Off-site garage

[frank1380]

Hello Garage Journal readers. I recently came across this site while doing some searches for toolboxes. I've been a garage hound from a very early age. Right now my current project is taking up too much room in our 2-car garage and any future projects are right out.

My wife being the genius that she is suggested I build a workshop. Well after looking up the restrictions for our neighborhood that dream fizzled very quickly. Then she suggested an off-site garage. I'm here wondering the feasibility of such a thing.

The idea was to buy some land and just build a workshop on it. Has anybody else done this? I don't intend to have a residence on the land only a workshop.

Here's my current setup. Typically my wife's car is parked there next to my VW further cutting into small work area.

Thanks,
Frank

 

[autoist]

Frank - where are you in H'ville? I'm in Gurley.

 

[toadjammer]

It may be far more feasable to find a garage that is allready built or even rent a location till you find the perfect shop. I was able to find a building that was repurposed and being used for storage in a residential nieghborhood so it can't be used for anything but a hobby/residential garage per local codes. Purchased it last year for a fair price and now have a place to store projects and some large equipment and work on them. Granted the building isn't perfect and needs some work but it will work out at least for the next 5-10 years, hopefully I won't have it filled by then.
Toad

 

[justinmc]

Depending on where you are at the rules/regs might be different. Sometimes its easy to get permitting for a free standing structure not used as residential and sometimes its not. The best start would be to check out the rules/regs for the area you are looking at and go from there. Talk to the codes folks and just ask them.. if I'm building a garage/storage building X size x X size and I want power, water, etc in it. Can I do that or what zoning requirements are there, etc. In my area its easy to do if you are in the county zoning.. however once you are inside any municipality errecting a free standing structure gets to be all kinds of headache.

 

[krusty the clown]

my concern would be security. i would hate to have my shop/garage away from my residence because of theft. at least at home i can sleep at night knowing the dogs would wake me up if someone came on my property.

 

[autoist]

Reason I asked where in H'ville....I've a friend who has about 10 cars in his collection but he lives in an area where a large garage isn't feasible nor can he have cars sitting outside his garage.....so, he bought an old, empty warehouse off Governor's Drive near where the new tractor dealership is being built & moved all his cars there.

 

[om-nc]

Tony,
Come join us this evening at the TVR-SCCA meeting in Huntsville. Sounds like you are about ready to get your racing license. We can help and we have an MGB guy that already races Historic (but then you probably knew that already )

ps: I like the color of your B-GT
/end threadjack

Frank,
What area of Hsv? I live in a pretty restricted area and was able to pull off building a shop. Just may need to be creative.

Paul

 

[autoist]

Tony,
Come join us this evening at the TVR-SCCA meeting in Huntsville. Sounds like you are about ready to get your racing license. We can help and we have an MGB guy that already races Historic (but then you probably knew that already )

/end threadjack

Andy,
What area of Hsv? I live in a pretty restricted area and was able to pull off building a shop. Just may need to be creative.

Paul

Paul - where ya meeting tonight?

If you meant "Andy" as in "What's the name of the guy who bought the old warehouse"...then, yep - its Andy...he needed a place for all his Lotus', Triumphs, Jensens & MG's.

 

[om-nc]

Meant Frank, Beauregards on Jordan at Holmes. JohnP may be there. I assume you know him.

 

[autoist]

Meant Frank, Beauregards on Jordan at Holmes. JohnP may be there. I assume you know him.

Yep, know John very well.....lemme see what wife has planned for evening.

 

[BirdRacer]

I'm new to the site, been lurking for a while, but I just noticed you guys' locations. I work in Huntsville myself. Live just across the TN line.

Small world...

 

[kbs2244]

The problems with off site shop locations are security and travel time.
If you cannot find an unused garage by an occupied house, I would look for an industrial building where the zoning will allow razor wire etc.

You still have the travel time problem though.

 

[v8garage]

my concern would be security. i would hate to have my shop/garage away from my residence because of theft. at least at home i can sleep at night knowing the dogs would wake me up if someone came on my property.

Krusty hit the nail on the head. Having an offsite garage the question is not whether you or not you are going to be burglarized or not but when? If you do this be sure and insure it heavily and have a good security system.

 

[JB740i]

My garage is about 180' behind the house. Great for being able to beat on things and makes for a nice trip out of the house.

But my wife came out recently and said I wasn't to go in there without a phone or radio or something.

We've got a 6month old son and he just got on her last nerve for the day and she set the smoke detector off. So screaming kid on the hip and blaring alarms. None of which I could hear of course.


My brother has a lot of stuff he'd like to do to his house but his downtown location surrounded by other houses prevents a lot of it.

Might be easier on your life to just move if it's financially feasable.

 

[frank1380]

Frank - where are you in H'ville? I'm in Gurley.

Frank,
What area of Hsv? I live in a pretty restricted area and was able to pull off building a shop. Just may need to be creative.

Paul

I live in the north part of Huntsville. Very near the intersection of Hwy 53 and 255.

 

[gsport]

i did find out about shops/garages etc... sometimes if you just rename your shop to barn on the application that'll work for ya.... i have a friend that wanted to put up a shop and city ordinances would'nt allow it, he tried again saying it was going to be a barn and that's all it took... now he has a nice "barn" with a lift in it and about 7 cars too

 

[autoist]

Maybe those of us in the H'ville area need to get together in one of our garages!!

 

[Defender Chassis]

I have a couple buddies who rent a building that used to be a part of a train station. Funny story because it is right behind some really nice condos that overlook the river. The guy who built the condos was going to build more but the old train station was on some historic list so he can not tear it down. while waiting for it to rot away or fall apart my buddies are using it to work on cars. Cheap rent and lots of neighbors to watch over it makes it a really good deal.

 

[autoist]

I have a couple buddies who rent a building that used to be a part of a train station. Funny story because it is right behind some really nice condos that overlook the river. The guy who built the condos was going to build more but the old train station was on some historic list so he can not tear it down. while waiting for it to rot away or fall apart my buddies are using it to work on cars. Cheap rent and lots of neighbors to watch over it makes it a really good deal.

They should buy & restore it...neighbors would love them & really watch their cars! hehehe

 

[luvmy356]

My wife being the genius that she is suggested I build a workshop. Well after looking up the restrictions for our neighborhood that dream fizzled very quickly. Then she suggested an off-site garage. I'm here wondering the feasibility of such a thing.

The idea was to buy some land and just build a workshop on it. Has anybody else done this? I don't intend to have a residence on the land only a workshop.

I couldn't build at my house either, so I looked for industrial property for a while. Unfortunately it was all pretty expensive, hard to get to, plus I couldn't figure how to make money with it as I would have used the all the space for myself. So I ended up buying a small house on a huge lot less than 15 minutes from my house. In our city, we can build a 1000 sqft detached garage if your lot is big enough. So mine is just under 1000sqft, has 12' ceilings, three lifts, its heated, has a bathroom, and my stereo; all I need is a fridge and I could hide for a few days.

I have great renters for the house which easily covers the property taxes, insurance and extra money in my pocket, plus I have a garage which is close to home and in an area which we regularly drive by when shopping. I did wire up an alarm system which is monitored, plus I used commercial steel doors and put small windows up high to minimze the break-in risk.

 

[rsanter]

I rent a warehouse to hold my cars as well as excess stuff. if you can swing the dollars thats fine but after a while it does get annoying to pay.
if you have the money you could buy a small warehouse complex or other buisness property and use part yourself and rent the rest
one thing I have thought of is buying a cheaper house for a bargain price and repurposing it into a garage without saying anything...

bob

 

[autoist]

I rent a warehouse to hold my cars as well as excess stuff. if you can swing the dollars thats fine but after a while it does get annoying to pay.
if you have the money you could buy a small warehouse complex or other buisness property and use part yourself and rent the rest
one thing I have thought of is buying a cheaper house for a bargain price and repurposing it into a garage without saying anything...

bob

There ya go! Buy the house next door & gut it....keep the regular garage entrance & the facade & turn the entire thing into a garage - great idea!

 

[frank1380]

There ya go! Buy the house next door & gut it....keep the regular garage entrance & the facade & turn the entire thing into a garage - great idea!

There certainly are houses here that are cheap enough where that could be an option. I'll just need to keep my eye open to see what's available. Maybe I'll bite and talk to a realtor sometime.

 

[Bevis]

There ya go! Buy the house next door & gut it....keep the regular garage entrance & the facade & turn the entire thing into a garage - great idea!

My buddy just did that. bought a place next door to his, gutted it and is building it back as his shop.

 

[frank1380]

Sorry for the monster bump but here's an update.

I've abandoned the idea of an off-site garage. It's going to be too expensive and I don't think I want to drive out to it to do work then drive back home after fighting with the project-du-jour. Assuming I could even find a good place for it, that is.

However, there are a couple of other houses in the neighborhood that have extra garages, storage, barns, pool houses, etc. It looks like it will necessarily have to be brick in the same style as the house at a minimum. I don't know if I'll be limited in size by the restrictions, there's nothing in print about it.

 

[kbs2244]

With today’s economy being what it is it shouldn’t be hard for a few guys to get together and lease or even buy an old, down town, car dealership building.

I can think of 3 within 5 miles of my house.

They come with all the zoning etc in place.
Lots of outside parking space.
Lots of inside working space.
They will have lifts, doors, etc.

But they are 5 miles from my place.

 

[Chris Adams]

Funny, the subject of renting one off site has come up lately. I just had a new shop built in the backyard, but while I was doing it a buddy rented a 1000 square foot shop, super big door, decent security (bars, heavy man door) for 450 a month, one year lease. Has a small office, a bathroom, 220 volt. No heater or A/C so he has a roll around swamp cooler in there. Personal hobby shop where he can work on his ten or twenty Chevelles. There's a fenced place included that he filled with the cars.

Convenience is the worst problem, followed by security. In his case, he hangs out there at all hours so those aren't big problems. There are people in the center almost 24/7 since there are six or seven major hobbyists and several shops in this small center. It's also close to cops and the highway so fairly safe.

If I could have found a deal like that within a mile or two of my house I would have taken it rather than build a smaller shop in the back.

 

[Stogies]

Chris made me feel better. I rented a very secure 32X32 20ft ceilings in a 6 unit commercial building. Electric included, 220 service, no heat or air. Shared bathroom. Includes outside storage. I know the renters in 3 other units.
$250 a month about 1 mile from my house.
I met the former renter who also used it as a hobby car shop. He built a loft that covered half of the building. Too bad he used the lumber in the garage he built.

 

[Suprman]

wish i could fin something like that in the atlanta area. I rent a 15x40 storage unit with no power for $250 and i can't work in it.

I've got to find something soon and living in an apartment, the only thing they have is small 10x20 garages for $85 a month.

 

[frank1380]

I know this is another big bump but I began some site preparation over the weekend. I spoke with my neighbors and there is no home owner's association and the "architectural committee" that approves/denies designs turned his power over to the county. I've talked with several contractors and it looks like I am good to go. Below are a couple of Google Sketchup drawings I made so I could get an idea for what it would look like in my back yard.

The white block in the lower left is my house and the one in the bottom center is approximately a big Ford F350.

I intend to put windows along the long walls for some natural light.

Once the construction actually begins I'll put some real photographs in the Garage Gallery.

Thanks for all the ideas and encouragement everyone.

 

[kbs2244]

You just learned something important.
Restrictive real estate “Convents” can expire.

It depends on the state, sometimes by the county, but most HOA’s need to be renewed regularly.
With out an legally active HOA the convents are no longer enforceable.

If any of you are in the same possible position a trip to the local county court house deed department will let you know if have any enforceable restrictions on your deed.