New Project

[DFAuto]

Hello ladies and gents,

I'm in the planning phase of building a 24x32 garage in my backyard. I'm looking to get started asap but don't want to screw anything up. So far I've looked at building it myself, buying a steel building and going the Tuff Shed route. Right now I'm leaning toward the Tuff Shed garage since time and manpower are currently at a premium around my house between being in and out for another round of Army training and having a new born. I'm in Phoenix AZ and I'm open to other ideas if anyone local has any resources they'd like to share. My budget is 20k for the foundation and main structure. I know this won't get me to the fully powered and insulated stage but I'm aware of that and know that it will be a multistage process. I will be using it as a catch all for working on cars, motorcycles and a mini gym. I'd appreciate any ideas and resources you all have to share.

 

[Bib Overalls]

If you build it yourself $20K will go along way. If you don't have time to build a conventional stick framed garage you will most likely not have time to put up a metal building ether. Finishing out a metal building can be material intensive and quite challenging. Tuff Shed has a decent reputation and since it is a conventionally framed building you can wire, insulate and finish it out at your leisure. Sometimes it is better for you to what you do best, make money, and pay other people to do what they do best.

 

[ripper70]

I did everything myself and cost me around 21k including benches, heating, compressor, electrical,everything!

 

[DFAuto]

I made the mistake(or genius move) of looking at a local steel building contractor and found a nice 24x30 legit steel building that is a little more than I planned on spending for 22k as a turn key building(insulation and concrete work etc minus electrical and plumbing) Now I'm not sure what direction to go. I also spoke to the gal at tuff shed again and found out it would be 1750 additional to make it a 10ft wall instead of 8 so putting that option basically as a stick built setup minus insulation, electrical and plumbing. I'm kind of torn at this point.

 

[DFAuto]

After some back and forth I decided to go with a 24x30x10' stick frame build with an attached 24x10x8' office/storage area and went to the city with my initial plans and a few questions. Before I got to any details they asked about an existing shed I had that didn't meet setback requirements and I told them its getting torn down so we're good. The next and much more important item was if the space I would be using as my driveway was wide enough. They couldn't tell by the aerial shot if it was wide enough to be considered an access point. I showed them the 31' airstream travel trailer I stored there (good ol google maps) and they still weren't sure if it was wide enough to meet code. I went to the traffic dept and asked them. They said they "think" it needs to 10' to be a driveway. This wasn't helpful since thinking it was ok wasn't solid enough for me. I emailed the supervisor and he said it was good to go at 9'4" wide. So now I get to go back again and actually show them the building I'm planning on and see fi they're good to go. Wish me luck.

 

[j p smith]

DF, good luck moving forward. It is difficult getting straight answers and for 2 of them to agree, wow. One thing that helped me when I went down was to have a plot plan showing existing and the new plot plan showing what I wanted to do. It was good to meet you, your wife and son yesterday.

If you end up doing the framing, I will plan a day to come help. JP