DavesGarage
Well-known member
Sorry about the long wind but for any that want to listen, heres my story. We sold our home in central Phoenix because it was totally remodeled and a beautiful house but was too small for a pool and the three car garage we added to it just wasn't enough. We moved to north Phoenix 14 months ago. We do have an HOA that is a very relaxed HOA, in fact my wife and I were asked to both be on the board within 2 months of moving into the neighborhood. I told the neighbors and board members that the reason we wanted to move into this house was because my wife loved the house, there is a pool for the kids and there is an empty side yard for a workshop for me. All the guys on the board have hot rods and toys of sorts and several of them already have detached work shops so they were excited for me.
There is a guy on the corner that has a detached garage that is the same size as mine but maybe a third of it is behind his house so it almost looks like a part of his house other than the 14' tall x 20' wide door on the front and two of the same doors on the back (looks very sharp and done nice). Maybe a dozen other RV garages in the neighborhood too. So I drew up plans and made packets of elevations, color, tile, windows, etc and handed them out to the nearest neighbors. The neighbors across the street had no issues with me building this shop and thought it would be neat. The neighbors to the south of me were a divided house, he was supportive but she was "meh". When we would have drinks with them she would ask questions about the garage "How far back in your yard are you building it?", "Does it really need to be that big?" etc. Were in a culdesac and they are the corner house so the back of their house faces SE while mine faces South. We all have just a hair over half acres. Their front yard is very tiny but their back yard is way bigger than mine. I didnt feel like she was going to be that upset so I gave a copy of the preliminary plans to the HOA board and they immediately approved (by the way, the neighbor lady is also on the board and she has lived in the house for 10 years). I then had the plans drawn by a draftsman and then applied to the City for a permit. The draftsman really delayed the process (4 months for drawings) so this didnt happen overnight. City also dragged theoir feet and forgot about my application which took 2 months. I was approved by the city, approved by the HOA, rock n roll. Concrete guys came in and then it rained for what seemed like 2 months straight so the concrete was delayed and had its own issues and repairs(my other thread) http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=352394
Framers came in tuesday and started to build walls on the ground, trusses were delivered, crane showed up. Walls were stood up and I almost shat myself. My neighbors are going to freak out. This building is huge. Embarrassing huge. In order to build into the 30' setbacks that the city has they said my roof height had to be less than 15' mean height, so my building has a footprint of 56' EW and 40' NS. The lid height for the rear of the building is 10' tall for 14' from the rear wall and then it jumps up to 16' for the remaining 42'. There are two garage doors on the east wall, one is 14' tall and 12' wide and the other is 10' tall and 20' wide.
Reasoning for height, I wanted to install a 2 post car lift which is roughly 12.5' and many people said I would be making a huge mistake if I didn't make the garage tall enough to park an RV inside of it. The guy on the corner near me actually backed that up by telling me how he had to raise his ceiling 3 feet because he bought a large RV. He said not to make that mistake, its very expensive to raise a roof. Much cheaper to build it tall the first time.
So the building has been up for 6 days now while the framers finished up and the neighbors across the street brought beers over while we checked out the building, they liked it. I still havent seen or heard from the neighbors to the south, I am certain she is pissed. Guy on the corner with RV garage came by and wanted to tell me how "Baaaad aaaaassssss" my building was and he agreed with me that my neighbors are going to be pissed and the people behind me will also be pissed. But he said he would have my back if any neighbors wanted to raise hell because they tried with him too during his RV garage build. Today my son was home alone and he heard the lady behind us yelling "I cant take it anymore!" and then a bunch of garbled yelling after that.
My concern is, the HOA approved, the city approved, is there anything the neighbors can do at this point? Ill attach photos in a few minutes. Thanks for letting me rant and Id like to hear any input. By the way I should mention, all of my neighbors are fantastic people and super nice, even the lady next door that I am sure is upset. The lady behind me, I dont know her, never met her and she has pool slides that stick up 4 feet over the wall, a mermaid riding a dolphin statue that sticks up 6 feet over the wall and also a large cabana thats higher than the fence. They also play obnoxious music really loud on the weekends in the backyard so Im not worried about their feelings so much.
Thanks fellas!
There is a guy on the corner that has a detached garage that is the same size as mine but maybe a third of it is behind his house so it almost looks like a part of his house other than the 14' tall x 20' wide door on the front and two of the same doors on the back (looks very sharp and done nice). Maybe a dozen other RV garages in the neighborhood too. So I drew up plans and made packets of elevations, color, tile, windows, etc and handed them out to the nearest neighbors. The neighbors across the street had no issues with me building this shop and thought it would be neat. The neighbors to the south of me were a divided house, he was supportive but she was "meh". When we would have drinks with them she would ask questions about the garage "How far back in your yard are you building it?", "Does it really need to be that big?" etc. Were in a culdesac and they are the corner house so the back of their house faces SE while mine faces South. We all have just a hair over half acres. Their front yard is very tiny but their back yard is way bigger than mine. I didnt feel like she was going to be that upset so I gave a copy of the preliminary plans to the HOA board and they immediately approved (by the way, the neighbor lady is also on the board and she has lived in the house for 10 years). I then had the plans drawn by a draftsman and then applied to the City for a permit. The draftsman really delayed the process (4 months for drawings) so this didnt happen overnight. City also dragged theoir feet and forgot about my application which took 2 months. I was approved by the city, approved by the HOA, rock n roll. Concrete guys came in and then it rained for what seemed like 2 months straight so the concrete was delayed and had its own issues and repairs(my other thread) http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=352394
Framers came in tuesday and started to build walls on the ground, trusses were delivered, crane showed up. Walls were stood up and I almost shat myself. My neighbors are going to freak out. This building is huge. Embarrassing huge. In order to build into the 30' setbacks that the city has they said my roof height had to be less than 15' mean height, so my building has a footprint of 56' EW and 40' NS. The lid height for the rear of the building is 10' tall for 14' from the rear wall and then it jumps up to 16' for the remaining 42'. There are two garage doors on the east wall, one is 14' tall and 12' wide and the other is 10' tall and 20' wide.
Reasoning for height, I wanted to install a 2 post car lift which is roughly 12.5' and many people said I would be making a huge mistake if I didn't make the garage tall enough to park an RV inside of it. The guy on the corner near me actually backed that up by telling me how he had to raise his ceiling 3 feet because he bought a large RV. He said not to make that mistake, its very expensive to raise a roof. Much cheaper to build it tall the first time.
So the building has been up for 6 days now while the framers finished up and the neighbors across the street brought beers over while we checked out the building, they liked it. I still havent seen or heard from the neighbors to the south, I am certain she is pissed. Guy on the corner with RV garage came by and wanted to tell me how "Baaaad aaaaassssss" my building was and he agreed with me that my neighbors are going to be pissed and the people behind me will also be pissed. But he said he would have my back if any neighbors wanted to raise hell because they tried with him too during his RV garage build. Today my son was home alone and he heard the lady behind us yelling "I cant take it anymore!" and then a bunch of garbled yelling after that.
My concern is, the HOA approved, the city approved, is there anything the neighbors can do at this point? Ill attach photos in a few minutes. Thanks for letting me rant and Id like to hear any input. By the way I should mention, all of my neighbors are fantastic people and super nice, even the lady next door that I am sure is upset. The lady behind me, I dont know her, never met her and she has pool slides that stick up 4 feet over the wall, a mermaid riding a dolphin statue that sticks up 6 feet over the wall and also a large cabana thats higher than the fence. They also play obnoxious music really loud on the weekends in the backyard so Im not worried about their feelings so much.
Thanks fellas!
! Haha. It's growing on me though.
