What A Garage Addition Costs - 2010-2011.

[Bolster]

Latest Realtor magazine publishes national (and regional) costs of various additions to the home. Here are the National average costs on the addition of a garage, for discussion.

Add midrange garage: costs $60.6K, resale value is $35.8K.
Add upscale garage: costs $90K, resale value is $48.2K.

Recoup costs are running 54-59% for a garage. Ie, a bad investment if your aim is simply to resell.

These are national averages where work is done by hired contractors (not self). If you spent less, or did the work yourself, or live in an inexpensive area of the country, then by all means, let the bragging begin!

 

[pep]

I guess there's a hint there for people who are looking to buy a house.

Any clue what a metal building + power on a slab costs (per sq/ft or something of course)?

 

[KYGTP]

Latest Realtor magazine publishes national (and regional) costs of various additions to the home. Here are the National costs on the addition of a garage, for discussion.

Add midrange garage: costs $60.6K, resale value is $35.8K.
Add upscale garage: costs $90K, resale value is $48.2K.
Recoup costs are running 54-59% for a garage.

These are national averages where work is done by hired contractors (not self). If you spent less, or did the work yourself, then by all means, let the bragging begin!

I would like to know what they consider "Upscale" is.

I just built a garage and it was twice that and then some............But then again I have 1700 sq. in the garage and 1400 on the second floor, and the second floor is just framed

Also, it really depends on where you live too, so I guess that could apply to some, but man did I only wish it was that cheap. Oh well, I love my new space and it was worth every penny.

 

[Steevo]

In my area, construction/replacement costs are higher than sale value. My insurance company made me buy home coverage at $711k for replacement, when I'd be lucky to sell at $575k today.

 

[Steevo]

The 24'x 40' x 12' separate garage/shop I built behind my place in Idaho has cost me about $47k so far, and I still need cabinets, toilet, sink, attic insulation, driveway, and a few other things.
I paid a contractor to do everything up to finishing the outside ($37k), then took over from bare studs inside, doing the rest myself.

I don't know what "upscale is, either, but mine will be fully finished, heated, insulated, etc., so not bare bones.

 

[cheap bastard]

Replacement for my house that burned in '08 was 235K. I doubt that it would have sold for 150K at that time. The new house, garage and shop that stand here now, although much nicer than the old stand, would probably only generate 150K today. There is no way a guy should build right now unless there is someone else footing the bill.

 

[Colonial Cobra]

That's only true if you are planning to sell.. I think now is the perfect time to build. Material is cheap and Contractors are hurting for work. The market will turn around. As long as you don't plan to sell in the near future, go ahead and build.

And that magazine is figuring the cost of a contractor doing the work. My value went up nearly 4 times the cost of my garage addition. But I did the work myself.

 

[Bolster]

...double post removed...

 

[Bolster]

Hi guys...reread the article, no technical explanation given of the diff between midrange and upscale. The primary source for the article was HomeTech Information Systems (hometechonline.com) so maybe some research there would answer the question.

I would like to know what they consider "Upscale" is.
I just built a garage and it was twice that and then some............But then again I have 1700 sq. in the garage and 1400 on the second floor, and the second floor is just framed

I'm guessing you're in the upper upper upper range of garages with a huge double decker type of garage...

In my area, construction/replacement costs are higher than sale value..

Yes, that's what the 54-59% statistic referred to. Basically telling you its cheaper to buy than to build and resell (if the only value you're getting from your garage is resale value).

 

[kbkna]

Thanks for the research. Every penny I have put into my shop has been well worth it!

 

[Gary S]

You need to remember that building costs for a garage can run from $10-$100 a sq ft and farther either direction. This article isn't written by the brightest in the world, so they probably just picked some average number.
Assuming that their 54-59% return falls somewhere in the middle of the $10-$100 range, the people at the lower end can easily expect a 200% or more return on their investment.

 

[Bolster]

This article isn't written by the brightest in the world....

It's a data heavy article in the leading real estate magazine backed up by a major player in the real estate research market, so I wouldn't denigrate the research offhand. Remember these people are focused on making money with their investments so the research tends to be rather intense when dollars are at stake. And as stated these are averages. The article puts a fine point on it when it says: "The cost vs value report provides an accurate snapshot of the national housing market, but it can't be applied accurately to an individual remodeling project for a particular address." So I think they appropriately caveated their research and made the reader sufficiently aware of variability.

You'd have to do the work yourself to make money on a new-build garage in this market, methinks. Or make the garage pay for itself via the output it allows you. But just having a garage built by a contractor and then reselling it? Not too likely.

 

[SHELLFISH]

I'm building a 24 X 28 sq ft garage, two story, which is projected to cost me about $35.00 sq ft.
The cost will probably go up as building progresses!

 

[Gary S]

I'll just add that I built a 1150 sq ft garage. It increased property value by 200% of the cost of the garage.
Like always, the smart investors win, and the others lose.

 

[mmb617]

That's amazing that a garage can cost that much, I'd sure never have one if that was the case where I live.

We built a 3 car garage in 2002-03 and by doing all the work ourselves had just under $8k in it.

Then last year we added another bay with 13 ft ceilings so we'd have room for a lift. This single bay came in at right around $6k.

Obviously where you live makes a big difference in the cost as well as how much work is contracted out.

 

[Steevo]

That's amazing that a garage can cost that much, I'd sure never have one if that was the case where I live.

We built a 3 car garage in 2002-03 and by doing all the work ourselves had just under $8k in it.

Then last year we added another bay with 13 ft ceilings so we'd have room for a lift. This single bay came in at right around $6k.

Obviously where you live makes a big difference in the cost as well as how much work is contracted out.

That's a lot of "we" there, Kimosabe.
When you only have "I" and the options are do it alone or hire help, the price goes up a lot. Family works cheap, especially if that "we" includes your offspring assisting.

 

[Bolster]

Guys, as I stated in the original post, these are pay-someone-else-to-build-it prices. Of course you can "make money" if you build it yourself--it's called sweat equity. And if your time is worth nothing, then you can make a killing building a garage! It's a far better investment than sitting on the couch watching TV.

For those of us who love garages, their resale value is only one factor of many that makes them valuable to us.

 

[SPDMETL]

I think after the shocking prices I've gotten, maybe I'll tear some **** down and reuse materials to build myself...

 

[ddawg16]

As with any 'modification' to a house, you have to factor in what that mod is worth to a person who is looking to buy the house.

As correctly noted above.....redoing a garage just for resale value is typically not a good return on investment. Your house has the same problem.....i.e. putting in wood flooring is not going to add to the value of the house as much as the flooring cost.

Lets be honest....if your doing the garage for resale value....don't bother.....we are really doing it for us....

What was the program on HGTV called? "Curb Apeal"? Where they go in and fix up a house to help its sale value.....and in a few cases the people decided to keep the house after all.

So...why put off those mods....do them now and enjoy them.

I have no doubt that if we wanted to sell our house....if the right couple looked at it...the garage would be the main reason it was bought....where I live...there are no 1000 sq ft/2 story garages.....but you have to find the right persons.

It's like a 67 Camero RS convertable.....to some people its a 43 year old car....but some of us would 'almost' give our left nut for it....me? I would give my left nut to have mine back....

 

[jkeyser14]

I have no doubt that if we wanted to sell our house....if the right couple looked at it...the garage would be the main reason it was bought....where I live...there are no 1000 sq ft/2 story garages.....but you have to find the right persons.

When I was looking for a house three years ago I could barely find houses in my price range that had any garage whatsoever. Now across the street from me my neighbors house was foreclosed upon and he has a 800 sq ft garage with 12 ft celings and an apartment above it. Plenty of people made him offers of 1/3 what it would have sold for 3 years ago, but none of them were able to secure the financing and after a year the bank kicked him out. The property went to auction (we didn't know about it) and had zero buyers at an opening bid of $28k. Bank still has it, it's still sitting there empty. It's now one of 5 foreclosures on a street with 15 houses.

But hey, that's how the cookie crumbles.

 

[Lhorn]

Interesting. I was recently considering adding a garage stall but decided against it. Some said that other more temporary solutions don't build equity in the home, which is true, but I read an article recently on Yahoo that listed adding garage space as one of the worst upgrades to a house (as far as recouping your investment) so I think there is something to it. Of course it's different if you plan to do a lot of the work yourself. I have no experience in building and no one to help me so that wasn't an option.

 

[59 wagon man]

the 3 car garage pictured would be considered a bare bones style build upscale build would include such things as
1-higher peaked roof with a tile roof
2- windows
3- insulated doors with windows and wider also
4-multistory
5- different exterior finish possibly stucco
6- this appears to be frame construction cinder block build would be more
7- floor finish? smooth polished epoxy coated
8- rain gutters and possible catchment system
9 - bathroom
10 - heat and a/c
11 - finished driveway such as pavers or concrete

 

[blazsawgras]

my garage 24x26 8 foot ceiling about 7 thousand in 1995. that is a metal building.

 

[Grumpy365]

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=81858&referrerid=47711

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=84324&referrerid=47711

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=83925&referrerid=47711

This all seems vaguely familiar

 

[Bolster]

This all seems vaguely familiar

I posted up to add some actual empirical data to the discussion. I don't think the above linked posts, interesting as they are, had aggregate empirical data in them regarding recoup percentages (apologies if they did), so I question the premise of your emoticon: ie, that the horse even died in the first place!

My intent was to add some data for consideration by people who are contemplating garage builds, that's all. I always am saddened by someone making a big investment in something and then losing half the value upon sell.

 

[59 wagon man]

my garage was built by me and some freinds but they got paid . we made the roof trusses did as much as i could building is block attached to the house. to build the garage which is 18'w x 26'l x 10'6" h plus a room in between the house and garage which is 12' x 15' x 8' cost about $18,000 in 1995. a good tip is to put a window up high facing west .i used a sidelight from a door which is 1' x about 7' long and in the afternoon it lets in a tremendous amount of natural light

 

[Grumpy365]

I posted up to add some actual empirical data to the discussion. I don't think the above linked posts, interesting as they are, had aggregate empirical data in them regarding recoup percentages (apologies if they did), so I question the premise of your emoticon: ie, that the horse even died in the first place!

My intent was to add some data for consideration by people who are contemplating garage builds, that's all. I always am saddened by someone making a big investment in something and then losing half the value upon sell.

I agree with your point and appreciate the data, although it falls on many deaf ears.

The point people are missing is Build it for you and don't expect to recoup your investment.

The familiarity I was referring to was in the replies, not the topic.

A shop is so important to many people on the board that they can't comprehend it may make their home less marketable. ( it is a foreign concept that someone wouldn't want a shop , much less that ALOT of someones looking for a house, don't want one)

 

[ddrewyor]

We built our house in 1999 and I discussed with my wife not having our contractor finish the upstairs and using the money, ~ $10K to build a second garage. The trade off was that I would finish the upstairs myself - it was only exterior walls. I built the back garage - 30 x 40 and 600sq ft upstairs for right around our budget (not upscale, but not a budget build). I then used the garage to work from and store materials bought on sale or deals as they came along. I wound up putting less than $8K into the upstairs of the house and have three bedrooms, a full bath(tiled) and a den with cathedral ceilings and cherry wood floor. The Master bedroom has a spa tub in it and is all tiled in. My contractor was going to put two bedrooms, a bathroom with linoleum, and a sitting den, all carpeted for the $10K. I do not know the value the garage added to my property, but being able to do the upstairs of the house while picking up materials on deals really made the garage worth it. I also maintain all my vehicles and know I have saved a great deal of money that has paid for that garage over a couple of times. Worth every penny!

Dave

 

[dreamer60]

I had a new garage built in November of 2010 in a western suburb of Cleveland. It measures 21 x 34' has 9' walls with scissor trusses, 2 Andersen series 400 windows, a 16' x 8' insulated door, garage opener, 6"pad with 36' footers, siding is Hardie board and roof is a 6/12 pitch. Additionally, has a service door and basic electrical service. Also, added an additional 10' of drive to push the garage towards the back of the lot. Cost was $23,500. My best guess is that in this market, where we never experienced a housing bubble but did experience a housing bust, it added probably 60 cents on the dollar to the house.

Interestingly, I was going to have it built in the fall of '08 but decided to hold off when the financial system froze. I the intervening years I changed my garage plans by adding the driveway extension, increasing the walls to 9', having the garage door be insulated, increasing the pad depth to 6" and specifying the Hardie board. When I had the contractors update their quotes, one contractor essentially rebid the job at the same costs.

It is definitely not a high end showcase project (its' detached, not heated, etc) but as standard garages go it is at the high end of the spectrum. I am pleased with the quality of work and the functionality added to the home. It may not add $1 for $1 value to the home but it would definitely increase the marketability of the home and has increased my enjoyment of my home.

 

[mikeyr]

I don't understand the concept of looking at what a garage adds to the value of the house, why does it matter what it does for resale ? I built my garage to have fun in and relax in, if I lost money I don't care, its exactly what I wanted.

Then again, I will die in this house or garage so my heirs will be the ones selling it.

 

[Kevin54]

Location plays a HUGE part in the cost. In California the price of what I built mine for would be double and if a contractor built it, probably quadruple. For instance, 10+ year ago we added a 24' x 24' family room on our house. I built it myself. Total cost, on a crawlspace, 2x6 walls, 8' ceiling, $17,000.00. Contractor would have charged $40,000.

My wifes 20'x20' building...built in 2006, cedar sided, 8 windows, 2'x6'walls, block foundation 36" in the ground, concrete floor, was $7,000. Completely finished inside. Contractor would have charged $35,000.

My garage is 28' x 36' with 6' overhang / eave on front and side, block foundation 36" in the ground. 2" x 4" wall studs, standard 4/12 pitch factory made trusses, drywalled & insulated. Total cost including floor and driveway was right at $13,000. To build that same garage today would probably run in the$30,000.00 range to have a contractor do it. But just simple things like insulation add up. For instance, the wife and I insulated the attic with R30 batts. My cost to buy was right at $700. If a contractor was hired to do it at a later time of the build like we did, I would imagine that it would easily cost $2000 to insulate.

All block foundations and any cement work on the above was farmed out to ones that do that work. And I'm like Mikeyr....I don't build with house appreciation in mind, but build for enjoyment. I figure for every year that I can go out in the garage and tinker around, it was money well spent

 

[ajdrew23]

Work on my 2 car detached (23' x 23') just began on Long Island, going to cost me about $70k when all is said and done. I wouldn't consider it an upscale garage, but it will be very nice. Gotta love NY!

 

[GarageEnvy]

I work as a real estate appraiser and while I can't comment on the validity of this particular study, I will say that the appraisal industry looks on statistics and claims made by NAR with more than a fair amount of healthy skepticism. NAR is not an objective research firm, they are a trade organization with the purpose of furthering the sale of homes. Now having said that, they sourced this information from another party. Still NAR has a reputation for picking and choosing the information that they rely on. Before someone says "What's your beef with NAR" I'll say that I don't have one. They do a fantastic job for their industry.

If you wanted a quantitative source for building costs outside of contractor bids I'd recommend the Marshall & Swift Cost service. They update the information frequently and it is regionally and locally adjusted and allows you to change things like plate height and add/subtract for different climates, foundations and interior fixtures and finishes. National statistics by their nature tend not to represent local areas very well and tend to be more skewed toward larger population centers where the majority of data is.

 

[bczygan]

A very good discussion thread.

Concerning cost and value, one thing to remember, even if you do portions or all of the labor yourself, your time has value and should be included in the costs of a project. Otherwise you are just fooling yourself that, when you sell it, you made money.

 

[harvero]

Work on my 2 car detached (23' x 23') just began on Long Island, going to cost me about $70k when all is said and done. I wouldn't consider it an upscale garage, but it will be very nice. Gotta love NY!

Could you of done a pre-fab garage? You still needs to have footing a slab poured, but it would be a lot less money.

http://www.horizonstructures.com/raised_roof_garage.asp#calculate