New house, new shop construction project

[PNWguy]

I recently moved back home to the southwest corner of Oregon (just outside of Grants Pass), after being away for a bit over 30 years. My folks have a bunch of land, and they gave me 5 acres to build on. I'm grateful for that, and it's been good to see them more than a few times a year.

The plan:
A small-ish house (800 or so feet) with a large ground level kitchen/dining/living room and 1/2 bath. Upstairs will just be a bedroom & full bath (and the bedroom will also have a balcony to use as a deer blind). The house will have a 1.5 car garage for my DD, and a small amount of storage.

The shop is going to be somewhere in the range of 32x60 to 40x60. I'll partition it into several smaller spaces, but have 8' barn doors between the partitions. I will be building the partitions to keep heat contained in the space I'm working, and to keep wood & metal dust out of the metal & wood areas.

The house and shop will have radiant floor heat (slab on grade for both). I plan to keep the shop at 50 or 55, and then when I'm working, augment with forced air (heated by water) in the bay I'm using - another reason for partition walls.

I'll be putting a small room in the shop to hold the wood fired boiler (for all that radiant heat) and to use as the utility room (boiler & accessories), electrical panel, well pump controller & pressure tank. Since I need water in that room, I'll add a sink, washing machine and toilet (it'll have its own room).

I initially wanted to build the shop first and live in the "office" for a year before starting the house, but the county now requires that the house is built before any outbuildings.

I'm hoping to keep the walls at 10' for cost & heating but since I'll be putting in a 2 post lift, a portion of the ceiling in one bay will be at 12'.

My design is 80% complete, but I'm still open to suggestion and have been spending quite a bit of time at GJ reading and learning.

 

[Styx]

Looking forward to seeing this one being built When do you expect to turn soil?


Cheers Randy

 

[PNWguy]

I was planning to start in March or April...

Short answer: as soon as possible, so I can move in by fall.

Long answer below:
Setback #1
The county won't allow building a shop before a dwelling. I was hoping to live in the shop for a bit (which would be much faster to design and build) and then take my time designing the house. Also, it would be nice to be able to lock up materials and tools while building.

Setback #2
I called around to have the land surveyed so I could partition off the 5 acres. Most of the surveyors aren't returning calls right now (lots of work) and the guy who was highly recommended is booked for 3 or 4 months. He's a former county employee, and knows the land use laws (having friends still at the planning department doesn't hurt, too). The piece the 5 acres is being partitioned from is has to conform to county laws (road frontage and many other details). If the surveyor doesn't know and follow all the rules for the remaining land, my partition could be rejected. I want to get it right ti=he first time, because it's time consuming and expensive.

In any case, it could take 3 or 4 months to survey, then apply to partition, then apply for an address & driveway, then start the septic permit process... It could easily be 6 months before I could even apply for a building permit.

In order to get around all that, I changed my mind, and will build on my second choice of house site. The main advantage is that it's already partitioned off the main property, has a driveway & address and is ready to build on. I'll need to get rid of a thrashed mobile home, but that shouldn't cause much (if any) delay. Also, this might save me a few tens of thousands in survey fees, land partition fees, lower fees to be connected to the electric grid, an existing septic system (although I'll need to pump to it).

So, hopefully in 2 months. I'm headed out on a road trip for the next month, and will be making phone calls, drawing plans and getting my ducks in a row.

Since the contractors are super busy at the moment, I may have to wait 3 or 4 months, or build it myself. My head has been pretty full lately. Fortunately, I have a great place to live for now.

 

[PNWguy]

Randy,

I just started reading your shop build. It looks like a great building, and you have some awesome friends. <where's that beer icon?>

 

[850xpeps]

While you can’t build a shop then plan a house.... can’t you start both at the same time? If your house size will remain the same just pour the foundation? And then work on the shop.

 

[jeff_gates]

I was lucky, I was able to build my shop before we broke ground on the house. This gave us time to redesign the house from my dream of 800 sq/ft to the wife's design of 2500 sq/ft 3 story house. Go small in the house.

 

[PNWguy]

I don't want to battle the county, so I'll have the house and shop complete at about the same time. I'll be saving my battles for emergencies.
There's been some funny politics and unintended consequences because of legal weed. This area has a history of growing a really good crop, and now the county is full of folks trying to strike it rich on the current gold rush (as the bottom falls out of the market). The county has passed some new regulations, like no outbuildings before you have a COO on the house. It'll all work out, and I'll have a great place to live and a nice shop.

 

[PNWguy]

I was lucky, I was able to build my shop before we broke ground on the house. This gave us time to redesign the house from my dream of 800 sq/ft to the wife's design of 2500 sq/ft 3 story house. Go small in the house.

Thanks for the advise.

If you haven't guessed by now, I'm single and have no kids.
The house may grow a bit, but I really don't want to pay for, maintain and clean a big house. I was married a long time ago. I appreciated having somebody else to bounce ideas off of, but I really enjoy the lack of compromising that I now have.

 

[PNWguy]

In Fall of '17, I was told I could probably move in by the fall of '18.
Spring of '18, I was told we would probably start building in the fall of '18.
Fall of '18 - I was just told that there's no estimate of start date.

There's a building boom happening, and the truss manufacturers are overbooked. This got all the framers behind schedule, which screwed up the schedule of every other subcontractor except for the concrete guys. It's a mess, but my living situation is good, and things could be much worse for me. Hopefully I can start in spring.

Enough of that... onto the plans!

Drawing 1: shell of the building

Drawing 2 rendering of the outside of the building, looking at the front door and living room. There are no windows in the rendering, but the house will have lots of glass. The shop will have skylights or something to add light, but no windows you can look into.
I think the upper story (bedroom and work room) walls need to be taller, as it looks too squatty to me.

Shop: 32 x 40 x 12- shop space for mechanical, welding, automotive, machining, etc.
12' flat ceilings, a lift in the corner (the 2 red dots are roughly where the posts will go.)
It'll have either 1 wide, centered door (on the plans now) or two narrower rollups (in red).

Garage: 20 x 25 x 10- parking for my truck and bike. Chest freezer, some storage, breaker box, etc. There's a man door into the house that isn't on the plan.

Woodshop: 20 x 16 x 10- space for wood tools. Mostly to keep the dust behind doors. Tools will be on wheels so I can use it for other things as needed. 8' sliding doors between woodshop & garage as well as woodshop & main shop. I want to be able to move large items between spaces easily.

Not on the plans, but visible in the rendering. There will be a 16' x 20' office/work room above the garage/woodshop for clean work, like electronics. I don't want a TV in the living room or bedroom, so this room will get a couch, TV and racing seat for the PlayStation.
It'll have a chain hoist for moving heavy stuff to the second story. Should be lots of storage between the trusses.
There will be a staircase going down into the main shop space.

House: 20 x 40 x 10 - a great room with 270 degree views of the forest. Lots of windows. Kitchen, living room & bathroom. Stairs going up to the bedroom.

Bedroom: 20 x 16 upstairs - bedroom, bathroom and laundry. Windows along the vertical walls. Door going into the office.

Clearly there's still a lot to plan, but the shop is pretty solid.
Heat: radiant concrete slab in the house and shop, heated with an outdoor wood boiler (in the garden/wood shed).
Power: 120 & 220 single phase along the walls in the shop, with the bottom of the outlet at just over 4' off the floor. I may run the electrical in conduit, depending on the extra cost.
Air: I found a bunch of old, faded and sun damaged PVC on CL.
Kidding. Most likely it'll be PEX, installed at a later date.

Build it bigger Yeah, I'd love to. But the reality of paying for it, paying the taxes, heating it, lighting it, etc is helping to keep the size at 32 x 40. Also, my dad lives within walking distance and has a pretty complete shop also. I can always add on.

All opinions welcome.

 

[PNWguy]

Hmmm. I thought I could attach photos to the post.
Give me a minute to find some online sharing...

 

[PNWguy]

OK, images attached.

 

[PNWguy]

OMFG. It's been a year, and we've moved forward just enough to blade off the pad.

The labor shortage is killing me.