No Metal Buildings Allowed...

[avayan]

Finally moved and have plenty of space to build a workshop, but the city does not allow metal buildings. Whatever I build must match the house brick (Oh Joy...)

Since masonry is usually 5X the price of a metal building, I am wondering if it makes more sense to build a metal building and then cover it in bricks. Or am I deluding myself with a ridiculous notion?

My goal has always been a 2400 SQFT (40x60), but to build that in masonry, I think I would need to cash out about 250K, when I know the same metal building prepped up to the extreme would be 50K!

If you had the same issue, how did you go around it? Or should I assume I should start saving so I can build my workshop by the time I am 117? Thanks for your input!

 

[RWorth]

Is block with a brick veneer expensive now? Or one of those companies that do a stucco type brick facing?

 

[rockettgpw]

Would you be permitted to build a metal building with the presentation side clad with brick and the other sides camouflaged with greenery and trees?

 

[cvairwerks]

Best bet is go talk to the building department guys. Proper enacted the 2012 IBC, and they might not have specified it for all zoning areas. With having enough space on your lot for that sized building, you might only need masonry facade on street view sides to comply.

 

[txvwnut]

Metal building with brick veneer is what I did. The code for my city states all four side walls must be 60% masonry. I used what is called face brick to do mine it’s width and height is the same as a conventional brick but if is a half inch thick so you put it up like tile.

 

[mrramsey]

Look around where you live for anyone that has a similar situation. Take photos of your lot and where the building is planned. Include photos of the views from neighbors, the street or any other public angles.

Take this to your local review board and see if you can file for a variance. You can also get letters from your neighbors in support of the building. You may be able to get a compromise.

 

[avayan]

A question on the veneer technique. Does it raise the cost considerably or is it kind of peanuts?

Something I would like to understand is whether continuing with the metal building project still make sense economically. For example, if the metal building is 50K and the brick building is 200K to 250K, where is the metal building with masonry façade at? Is it in the 60K, 100K or 180K?

 

[jbwilkins]

Have you checked if you can even build it as large as you want? If they're requiring masonry they may have limits on sizes of 'shops/garages' that are not in an area zoned commercial.

In my case the max size I could build per local code was 750sf because of my local zoning and the finish had to match the house.

 

[1jeepfan]

Had similar issues with my HOA. No metal sided buildings allowed! I really just wanted an economical shop- pole building or metal framed building would have been great. I spent a lot of time contacting builders. Most were interested until I said it couldn't be metal sided. They all walked away at that point. I finally bit the bullet and paid a contractor to put up a stick frame shop. I get to wire, insulate and dry wall it! The price was crazy high compared to the pole building, etc. I was 'lucky' that I didn't have to go with a brick exterior.

 

[Dagny]

I thought Texas was free.

 

[txvwnut]

I thought Texas was free.

It is, except where there's HOA's and areas that want to be country but want to look like the suburbs.

 

[Ironcrow]

Can you rip the brick off the house, clad it in metal....then build the garage to match?

 

[zmotorsports]

I just went through the exact same thing when my wife and I purchased our new home a year ago and just completed my 50x60x16 shop/RV garage a few months ago. My wife and I however, did not want a metal building and pole buildings are not allowed in our subdivision even though there is no HOA, just fairly strict CC&R's. My all 2x6 constructed brick, stucco, asphalt roof shop was about $30k over what comparable pole buildings of that size were running finished off to the degree in which I wanted with as much electrical as I wanted.

Personally I prefer the accessory building to look exactly like the house much more than metal sided, metal roofed structures but that's just me.

 

[nh_yota]

See if you can use that fake stuff that they put on big box stores.

 

[isb cornbinder]

I can get my Lamborghini covered in a ridiculous plastic wrap. Maybe a plastic wrap with a brick look might be available.

 

[RPH]

I can get my Lamborghini covered in a ridiculous plastic wrap. Maybe a plastic wrap with a brick look might be available.

That’s thinking outside the box!

 

[bullnerd]

Can you rip the brick off the house, clad it in metal....then build the garage to match?

I can get my Lamborghini covered in a ridiculous plastic wrap. Maybe a plastic wrap with a brick look might be available.

Need more info from OP.

 

[NUTTSGT]

Have you checked if you can even build it as large as you want? If they're requiring masonry they may have limits on sizes of 'shops/garages' that are not in an area zoned commercial.

In my case the max size I could build per local code was 750sf because of my local zoning and the finish had to match the house.

I'd agree, that would probably be the next most logical step before you start fretting on the expense of a shop you may not be able to build.

Kinda makes living in a rural setting even more appealing doesn't it ?

 

[avayan]

Can you rip the brick off the house, clad it in metal....then build the garage to match?

HAH! Man, how on Earth did I not think of that??? Genius!

 

[readhead]

Is it metal buildings they don't allow or metal siding? Put the mouse down and go to the building department and ask.

 

[Lelandwelds]

I thought Texas was free.

It is, except where there's HOA's and areas that want to be country but want to look like the suburbs.

Kinda makes living in a rural setting even more appealing doesn't it ?

That's the problem with porous borders! The Yankees, bureaucrats, and Austinites sneak in.

 

[Radix2]

I think you have a lot of work to do to get real qoutes of apples to apples - the idea that comparable finished buildings are 5x different in cost based on framing is ridiculous. Framing is just not that big a part of the cost.


Metal and pole construction can be inexpensive for a basic metal skinned box - but if that is not where you are going, don't beat yourself up that that is your baseline.

If your baseline is residential finishes, insulation, HVAC, interior finish, etc, all your options are going to start to equalize. In Texas you do not have deep and expensive foundations as in the north that drive a lot of the cost differences.

Metal buildings save money by having framing 10 feet apart...not a very useful attribute if you want more than a thin skin over it and have to add the framing back.

 

[Firebrick43]

I am really baffled?? Why do people buy into HOA or restrictive covenant sub divisions when they desire a shop?? Moving would be cheaper! Is it a wife driven decision??

 

[nh_yota]

Just cover it with this:

http://www.partycity.com/product/deck+the+walls+red+brick+room+roll.do

 

[Ign]

I thought Texas was free.

I had the exact same thought. My only advice is move again.

 

[My Old Tools]

A lot of the "up scale" suburbs have adopted the no metal siding, or at least no metal on street views. Plenty of metal building providers no how the cover them without breaking the bank. Start by talking to Mueller and Google other metal building contractors in your area. Pretty much every small commercial building in those areas is a metal building with masonry cladding, most churches too.

 

[zmotorsports]

I am really baffled?? Why do people buy into HOA or restrictive covenant sub divisions when they desire a shop?? Moving would be cheaper! Is it a wife driven decision??

Can't speak for anyone else but my wife and I specifically went looking for a subdivision with more strict CC&R's, but we did NOT want an HOA. Something right in between. I have lived for the past 26 years in an "anything goes" neighborhood and that is why I wanted out. It started out nice but over the past 4 or 5 years started to decline dramatically and I was tired of seeing cars parked on lawns and gantry cranes in the driveway, etc. I literally lived next to Sanford & Son's junk yard and simply couldn't do it any longer. Maybe I am being **** but I knew before we moved it was not going to be the cheapest option, but I wanted something nice when done and wanted out of our previous situation. I actually went looking for a nearby city and subdivision that fit those requirements and looked for a size property that would allow me to build the size shop/RV garage that I wanted.

It's different for everyone though. Some people are driven by cost and cost only where a pole building makes more sense. To each their own.

 

[reader2580]

I live in a semi-rural city and pole buildings are only allowed over 5 acres. It is strange because the city allows garages up to 3,000 square feet and 45 feet in height. I think the pole building thing is all about the metal siding.

I only moved to this city because they allow large garages. Garage restrictions in most suburbs would never allow me to build a garage for my motor home. Most cities only allow sidewalls of 10 or 12 feet and sizes limited to 750 to 1000 square feet. Square footage allowances often include any attached garage too. I don’t really like commuting an hour each way, but it is a choice I made.

 

[matt_i]

The metal building (clear-span re-iron) is going to require a massive footing for the building anyway. So adding a couple inches for a brick footing (if you don't do the thin-slice veneer) is hardly going to be noticeable. Obviously have to purchase and lay the brick and integrate it but I don't see it as a 5x cost factor.

Me personally, would shingle if the house is shingled...and that might rule out your clearspan metal. But a stick frame is still pretty easy.

I don't know if you are doing most of this yourself or going to contract it all, that is by far the biggest expense changer imo.

 

[readhead]

Place all the girts and purlins on two foot centers. Sheet it and put anything you want on the walls and roof. No one will know that it is a metal building until they go inside. Most people go in and out of metal commercial buildings every day and don't realize it.

 

[Thumper68]

Another thing to check out is the nomenclature, is it no metal buildings or no metal garages. A friend of mine ran into this a few years back, he was not allowed to build a metal garage but he was allowed to build a metal sided barn, so that is what his plans listed the building as. Also funny was that as a garage he was not allowed a sink and drain but as a barn he could have them.

 

[ffemtdisp]

The township (a form of Government in PA and some other states) in which I reside has a zoning ordinance. We built a house in 2015, and my wife was very supportive of also building a detached garage for my stuff.

We finally settled on a pole building that we could afford and basically covers my needs. Of course it isn't as big as I wanted and I have many of the other regrets I read in this forum, but doggone it, the BUILDING EXISTS and I'm good with that.

The property on which we built came from her family and was two parcels. We placed the garage on the smaller parcel, house on the larger but they are no more than 100 ft apart.

My excavator (and our Yoda...sensei in building matters) warned me the township may not permit me to put the building on the small parcel. And he gave me a strategy in case it came up.

We are zoned residential-agricultural.

We met with the Twp. official, and showed him the plot plan. He says you can't build a garage on a parcel that doesn't have a residence on it here due to zoning.

My wife started to stand up and argue. I caught her by the belt and gently pulled her back down. I said "Sir, I own three tractors and tillage equipment. I plan to clear some of the woods and plant some potatoes when I get money ahead."

He said Oh! in that case, it is OK to put it there then... So we have thereafter referred to it as the barn.

Silly, isn't it?

 

[PugetDude]

A lot of metal buildings have brick or stone veneer- a lot of thin panel veneer systems ou there. Maybe something like this would work:

http://ambrico.com/?_vsrefdom=adwor...9Mb0MFp09OGLnNl-43GpKh5XywHobGJEaAph_EALw_wcB

http://lucasmetalworks.com/steel-buildings/building-components/nextstone-rock-panels/

Alternately, maybe you could use a horizontal steel siding that looks like lap siding...
Google :Bayside or Grandbeam siding.

Good luck.

 

[avayan]

I am really baffled?? Why do people buy into HOA or restrictive covenant sub divisions when they desire a shop?? Moving would be cheaper! Is it a wife driven decision??

Dude, you have no idea! FIVE ******** YEARS I battled and there was no way of winning. I am still looking at the slowly moving clouds as I lay flat on that blood ridden battle field, with about half a dozen arrows pummeling my chest, and a broad sword up my... I think you get the meaning ;-)

Was it the wife? That's only part of the "madness". Then there is kids and school districts. Had it only been me, rest assured the search would have taken 2 weeks or less. The first 5000 SQFT garage with an attached bedroom would have done it!

Luckily, this HOA is supremely lenient which is why I gave up and threw the towel. A workshop in here is very doable, I am just afraid it will not be as economical as a metal building would have been.

 

[joes169]

Assuming you're looking at a 10' tall side wall, some quick math comes up with about 1800 sq. feet of possible veneer. (That's assuming 2 OH doors, a man door, and a few windows) From what I've read in the past on other forums, the South, including Texas, is about the cheapest place in the country to get brick installed. It probably costs less than half of what it would cost in the NE, or even the Midwest.

I would call around and get some "ballpark" sq. footage pricing from a mason or two in the area. I wouldn't be surprised if the "guesses" came in between $12-15 per sq. foot, assuming there's no quions, corbeling, fancy brickwork invovled. $20k to $30k is a far cry from $250k..........

 

[mrbc]

Can't speak for anyone else but my wife and I specifically went looking for a subdivision with more strict CC&R's, but we did NOT want an HOA. Something right in between. I have lived for the past 26 years in an "anything goes" neighborhood and that is why I wanted out. It started out nice but over the past 4 or 5 years started to decline dramatically and I was tired of seeing cars parked on lawns and gantry cranes in the driveway, etc. I literally lived next to Sanford & Son's junk yard and simply couldn't do it any longer. Maybe I am being **** but I knew before we moved it was not going to be the cheapest option, but I wanted something nice when done and wanted out of our previous situation. I actually went looking for a nearby city and subdivision that fit those requirements and looked for a size property that would allow me to build the size shop/RV garage that I wanted.

It's different for everyone though. Some people are driven by cost and cost only where a pole building makes more sense. To each their own.

Right on. For the same reasons.

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