New garage w/Party room

[madcat]

The start...April 2004 First permitted for 30x34....upsized it to 32x44. Was going to use attic-room trusses. What the hell...just put a full second floor up there. Thats where I started to lose my helper friends and hired an engineer

 

[madcat]

Footings in...bigtime problems arose with knuckle-head mason contractor

 

[madcat]

recommended repairs by Engineer. Footings even cracked! I drilled and installed #8 rebar thru footings. Had wall plates installed to stablize the walls ,(lots of $ wasted) and fealing drained...

 

[madcat]

getting the floor poured October 10...there is the, "I know more than an engineer"-contractor.

 

[madcat]

me and my foreman in the skid got busy framing with "the boys from Iowa"....Great work Leon!

 

[madcat]

getting framed...wrapped..... shingled...sided (Hardy board)...direct-bore underground electrical and gas lines...30' radiant tube heater for garage area...
Siding was finished March 2005 ...
It has sat most of the summer. We've installed most electrical wiring (200 amp), upstairs rooms (workout/kid rooms)...just finished painting it (big thanks to Billy Ray @ Thomas Bros. LLC...now installing HVAC for the upstairs. I could use some input on any ideas for the Party-room upstairs. It needs a bar /lounge TV area/pool table/poker table etc. I want to work on finishing this before New Years for a party. Thanks for looking

 

[DaveL.]

Excellant

Very nice shop! I'm surprised you didn't strangle your contractor. Mine screwed up my floor drains had to jackhammer/remove/repour 150 sq ft of my floor. My shop sits similar to yours and I have 8" poured walls.
Welcome to the site!

Dave

 

[ChucksCrib]

Looks great. I am just so glad I didn't have any hick-ups when mine was being put up. It takes alot a patients to put up with egotistical contractors and their f-up's.

 

[mleichtle]

Very nice, thats what I'm thinking of doing, a second floor. Any plans for a beer deck for the party room?

 

[The Hot Rod Grille]

Congrats on the new garage, it looks great! My suggestions for ideas for the party room would include a jukebox (or a great sound system), TV with all of the "goodies"(surround sound, VCR, dvd), a couple of pinball machines, and possibly a few slot machines to go with your poker table. One of the most popular items in my garage at parties is the two linked Cruis'n USA driving games. Add a vintage soda machine and popcorn machine for the kids and it should handle any age crowd for parties. Pics of how I incorporated these ideas into my own garage can be found in the Gallery Section under the post for The Hot Rod Grille. Good luck with your project and keep the pics coming!

Jim
The Hot Rod Grille

 

[joecaver]

the garage looks great. I wish I had one that size. Isn't the bobcat driver a little young though?

 

[GearHead_1]

Just out of curiousity, what happened to cause the foundation to go away like that?

 

[groovyjay]

I see you are using child labor, shame on you! Seriously great work and keep us posted!

 

[kartracer55]

Thats a sweet garage you have there man. Im so jealous!!!

Jim

 

[madcat]

A beer deck is in the beer talk stages still. I will post some pics of the inside and upstairs for anyones ideas. Jim you have a great fun set-up in yours. Our 5 girls would go bezerk. The wall breaking like that? Well the mason ****-head didn't think bond-beams were needed, after repeated "are you sure?". It's basically rebar set in the blocks horizontally. I personally bought and installed #7 rebar in each block and pumped each one solid. Without the horizontal rebar, there is nothing to work against....except the shear strength of the blocks. Which failed when we were backfilling. I actually had my hands on that corner while it started to "pop". The wall was attched so well all the way to the 42" footings..it popped the rearside footing away from the sides. what a PITA! Then the mason had the balls to say my footings failed. Not acording to the engineer and 3-other masons. He did come back and repair the corners after I, repeat I..dug the back wall out and paid $5800 for the wall reinforcement plates. My fault for trying to be the General Contractor and hiring the idiot. Hope this gives a heads-up to some that are doing something similar. I've learned alot. Now the place needs some style and a few garagefreaks to party with. "V"

 

[katoom400exc]

I hear ya on the PIA being the GC, I'm now almost a year into my project and it's coming along nicely. Looking back i now know I would have just hired a GC, drank more beer and kicked back and wrote checks. here is mine

http://www.woodsracer.com/garage

I was going to call the site "different stages of my garage"

I have since named it "different stages of my aggravation, and the slow bleeding of my bank account"

 

[GearHead_1]

Ditto that on the General Contractor thing. It's taken me the better part of a year to get my home/garage built. I originally thought it would take me 6 or 7 months. I'm not sure I would consider doing this again myself. One thing that I have learned is that it is the practice of most (not all) Sub Contractors to tell you exactly what you want to hear having zero intention of living up to their commitment.

 

[JohnHenrys48]

Wow, great job...that is going to be one spectacular "hang out".

Bummer on the concrete. Must be a bad season for concrete. My parents are building their last home and have had nothing but problems with the concrete guy. He's started in June and is not yet complete. Lots of "heated" discussions, and now they also need to hire a structural engineer...

Again, great job. Keep us updated...

Jim

 

[madcat]

Yeah Katoom..you built a very similar garage. Nice Job! The whole, "I'll save some money and be involved in the process", gets overwhelming VERY quick. Yea I saved some $. Just have to survive the dream and see it through. Easier said than done. As I'm still not done. Thx kart and JH. I will do some updates soon. If anyone has questions or needs input just ask. "V"

 

[Rowdy Rat]

Acting as General Contractor

For you gentlemen who decided to act as your own general contractor, did you consult with an architect/engineering firm before proceding or did you rough out a plan and then give it to the contractors to execute?

Not second guessing here... Just curious what was done prior to actual construction. I'm going to be building a new house and garage/workshop in a couple years and was considering acting as the general contractor. Hoping to get some feedback so I can avoid at least some problem areas/mistakes that others may have encountered.

Regards,

Stan Falenski

 

[GearHead_1]

I had and architech/engineering firm draw my plans. After many meetings with them they got it right. Designing a structure that has footings in the right places and load bearing walls, lighting, ventilation etc. was beyond my ability. He took my ideas and gave me a finished plan which I in turn gave to the sub contractors. I also have a very good friend who is general contractor that was there to help me whenever I stubbed my toe.

 

[katoom400exc]

I made the plans on punch pro and submitted specs to the town for approval. once approved I gave the prints to my mason and framing crew.

 

[Rowdy Rat]

Thanks guys,

I've been working with an architect/engineer so far... I believed it to be a good idea at the time, but their fees are enough to cause heart failure at times. I think it will pay off in the long run... And their work is just about complete anyway.

From what I'm hearing, maybe being my own general contractor isn't the way to go. Maybe if I was at the job site 24/7 it would make sense, but my real job won't permit that.

In any case, thanks again for the feedback!

Regards,

Stan Falenski

 

[katoom400exc]

the problem with GC'ing your own job is getting guys to show up for you. You are a one shot deal to them, they have no loyalty to you. A real GC on the other hand gives them work year yound, and has access to more contractors if one is busy. Also you don't have to get estimates from every trade, just one GC.

When you pick the GC, sit down and outline a timetable for the project make milestones along the way where partial payments will be made to the GC. Make sure you let him know that he will not recieve ANY payment until that date, and the work specified at that milestone is to be completed by that date or there will be $withheld (within reason, things do happen) but let him think that if he's not ready by that date he's losing $.

 

[byrdman]

the problem with GC'ing your own job is getting guys to show up for you. You are a one shot deal to them, they have no loyalty to you.

You got that right! My number one problem was getting people to SHOW UP, on time, or AT ALL! Many many many people in the construction business have SERIOUS ethics/business management issues. It's commonplace. Katoom speaks the truth. You're a one-time deal to them, they have no loyalty with respect to work quality, punctuality, or price. (I had many guys "price themselves out" of my work. By that I mean because my job was small and offered no promise of future work, they'd price it so high that they knew I'd probably turn it down. And if I DID hire them, they made a killing and therefore was worthwhile for such a small, one-time job.)

Another problem was that because real GC's usually have a string of folks that are accustomed to working after one another, they have fewer surprises- everyone knows how the other guys do things. When I piecemeal together 3 guys who've never worked "behind each other" before, there's always surprises that delay things. Like when Guy #2 doesn't like how guy #1 did his thing. So now you get to reschedule guy #1 to come back and redo something, so that guy #2 is happy and can proceed. Which means guy #3, who had nothing to do with it yet, also gets rescheduled. Except guy #3 is booked for the next month so just because guy #2 didn't like guy #1's work, the whole thing waits a month. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

If you know masons, electricians, framers, roofers, plumbers, inspectors, etc- go for it. If not, be patient, it's a long haul! Here's a rant I wrote on another message board during the constructiojn of my shop last year:

For the past year or so, I've been preparing to build a garage in my back yard. Every time I deal with a home improvement/construction kinda person (tree removal, mason, grading/hauling, construction etc), they absolutely NEVER call or show up when they SAY they're going to. Either they don't show up/call at all, or they are so late you think they're not going to. I find this so consistently true that it's almost a joke. What gives? Am I the only one? Don't they know about day planner organizers and cell phones?

I'm not a businessman, but I don't know of any other sectors of business where this practice is so seemingly common and apparently, accepted. How do these "self-employed" type small businesses stay afloat? I realize my jobs don't pay what the big commercial jobs pay, but come on, I'm not dealing with big companies either, they're "Average Joe" type organizations- experienced, but small-time, you know?

 

[GearHead_1]

The two previous posts are absolutely correct. Had I not had a friend who is a General Contractor I think I could have been in real trouble. He pulled strings for me when I couldn't get subs in line. I had one advantage going for me in the fact that I paid cash for all work as I went along, I even paid suppliers directly where I could. Subs are like anyone else, if money is waiting at the end of the day/job sometimes they'll make room for you, their paycheck isn't 90 days out. I had the luxury of being at the jobsite everyday. I did everything that I could possibly do in the building process myself (electical, roofing, some of the finish work). This gave me the advantage of looking over everyone I hired's shoulder. I figure that as long as I live up to my end of the agreement (and I did) they work for me and if this didn't work for them, they could work elsewhere. I really tried to be resonable and not a horses ****. I had to remind a brick mason of this fact and after some consideration he knew I was right. Some don't like this tactic (I probably wouldn't) but I got quality work and believe the end result justified the means.

 

[madcat]

Everything said is absolutely correct. If I had hired a GC, I'm sure my masonry problems would not have happened. My biggest problem and still is...doing most of this by the seat-of-my-pants. AKA "NO PLAN" so to speak. However, I would not be near the person I am now if I hired a GC. Then again I might have actually learned MORE if I had hired one. It would have cost more in my head but in reality, the mistakes that were made would have made it the same price with way fewer gray hairs and wife arguments. This project had been a huge burden on my marriage. Just from the stress I accepted trying to do things "my way", and her hearing me ***** all the time. Another good piece of advice...hiring a friend of the family (my mason guys) can turn ugly. "V"

 

[swgray]

I was my own GC. I went the architect route as my garage is also a retaining wall. What was previously there was crush by the hillside. Something stronger than concrete block was needed. Footings are 4 feet wide at the base and the wall against the hill is 1 foot thick. Lots of rebar used throughout. A grid of 5/8"(outboard side) and 1/2" (inboard side) spaced 12" on center was used in all the walls.

It should have made the permitting process easy, but it uncovered inconsistant building codes where I live. Because of my project, these codes were revised. Making it easier for the next guy.


Pictures of the process can be viewed here:
http://photobucket.com/albums/b188/swgray/Garage Project/


This is the thread I origionally posted about my garage.
http://www.garagejunkies.net/showthread.php?t=729