Exterior Garage, Shop, or Pole Barn?

[IRQVET]

So I’m in dire need of additional space, as my 2 car garage is PACKED! So I’m considering a enclosed pole barn or a stick built garage/ shop. I have zero experience with this. All I know is I’m on over an acre so I have the space to build, but due to my HOA, my options are:

1. Stick built garage
2. Enclosed Pole barn (required to be built with cement fiber boards and painted to match the house)
3. Standard Pole Barn (Not enclosed)

2 years ago I was quoted $30,000 for a 20x20 stick built 2 car garage, but that was two years ago and things in the market have gone nuts since then. And a 20x20 garage I’m not convinced would meet my additional space needs.

Anyone have experience with this that can offer some hindsight 20/20?

 

[1320stang]

Similar situation, I'm going to build a 30x50, it'll start at the gate (left of hupcaps on fence) and go out past the chain link and come over to the middle of the cedar. Lots of trees to remove, dirt to move. I priced a 40x60 bolt together red iron kit with a 10x60 lean to, just the red iron and sheet metal, no insulation, one man door and a 12x12 opening in the end and it was $15.5k in March of 2020, in May of 2021 it was $75k. I'll be stick framing this one.

 

[Spud McGee]

I went pole barn. The kit for 20x30, 10ft walls with steel trusses is under $5k. That includes a metal roof, steel trusses, 6x6 posts, and the rest of the lumber to frame it up. If you wanted steel walls, that bumps it up to $8k, but I take it you cant use the steel walls. Roll up door adds about $800, walk in door adds about $500.

Those are prices from my local pole barn place, delivered to my back yard. For installation, of that size, $1800, not including the walls and doors. Thats laying out the location of the posts, augering out 4' deep holes, setting the posts, filling with concrete, and installing the trusses/girders/roof. Thats a base price of under $7k for 20x30x10 installed. You'd still be on the hook for cost of site prep, pouring concrete, framing in between the posts, insulation, electrical, doors, and hanging up your cement fiber boards. You can spend as much or as little as you want with all that other stuff, so its hard to guess a final price.

If you dont require footings for your walls, I'd guess you could do the concrete for $3k or less. Framing up the walls for another $1k. Complete building starting from a wall-less pole barn of that size, you could do for like $12k on the low end. Realistically, site prep and scope creep will set in and you'll end up spending double that.

 

[jarhead]

If I had to do it again I'd go stick built. The 24x40 pole barn I built nearly 20 years ago was a cheaper alternative at the time but I would have preferred to match my 24x28 stick built in design and construction.

 

[LostCauseRanch]

I'm doing a pole barn now, but if I were to have to match my house I would do stick frame.

I think you lose a lot of the pole barn/post frame construction advantages when you have to traditionally finish them

 

[IRQVET]

Cement here (Florida) is stupid expensive. My neighbor did I think a 16x30 pad and it was like 12 grand for just the pad alone. I was really shocked coming from the west coast were the cost of concrete is much less expensive. But guess there are no mountains here to mill stuff from? I know most rock based products come out of Tennessee.

 

[thebmrust]

Sell the property.
Move to where there isn’t an HOA.
Build the biggest shop you can afford.

 

[IRQVET]

No plans on moving, this is my first go living in an HOA. But they’re not terrible, actually they are fairly laxed. Just a few guidelines and hoops I have to jump through.

 

[billconner]

Will you do much of building yourself or mostly contracted? Also, will Florida require sealed plans?

 

[IRQVET]

Great question on #2, I have no idea. Not familiar with “sealed plans.” As for the first question, I’d like to have the pole barn and cement installed. But enclosing and finishing it out is something I’d like to do.

 

[Sumboodie]

20x20 would be fairly small. Are you just working on small cars? My old place was 24x26. It was fairly tight to work on pickups.

 

[IRQVET]

20x20 would be fairly small. Are you just working on small cars? My old place was 24x26. It was fairly tight to work on pickups.

I have project vehicles, racing go karts (x3), and misc. welding projects. So I’m kinda all over the place. I’d like a 40x40 pole barn in a perfect world, or a 25x50 stick built garage. That way I could house not only classic vehicles, but several other projects I’ve been putting off for too long.

 

[billconner]

Great question on #2, I have no idea. Not familiar with “sealed plans.” As for the first question, I’d like to have the pole barn and cement installed. But enclosing and finishing it out is something I’d like to do.

sealed plans = Architect or Engineer prepared designs You may get this with some kits - post frame or red iron for example. Just have heard Florida has stricter requirements than some other states because of wind. Could be a factor in selecting system.

 

[jarhead]

Thanks for your service brother

 

[rd65]

I did a 32x28x10 pole building Nov 2017, overall cost when complete was approx $40k. I too had to deal w/ HOA. Ended up having a lawyer send them a letter. I never heard back to proceeded with my project. Major sticking point was siding. Must "compliment" current home siding. They were saying no metal. I have greenbelt on one side and behind me, I contacted my neighbor to ask how they felt about metal on the side facing them, no issue. Hardiplank on the front, metal sides & back, asphalt shingle roof. Took pole guys about 7 working days over 2 weeks to get the building done. I finished the inside and the roof. Prices these days in my area are through the roof.

 

[IRQVET]

I did a 32x28x10 pole building Nov 2017, overall cost when complete was approx $40k. I too had to deal w/ HOA. Ended up having a lawyer send them a letter. I never heard back to proceeded with my project. Major sticking point was siding. Must "compliment" current home siding. They were saying no metal. I have greenbelt on one side and behind me, I contacted my neighbor to ask how they felt about metal on the side facing them, no issue. Hardiplank on the front, metal sides & back, asphalt shingle roof. Took pole guys about 7 working days over 2 weeks to get the building done. I finished the inside and the roof. Prices these days in my area are through the roof.

How much of that cost was the cement? That’s what is going to kill me out here.

 

[billconner]

The ready mix plants around me are having a hard time finding cement and thus the cost of concrete is increasing weekly. I just paid - last Saturday - near $10/sf for pouring and finishing a 4" slab - and I paid for materials and did all prep, base, forms, compacting, and wwf myself.

 

[rd65]

How much of that cost was the cement? That’s what is going to kill me out here.

Not sure, that was all part of the deal. I think the building was $29k. I put the shingles on the roof, plywood on the walls and ceiling, blew in attic insulation, and did the wiring/lighting. Wiring is stupid expensive last time I checked.

 

[IRQVET]

Not sure, that was all part of the deal. I think the building was $29k. I put the shingles on the roof, plywood on the walls and ceiling, blew in attic insulation, and did the wiring/lighting. Wiring is stupid expensive last time I checked.

Thanks for unpacking that for me, appreciate it.

 

[Spud McGee]

How much of that cost was the cement? That’s what is going to kill me out here.

The contractor price at my local ready-mix place is $157 a yard. You haven't really nailed down the size of your building or the thickness of the slab, so its hard to give even a ballpark price.

As a rough ballpark, the contractors here in GA quote around $300/yd installed. But there's really more to it than that. My total project was 1200sqft, 6" thick, with a 12" section for a lift. I was at like 25yd. For them to do the entire job from forming it up to putting down plastic, pouring, finishing, cutting, etc was around $8k. It was a little cheaper when they were planning to pour it 4" thick. Adding the extra concrete to make it 2 inches thicker really doesn't make the labor go up. It doesn't take any longer to form or finish it. The extra 8 yards to make my slab thicker didn't add $300/yd to the cost.

I ended up having a volumetric concrete company pour mine last week. The volumetric trucks mix and dispense exactly how much you need for the job rather than having to over-order just to make sure there's enough in the drum. You can potentially save money there. And they also factor in how far they have to drive their bigass trucks. the closer you are to them, the cheaper it'll be.

 

[IRQVET]

I’m looking for a 32x60 pole barn with an honest 4 inch slab. I’m not a fan of the fiber mesh they use out here, so my preference would be portland cement, sand, aggregate, with #5 rebar. As for closing it in, I’ll do all of that later myself.

Interesting on the volumetric, never heard of such a thing. Makes alot of sense.

 

[Toolfool]

Good luck finding a quality concrete contractor here. I used three different companies. One good one and two that I would not use or recommend. Had to talk the good one into doing my 46x48 slab because he and his crew are older guys and usually only do smaller jobs these days.
I also skipped the fiber mesh. We stopped using it 20 years ago back in Washington. Don't like wire mesh either.

 

[IRQVET]

So I got two pole barn quotes today: (Straight pole barns, not enclosed)

32x48 (Installed) with no cement $17,250 (Company A)
32x48 (not Installed) with no cement $5,400 (Company B, who does not install)

Cement pad added an additonal $14,000

 

[Spud McGee]

So I got two pole barn quotes today: (Straight pole barns, not enclosed)

32x48 (Installed) with no cement $17,250 (Company A)
32x48 (not Installed) with no cement $5,400 (Company B, who does not install)

Cement pad added an additonal $14,000

Did you ask any specifics about the concrete? I bring it up because the people who did my pole barn really didn't know the details about it. They could plug in all the wood and trusses and doors into their little calculator and spit out an exact price for the building. But they just subcontract out the concrete. All my sales guy did was calculate how many yards you'd need, multiply by 300, and that was your estimate. I told him put me in touch with the company who would actually be doing the concrete work and me and that guy talked directly and figured it out.

I wonder if they figured in the site prep into that number. Most of the time, somebody goes to these guys to order a building and they have no idea any site prep needs to be done. So the builders show up and the site is still not leveled and there's still grass. They need to do thousands of dollars worth of work before they can even start.

I would try and talk directly with whoever is going to be doing the concrete and ask them what the price is assuming you already have the spot perfectly leveled and compacted with all the organic stuff stripped. If you're feeling up to it, you could even do the forms and the rebar. See how much they want to pour it and finish it. Thats the part you want the experienced guys doing.

 

[jarhead]

5400$ seems like a good price for the materials bid. Back in 2003 I paid 5k for material on a 24x40 from a local lumber yard.

 

[billconner]

(Straight pole barns, not enclosed)

Could you clarify this? Im simply confused. It seems some here consider a pole barn just posts, headers if necessary, trusses, and metal roofing. Others seem to suggest it includes walls (at least hurts and metal siding) along with doors and windows. Thanks.

 

[IRQVET]

Could you clarify this? Im simply confused. It seems some here consider a pole barn just posts, headers if necessary, trusses, and metal roofing. Others seem to suggest it includes walls (at least hurts and metal siding) along with doors and windows. Thanks.

No walls, just posts, trusses, and a metal roof.

Specifics on concrete were not discussed in great detail. I told him I was not a fan of fiber mesh, and I’d rather use Portland Cement, aggregate, #5 rebar, and footers. Hindsight 20/20 I should have unpacked that a little better. As for sight prep, its a level surface (lawn).

Still learning here. That’s why I’m here, lol.

 

[billconner]

5400$ seems like a good price for the materials bid. Back in 2003 I paid 5k for material on a 24x40 from a local lumber yard.

Did that include walls? Just trying to compare.

 

[racecougar]

No walls, just posts, trusses, and a metal roof.

That's typically referred to as a pavilion.

 

[jarhead]

Yes, but it was just a shell, no concrete, electrical, etc.

 

[billconner]

That's typically referred to as a pavilion.

I see it same but have noticed not all do.

 

[IRQVET]

After the quotes came in, it dawned on me that I should have done this project 2 years ago before prices got crazy.