Menards Garage designer.

[acooper1983]

Hi guys, second post here, im in the planning stages of a new garage. Im planning a 28x30 with 2 Overhead doors, 2 windows on the short sides and 3 along the back, probably 36" sliders all. I ran my rough ideas through the menards program that estimates materials based on your inputs, it came up with roughly 10,400$ for material for this garage, Not including electrical (which i will do myself) basically from the slab up (including insulation and drywall) The question i guess is for the guys who have used this

1. Did you find the estimator fairly accurate in price
2. If you ordered based off the estimator Did the material numbers seem accurate.
3. what was your opinion of the the quality of lumber that they used.

Im hopefuly to be into the garage for less than 20K with the slab, which looks like it should be doable.

 

[Farmall450]

I'm interested to hear the results. From what I've seen retail at Menards, if you know a contractor they can get you roughly equal rates on a lot better of lumber.

 

[acooper1983]

I'm interested to hear the results. From what I've seen retail at Menards, if you know a contractor they can get you roughly equal rates on a lot better of lumber.

im guessing thats probably true, I do like the 1 stop shop aspect of them. I have used menards lumber for some projects and it was ok, but i picked it out.

 

[spudley]

The Menards pkg will be the bare minimum. Their quality is lower than you'll find at a local lumber yard which also can be a one stop shop. I compared prices and went with a lumber yard for my framing lumber. Little more cost but a lot better quality. A yard will run a list and give you an estimate.

They also delivered as needed so I didn't have too much lumber available to grow legs.

 

[acooper1983]

The Menards pkg will be the bare minimum. Their quality is lower than you'll find at a local lumber yard which also can be a one stop shop. I compared prices and went with a lumber yard for my framing lumber. Little more cost but a lot better quality. A yard will run a list and give you an estimate.

They also delivered as needed so I didn't have too much lumber available to grow legs.

ill check it out, im not even sure if we have any lumber yards left anymore around here.

 

[TractorJeff]

I used it 18 months ago (2 years?).
I got screwed only on my timing as a couple of Hurricanes and Tornadoes drove up the prices some. As far as Lumber quality, I am NOT a Carpenter so I thought it was OK. They don't give you any plans, only the print out list so you need to know the names of all the aspects of framing to figure it all out. I only got insulation and sheetrock for the ceiling with my purchase. I upgraded 2 garage doors and the entrance door along with a tin roof so my price was a little higher also. Nailed it on the 11% Rebate, took that check back to buy the electrical when it was on rebate, then took that check back and bought sheetrock and insulation when they were on Sale which was cheaper than the Rebate price.

Only thing I will recommend is put the biggest garage door in that fits your design! I put a 12 wide by 10 high in for my pickup truck. Its nice not worrying about being perfectly lined up backing in! My other door is 10 by 10 for my snowplow tractor, no worries about the 8 foot blade fitting!

 

[Captain Swampy]

My brother got one 10? years ago. The quality was OK. I remember him buying some additional lumber, but I don't remember why. I think we added some extra framing. It was a decent garage. Everything was the bare minimum though. I would definitely check prices at a lumber yard.

 

[acooper1983]

I used it 18 months ago (2 years?).
I got screwed only on my timing as a couple of Hurricanes and Tornadoes drove up the prices some. As far as Lumber quality, I am NOT a Carpenter so I thought it was OK. They don't give you any plans, only the print out list so you need to know the names of all the aspects of framing to figure it all out. I only got insulation and sheetrock for the ceiling with my purchase. I upgraded 2 garage doors and the entrance door along with a tin roof so my price was a little higher also. Nailed it on the 11% Rebate, took that check back to buy the electrical when it was on rebate, then took that check back and bought sheetrock and insulation when they were on Sale which was cheaper than the Rebate price.

Only thing I will recommend is put the biggest garage door in that fits your design! I put a 12 wide by 10 high in for my pickup truck. Its nice not worrying about being perfectly lined up backing in! My other door is 10 by 10 for my snowplow tractor, no worries about the 8 foot blade fitting!

Thanks Jeff, Im not far from you, just south of beloit, nice to someone close that has done this. I notice there is a spot on there that says i coudl get it all for 9xxx right now because of the rebate. its tempting, but im not ready yet. Deciding if im going to do all the concrete myself, or if i really want to pay someone 5.50+ a sq ft to put down a slab with a 12" rat wall, seems pretty easy to me to save 4,000$

 

[Farmall450]

My brother got one 10? years ago. The quality was OK. I remember him buying some additional lumber, but I don't remember why. I think we added some extra framing. It was a decent garage. Everything was the bare minimum though. I would definitely check prices at a lumber yard.

Not shocking. Also, damn, 2nd post in as many years.

To above: well played with the rebate cycles. That's how to do it.

 

[May Pop]

About 5 years ago my son and I built one Up in Milwaukee. He got his kit from Menards also. They had a few small errors but nothing major. Stayed at the budget they said. He also got it at rebate time too.
The best part is the city used the drawings for the permit.

 

[Glaffer]

The Menards kit price will not include fasteners or lumber needed to support post while building. When they offload the building you may well find that the first items you will need are on the bottom of the pile. A comfortable estimate would be for you to add an additional 15 to 20% to their price to make up for items their design software won't include and you'll need.

 

[acooper1983]

The Menards kit price will not include fasteners or lumber needed to support post while building. When they offload the building you may well find that the first items you will need are on the bottom of the pile. A comfortable estimate would be for you to add an additional 15 to 20% to their price to make up for items their design software won't include and you'll need.

that seems like an awfully high estimate? my quote comes with hardware, i cant imagine 20 extra 2xs (at most) and 5lbs of screws, maybe i should post a list of whats all included? i could see 500$ for incidentals, but 2,000$ seems quite steep, are there things besides lumber that im not thinking of? Im in construction (electrical) and like to think im fairly astute at what cost overages can be, but i dont stick build structures haha

 

[58Yeoman]

I bought one of their garages in '99, IIRC, it was a 28x28. Everything was packed in reasonable order, but one truss did get broken when it was unloaded from the truck. Menard's gave me lumber and nail plates to repair it. My brother and me and my GF put it up by ourselves, although a couple neighbor guys helped us with the shingles. All in all, it was a pretty good deal.

 

[bdbecker]

...I notice there is a spot on there that says i coudl get it all for 9xxx right now because of the rebate. its tempting, but im not ready yet...

I wouldn't be in a hurry just to catch the 11% - seems like they do it once a month (if not more frequently) these days.

 

[cj7jeep81]

The Menards kit price will not include fasteners or lumber needed to support post while building. When they offload the building you may well find that the first items you will need are on the bottom of the pile. A comfortable estimate would be for you to add an additional 15 to 20% to their price to make up for items their design software won't include and you'll need.

Typically with a pole barn, the lumber used to support the posts is typically what you use later on for girts or purlins. So its not quoted out separately, as its dual purpose. So I could see needing a few nails/screws to attach them, and some stakes to put in the ground.

I would check out the quality of their lumber ahead of time. My "local" Menards has very good quality lumber, and I've been really happy with it, but I'm sure that varies by location.

I bought my pole barn kit though from another smaller lumber yard, that mostly specializes in pole buildings. Price was better than Menards, but not insanely so, and significantly cheaper than a local lumber yard that had a horrible quote. Local place had things like "$200 for fasteners", but no detail, and I paid significantly more than that at my place.

 

[TractorJeff]

OP is building a "Stick" built garage?
They did send me 20 foot 2x4 which were under the Roof Tin that could have been used to support the walls. But we worked around that, no big deal

 

[prd2hnt]

I did a 40x63 from Menards in '06. Very happy. No surprises. I don't recall missing anything. I did buy the plans with it. This was a big help.

I did buy some extra lumber to support the walls during the build. Not a big deal.

Overall very pleased.

 

[Radix2]

Unless one place is #1 and another is #2, etc. - Lumber is lumber, comes from the same big companies. Check to make sure.

The small projects is where it can bite if whoever (local or big chain) decides to send you somebody else's culls.