New Build - NC - 28x32 with Apartment

[Chevrojayy]

Long time lurker - first time poster here. Was fortunate enough to buy the homeplace where my dad was raised, including the dilapidated farmhouse my grandpa built. Over the last year, I've torn down the house and cut down around 10 large trees on the property. I still need to move some earth in a couple of places, but the big grading hurdle is filling the basement where the house was. I am on a strict budget while paying off a car loan and being single. As many 25 year olds, I have been stuck with my parents while fighting rising interest rates. I'd hate to wait it out and build a bigger house than I can afford right now and not have a garage to work on my projects. ( daily driver, trailers, general auto repair on family cars, friends projects, the occasional marketplace flip, etc.) I've grown up my whole life without a garage, so it's a pretty important deal to have one for me. I have a solid piece of ground that lays nice near the existing driveway that could easily fit a garage. Right now, I'm thinking a 28 wide by 32 deep. This will eventually be connected via enclosed "breezeway"/mudroom to a 1.5 story farmhouse style ranch house with covered porch measuring 36 wide x 28 deep. The reasoning for going 32' deep on the garage is that my 2500HD is a crew cab long wheelbase with aftermarket bumpers front and rear, so it takes up quite a bit of space. I've ran the numbers time and time again, and to me, it makes more sense to wait on building the house. Future wife may not like the style of the plan I already have, again, I'm doing a crawlspace where a basement once was, and I'd like for the fill dirt to be compacted and settle for a few years before building a house on it. (road on the adjacent corner wasn't in place when basement was originally dug, so water issues always plagued the house, reasoning for filling in basement and going above road level with crawlspace.) Rather than paying $900-$1000 per month in rent, I could spend much less than that and go ahead and install the septic system for my house on this project, saving money for the future house build. The apartment garage will compliment and tie in to the future house, so this is a long term goal. I have a garden shed for storing mower, weedeater, sprayer, etc, so that frees up that much more of my space in the garage. I am thinking of doing the apartment above the garage dead in the center, so the overall living space will be about 14-15' wide and 32' deep. 1 bed, 1 bath, kitchenette, small living area with a pullout couch for the occasional guest is all I'm after. My thinking is to have the lot, septic, grading, and the apartment garage completed and paid for within 5 years after completion, and this should offset the 5 years I would have been paying rent for a 1 bed apartment in town. I have no HOA and no deeded restrictions on what I can build.

Right now, I'm planning to build on block foundation so I can build the bottom floor up a little higher by laying additional courses of block (No truck that I own has ever stayed stock height, LOL). So 8' tall doors will be in order rather than the standard 7' you see on most garage apartment plans. Roof will be 12/12 pitch, so should be able to keep an 8' ceiling height upstairs. Plans are to do a stackable washer/dryer underneath the stairs leading up to the 2nd floor, and *maybe* a half bath and a sink. Very big maybe for the downstairs half bath.

If anyone has a similar sized setup, I'd love to see some links to y 'all's builds! Thanks and look forward to sharing my build once we get going this summer.

 

[turbowoodworker]

Sounds like a great plan. Welcome from Chatham County. Where in NC are you located?

 

[Chevrojayy]

Sounds like a great plan. Welcome from Chatham County. Where in NC are you located?

about an hour directly north of Charlotte.

 

[u2slow]

Be sure your zoning and financing allow for your plans.

Fwiw, here, a combined shop/apartment that's bigger than the max allowable accessory building becomes the primary dwelling, at which point you can't build your future house without losing (or shrinking) your shop.

 

[Chevrojayy]

Be sure your zoning and financing allow for your plans.

Fwiw, here, a combined shop/apartment that's bigger than the max allowable accessory building becomes the primary dwelling, at which point you can't build your future house without losing (or shrinking) your shop.

Yes, as long as it's laid out ahead of time with the permitting office as a stage 1/stage 2 kind of deal, all is good, especially for this small of a buidling

 

[nadogail]

Have you considered dragging a trailer on to the property to provide you some shelter while building your dream? Camping in the trailer could eliminate the apartment rent and allow you more time on the job site.

 

[Chevrojayy]

Yes. Both a travel trailer and an actual singlewide. I’m not currently in an apartment and the lot is close by to my parents, so time on the job site luckily is not a huge waste of trips right now. It’s relatively close to work and home. The problem lays in 1) finding a decent travel trailer that I can get financed for while being able to afford hookups, shelter to park it under, etc. 2) singlewides in my area new are ridiculously overpriced for the value you get. I have a small amount of knowledge from family members in construction, so building something similar sized to a small singlewide is a better value per dollar, plus I would be getting the garage aspect building it myself for the price of a singlewide. Not to mention, used ones in this market are almost impossible to find; and then the financing issue comes up again. But in short, yes. The trailer idea racked my brain many times!

Have you considered dragging a trailer on to the property to provide you some shelter while building your dream? Camping in the trailer could eliminate the apartment rent and allow you more time on the job site.

 

[backupbeeper]

Yes. Both a travel trailer and an actual singlewide. I’m not currently in an apartment and the lot is close by to my parents, so time on the job site luckily is not a huge waste of trips right now. It’s relatively close to work and home. The problem lays in 1) finding a decent travel trailer that I can get financed for while being able to afford hookups, shelter to park it under, etc. 2) singlewides in my area new are ridiculously overpriced for the value you get. I have a small amount of knowledge from family members in construction, so building something similar sized to a small singlewide is a better value per dollar, plus I would be getting the garage aspect building it myself for the price of a singlewide. Not to mention, used ones in this market are almost impossible to find; and then the financing issue comes up again. But in short, yes. The trailer idea racked my brain many times!

I’ve often seen large fifth wheel trailers with two or three slide outs for under $10k

I’ve seen them under $5k

I’ve seen normal 22 foot campers with no slides for less than $2k


And if you don’t have $5k cash to buy a camper , this is coming to be a long long project .

But a lot of places won’t allow you to live in a camper , at least not very long , although I’ve seen a few people get away with it , because their zoning allowed a “on site security guard “ to live in a camper during construction .

Once you have Water and septic and power , and have the shop walls up, then you park the camper inside while you’re finishing the apartment .



I’d also rethink the part of filling in the basement and building on top of the fill .

That’s not going to work .
Unless the fill was done in thin layers and compacted properly .

And you want your new shop and house foundation footings to be on “Undisturbed earth “

The first hurdle will be the county zoning and then the building inspector .

I’d set up a meeting with them and discuss what you want to do and discuss what they will allow . Etc .

If the old house didn’t have a septic your land will most likely have to have a “perk test “ etc


The concrete block verses poured wall is a matter of preference and local costs .

And also may have some requirements from the local building inspector

I haven’t seen new construction with block foundation in years .

It could just be that good block masons are impossible to find now ?

But most locations , by the time you pour a footer and then lay the block and then fill every other hole with rebar and cement or whatever your inspector requires , it Probabaly doesn’t cost any more to just pour the wall all at once .

 

[nadogail]

Welcome to the Forum from Southwestern California. From reading your post you have accomplished a lot for being only 25 years old.

Be aware of the dangers of taking on Vast projects with Half Vast knowledge and resources.

Your local building department should be able to provide a lot of information and advice. I would start with a request for an Informational Interview prior to the formal submission of any plans.

 

[Chevrojayy]

I’ve often seen large fifth wheel trailers with two or three slide outs for under $10k

I’ve seen them under $5k

I’ve seen normal 22 foot campers with no slides for less than $2k


And if you don’t have $5k cash to buy a camper , this is coming to be a long long project .

But a lot of places won’t allow you to live in a camper , at least not very long , although I’ve seen a few people get away with it , because their zoning allowed a “on site security guard “ to live in a camper during construction .

Once you have Water and septic and power , and have the shop walls up, then you park the camper inside while you’re finishing the apartment .



I’d also rethink the part of filling in the basement and building on top of the fill .

That’s not going to work .
Unless the fill was done in thin layers and compacted properly .

And you want your new shop and house foundation footings to be on “Undisturbed earth “

The first hurdle will be the county zoning and then the building inspector .

I’d set up a meeting with them and discuss what you want to do and discuss what they will allow . Etc .

If the old house didn’t have a septic your land will most likely have to have a “perk test “ etc


The concrete block verses poured wall is a matter of preference and local costs .

And also may have some requirements from the local building inspector

I haven’t seen new construction with block foundation in years .

It could just be that good block masons are impossible to find now ?

But most locations , by the time you pour a footer and then lay the block and then fill every other hole with rebar and cement or whatever your inspector requires , it Probabaly doesn’t cost any more to just pour the wall all at once .

The basement will not be totally filled in. It's about a foot worth of fill to bring the hole up above the road. Hence why I wanted to wait to have my house built on it and build the garage apartment on already stable and settled earth north of said basement hole. The land has already been perc'd from where I borrowed the money from Farm Credit who requires this to be done before they cut the check, so no issues on that front. Luckily, we still have a good family friend who is a block mason and has agreed to complete the work. They are much more common here since I'm in the foothills of NC, and a good flat piece of land can't be found for miles. Lol. The reason I don't have $5,000 in cash is because for every improvement done to the land, I've paid in cash. I borrowed $11,000 on the lot, and paid the remainder in cash. The perc test, demo, cutting trees, etc. was all paid out of pocket. And I finally did save enough since this post to move forward with grading. So I have been putting my cash toward these things in an effort to keep the amount I borrow lower instead of having a depreciating asset like a poor quality travel trailer. And around here, $5k gets you essentially a tent in terms of travel trailers, haha.

 

[Chevrojayy]

Welcome to the Forum from Southwestern California. From reading your post you have accomplished a lot for being only 25 years old.

Be aware of the dangers of taking on Vast projects with Half Vast knowledge and resources.

Your local building department should be able to provide a lot of information and advice. I would start with a request for an Informational Interview prior to the formal submission of any plans.

Thank you, and yes, have done a lot of research since originally posting this here. Lots of good resources from the members on this forum, and have been stalking youtube like crazy. I definitely feel much more comfortable tackling this as I get closer to breaking ground. Shooting to have it framed in by September/October, so I will make sure to report back or start a new build thread once it has been completed!

 

[billconner]

Just completing a 28 x 32 garage (small barn really) with attic on block foundation (cut into hill). All diy except excavation - which I'd do myself if doing again. This is for storage - cars, a small trailer, canoes, and lawn and garden stuff. Under $20,000. Big difference - I'm 71 and retired.

Your plan sounds fine and seems like you covered a lot of bases. The only thing I didn't see mentioned is most codes require garage to be separated from living space - but just 5/8" type x drywall in ceiling and other horizontal surfaces, just 1/2" drywall on walls and vertical surfaces.