Garage Addition Sticker SHOCK!

[RDeMeyer]

We are in the bidding phase of a garage conversion and new garage addition on our home. The existing garage is 25 X 25 and is to be converted to a workroom/playspace. Nothing special in here a few windows and doors.

The garage addition is 1600 Sq feet and is planned to be insulated and heated and cooled. Has a half bath and should hold 4 cars with some room to move a round. The plans are on paper and we got our first bid back today. $158,000!!! Doing simple math that's $96.00 a sq foot.

I know materials have gone way up over the last few years but seriously, can't you build an entire 1600 sq ft house in the country for $158.000? I guess I need to rethink what the end game is going to be.

 

[lakeroadster]

Before you change your plans get some more quotes... Does the $158,000 include the garage change over to a living space?

 

[matt_i]

What is the exterior finish? Hardiplank, vinyl, brick, an elevation would help.

The garage bathroom might be adding quite a lot of extra $. How does that drain route and does it connect outside, in a basement, or does the existing slab have to be sawn for a connection?

 

[stm317]

I know materials have gone way up over the last few years but seriously, can't you build an entire 1600 sq ft house in the country for $158.000? I guess I need to rethink what the end game is going to be.

With the building being finished, insulated, heated, cooled, all electrical and a bath, it sounds like you basically are building a 1600sqft house. That's even more true if the current garage is being converted to living space.

 

[driftpin]

Competent builders are turning-down work. They're too-busy, build later, when things slow-down, or contract it yourself. If you don't have experience in that, don't. You could hire a project manager to try the same thing, and to try & save some sheckels.

 

[mike93lx]

$100/sq for finished space? Doesn't surprise me at all. My house is only 26x52 (smaller footprint than what you are talking about and would cost probably $150/ft to rebuild.

Why expect it to be much cheaper than an addition for living space? Finished walls, electrical, plumbing. Besides flooring and partition walls, it is no different

 

[Parrothead]

You’re building a house without a kitchen. Not surprised at all.

 

[small&rusty]

I'm scared to see what my shed's going to cost, its 200+/ft here...

 

[RVDan]

Why is it that I can buy a house with a barn on five acres cheaper than I can build a garage!

 

[Automobilist]

It all has to do with location and quality.


If you want a cheapo metal building in a rural location, that will be far less than a quality custom building in a suburban setting. And building near a location like L.A., Boston or Seattle will cost more than outside of Cincinnati, Grand Rapids, etc.

 

[jd_1138]

Heck I'd be keeping the cars outside. How large is your lot and I suppose you don't live outside of suburbia? If you did maybe keep the existing garage for the cars and then build a metal workshop in the back for the playroom/workshop.

 

[James-W]

For some reason building materials have gotten to be super expensive the last couple years. As far as I am concerned, the price of wood has gotten to be stupid. One of the guys I bowl with bought 4 sheets of 3/4 inch plywood (not finished plywood, just regular building plywood) for a project and it was a little over $27 per sheet with tax. I would think plywood and OSB would be real cheap, it is just smaller pieces of wood glued together. Obviously I would be dead wrong.

 

[Norcal]

For some reason building materials have gotten to be super expensive the last couple years. As far as I am concerned, the price of wood has gotten to be stupid. One of the guys I bowl with bought 4 sheets of 3/4 inch plywood (not finished plywood, just regular building plywood) for a project and it was a little over $27 per sheet with tax. I would think plywood and OSB would be real cheap, it is just smaller pieces of wood glued together. Obviously I would be dead wrong.

3/4" CDX plywood was $39 today, 7/16" OSB around $15.

 

[jetnow1]

$100 per square ft for finished space is well below market here, materials are going up
every day, just got another e-mail from Harvey announcing more increases. The fires in
California and the tariffs on wood from Canada plus the shortage of truckers has led to
about a 40% increase in lumber costs as well as shortages. I built my 24 by 30 myself
with only the concrete subbed and it ran me just about 40 per sf and that was over a year ago, today it would have been more like 50 per sf.

 

[RDeMeyer]

We are working with a couple more contractors for quotes. They just take FOREVER!

The price does include the rework of the existing garage to a finished space. I will upload elevation drawings for all to see and comment. There a couple changes we made after the drawings were done. Most notably the 50 long wall (call the it the back of the building) is changed to Hardie Board.

We live in rural setting but very near Dallas/Ft Worth airport. Our property is just under an acre. For the most part the site is flat and will require minimal dirt work. A large part of the "driveway" is already in place.

We are on septic and the plumbing can run in a straight shot to connect to the system.

I don't see this anything like building a house without a kitchen. The finish work is nothing special and there are not a bunch of "rooms" to make for large finish out cost.

Out where we are; they are building $1Mil + houses on just about every spec of land they can find. An acre lot is going for over $300,000! What used to be "horse property" is now a builders dream world.

More to follow. Comments are appreciated.

Randy

 

[polizei1]

Well I'm building a house now at $190/sqft so yea...everything has dramatically increased in the last two years. I guess it depends on what materials you're using as well, that could explain the cost.

Just for reference, Hardie was $8k more than brick for me.

 

[RDeMeyer]

Elevation Drawings and site plan.

 

[CarGuyX]

I love the plans, excellent looking addition! I'm not familiar with the material costs in your area, but $99/Ft2 (seems a bunch lower than $100) seems reasonable for what you are getting. As someone else stated, you're getting a new house without a kitchen.

 

[shelteredV]

I start at 200 a foot and go up from there. A mid level renovation is between 250 and 325. A job I'm about to start is 475 a foot. A garage I'm doing now is 125 a foot with no heated space and no plumbing.

 

[larry_g]

My son who is a builder was saying that not long ago that a materials price quote on a building materials package was good for a couple of months. Now his price quotes are only good for a week from the lumber yard. He says the new tariffs are a big part in the rapid increase. and that Canada is sitting on materials instead of paying.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[86turbodsl]

Natural disasters and rebuilding have always had an effect on lumber/materials pricing. Then you add the tariffs this year and its' going to be a banner year for increases. Wait it out a little if you can, prices tend to come back down after a while.

 

[stm317]

I don't see this anything like building a house without a kitchen. The finish work is nothing special and there are not a bunch of "rooms" to make for large finish out cost.

Randy

The only things that are different between your addition and a house are a few cheap interior walls, no kitchen, and no fancy flooring. The cost savings you'd get by not having those things are offset by converting the existing garage to living space, moving the electrical service, adding more driveway, and making it all fit your current structure. The hip roof adds some cost. Seamlessly Blending the siding and roofing into the existing exterior isn't the easiest thing to do either. So cost wise, you are basically building a 1600sqft house.

 

[HoosierBuddy]

I see you're going full brick on the exterior. I like that approach, but when I added my garage 12 years ago, I ended up with brick just on the front...which was about $10,000. I believe it would have been about $25,000 more for brick on all 4 sides...so...I'm guessing you're 30 to 35 G just for the brick?

Phil

 

[Radix2]

I see you're going full brick on the exterior. I like that approach, but when I added my garage 12 years ago, I ended up with brick just on the front...which was about $10,000. I believe it would have been about $25,000 more for brick on all 4 sides...so...I'm guessing you're 30 to 35 G just for the brick?

Phil

What was your material instead of brick?

As someone above said - for him Hardi was actually more than brick, in my case brick was only 50 cents a square foot more than LP Smartside - you can bet I went with a lot of brick! (for example - on the side of my 50x40x12 garage walls- 600square feet - add $300 for brick...sold!)


It might be a different story if it is against a low end vinyl siding?

Now,it might be that we are getting hosed on the high end siding, but that is how the quotes came in.

 

[RVDan]

Lumber prices have gone down slightly here in my part of Canada. Since the US isn't buying because their government increased the cost to import it, we have a surplus.
It'll go up soon though, there's two mills closing soon.

 

[Temaweaver]

My quote was $130,000 for a 30x40. Heat/ac, insulation, 1/2 bath, loft, and Hardie plank exterior.

 

[Vintage Veloce]

Sounds like a bargain, actually.

 

[jonshonda]

We expect to pay $150-180/sqft for a run of the mill house. Start adding nice windows and doors, good insulation, flooring...etc, and you are easily in the mid to upper $200 range easy.

Our friend got quotes to put a solar light in their bathroom, the contractor wanted $1600 for the job. Admitted it would take two guys two hours to do. $400/hr per guy sounds reasonable.