My (sorta) Dream shop build

[Linearone]

So just to start off right I want to tell you all that i have been lurking for some time. I started investigating garage building techniques about a year ago with some seriousness because my father had a shed that was a total shambles. I t was so very close to falling over with our boat, atv, motorcyles etc inside it was very worrisome. My father had the delusion that new siding and trusses would fix it. I will post pics as I go along to demonstrate what i am saying. It was horrible.
Anyway I finally convinced him to demo and build new. I had all types of ideas, carolina carports, good steel buildings, morton buildings, locally built pole barns (pole barns were totally foreign to me), and stick built stuff.
My requirements were originally 12' high clear span and approx 26'x28'.
This became 30'x30' and finally 30'x32'.

I will have to figure to how to get pics off my new phone (pixel3xl), its not cooperating right now and I will start the pics. They have just started the build as of yesterday and its raining today so not a ton of progress. I will try to answer all questions. I also am not afraid to tell what i paid as it seems most folks wont say this online. I want people to have a real idea of what this is like. It was VERY weird that I could not find alot of reviews of any of the major brands of builders.. dribs and drabs, one guy on here had a good write up, not too far from me, and that was the best I had seen so I am trying to pay it forward.
Will post again tonight. Thanks for having me,

 

[ericlar80]

watching

 

[Hammer1963]

Sounds like this is going to be a good one to follow for updates

 

[Linearone]

Before we get to pictures I want to smother you with a wall of text as I think the data is much more interesting than the poles stuck in the dirt.
My goals:

• A clean dry building to store and eventually work on cars etc.
• Have it done before winter
• not cost $100k

As you can see I had this delapidated home built 40 year old "shed", not permitted, unsafe, wet, muddy, and on its second tarp roof. A stiff breeze would have done me a favor by knocking it over. It was "stick built" with T111 siding and a flat roof. First order of business was empty it. I had to get a storage unit for $219 a month...
Before any of you guys start on about my pricing I want you all to know I have done my due diligence on almost everything I am spending money on. I am in NY state. It is a nearly communist state and EVERYTHING is WAY, WAY costlier than anywhere else in the union, except maybe los angeles. Couple that with my area in particular being one of the most hot real estate markets right now and these local contractors just dont care about you. They can charge whatever and get away with it and if you argue, they walk. Its a cold reality in my area.

Back to business. I started with a google search. First thing that always pops up on every message board is something to the effect of "Heck, I built this 200x200 shop all by m'self a few buddies and a weekend!" "Tain't dat hard, just get you a pizza party and throw up a building..."
No.
In my area you BETTER be friendly to your neighbors and the building inspector. I got lucky and just happened to have a great building inspector in my town. He told me basically that they would allow pretty much anything I wanted as long as I was within my setbacks. He recommended I get a survey and at the minimum a stake out to know exactly where to put it. I am fortunate that my neighbor is an awesome guy who is our ex family mechanic (retired) and he couldn't care less about a building for cars going up next door.
As far as friends,beer, and self built DIY kits etc.. forget it. I am 40 years old, WAY, WAY out of shape and know my limits. My father is 76, Inspite of being a property manager, and owning enough construction equipment its a matter of time and manpower. I do not have a construction crew of friends to help in this. I would have to pay a contractor (heaven forbid).
I want it done right, square dry and most of all legally.

Getting back to my old garage here is what it looked like.
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[Linearone]

I needed to find a contractor. It was amazing how hard this was considering how many companies there are around here. Most did not even want to be bothered with such a "small job". The first idea was, hey put up a Carolina Carport!
Their prices after options were about $17k. this is for a building close to what i had but with 12 ft ceilings. Sounds reasonable but its just not a good building. I was fortunate enough to watch some angry customers videos on youtube and realized its kinda like an overgrown sears shed. no offense to anyone here, just not for me.

Next I called a Steel building guy who was local. For a 30x30 with 12' ceilings he quoted me $75k and told me to figure another $8k-$10k for a monolithic slab foundation.... $85,000... Are you kidding me? An uninsulated non residential building, with no utilities?

Then came the local contractors. One guy was very nice and said $49k and he would GC the whole thing from permit to concrete to everything. I came close to taking this deal as it was the best I had found. He did good work from what i saw and offered me a pole barn but with poles on 4' centers. This included a wire mesh reinforced 4" slab and 5 windows, 2 12x12 doors and a man door. These specs are pretty much the same from each company.

Another local construction firm quoted me a pole barn on 8'centers at $75,000 including everything.

Then I called the amish shed companies around here. They all said they could build it onsite but I had to provide a pad. One guy actually said they would not be able to compete with guys like pioneer and conestoga so they refused to even bid.

I called up DIY pole barns and they had a quote of around $17k but again, I had to DIY it. Not gunna happen.

Then Pioneer came in with an instant over the phone quote of $24k...
Whoa! thats a big change, For $24k I could have gotten a 30x30 with 14' ceiling, metal roof, metal siding, 6 windows, one mandoor, 2 12x12 overhead doors and 1' overhangs. They offered some kind of additional help with concrete/excavation work for another $6500... thus was tempting but I still had to demo etc myself.

Then came Conestoga. They are who I ultimately went with and I will give you my reasons. They quoted me $28,850 for the following:
32' long x 30'wide pole barn built on 8' centers.
I upgraded (included in that price btw) to the smart posts which i think was money well spent. 6 3x4 windows, 4ftof sidelight from front to back on each side, metal siding and metal roofing. No insulation. 1' overhangs on all sides, full length ridge vent and 2 12x12 overhead doors.
Their NY salesman is a guy who has built them before and KNOWS WHAT THE HECK HE IS TALKING ABOUT. Hes not just a voice on the phone. He drove over from syracuse (4 hr drive) just to look at the site and go over ti with me. Very nice dude.
I told him I'd think about it.

Mean while I called pioneer up to discuss the 6x6 posts and what they offered as upgrades. My "sales rep" was a kid. He didnt even know what a 6x6 was and every question was "Ill ask my manager and get back to you"... not very confidence inspiring.
I slept on it and went with conestoga.

I mailed my deposit out which was WAY less than pioneer wanted. It was a couple thousand. Just as they said in 10 days I had sealed blueprints in my hand and the sales guy even walked me through filling out the local building permit form. Next day and $300 later I had submitted my application for permit. 7 days later I had my permit in hand.. no issues whatsoever, not one. In fact the inspector commented how detailed the info packet was from conestoga. I was happy and relieved.

Fast forward to last month and I had to find sitework and demo now as conestoga said I was 8 weeks out on their construction schedule from the permit date and 6 weeks had already passed.
I hired a local excavation firm to demo the shed, remove the asphalt under it, level the pad and put minimum of 4" of compacted item4 down. I was quoted "a few thousand plus a dumpster($1k)... $6500 later I had 86 tons of stone and a level area compacted.

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[Linearone]

So now I called Conestoga and said"I'm ready for you guys" and they sent me a short note saying I was 4-6 weeks out. I was a little upset t say the least as I did everything I was supposed to, sent my second payment of like $7k and had my sitework done. Now i have to wait ANOTHER 4-6 weeks? I kept cool though and sent another note back asking if they could just review the situation as I have to beat the cold. a week and a half later and they gave me a start date and a delivery date.

Right on time they delivery guy showed with a huge truck and a huge forklift.
View media item 97508the driver was SUPER nice and friendly and said he would put the stuff where ever Id like. He very carefully unloaded everything and placed it to the side of the site.
View media item 97511View media item 97512View media item 97513View media item 97514View media item 97515View media item 97516I wondered where the overhead doors were but apparently they have a specialized crew that comes out after the building is up to just install them.

 

[Linearone]

Next they delivered a porta potty (that was this past monday) and construction was set to start yesterday (wed.) The crew arrived early, just about 7am and started unwrapping things and working with me to lay out where it would be.
They too were super nice and friendly guys. They worked neatly and didn't make a mess of the place. I was impressed. They didn't even seem to mind as I went around them measuring the depth of the holes they drilled LOL.

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No real issues or surprises here. They hit rocks but nothing like boulders. They drilled the holes and put up the poles.
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Holy chit. Its starting to sink in what a monster this is...

 

[Linearone]

So today is thursday and its raining here in NY state and no construction is happening. For any of those interested those poles are 4'6" down... pretty deep.

This is a good time to explain what i want out of this shop. Primarily it is going to be dry storage. I already have 4 other garages on the property, each filled with a car or motorcycle etc. While they are fun for storage you cant walk around them or lift out an engine without getting into the driveway. My whole life no matter how many garages we had you were still working on your back in the driveway. I had a laminectomy in 2017 so that type of work is not gonna happen anymore for me. I plan on EVENTUALLY adding electric and a lift to this garage and MAYBE some lights. With 48" of sidelights and 6 windows I think it will be plenty bright in there for now and honestly, I could care less about insulation and sheetrock. I never wanted a hangout pad, just a solid surface with a roof to wrench in. My needs are simple.

 

[Linearone]

Interesting, pics don't show on mobile

Any mods know why images dont show on mobile?

 

[Jaja]

no pics on pc either

 

[Linearone]

pics should work now, i put them on this sites hosting.

 

[Linearone]

View media item 975302 guys arrived today for the second day of construction and got the girts on and when I left they were lopping off the poles to size. They say Monday ( today is Friday) the trusses and Perlins will be up. Then work stops for a day so the inspector can come verify the framing work.

 

[matt_i]

What are "smart posts"? Is this a UC4B rating?

Also, if you fluid film the roof of that old suburban it will last another 20 years!

 

[Linearone]

Smart posts are 3ply laminated 6x6 posts that have a hard plastic shell that's kinda like heat shrink tubing on steroids. It comes up above the height of the floor to be poured. Basically is way better than a post sleeve and the post will never directly touch soil.
http://www.advanced-sol.com/greenpost.html

Conestoga calls them smartposts but I guess they are actually this.

 

[rburke65]

Oooh.....you’re going to love your new build! Congratulations.

 

[Linearone]

Yeah man, I hope so. I will not have race decking or fancy cabinets etc but I hope to move my compressor in and install a lift.

 

[Linearone]

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Trusses up, windows framing and door framing happening today. Building inspector supposed to look tomorrow

 

[Bronson]

Subscribed

 

[Linearone]

View media item 97642
So the majority of the building is complete. Inspector approved the framing and the next day it rained. Wed they had the roof panels and windows mounted and most of the siding. The last day (Thursday) was trim work, soffits etc.
Here are some inside pics as well.

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All in all about 5 days. Would have been a hair faster if the weather was better etc. For a 3 man crew they worked pretty quickly.

On to to bad news, 4 pieces of trim were battered in shipping and they wouldn't put them on. So they reorders the trim and hopefully soon it will be installed. On Tuesday next week we are told the garage doors will be put on.
Pretty exciting stuff and a seamless process with Conestoga.

 

[Linearone]

I will say that I expected the side lights to provide more light than they do. I guess I will get some extra light but maybe I made a mistake ordering them. I may just replace them with steel siding in the future. Let me see how I feel about next year.