High garage estimates WOW!!

[grandsport]

Guys,
I live north of Pittsburgh about 20 miles and I had drawings put together for a 26 x 28 2 car garage. I do live in a nice neighborhood which I think might be the problem. It was spec'd to match the brick on my house with 10 foot walls, and scissor gables to give more head room. (Went with gable roof to reduce costs) Also spec'd a gas line electrical with 220V and wanted the walls and ceiling insulated and sheetrocked. A drain in the middle of the floor and a wash basin on the back wall. Other than a 18ft wide door, 2 windows and a mandoor, there is nothing really special about it. The lot is fairly level and it would not take much grade work. I began to reach out to local contactors and the first two prices were a shocker. One came in at $96,500 and the other at $70k. I am waiting for a few more prices but.......... So I know things can vary around the country but am I a victim of living in a nice neighborhood?

Any feedback or suggestions would be appreciated!

 

[purplezr2]

Sounds about right, considering you are paying to have it what I assume is finished and insulated. Do these quotes break out line items.

I will have all of 70k in to my 36x46 attached garage when it is finished. I will be doing everything but the concrete and framing.

 

[keperkey]

Not Pittsburgh. SE instead. My first bid for 28x32 with 12 foot ceilings and no plumbing was over $100,000.

 

[Jon_E]

Nope, no surprise. I was watching a neighbor's garage being built a couple years ago, nice little barn-looking thing, 22x36, with two overhead doors, a loft, a water spigot, and no interior finishes to speak of. Wood siding and windows. I asked the neighbor if she didn't mind telling me the final cost. All inclusive (excavating, concrete, construction, etc.) it was a shade over $70k.

I am building mine as time and finances allow, it's 24x36 with a second floor (3' knee walls and 2x10 rafters/collar ties), I'm getting a local contractor to help with the framing and roofing but everything else I'm doing myself or bartering for services. Just the framing, roofing and concrete work so far is costing me $30,000. I asked my contractor to build me a dried-in shell and I would take care of everything else. I can easily see $60,000 to $90,000 into a decent garage if you don't cut any corners and do none of the work yourself.

All the little things add up. I cut four feet in length and width off mine, right from the start, to reduce excavating and concrete costs; used rough-sawn lumber instead of those twisted popsicle sticks from Home Depot, got all my insulation for free from a commercial roofing tear-off, bartering with an electrician friend for some labor and a sign-off, doing all heating/plumbing work (radiant floor) myself, and sawing my own board-and-batten siding on a portable mill. That's all probably saved me $30,000 right there.

I guess you're probably in the same boat as the rest of us. Nothing's cheap anymore - even the materials to DIY are a lot of coin.

 

[Streetbu]

Brick, and finished, nope sounds about right.

 

[Cyberbear]

Unfortunately, it's always been about "what the traffic will bear" when it comes to projects of this kind. It was years ago when I built my 30 x 80 shop in a small valley w/o many quality contractors to choose from.
I was fortunate that after searching 1.5 years for an available builder, one called and said he was between jobs and needed to keep his men busy until the larger contracts were ready to go. Everything went well and at a price I thought was fair.

 

[motofool33]

70k isn't far off from what things cost these days.

 

[sberry]

How much does a car cost and how fast does it depreciate?

 

[daddycreswell]

I had a 24*32 built 2 years ago, whole thing for 25k. that's concrete, siding, insulated and drywall. I'd have to live in it if it cost 100k

 

[James-W]

I have a 24X36 two story garage that I built with a lot of help from friends. We did everything except for the excavation, concrete and shingles. Well, I also had the gas company run a gas line from the street and put in a gas meter and I had a local heating company install the Hot Dawg heater. I had to have a master electrician pull the electrical permit and sign off on it when it was done. I did about 90 percent of what he was supposed to do and he just checked it and signed off on it.

Anyway, the actual cost to build the garage, wire and insulate it, was just a little over $40K, not counting the beer and food bill. If you count the the beer and food it cost about double that amount. Just kidding, but in all fairness, the beer and food bill was quite a bit more than pocket change. Still it was a bargain compared to hiring it done and it was a lot more fun too.

 

[Marcm157]

I am just breaking ground on a 28 x 34 completely finished interior with sheet rock and insulation, vinyl sided with electric but no plumbing. I can only go 15 feet high due to building code. I will have a 10 ft door, an 8 ft door and a walk through with 4 windows. My contractor quoted me a 72k price including site prep and tree removal.

 

[bczygan]

No way of knowing until you either have at least 3 bids from qualified bidders that all fall close to the same price. Or you do a takeoff and do an estimate.

And no possible way for us to know without all the details of the project. What are the existing conditions?

Are these lump sum bids or itemized?

I've always liked construction management contracts with an itemized breakdown, not to exceed price and rewards for beating the deadline. Extras should also be pre-priced.

Lump sum is an adversarial relationship. Construction management is a partnership.

Bill

 

[Conner]

$70k sounds about right to me. You are running gas, electrical, and plumbing to your building, and requesting a brick veneer. Those are expensive trades, and I bet those items explain at least $20-$30k of your estimate right there.

 

[matt_i]

I would agree 100% with Conner. To add, it depends if your contractors can do a cheap trench footing and pour a monolithic foundation and slab, or if they have to pour a true pad-style footing and block or wall pour on top of that. There is a huge difference in the amount of labor involved to do the latter. Can't say if your property is accessible by concrete trucks or will need to have it pumped.

Add in the idea that we are rapidly approaching winter, and the contractor is going to have to mush to get it done.

The "neighborhood markup" is definitely real. The only out is to either do your own work or organize the subs yourself, and even the subs may fall into this.

 

[61falcon]

i got a quote of 9k to have mine vinyl sided. I would hate to see a quote for a complete garage. btw I sided it myself for around 2k.

 

[youwish2bme]

I'm at almost $75 for a 26x36 with brick veneer and a stair case to the upstairs. That includes the 30 yards of concrete around the building to connect to my driveway and me doing most of the electrical, plumbing and painting.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=253647

David

 

[rburke65]

I did a 32'x 56' with 13' -4" ceilings, a pole barn foundation, with posts every 4' rather than every 8'. Attic truss with 8/12 roof, and a 20' x 20' porch. 8 Windows, a man door. Entire building covered in OSB and metal. 2"x6" studs 16" centers, Erected for $35,000. With me finishing the inside, insulating, grading, wiring, I bet I have close to $65,000 plus in it. It took me a while....busted my **** doing it, but I got a really nice building and I didn't have o buy a gym membership.

 

[600SL]

Guys,
I live north of Pittsburgh about 20 miles and I had drawings put together for a 26 x 28 2 car garage. I do live in a nice neighborhood which I think might be the problem. It was spec'd to match the brick on my house with 10 foot walls, and scissor gables to give more head room. (Went with gable roof to reduce costs) Also spec'd a gas line electrical with 220V and wanted the walls and ceiling insulated and sheetrocked. A drain in the middle of the floor and a wash basin on the back wall. Other than a 18ft wide door, 2 windows and a mandoor, there is nothing really special about it. The lot is fairly level and it would not take much grade work. I began to reach out to local contactors and the first two prices were a shocker. One came in at $96,500 and the other at $70k. I am waiting for a few more prices but.......... So I know things can vary around the country but am I a victim of living in a nice neighborhood?

Any feedback or suggestions would be appreciated!

In the end my 30 x 48 x 10 steel aw ~84K. You can look at my sig line to see what was involved. I did most of the work myself.

Total $83,578.87

Land Clearing $5,900.00
Foundation 50 yards $14,413.56
Building And Construction $34,039.39
Electrical $7,824.46
Exterior Concrete Pad $6,906.89
Floor Paint $2,300.00
Compressor Shack $3,166.68
Internet $133.38
Culvert $3,394.51
Driveway $5,500.00

 

[mlytle]

unfortunately i live near DC. multiple estimates for a 28x30 with 12ft ceilings, finished and partial second floor are all in the $140k-$170k range.

i need to move to the carolinas.

 

[DTE]

I better stop grumbling about cost after reading this thread. I am at about 17k right now. That is footing, walls, roof system and floor. But I have a lot of time in it also.

 

[Bruce4310TX]

my 30x40 14' foot walls metal building finished last summer $8500 crete and 18k in material and labor i put in all elec and my doors, and insulated walls up to 10' for now. i have 32k in it.

 

[pmiranda]

Sounds like you've spec'ed the most expensive construction methods. On the bright side, they'll knock it out fast compared to alot of the inexpensive DIY garages you read about on here, and you'll be spending your time IN the garage instead of ON it. For somebody in their earning years it's a good trade. Personally, I only need to get dried in ASAP, and I'm going to be building out in the county so I can use the least expensive methods available and spread it out over years, hopefully with me doing alot of the interior work, but if my day job stays anywhere near as hectic as it has been the last couple years I'll be lucky to have the time to plan the site the way I want and get the shell up with a contractor doing all the work.

 

[gtae07]

Holy ****... my just-completed (final inspection today!) 28 x 24 x 8 probably ran about $17k. That's mono slab, rafters, vinyl siding, insulated, drywalled, and electrical. I hired out the pumping and finishing of the concrete, the shingles and siding, and the drywall. Everything else I did singlehanded. It's taken 9.5 months.

Of course, I burned a lot of brownie points with the wife, too...

 

[woodzy]

I can give you an idea on the 1999 prices in Michigan. My shop is 30 x 64 two stories barn style with 12' ceiling. 2nd story is floored with 1000 square feet just for storage.

I hired out the following:
Grading the area
Needed to put a stone road in 300 feet
Footers and concrete slab 5" thick
All framing, siding, roofing
Garage door and opener

It was sealed up tight and I did all the work on the inside except the Heating and AC.

Total cost back in 1999 was $72,000. I still have all the receipts. 14-2 Romex was 14.25 and 12-2 was 19.95 per 250 roll. I wish I bought a truckload. My 13 years son help me do all the electrical - actually, he finished most of it and today is an electrician. All passed with flying colors and no issues yet.

 

[mrodgers]

OP, Cranberry I am guessing? Look at your housing costs there. While I paid $88k for a house up where I'm at near I-80, you would pay probably $250k for the same. Which side of the turnpike if in Cranberry? I'm looking at Zillow and seeing $300-400k on one side and $600-900k on the other. Those $900,000 homes are similar to the $300-400,000 McMansions up here near work in Butler.

 

[KCarGuy]

I built my 30x25 around 15 years ago.
Pad cost me $7500 (only part that someone did for me)
Everything else was done by Myself and a Friend.
Including a Second story that is 20x20
It cost me $25K then.
Prices for Material...Especially Good Material...are High.

 

[Falcon67]

All this thread says to me is "damn you saved a lot of money".

 

[carotene]

I'm in the DC area getting underway with a 25x24x12 build in Oct. Sitting at $44k so far for hillside excavation/foundation and finished shell + a drywell.

The tradesmen have to pay the same tax rates, gas costs, rent/mortgage, insurance, time in traffic, material costs, etc that I do. It's all about cost of living and what the market will bear.

 

[madison069]

roughly the same cost and i'm in Monroeville. 30x30 brick siding with me doing the interior, i got a shot from the hip price of 50-70,000.

 

[justanengineer]

My family's operated a sawmill for just under 60 years finding/cutting large/odd hardwood for a lot of high end custom tradesmen in Manhattan. JMO, but youre getting ripped off quite a bit harder than usual. FWIW, most get ripped off pretty hard for average-at-best work, to be fair tho many enjoy "good Italian" at Olive Garden based off their neighbor's say-so bc they've never been to Italy and don't know dink about food. Something that many today don't realize is that most tradesmen don't pay nearly what you will privately for better quality materials than the **** the box stores sell, contrary to what others claim many times its actually cheaper to hire work done than DIY. Reading the OP I'm not seeing anything high end, sounds like a pretty common, basic garage to me but again - opinion in the eye of the beholder. JMO but for finished nicely with zero DIY involvement, the general rule of thumb for non-living space is ~$50/ft2 tops. A good DIYer with months to shop around will build a pretty nice building and be in the $20's/ft2 range. Realizing that you may be in an "expensive" area, in your shoes I'd be taking a ride out an hour in any direction to see what surrounding "poor" people, farmers, etc are paying for their builds. Stop and knock on doors, talk to "neighbors" and find out who built their shops. Personally, I wouldn't waste my time with any contractor who quotes $100+/ft2 for a garage.

 

[duanesz]

I'm building a 26x28 garage addition on my house I live in s.e. Michigan. I will be at 42k dry walled and insulated. Brick only 4ft on sides and rear.




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[Dick in Wisconsin]

If you build it nice ... NG fired boiler for radiant heat in floor, 10' ceilings and 6" walls with house wrap and Styrofoam insulation, new electrical service to provide the shop with adequate electricity and have 50amp hookup for the RV, bypass switch to hook the RV generator up to the garage and house when the power goes out, plumbing for toilet/sink and RV dump and water, a few windows, decent number of nice looking garage doors and man doors, 10/12 pitch roof with good quality/looking shingles, Hardy plank siding, some of it scissor trusses in case you want to put a lift in, and a reasonable amount of concrete work (need to have a place to park an enclosed trailer and motorhome next to the garage) ... you can get to $100 a square foot pretty fast! I didn't ever think it could, but it did!

 

[marksland]

I'm in the process of building a 30 x 40 with 12 foot ceilings (see my signature link). I will be well over 100k by the time its completed next year. The insulation, blue board and plaster is 25k by itself.