Hello from WA state!

[SPaikmos]

I've been lurking for a month or two now. Wish I found out about this forum earlier, as it would have saved me a lot of time & money if I had!

I'm building a workshop in the greater Seattle area. It's a metal building, roughly 1500sf on a slab. I started researching permits in Feb 2019, broke ground in Feb 2020, and have now finished erection.

I have never undertaken anything like this before, it was insanely expensive to get the foundation built because of the amount of dirt needed to bring the floor to grade.

Left to do are the flooring and electrical, which I'm hoping to get lots of help on. I started a thread in the flooring section asking for help about grinding and prepping the concrete, so I'll keep that discussion over there.

I like to tinker on cars and motorcycles, so I plan to use the shop to build a kit car, work on my cars, and eventually build a kit plane if I have the funds and time. Having a nice large workshop has been a dream for a long time now, and it's tantalizingly close!

Nice to meet y'all and hope to learn plenty here. Thanks!

 

[turbowoodworker]

Welcome from NC. Post some pictures when you can.

 

[SPaikmos]

I think I need 5 posts to do that, yes? I've collected hundreds in an album of the entire process. I want to do a writeup at some point, definitely a long story to tell here!

 

[Jayman17]

Hi, welcome to GJ. It's nice to see a local build on here, would like to see a few photos if you are willing to post. You must be in the burbs with a lot big enough for a detached shop. Enjoy your shop!

Jay

 

[SPaikmos]

I think this should make 5 posts, so I hope to post pics now.

 

[SPaikmos]

Here are some pics, showing the land as it was before I started, grade, foundation, and final building.

 

[SPaikmos]

Hi, welcome to GJ. It's nice to see a local build on here, would like to see a few photos if you are willing to post. You must be in the burbs with a lot big enough for a detached shop. Enjoy your shop!

Jay

Yeah, I'm in Renton. The land isn't ideal, I think we're somewhere north of 500 yards of fill material bringing it to grade and managing the slope. In my case the land prep cost over half the entire project cost!

Knowing what I know now, I would have chosen a different house to buy!

 

[Jayman17]

Your shop turned out nice, that's quite a bit of space to play.

Jay

 

[SPaikmos]

Thanks!

I'm looking forward to working on cars once it's electrified. I have a FB RX-7 to restore and an entire WRX drivetrain that I intend to build an 818C out of. Can't wait to start working on cars again!