and time for an update.

I cleared all the remaining trees on the new shop site and took off about 1-1/2 foot of organics to good soil.

I got the base put down for the driveway. 730' of driveway took 26 loads of fill, now I just have to decide what to put on top for the finish drive surface.

I wrote the check for the shop building on April 15 and they told me that it would take about 2 weeks for stamped plans and about 7 weeks for delivery.

I got the stamped plans in one week and got an email today confirming a May 29th delivery date. So far I'm impressed with my building supplier.

My big problem right now is I can't get anyone to quote the slab/foundation. I have given the drawings to 3 different contractors and non have replied as of yet.

I'm making a trip up to NJ in 2 more days to bring down another load of stuff, I may just grab a guy I know and bring him with me and do the foundation myself.

 

[shortykorte]

For the driveway you might check into asphalt milling.
Hope you find away to get the slab poured. Having a shop will be a huge plus while house is being built.
Have you got a contractor for the house yet? Be nice if their concrete guy could do shop too.


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[rmack898]

Millings would be nice but they have gotten pricey. As you probably know more about it than I do, but there are a lot of re-surfacing jobs now where they re-cycle the millings on site.

The guy I bought the fill from is trying to talk me into something called "Shell rock", its like limestone but it's shell based. Its more $$$ than limestone but its local so transportation costs make it the same as limestone. I'll have to think some more on the driveway.

I gave the shop foundation drawings to my house building contractor to have their concrete guy bid it but I have not heard back from them yet.

 

[cbacres]

Millings would be nice but they have gotten pricey. As you probably know more about it than I do, but there are a lot of re-surfacing jobs now where they re-cycle the millings on site.

The guy I bought the fill from is trying to talk me into something called "Shell rock", its like limestone but it's shell based. Its more $$$ than limestone but its local so transportation costs make it the same as limestone. I'll have to think some more on the driveway.

I gave the shop foundation drawings to my house building contractor to have their concrete guy bid it but I have not heard back from them yet.

The shell will make a fine base for a driveway, but I'm split on that or base for driveway while your building out. The shell would make a nice finer cap after your done with the heavy work and the limestone gets good and compacted.

Another rock fill found around the state is crushed concrete, or concrete washings. Get it down where you want it cause most of it gets hard once dried. Again, you can top with the shell later.

Good luck with the concrete sub. Look forward to seeing your building go up.

Be thinking about anything you might want to put in/under the slab, conduits to the far sides, footers for jib cranes, etc.

Don't forget a recess or sloped area for the roll up doors, I did on my KY building and it's been a source of water getting under door.

 

[rmack898]

The shell will make a fine base for a driveway, but I'm split on that or base for driveway while your building out. The shell would make a nice finer cap after your done with the heavy work and the limestone gets good and compacted.

Another rock fill found around the state is crushed concrete, or concrete washings. Get it down where you want it cause most of it gets hard once dried. Again, you can top with the shell later.

Good luck with the concrete sub. Look forward to seeing your building go up.

Be thinking about anything you might want to put in/under the slab, conduits to the far sides, footers for jib cranes, etc.

Don't forget a recess or sloped area for the roll up doors, I did on my KY building and it's been a source of water getting under door.

Crushed concrete is an option. It's inexpensive when you look at it from a $$ per ton but actual volume per $$ and it's not that cheap.

I'm not too worried about the driveway because I have a back road entrance that will be used for all construction traffic.

I plan on putting a few chain pots in the slab as well as a few 3" conduit runs from side to side and corner to corner. Its pretty cheap to do on the front end.

I also plan on putting in a bunch of stake pockets in the floor to support a roller system idea I have for loading sheet goods from the truck to the plasma table. I'm so glad I don't have to even consider radiant heat.

 

[cbacres]

Crushed concrete is an option. It's inexpensive when you look at it from a $$ per ton but actual volume per $$ and it's not that cheap.

I'm not too worried about the driveway because I have a back road entrance that will be used for all construction traffic.

I plan on putting a few chain pots in the slab as well as a few 3" conduit runs from side to side and corner to corner. Its pretty cheap to do on the front end.

I also plan on putting in a bunch of stake pockets in the floor to support a roller system idea I have for loading sheet goods from the truck to the plasma table. I'm so glad I don't have to even consider radiant heat.

Yep, down here no floor heat needed, just openings so a couple fans can move some air.
A fridge full of cold water for the morning, beer for the afternoon.

I forgot the back driveway, that makes it nice for the heavy stuff.

I wish I'd thought of some tie downs when pouring all my concrete.

 

[rmack898]

So it’s been almost a month since my last update and I have been quite busy at the Grove. I have both the shop and house site work all completed for all the work that I agreed to do with our builder. I haven’t posted any pictures because how many pictures can I post of moving dirt because they all look the same.

It’s about time for the interesting stuff to start happening. I filed the septic permit and it was approved. Once that was approved the building permits for the house and shop could be submitted, which they were 2 weeks ago. I’m hoping that the building permits get approved by the end of this week.

Now for the shop building. I bought a 40x60x14 red iron building package from Hornet Metal Buildings. I placed the order on May 15 and was told that it would be 2 weeks to get my stamped plans and foundation drawing, and that it would take 7 weeks for the building to be manufactured. Hornet supplied me with the stamped drawings and foundation plans 6 days after I placed the order. They called me 2 weeks ago to set up delivery for today between 8 and 10 am. I was on the build site at 7:00 this morning and my phone rang at 7:38, it was the driver telling me he was at my driveway entrance. I didn’t think that he could get the truck down my driveway so I suggested he walk to the site before trying to drive an 18 wheeler. He walked it and said no problem. This guy was an artist and drove that truck all the way to my build site.
I had him unloaded in about an hour and he was on his way. I gave him a tip that would buy lunch in any high end restaurant of his choosing.

Now comes the fun part. I unloaded the truck and just spread everything out wherever I could find room to put things. I had an 11-page packing list and had to inventory everything and report any shortages. Every piece of steel was well marked with a part #, as I checked things off I put my initials on the part with a sharpie. It took me almost 2 hours to inventory the entire building package and there were no discrepancies.
Since I don’t have the foundation built yet, I had to stack all the building materials up and out of the way for the foundation crew (whoever that may be). So I stacked it all up in the order in which it will be needed for construction. I basically build the building in my head, in reverse, as I was stacking everything up.

I got 2 quotes for my foundation and got sticker shock. Both quotes were within a few hundred dollars of each other at the $20k mark. I was thinking it should be around 12-15K and have been trying to get a third quote but there is so much work going on around here that nobody’s going hungry. If my permit comes in before I get a third quote I’m just going to pull the trigger with one of the quotes I have already.

I could actually be erecting a building before the end of June

 

[Finallygotit]

Oh boy, an erector set!

 

[kruizer66]

Enjoy seeing your NEW shop come to life. good luck with foundations. seems a lot of new homes down there are using concrete block for weather proofing. what are you thinking of using for your new home?

 

[rmack898]

The house will be slab on grade.

If I don't get another quote for the shop foundation I will use the same sub that my home builder uses for the house and he will do both jobs at the same time. He was the cheaper of the 2 bids that I got.

 

[cbacres]

Hey Mac, good to see your build progressing. You found a good building supplier!
Look forward to seeing it go up.

 

[shortykorte]

Figuring up the sq. ft. price, that’s around $8.33/sf which $8 is probably the going rate now. 20 yrs ago it was $5/sf (concrete was $100/yd). I just got a bid for a patio and sidewalk (5 yds) for $9.50/sf.


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[polexican23]

crete work is based on just sq ft price. They charge maybe a $1 or $2 extra per if it is hard to access.

 

[cbacres]

Hey Mac, any luck is n the concrete contractor? We're waiting to watch a building go up.

 

[rmack898]

So here's the deal. I pulled the trigger today on the concrete contractor. I'm going to use the same guy that my home builder is using for the house. I did manage to get a 3rd bid but the guy I'm using was only $700 from the low bid.

My biggest issue right now is that the county has still not issued my permits. I talked to my builder this morning and it's been 3 weeks since they submitted the applications. We should have permits by the end of the week.

I took delivery of the insulation for the shop today. I'm planning on trenching and running pipe for my utilities next weekend. I'll spend the rest of this week lining up all my ducks for next weekends work list.

 

[cbacres]

So here's the deal. I pulled the trigger today on the concrete contractor. I'm going to use the same guy that my home builder is using for the house. I did manage to get a 3rd bid but the guy I'm using was only $700 from the low bid.

My biggest issue right now is that the county has still not issued my permits. I talked to my builder this morning and it's been 3 weeks since they submitted the applications. We should have permits by the end of the week.

I took delivery of the insulation for the shop today. I'm planning on trenching and running pipe for my utilities next weekend. I'll spend the rest of this week lining up all my ducks for next weekends work list.

Call around on the electric supply houses,I've had the PVC vary. I'm trying to remember the name of one here I priced with, it was pretty reasonable.

Look up World electric
City electric

I'm pretty sure they sell to non accounts

Take plenty of pictures for the inspectors later. Sometimes they get a case of the *** if they can't see underground before covering.

 

[jonnysteals]

It's official, my house in NJ is on the market.
If anyone is interested in a nice house 4 miles from the beach with a 1600 sq/ft shop, here's the listing.

http://capemay.paragonrels.com/CollabLink/?id=d4ab7b17-a39a-4736-b410-283eeb283eee

small world but your old house in only 15 minutes from where i live in nj.

 

[rmack898]

Take plenty of pictures for the inspectors later. Sometimes they get a case of the *** if they can't see underground before covering.

I talked to the inspector and he seemed pretty laid back. He said go ahead and put the pipe in, they can tell how deep it is. I will still take plenty of pictures.

small world but your old house in only 15 minutes from where i live in nj.

Yes it is a small world. There is another member here on GJ from CM County.

 

[rmack898]

Call around on the electric supply houses,I've had the PVC vary. I'm trying to remember the name of one here I priced with, it was pretty reasonable.

Look up World electric
City electric

I'm pretty sure they sell to non accounts.

Thanks Craig,

World electric has a location in Jax. I just looked on their website and 3" sch40 is $12.82 a stick. That's over $5 cheaper than the best price I had here locally.

 

[rmack898]

Well the end of this week still brought no permits from the county. I did get an email from my builder saying that they made a personal visit to the county and the excuse was that they are just swamped. We anticipate having permits in this upcoming week.

When I took delivery of the insulation last Monday, I was trying to beat out a thunderstorm and get it all unloaded and under cover before the rain came. Needless to say I just threw it in the storage container any way I could fit it.

Todays project was to empty the container, clean it out, and re-load everything back in so that I could get to things without having to move a bunch of other things.

So in this 20' box I have 17 large rolls of insulation, 8 boxes of hardware to put the shop together with, a Miller Trailblazer, a Mig machine, an air compressor, a generator, a big toolbox, a Harley Road King, a Suzuki 4-wheeler, several chains saws, other outdoor power equipment, and a bunch of hand tools. It all fits and I can get to pretty much anything I want without having to move a bunch of stuff.

Before and after shots. It might not look like much but it was 4 hours in the heat.

 

[mybigwarwagon]

4 hours in the heat is 18 hours anywhere else

 

[bear-0001]

As far as the move goes, this is how I plan to do it. There is a freight company that will drop of two 28' enclosed trailers here and they will give me 20 days to load them. They haul the trailers to my new location and I will have 20 days to unload them. If I went with a bigger truck I'm certain that it wouldn't all fit and it would be over weight. I might have to rent a forklift on the receiving end, but that's the plan for the move.

I sent two Pack Rat containers from fl. to Chicago with 18000 lbs much cheaper than Pods all I had to do was load and unload .

 

[cbacres]

How'd the conduit install go? Only thing I like about trenching this time of year Is the dirt is cooler when you first uncover it.

Took 45 days to get my simple little shed permit last year, And I had to raise hell to get it then.