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Fulfilling a dream

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Puddlian

Member
Joined
Oct 10, 2011
Messages
10
Hi everybody! I just popped in to sign up for this forum after several visits to see what others have managed to do with their garage designs.
I am getting close to retirement age and have always planned to build myself a replacement garage, combined with a woodworking shop and art studio for my wife.
I am hoping for inspiration here and I am confident this will be a first step on a very cool journey. Thanks for having such a resourceful forum!:thumbup:
 
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sams

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 7, 2010
Messages
266
Location
S.E Victoria, Australia!
hahaha so true, there's a bit of evrything here from our dream shop in the bunker garage, the collector in all of us in the grunge garage and someone trying to run a whole buisness in a fairly small workspace which is me and my very modest thread on here.
 
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Puddlian

Member
Joined
Oct 10, 2011
Messages
10
Well.... It has been a while but I forged ahead and built it! I am enclosing some pictures of the almost completed structure and will hopefully put together more of a story at a later date.
Panorama1.jpg
The old garage has been leveled!
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Underfloor heating and a much-needed loft storage
IMG_1073.jpgIMG_1069.jpg
Room for the toys and a view from the separate workshop area
Garageforum2.jpgP1020168.jpg
After 2 years... we still need to landscape but love our new garage!
 
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Puddlian

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Oct 10, 2011
Messages
10
captain14 said:
How much planning time did you spend prior to the start of construction ?

By the way welcome back!
Click to expand...

That's a great question Captain!
This is a project that I had been toying around with for many years but I never had the time to really figure out a practical plan, as I was coaching soccer and holding down a full time job at the same time. Two years ago my wife and I decided that it was time for me to consider retirement (I'm 64 now) so I started drawing up plans.It was the winter of 2013/14 that I approached a couple of general contractors and showed them my ideas. The estimates varied greatly for basically the same plans... which was rather worrying... so I chose a company that I had worked with before. They were more expensive than all the rest but I could trust them!
We spent a good part of three months going over my plans. They were great! They had a resident designer come up with several option packages and priced them all out for me. I had originally wanted to do a lot of the work myself but succumbed to the realization that I would probably never get it completed if I took on such a major task alone. It was a good choice. We had our fair share of hurdles with various sub-contractors but my prime contractor handled all of those issues for me (most of the time!) I am meticulous with record keeping, so tracking all the "Change Orders" was an important step for me to take. We went over budget quite a bit, but it was because we chose new options as the process progressed..... again, the prime was great to work with and took the time to visit with me through every step.
The entire build took almost a year before the structure was completed but remember, the build included a North Dakota winter!
Definitely a dream come true... I love the freedom of being able to start on major projects and not worry about clearing everything up so I can get the car into the garage! The picture below shows you what I was dealing with before!
IMG_0072.jpg
 
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