Maple Hill Build

[PAK325]

My wife and live in a 1600 sq ft 60's ranch in a great, quiet, suburban, working class area of a midwestern city.

Preparing for for the birth of beautiful daughter, I moved all of my things from our home's office into our guest room to get a nursery ready.

Fast forward a few years, and my daughter is now two. We've turned the guest room into a play room. My displaced man-cave stuff had to be sold.

On Saturday, some of the bigger ticket items were sold, and I decided to put my modest windfall toward a build fund for a new shop.


Currently, I'm working with a 20x20 garage that houses tools, HF boxes, benches, bikes, 2 SUV's, and more gladiator benches, cabinets, rollaways, and stuff than I should own for that kind of space.

The house also has an 8x20 shed that was expanded from what was originally an 8x8 structure. The newer half of the existing shed has serious structural issues that have led me to my plan to raze the building and start a-new on a fresh pad of concrete.

Here are some (very rough) drawings for what I plan to build in the coming weeks and months...

 

[PAK325]

I'd love ideas, guidance, and ways to save on costs.

Though I've never completed a free-standing structure from start to finish before, I'm confident in my abilities to complete most aspects of this project myself.

I've never done a concrete pour this large before and that is obviously the most significant and first obstacle. This pour will be 192sq ft. I'm leaning toward hiring someone to do at least some of the pad for me.

I'm a teacher, so for much of June and July, I will be open to work around a company's schedule, 24/7.

Some questions I have:
How much does this ease the cost of this kind of pour?
What did it cost you to do a project similar to this?
What are some things I can do myself that cut down on the bottom-line of a pour like this?