Building a gurage or buy prefab?

[jason lambert]

I live in NJ and want to add a 2 car gurage to my house so I can use the exsisting gurage as a shop. Question is should I hire someone to build it or get a prefab garage? Anyone do this yet I am thinking prefab garage would be cheaper given what the contractors want here but I don't know where to start or who makes a nice one. looking about 24X26 1.5 levels.

[Mitchell Andrus]

Either way, much of the cost is in the grading/footings/slab, garage doors, windows, roof and permits... all of which don't change much one method/other.

This time of year, you should find a crew to stick build something pretty quickly - four days max. if they know what there're doing.

I looked into it a few years ago. $13-15,000.00 2 car, start to finish, bare walls inside, no heat.

[Gary Curtis]

The numbers tell the whole story. In 2005 I priced out a pre-fab shop to sit next to/ my new house and garage. Bear in mind that prices have gone up sharply since then, and I live in timber country. The lumber in my house was cut and milled in the neighborhood.

The local mill provided what they called a "garage package" for $7/ft-sq. It included lumber, roofing, windows,doors, insulated garage door, all hardware & nails. Everything but the flooring, concret pad and electrical. (California code demands 6" walls and dual glazed windows).

The lowest bid I could get brom a builder was about $35/ft-sq. His bid included a slab and the electrical.

Gary Curtis:D

[Jim Becker]

Jason, I think you need to price out both ways and what Mitchell mentions is true...a lot of the work and expense goes into site prep. Also check on local zoning including setbacks and total building sq ft occupancy limits before you commit to the investment.

[Terry Sparks]

Just to bring up another point in all this, prefab is usually the cheaper route, but if you desire a nicer building that blends with your existing home that enhances your property value, it will be tough to do with a prefab. To me, buildings and landscaping on a property are very much the same as building funiture for a home, when it flows all together, the sum total becomes nicer than the individual parts.

[William Nimmo]

I would be shaking from excitement if I had the opportunity to build my own garage from scratch. If you are building a wood shop, you must have skills. Use them to build your shop. You will need some help with setting the ridge beam and all but if at all possible, why not?

[Larry VanWinkle]

I went with the prefab. In my area I have a guy who rents/sells what I call "yard barns". In talking with him he told me that the company that builds the yard barns for him also has a service where you can order virtually any size building you desire and they will custom build it for you. So, I scratched out a rough floor plan and they had a model that they "tweeked" to match my plan.
The building I bought is 24 x 36 with two floors. Downstairs is the woodshop and upstairs is the "man cave". I poured the footer, laid up three courses of block and then poured the floor with one block above the floor. I laid down the sill plate and waited for them to deliver the building. They rolled in at 7:00 AM on Oct 4, 2004 with all the painted prefab walls (doors and thermo windows installed), roof sheeting and shingles on three trailers. They set the first floor walls one at a time then plated them all together. They then put up the second floor joists, laid the flooring then put up the second floor walls. Then they spun up the roof rafters, sheeted it, papered it and shingled it. Eight hours later the building was completely erected.
Over the next six months I wired, plumbed, insulated, finished the interior walls and ceilings and installed the furnace. Total cost for the entire project ... just a tick over $13,000.
I was very pleased with the prefab concept - especially the part of being completely under roof in eight hours.

[William Nimmo]

o.k. I would probably be shaking with more excitement ,to have it up in one day for those numbers

[Mitchell Andrus]

Larry, I'm green with envy. My 'retirement' home/acreage will have room to do stuff like this...... soon.

[Rob Will]

If I cared what the rest of my property looked like I would stick build a garage that matches the style of the house. Little details like eave height, overhang width and roof pitch make alll the difference. Anything less looks like somebody dropped a random building out of a plane and it landed in your yard.:D;):eek:

Cheap, Quick, Good........pick two.

Rob

[Bruce Wrenn]

Here locally we have a couple of companies that only do detached garages. Current FWW TOOL issue has an article where author used a garage builder after getting prices from general contractor. I think that is the way to go. They are in and out in a couple weeks.

[jason lambert]

I would love to use it for the shop but my house has a 2 car gurage which I am going to use for my shop and hobbies. I think this will be better since it is heated and my tools will be less likely to rust there. Also my tools will be in the house I would hate to truck accross the yard for a screwdriver every time I needed one. I will use one side for the wifes car and the other for my shop and when I am working remove the car.

I am doing the other gurage to store my car and yard equipnment in. This will be unheated. I would love this for my shop since it will be new and will have high celings but I couldn't afford to heat it a hour or two a night when I work.

I live right outside NYC I think if I could get it built for less than 40K I am lucky.

[keith ouellette]

I built my shop building and breeze way myself and i had very little construction experience. I loved it and even though I made some mistakes and it took up all free time every time I look out the window at it I am very proud and happy i went that route. If You have time it may be something you will appreciate also. Grade and slab were by far the most expensive aspect.

[Eric DeSilva]

When I was looking at this, I liked these:

http://www.shelter-kit.com/barn.html

and the prices seemed decent. Didn't end up pulling the trigger (sort of have to finish the house first), so can't comment on fit/finish or the company itself.