Garage Planning How-To

[85mcss]

Hopefully this is a sticky at some point to help others like myself with achieving their goal of having the garage of their dreams... (Or someone will point out a thread I haven't already seen and it will be shut down! )

I'm a huge DIYer (much like many on here I don't believe in paying for something I can do myself) however I don't have any experience in the beginning of the construction phase. Bear with me on this one if the questions seem a bit simple for you.

While I do realize this may not apply to all and things are going to vary greatly based upon location, size, & taste, I'm mainly trying to understand the basic stepping stones you are using when building these stunning garages we see in the "Gallery" section of this forum. Look at it as a basic Dot-to-Dot for an amateur.

I'm looking for answers to questions such as:
1. What software did you use to build your plans & what were the basic design requirements, if any?
2. Where did you find your architect to sign off on them?
3. If you hired a GC, how did you determine who to use? (If you did this, skip remainder of questions)

If you were your own GC,
4. Did you pull your own building permit?
5. What were the costs associated with the above permit(s)?
6. Where did you find your tradesman that you used?
7. What work were you allowed to do yourself? (unlicensed work)
8. What was the progression or your build (Slab before construction & Vise-versa)
9. What was the major costs that you did not envision until they were upon you?
10. What corners were you able to cut to minimize the upfront costs and maximize DIY? (only one-switch/one-light for electrical, no insulation/no sheetrock)
11. Did your build end up within the planned budget? If not, how far off? (%)
12. Overall, was there anything you feel like you would've done differently after the work was done?



To make a long story short, I'm planning to add another two bays onto my one car garage and need to determine where to start. I've got basic sketches and have read the local Residential Building Permit Process and I'm still lost. I just want to start with a basic structure & a finished outside and do the finish work, myself.

Thank you for your clarifications!!!

 

[sands35]

I hired a CG, but he only did from foundation to making it water proof. I did electrical, heating and interior finish.

Assuming it is a standard regular garage, you don't need fancy software. (I'm a project leaders for consumer appliance, and a pretty damn good CAD jockey with access to very high end CAD software). You should be able to find a plan that suits your needs. If not, a decent GC can build what you want from a basic line drawing. Since you are building an addition, it's basically footprint, match the existing building lines and proportion, copy the siding and the roof.

You can pull the permit or let the GC do that. Just ask you GC for their preference.

 

[LB-1911]

I've got basic sketches and have read the local Residential Building Permit Process and I'm still lost.

Is one of the basic sketches you have a "Site Plan"?

Some of the key elements of a Site Plan are property boundaries, land topography, proposed and/or existing structures, easements, set backs, wells, septic system to include the reserve area and roadways.

How to Draw a Site Plan
https://www.co.pierce.wa.us/DocumentCenter/View/4301

 

[2level]

Wow,that's a lot of questions. Here goes and good luck with your garage:

1)I used software (Punch Design something or other) to try and gauge window/door placement and see how it scaled to the house. House has a 15 foot roofline vs. 25 for garage. It also made it easy for the architect to print plans. Mainly, I used graph paper, lazer and stakes and strings to design.

2)In town. Needed engineers stamp.

3)Freind of freinds. Co-general contractor. Me being the other co-GC

4)Yes

5)About 1,800

6)Some thru GC, some freinds, some yellow pages (gutters)

7)Main power feed, power pole and meter base. New house sewer line and fence changes. Compact base under main slab and sidewalks. Install rebar. Install and wrap doors and windows. Frame interior walls. Install romex, coax, cat6 and about 200 devices. Plumbing, bathroom, drywall (lost 25 lbs. doing drywall), lighting and about 50 gal. paint. Damn that was A PROJECT.

8)Footer and stem wall 1st, dry-in/shell then pour floating slab.

9)City requested drywells for roof run-off. I thought they might delay signing off permits, so I complied. Cost me nearly 2 grand. *****.

10)Haven't insulated the attics yet, but that's coming. No hurry.

11)About 15% under budget. But did more of the work myself than planned.

12)Should've challenged the phuckers when they wrote: install drywells on the approved plans.

 

[85mcss]

Great answers, everyone! Hopefully we can get a few more people chiming in before this thread gets lost in the haystack.

 

[bczygan]

First things first.

Who is your jurisdiction for zoning and building.

What is your zoning?

What are all the requirements for your zoning.

Do you have any easements?

Do you have any deed restrictions?


Get online and look at the zoning map for your jurisdiction. Also look at the zoning rules for your zoning including accessory buildings.

Check the height and area requirements and setbacks.

Find, or get a copy of your mortgage survey and a copy of your full legal description.

Check these for easements and other restrictions. Use the mortgage survey to layout the improvements using all the available information.

Determine if you can do what you want without applying for a zoning varience.

Find out if building permits are required and if a homeowner may pull them.

Then drawings, specifications, selections, estimate, bidding and pricing, contracts and scheduling.

Is an Architects or Engineers seal required for your plans? Or can an owner submit them. You might just get a designer or draftsman to work them up for you. And you don't need software. You can draw it up with a T-square and a triangle and a scale. Find out the building departments requirements for what drawings they require, what size sheets they want and what scales they like.

Deciding on the subs or GC is the most critical part of your project. Prior planning is your only tool. You are a first time builder/owner. There will be mistakes. Planning minimizes them. Educate yourself. Try to know as much as each of your subs, for each trade, before you start.

Almost forgot....figure a way to pay for it all.

 

[Thumper68]

I'm looking for answers to questions such as:
1. What software did you use to build your plans & what were the basic design requirements, if any?
Pencil and paper, room for both a dedicated woodworking area and a combination metal fab automotive area
2. Where did you find your architect to sign off on them?
No need in the area I built
3. If you hired a GC, how did you determine who to use? (If you did this, skip remainder of questions)

If you were your own GC,
4. Did you pull your own building permit?
Yes, took site drawing and basic design to court house and paid my money
5. What were the costs associated with the above permit(s)?
$75.00
6. Where did you find your tradesman that you used?
Did it all myself with the help of a few friends and family
7. What work were you allowed to do yourself? (unlicensed work)
All of it
8. What was the progression or your build (Slab before construction & Vise-versa)
year one 100+yards of fill.
Year two concrete forms, vapor barrier, insulation, pex, rebar, pour slab.
Year three put up building.
9. What was the major costs that you did not envision until they were upon you?
None had the whole thing planned out in advance.
10. What corners were you able to cut to minimize the upfront costs and maximize DIY? (only one-switch/one-light for electrical, no insulation/no sheetrock)
took my time once it was weathered in and shopped sales.
11. Did your build end up within the planned budget? If not, how far off? (%)
About 5% over budget
12. Overall, was there anything you feel like you would've done differently after the work was done?
would have used spray foam insulation, built bigger, included a WC, not just shower and sink. Put more dust collection under slab.

QUOTE]

Good luck here in MN at least you can still do most if not all of it yourself.

 

[sands35]

I'll add that you need to decide what sort of a garage you are going to have. Light or heavy car work? Woodworking? General house projects? Man cave / game room?

Each of those has different requirements for the foundation, electrical and structure.

Examples:

Want a lift? At least 10' if not 12.5' ceilings.
Pull pots?
Where do you want power and what type? (120 or 240?)
Total expected current draw?

Woodworker? What about dust collection? If all you are going to do is woodworking, I'd think about putting a wood floor over joists and a crawl space. Nicer on feet and dropped tools and trivial to add services under the floor later. In-slab dust collection is nice, but you better plan out where equipment goes. It's not going to move later.

Car garage? Basically going to be a poured concrete floor.

What sort of HVAC do you want? (BTW - where do you live?) Do you want just heat in the winter or do you need cooling and humidity control in the summer?

In-slab hydronic is *really* nice, but then again, you need to plan it out and know where you want to bolt stuff down to the slab. And you need to think about AC in the summer if you want it.

 

[LB-1911]

Great answers, everyone! Hopefully we can get a few more people chiming in before this thread gets lost in the haystack.

Do you know your setbacks & easements and have a rough site plan drawn up?

Setbacks,easements,septic systems w/reserve area had derailed many a project.

Is one of the basic sketches you have a "Site Plan"?

Some of the key elements of a Site Plan are property boundaries, land topography, proposed and/or existing structures, easements, set backs, wells, septic system to include the reserve area and roadways.

How to Draw a Site Plan
https://www.co.pierce.wa.us/DocumentCenter/View/4301

 

[Automobilist]

We just broke ground this week on our new garage/shop.

I'm looking for answers to questions such as:
1. What software did you use to build your plans & what were the basic design requirements, if any?

This is a very key item. I'm not an architect. We wanted our garage/shop to complement our house, and add to our overall property value as well as look great. We found a good architect, and commissioned him to design the garage. We gave him several parameters, such as size, lifts, etc. He came up with three concepts, of which we chose one. it is a superb design, and will fit in well with our ranch style house. he also redesigned our whole property front entry plan, new driveway layout, gated entrance, etc. we are in an affluent wine country community, and wanted an aesthetically good design. His fee was $2200, and that's a solid value if you care about how it looks, etc. We wanted the garage to look like it was meant to be there, and not an afterthought. Integrated design...

2. Where did you find your architect to sign off on them? Referral. I approached a few folks who had well designed properties, and asked who they recommended.

3. If you hired a GC, how did you determine who to use? Again, referral. Our architect recommended a couple builders. I looked at what they've built, talked to past clients, and talked with the builders. i wanted someone who "got" what we wanted to do, and was fair on price. One builder actually said he doesn't like to work with clients who have a budget. We do have a budget, and our builder is sticking to it. I'm not a builder, (although I have built us a couple custom homes) and wanted someone highly competent, creative, and aware of a car guy's wishes.


Thank you for your clarifications!!!

 

[smokeysevin]

A couple of things to consider adding, closet with outside access for compressor, hose spigot in the garage, power drops and air drops in the ceiling, and outlets on the outside wall in front.

Sean

Sent from my C6603 using Tapatalk

 

[Throbbin Rods]

Most important, plan for the largest size you could need, then increase it!
I did mine by myself so there were no plans except for in my head. Got the permit, poured the concrete, built the garage. If you do it yourself, buy a framing nailer. I used engineered joists to give me wide open space in the first floor and support a second floor. Second floor is storage right now but may become an efficiency apartment if the taxes keep going up around here.

 

[moparfreak]

A lot of good questions that I wish I had asked myself about 9 months ago...

1 / 2) My project was a significant addition to the house, adding 900 sqft of garage and about 200 sqft of kitchen and bathroom, a lot of roof line considerations and getting new construction to merge with old construction properly, so I went straight to an architect. Like anything we shopped around, went through several contacts from Angie's List and settled on a guy we really liked. He did work for a bigger firm but did these types of jobs on the side, and overall did it nicely. He also accomodated a number of changes up and through till the project started. Worked closely with the builder as well. A big plus. No regrets here. He also gave us a nice price I thought, $1650. Also you need a survey! Found a good one through A.L. and got it done, covered myself for $300.

3) Had one GC quote the project just to gauge a baseline and fell over laughing, it was more than I paid for the house!!! That was a good one....On to the rest of the questions....

4) Yes, I worked very closely with the city. I also did have good support from my architect and he put together a very nice package so the city really had everything they wanted/needed and left very little to the imagination. The primary inspector was a bit finicky but also a nice enough guy so by working with him closely I was able to prevent everything from being too frustrating, although there were moments....he was also very gracious to give me a lot of advise throughout the project that really did save me a lot of time and re-work. That kind of thing was certainly outside of his job scope and just cause he has a nice disposition.

5) I think I paid between $350 - $450 overall in fees to the city for the various permits (building, architectural, plumbing, HVAC, electrical).

6) 2 ways: word of mouth / recommendation from friends or family OR starting from cold based on internet searches, A.L. and advertisements. The first way is MUCH better. My framer I got through the architect, electrician through the framer, roofer through the framer, drywall through a friend, tile guy from my bro in law, excavation/concrete through ads, countertop through ads. Consequently the two I regret the most are the two subs I found through advertisement.

7) Technically the city allows me to do anything BUT electrical. What I chose to do: Plumbing, HVAC, insulation, cabinets, siding, soffits, fascia, landscaping & backfill, interior carpentry, painting, anything else mechanical, all garage stuff of course.

8) Excavation & demo, foundation & concrete, framing, roofing, rough plumbing/electrical/HVAC, insulation, drywall, painting, tile, cabinets, countertops, finish plumbing, finish electrical, exterior (soffits, fascia, siding, landscaping), interior carpentry, garage

9) Had some cost overruns due to granite countertops, also some added labor and material costs in the framing stage due to some things we found out relating to tying the old construction into the new (extra measures and header beams, etc.). Overall nothing that was TOO out of hand. I think the project will end up ~15% or so higher than initial estimates but about 95% less than if I had a GC do it all.

10) Honestly, I worked pretty hard to do all the labor so that I didn't have to cut any costs on materials and comfort. Tried to do everything the right way, cause I know I'm here for the long haul. Probably the one thing I did cut during quoting was took out the concrete floor to be poured in the crawlspace to save $800 or so. I actually sort of regret that. The crawlspace was a miserable place to work in (but I just finished it up last night!) and the concrete floor would have made things a lot nicer.

11) Like I said, probably 15% over but part of that maybe due to missing a couple points on the estimate and also some conscious choices we made on materials throughout the build.

12) I just simply made the wrong choice on my foundation contractor. He was a joke. Couldn't keep his business orgnized and really got us off on a slow dragging start with a lot of added stress and frustration, but I think we've made up for it after his part was over. All in all i can't really complain. And if something went wrong I know who to go to for fixing it (looks around...).

Hope this helps,
Adam