Building a new split-face block shop - anyone ever done this?

[Brad Rucker]

Being medically retired (NET cancer, stage 4), my hobby has become my go-to activity when I have the energy for it.

One nice thing about living here in Texas is that the property taxes on our home can't go up due to my diagnosis. But that hasn't stopped the state from dramatically increasing the property tax for my woodshop property that's roughly 4 miles away. The annual taxes on that shop have gone from $300 a year to over $3k. So my plan is now to build a new shop beside our home and then sell the old shop property.

My old shop is 1500 sq. ft and is an insulated metal building on 1.25 acres. It's been great, but as I said, the taxes are ridiculous and as real estate is still hot here, it would more than finance the cost of a new shop.

After looking at several options and getting bids from a couple of contractors, I've decided to have us (my wife and I) do the general contracting. Won't be too hard as we live at the build site. I've had to GC some work for myself before and while not fun, it beats dealing with contractors in Texas. (If you don't know, Texas has very, very few laws to protect people from unscrupulous contractors ripping them off. Nothing stops them from getting large cash payments upfront, leaving before the work starts or mid-project and then pocketing the cash. They then have their company declare bankruptcy and they start a new company.)

My plan is for a 30 x 68 split-face block building with 12 foot tall walls. There will be a green house attached at one end for my wife. That'll be about 16x22. This will give me approximately 2000 sq. ft and my wife gets around 350 aq. ft.

All that being said, one of my son-in-laws owns a stone and masonry business. I plan to have him do the shell of the new shop. It will be significantly cheaper than frame construction right now - based on the bids I've gotten. He'll use split-face block that has IWR (integrated water repellent) and IWR mortar. The roof will be traditional engineered wooden trusses.

As split-face block is always a challenge for the inside of a workshop (hanging things, etc), I plan to have J bolts put between blocks in a repeating pattern with the threaded portion of the J bolt protruding into the interior of the shop. That way I can place sheets of insulation onto the bolts, then drill holes in 4x8 sheets of plywood and hang them directly over the insulation sheets. So the inside of the shop will be all plywood without having to build a 2x4 structure around the entire inside perimeter of the shop.

After finally getting HOA approval for the project, I'm ready to line up my engineer and my subs and get rolling.

But finally, here's my question. Has anyone done this or something like it? Any hard-won wisdom to share?

[Tom M King]

Sounds good to me, but I'm not sure the anchor bolts are the best method. I've done similar with long Z pieces of folded metal. It's been so long ago that I forget the gauge of the metal, but I had them folded on a brake to my design. They were put every 2 feet. The angles of the Z's were 90 degrees, and held the foam under the interior flat part of the Z.

[Brad Rucker]

Sounds good to me, but I'm not sure the anchor bolts are the best method. I've done similar with long Z pieces of folded metal. It's been so long ago that I forget the gauge of the metal, but I had them folded on a brake to my design. They were put every 2 feet. The angles of the Z's were 90 degrees, and held the foam under the interior flat part of the Z.

Interesting. But you used the Z's to hold only the insulation?

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Brad Rucker, Best wishes during your retirement! My Dad has advanced cancer but keeps Soldiering On. His doctor asked him last week if he was a cat. Your building sounds like it will be fantastic! A mistake I made as G.C. for a big shop was not spending enough time on plan review prior to getting the plans stamped and approved. We made some changes as we went along and any change had to be re-submitted and re-approved. We also hired an Engineer who assessed all of the machinery and then doubled the amps for every machine. The electrical was way oversized and broke the budget (the building has two 400 amp services!).
Very Best Wishes To You! -Maurice

[Ole Anderson]

I thought split face was only on the exterior portion of the block?

[Brad Rucker]

I thought split face was only on the exterior portion of the block?

Yes. The interior face of the block is straight. But difficult to hang things from.

[Brad Rucker]

Brad Rucker, Best wishes during your retirement! My Dad has advanced cancer but keeps Soldiering On. His doctor asked him last week if he was a cat. Your building sounds like it will be fantastic! A mistake I made as G.C. for a big shop was not spending enough time on plan review prior to getting the plans stamped and approved. We made some changes as we went along and any change had to be re-submitted and re-approved. We also hired an Engineer who assessed all of the machinery and then doubled the amps for every machine. The electrical was way oversized and broke the budget (the building has two 400 amp services!).
Very Best Wishes To You! -Maurice

Thanks, Maurice. I hope the Lord keeps your dad around a long time.

[Malcolm McLeod]

...
After looking at several options and getting bids from a couple of contractors, I've decided to have us (my wife and I) do the general contracting. Won't be too hard as we live at the build site. I've had to GC some work for myself before and while not fun, it beats dealing with contractors in Texas. (If you don't know, Texas has very, very few laws to protect people from unscrupulous contractors ripping them off. Nothing stops them from getting large cash payments upfront, leaving before the work starts or mid-project and then pocketing the cash. They then have their company declare bankruptcy and they start a new company.)
...
...
But finally, here's my question. Has anyone done this or something like it? Any hard-won wisdom to share?

I GC'd my own house and built a shop or 2 for my folks as they relocated thru the years. All traditional frame, so can't help with block advise. We saved typical 20-30% of our home's cost that would have gone to builder's risk / profit.

For every unscrupulous contractor or sub, there are 15-20 good ones. In Texas. Yes, even in woe-begotten Texas. The bad ones leave tracks in today's interconnected world, even through bankruptcy. Work at your vendor research. If you are the GC, this IS your work. Caveat Emptor.

Look for subs on large tract builder sites - Centex/DR Horton/etc. If those subs cheat the builder, they will likely loose 300-500 homes over a 5 year period. They won't risk their reputation. Drive by and look at their last job site, look at their tools. Does it look like they care for both?

Or, is the sub's crew frying chicken wings on the floor in the garage? Hmmm, wonder if the extra raw wings will get kicked up under the trim lumber rack? What will that smell like in 3 days? And FYI, it is possible to use enough cleaner and scrubbing to get the spilled oil out of the concrete ... so epoxy floor coating will stick. (I will reluctantly allow that they did do a good job with the drywall ... or maybe paint? It's been a year or 17.)

Most (large) upfront payments are for materials, so buy your own; pay the subs for their labor, period. Pay them weekly draws against work completed; hold back 10-15% for final payment when they are 'done'/cleaned up/gone. (If you can't define what 'done' means, then hire a experienced construction manager who CAN define it - - pay subs when manager says the work is done. Pay Manager as part-time consultant ... maybe a bonus for time-to-complete, but no budget oversight - - that is all on you.)

Have materials delivered to the site as soon as available. Should be easy since, as you say, you live on-site. Rain? Make space in your garage or tarp it. Ask each sub for a BOM, and you buy it. Read it and review with them for accuracy. Potential downside is they have you over- or under-buy. Our biggest budget hit was delaying delivery of our 3X garage doors from Friday AM to Monday. They were a drive-up-appeal-splurge and we were overly cautious about the doors sitting unsecured and potential theft. Naturally, vendor declared on Friday PM, and judge froze their warehouse inventory. We would have gotten them had we only waited the 2+years it took to clear the case. (Thanks, but 'No!'; so we bought again.)

God's speed with your build and your battle.

[Tom M King]

In that job we screwed metal plaster lath to the Z’s and plastered the interior. Could hold plywood too.

[Jim Becker]

That type of building isn't as common around here, at least in residential settings I suspect. I don't see any issue with the method you plan on using...it actually seems both cost effective and "simple" to come up with a nice clean interior that suits your needs. You may want to put a strip of PT at the very bottom of the walls for the plywood to rest on so that any larger weight you hang on the walls isn't completely borne by the j-bolts that secures the plywood to the walls. I did a similar thing in my post frame shop fit-out for any vertical supports I added into the wall for "heavy hanging" (lumber), insuring any weight was transferred directly to the floor.

Best wishes to you on your project and I hope you fully document it here!

[Brad Rucker]

That type of building isn't as common around here, at least in residential settings I suspect. I don't see any issue with the method you plan on using...it actually seems both cost effective and "simple" to come up with a nice clean interior that suits your needs. You may want to put a strip of PT at the very bottom of the walls for the plywood to rest on so that any larger weight you hang on the walls isn't completely borne by the j-bolts that secures the plywood to the walls. I did a similar thing in my post frame shop fit-out for any vertical supports I added into the wall for "heavy hanging" (lumber), insuring any weight was transferred directly to the floor.

Best wishes to you on your project and I hope you fully document it here!

Jim:

Great point on pressure treated 2x4s at the bottom of the plywood. I will do that for sure. As an aside, thanks for your thread on your build as I've enjoyed living it vicariously.

I plan to document the build here, too. Thank for the encouragement.

Brad