Buy or build a garage?

[JimD]

My 28 year old son seems to have found a job that pays him enough to live on that he enjoys. He's still less than a year into the job but with todays depressed housing market he is starting to look. He lives with me which is OK but he's plenty old enough to be on his own - he has been a couple times - and my house is about 60 miles and over an hour from where he works. We saw a decent little starter house today on 2 acres. He really wants a garage, however, for working on his vehicles. He can afford something with a 1 or 2 car garage but around here that is typically 20x20 which isn't really big enough for vehicles and tools. And it pushes him to the top of what he can afford. The alternative is to buy a similar house without the garage for about half as much. The bigger nicer homes are on slabs too. I prefer a crawls space (or basement but they are not in the area he is looking).

Anyway, with that background, he is thinking of buying the cheaper house with no garage and then putting up a garage. Probably at least 24x24. If he does that, should we build the garage, probably getting a contractor to put in a slab/foundation? Or should we just have them put up a garage? We'll probably get prices both ways but I'm looking for suggestions. It seems like we could get a couple of his buddies and do this in a week - more if it's just nights and weekends and maybe less if we get at least 3-4 days of everybody working. I've finished a couple basements and built a few decks but never a garage. Seems doable but I have no direct experience.

Comments?

Jim

[tommyt654]

Hey Jim, Something you might want to consider is to contact several of the steel building manufacturers in your area or even the larger companys. Many will elect to offer you substantial savings if you'll allow them to show your building to potential customers in that area. Most only ask to be able to show the outside with the owners permission and will reduce the initial cost by several thousands of dollars. Then all you have to do it get the slab/permits and most will install or allow you to do prefab installs yourselves. , http://www.gaport.com/garages.htm , http://www.usbuildingsdirect.com/

[Pappy]

Definintly cheaper to build yourself if you are going to stick build it. I would go with metal studs and Hardi Panels. A bit more than wood but virtually maitenace free.

The first link that Tommy gave has some decent pricing, too. The other link you have to call or email for a quote and I'm not a big fan of quanset style buildings.

[cabinetman]

I had a friend put up a 5000 sq ft steel building (with the round top) in a week or so on top of a slab. He had some help. I was really impressed. Those solve the wall/roof thing. His doesn't leak. You might think about what may be considered "hurricane ready", whatever that means. I would think South Carolina would be considered at risk.

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[woodturner]

If he does that, should we build the garage, probably getting a contractor to put in a slab/foundation? Or should we just have them put up a garage?

Depends on the garage. If you want a standard, detached garage on relatively flat ground, the "garage in a day" places are typically 20% to 30% less than your cost of materials.

The key to their business model is they build standard garages, of particular types and sizes, and ONLY that. If you want a different size, they will either refuse the business or be very expensive.

As a data point, I built an oversized two car garage as a shop about five years ago. My materials cost, even with trade discounts, was around $10K. In fairness, that included higher end doors, hardiplank siding, etc. It was also attached to the house. The "garage in a day" folks quoted me $6500 for that garage - IF I built it as a detached garage. In addition, they would build it in two days - one to excavate and pour the foundation and floor, a second day a week later to build the rest. It took me most of the summer to build the garage, working alone and doing all the work myself, from the footer on up.

[tommyt654]

Typically a poured slab with footings and rebar for a 25 x 25 pad will run about $4500 with a permit here. Of course you can find those that will pour you a slab & footing cheaper if you do not want to go to the expense of gettin a permit and insuring that its meets code. Thats where a lot of folks try to make up the difference in saving to build a less expensive garage. I have seen a few of those yrs later with cracked floors. I would highly recommend a good concrete foundation and worry about what your gonna put on it afterwards. Plesse do yourself a favor and make sure its up to code. Most of the time they will also dig you a channel for your power as well. Then its only a matter of dedciding what you want to do. I lean towards the traditional style garages with a single roll up steel door and 2 windows per side, or at the least a few sunlights in the ceiling to save energy cost on lighting Sheetrocked on the inside and painted white, with a john a small fridge, the requisite t.v and radio + a spot for the pooch and I'm good to go. Most of the garages here are the steel prefab that go up in a day or 2 and are very well made and easy to insulate with premade fiberglas panels. We recently had quite a few Tornado's here in the south and a lot of those garages are still standing tho they would not survive a direct hit I'm sure ,but 1 I saw was sitting right next to a house that was flattened still standing strong so they must be fairly windproof

[tommyt654]

"I'm not a big fan of quanset style buildings.", Hmmmm I wonder why