Planning my build

[BehanCS]

Hello All! Thank god for this forum. I have been planning and re planning the garage build I plan on taking out late this summer. I am a licensed and insured general contractor with a good amount of experience under my belt so I will be taking on the job with a few friends and co workers.

I have to say the hardest part of the design for me is size. I want to make sure it's large but affordable. I work on my own vehicles (work trucks extended cab long bed and in the future 4 door long bed). The other vehicles I work on are substantially smaller. The only time a car is really going to be parked in the garage is during a snow storm, other than that it is for storage, working on a vehicle, or a few small projects when needed. The storage would mainly be mechanics tools, yard tools, lawn mower, and bikes.

My design is fairly basic. I want 24 wide by ? Long. It will have a 16x8 door, a 36x80 man door on the side, and a window on the side.

Originally I was thinking 24x24 but I had a few friends say that would fill up fast. So I bumped it up to 24x32 and I feel like that might be doable. Very close on my budget though. Does anyone know the realistic price difference? Uninsulated and unfinished interior for now.

Do you think I am trying to bump the size too much? Do you think there is a size in between that would fit my needs? Like I said it's not for parking a car full time at this point. But I always want to have room to pull a vehicle in to work on it. The rest of the storage will be as organized as possible with shelves, cabinets, and hooks. Basically as much as I can along the wall without intruding my space.

Sorry for the long winded post. I am remodeling an entire house and the only thing I've been thinking about is what size should I make the garage.. This forum should understand that... hahaha

 

[kckndrgn]

Welcome to the forum.
My build is going on and about the same size as what you are looking at, 24x48.

How tall are your walls going to be? Mine are 10' (well, 10' 6" including the stem wall), but my primary function is wood working and storage (truck parking, tractor parking, etc.)

I'm also going with an 18x8 garage door. The 8' is needed to get my tractor in without folding down the ROPS.

Are you planning on a lift?

My width was limited due to restrictions on distance from the property line, is there any reason you don't want to go wider?

 

[NUTTSGT]

If you have a long bed extended cab truck, you might to take a measurement of the truck length. Compare that with your plans and door placement. That 24' depth will get filled up fast with the truck sitting inside, not leaving much room to work around it.

If you plan on this being your last home, plan for the future. Build it bigger if you can and use 2x6 walls. The latter will give the ability to add R19 insulation vs R13, something that will be beneficial in PA.

 

[TommyN]

2011 Build, in Kenosha WI. 24X32 10ft 2X4 walls. 16X8 insulated door, 2 glass block vented windows, 36 man door, vinyl siding, insulated. No heat. Concrete was the only thing I did not do myself ($6000). Most everything was purchased on sale or rebate. (Menards 11%). Real cost to date is $17000.
I set mine with the 24 as the front due to my lot. I have drive on lifts to store a few cars and still have plenty of room front and back to move. I actually get 5 cars in through the winter.

 

[73RR]

I don't think that you will like the 24' depth when you actually get that crew-cab in there. You will have near-zero space at front/rear. My last shop build was 30' x 30' (28' clear inside) and it has decent work space in front of the various vehicles...decent for short trucks, not so much for my Ram2500. As for width, the 28' clear is really tight for 2-OHD and a man door. I really wish I had stretched to out to 34' or so, so that I could have bigger OHDs. You will not regret building bigger that you initially think is needed. Yes, budgets do suffer.

 

[Cyberbear]

From past experience I found that if I am going to inhabit a space long term, that building as large as can be afforded is just the right size. You will have no problems growing into the extra space. Also, 12' walls are my favorite, better a little high than a little too low.

 

[kbs2244]

24 x 32 and go to a 10 foot high door.
You will have stuff on top of that truck.

 

[BehanCS]

Can't believe all the input already! Thanks so much! I see you guys also love your garages. Here is the deal... Longest trucks we own and will over own are ram 3500 crew cab long bed. Just about 22'. That being said 24x24 would be super tight. 24x28 or dimension x would win that battle. I don't feel like it would ever be a workshop for wood working or machinery. Just trucks, cars, quads, and all the other nonsense. Eventually I can do a shed for lawn and garden equipment if it gets crowded.

I had already planned on 10 foot ceilings and a 16x8 door. we use work trailers for ladders and such so no racks on the trucks.

 

[MushCreek]

32' depth minimum. And you might want to reconsider the 24' width. It would likely be 24' on the outside, and you'll lose about a foot of width with the wall structure, giving you 23' inside. My Olds 88 is 12' wide with both doors open, so a two car garage just makes it at 24' wide. Add some work benches and things start to get tight. Our one-car is 15' wide inside, and it's just right.

 

[Falcon67]

Our F350 extend cab is 240" nose to tail, so IMHO parking a 4 door in there...put in a big window in the rear so you can reach through from outside to work on the motor. 32~36' deep at least. I'm 24' deep and it's "comfortable" to work on something like a midsize, like wife's 70 Mustang.

If you're a GC then you should be able to spitball a price per sq/ft easy enough, then just run the numbers. Ours came out around $15.50 sq/ft total - all DIY except slab.

 

[Jamie V]

I have a 24'x40'x10' pole barn with a 16'x9' door. It is 4 times the size of my 1 car attached and when I built it I was sure I was plenty big enough.

The 24' wide is a crappy width, it's too wide for a 1 car garage and too narrow for a two car garage. If I were to do it over 28' or 30' width. The 40' depth is good, I'm glad I didn't go with the 36' I originally planned for. The 9' height of the door is perfect but if I was to do it over at 30' wide I would do two 10'x9' doors with 2' between them. The 10' height is my biggest regret. It's only a few inches above the door when I open it and it's hard to fit lights between the ceiling and open door. If I could do it over I'd go 14' tall. I'd have room for a lift and plenty of space for shelves or even a loft area.

If you can I'd go 30'x40'x14' with two 10'x9' doors. If you had to sacrifice anything it would be from 40' deep to 36' but then you can't go two vehicles deep for snow storms and such.