Garage Foundation Slab cost?

[racerboy832]

I'm in the planning part of getting my apples in a row for a 24X36 attached garage with one Gabrel roof adjoing the garage roof and house roof for one big room. Here is what i'm trying to figure out. I have to go down 42" for code for the foundation and then they told me to pour the center afterwards. I've had estimates from 8-15 grand with concrete and blockwork. I own a backhoe. I can dig the footings myself with Guidance. Why is everything so expensive?

 

[GeorgiaHybrid]

I saw your other post on the new garage. Where do you live to have those prices??? I know that you are not in the south by having to go down 42" but you must be living in a high dollar area....

 

[Teikas Dad]

With a conventional frost wall/footing foundation you are making 3 pours. One for the footing, one for the walls and the third for the floor.

I am finishing off a 20X32 workshop attached to my garage. I didn't want to blow my budget on the foundation so I was looking at different methods of reducing costs. My estimate for 42" frost walls/footings/slab was about $8000, not including excavation.

I talked to my town Building Inspector and bounced a couple of ideas off of him. He recommended a monolith pour with a frost protected shallow foundation. It meets building code in Connecticut so it may be an option where you are. Mine cost me $5000 for the excavation, framing, 20 yards of concrete, pinning to the existing foundation, wire mesh and plastic vapor barrier...all done by a licensed mason. He dug out everything, framed it all up, compacted some trap rock, added the vapor barrier and wire and poured it all in 2 days.

Here's the info on the foundation system:

http://www.toolbase.org/PDF/DesignGuides/revisedFPSFguide.pdf

 

[racerboy832]

I'm in Connecticut. The prices are all over the place. When I bought my home the hill side sloped into my house. I asked a Man across the street with a 35k lb excavator how much to dig the hill side back, dump the dirt and rocks to make my parking area bigger and stack the smaller Rocks against the hill side. He had a thumb on his machine. He told me it would be about 12-14K. It was way out of my budget. Well about year later a good friends brother came to look at the job. He said work is slowl but I have a 50K lb Excavator but has no thumb. He said I get 125 an hour you pay my brother to move it (Good Friend) one way. I said how long to do the job. He said Drop it off on friday, Pick it up monday am. Well it showed up friday. He came up sat , worked 8 hours, 1.5 hours on sunday. All the huge rocks but 1 he buried and tripled my parking area. All the smaller rocks he made a pile with and left me about 200 yards of dirt piled up. Charged me $1100. The move cost me a 1/2days work on buddy's motorcycle. Neighbor took about 100 yards of dirt, 50 yards to fix the front yard all washed out and the rest I spread out. Total investment with the little excavator was about $2500.

 

[racerboy832]

<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/M3bW_1xhMM4AccOsHs7UqQ?authkey=Gv1sRgCKPIqqmPqJzQ9gE&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_S120Q10QukA/SomRpPOvZ3I/AAAAAAAABIg/SpjLhBwdyaA/s400/P1040178.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/JeffMorrell98/BigRockProject?authkey=Gv1sRgCKPIqqmPqJzQ9gE&feat=embedwebsite">Big Rock Project</a></td></tr></table>

 

[racerboy832]

<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/qzwvvPQ9xw-QgsKynb3SOw?authkey=Gv1sRgCIOfqr_5ip62hwE&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_S120Q10QukA/SseqJF5y2gI/AAAAAAAABoY/sD2ZQWCt7ro/s400/P1040747.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/JeffMorrell98/ExcavationBackyard?authkey=Gv1sRgCIOfqr_5ip62hwE&feat=embedwebsite">Excavation Backyard</a></td></tr></table>

 

[GeorgiaHybrid]

I think a lot of guys in your area are doing the "I will ask for a ridiculous price. Sooner or later an idiot will pay it or not ask how much it costs" method of doing business. We have them down here on occasion but when they never get a job, they usually head back north...

 

[IDASHO]

Excavation work will be all over the place as far as prices go. There really isnt a standard for that type of work.

As for footings, block stemwall, and slab costs....

Ive got 6k just in a poured footing, block stem-wall, and slab in my 24x30 shop. JUST MATERIALS.

I did all of the dirt work, dug the footings, poured the footings, built the stemwall, and did all of the prep for the slab.

I did sub out for the slab. Cost me an even $1 per square foot for the flat work. Pretty reasonable I think, but all they did was show up, push the mud around, and finish it. I had plastic down, all steel installed, screed boards installed, and ordered the mud trucks myself.

 

[racerboy832]

Here is a stupid question about foundation and block work. Is foundation is poured to daylight then they ad block onto it. Who decided if the blocks should be 8 foot off the foundation or 8 inchs. The rear of the garage will be about 5 feet under grade since i'm sliding this into a slope. Can you poor different height walls on a single poor? I would assume the taller the block the less wood I buy for framing. The garage will be 17 foot tall inside. I'm just trying to figure out if it is more cost effective to block up the first 8 foot or wood.

 

[racerboy832]

I guess the first thing I need to do is learn to spell "pour"

 

[Steevo]

I had a 24x40 built in Eastern Idaho last summer (2009), with virtually identical frost-wall/footing/slab requirements as you, and the total cost for the concrete contractor, including excavation and steel, was $7500
Mt footings are 8" thick and come up 18" above ground.