A silly question about building. (1 Viewer)

[staphory]

I have a small house that I live in. I don’t have a good parking situation. The cars are parked on grass, out in the open and exposed to the elements. I fully intend to put up a garage but it really hasn’t been a priority. Until now.
My mom has offered to put up half the money to have a garage built on the condition that I get on it this year. She asked me how much one would cost but I don’t really know the answer.
I really want a structure that is fully enclosed and will match the house. So the question is...how do I get started? Do I just cold call a contractor and describe what I want? Call an architect? There are a lot handyman types around here so I know I won’t use them. There is also absolutely no code enforcement in my county so what you can expect to have built and what you end up with can be variable.
Any advice is appreciated.

 

[efil4stnias]

Prefab out the question?

Id start with a General Contractor - if its a simple garage ( say 20 x 20 ) i dont know that you would need an architect to draw up a square foundation and framing for that. ( unless you plan on doing more than just a plain "garage" - i mean like living area upstairs or full on workshop area needing more than basic amperage )

shoot - PM dtc...he builds.

 

[staphory]

Prefab out the question?

Id start with a General Contractor - if its a simple garage ( say 20 x 20 ) i dont know that you would need an architect to draw up a square foundation and framing for that. ( unless you plan on doing more than just a plain "garage" - i mean like living area upstairs or full on workshop area needing more than basic amperage )

shoot - PM dtc...he builds.

Prefab isn’t totally out but I haven’t seen any of those that would look good. All the prefabs I’ve seen around here are very industrial looking.

 

[dtc]

You should try to find a set of plans on line. Run a google search for "garage plans" or "garage blueprints" and see what you find.

In MS, I don't know the code, but I would expect a very simply permit process. You'll likely need a survey to show you're not over setbacks if it's close. An engineered plan showing layout and construction details and then a contractor to build it.

A simple 20 x 25 garage with one 18' door and hardie siding I recently did was 55k including power, plans and dealing with landscaping and connecting drive. Should be cheaper there because you don't have to have windload.

 

[staphory]

You should try to find a set of plans on line. Run a google search for "garage plans" or "garage blueprints" and see what you find.

In MS, I don't know the code, but I would expect a very simply permit process. You'll likely need a survey to show you're not over setbacks if it's close. An engineered plan showing layout and construction details and then a contractor to build it.

A simple 20 x 25 garage with one 18' door and hardie siding I recently did was 55k including power, plans and dealing with landscaping and connecting drive. Should be cheaper there because you don't have to have windload.

Thanks!

 

[Charlie Brizzown]

Take your mom's half down to the casino and put it all on black. Boom! Free garage.

 

[saintmdterps]

You should try to find a set of plans on line. Run a google search for "garage plans" or "garage blueprints" and see what you find.

In MS, I don't know the code, but I would expect a very simply permit process. You'll likely need a survey to show you're not over setbacks if it's close. An engineered plan showing layout and construction details and then a contractor to build it.

A simple 20 x 25 garage with one 18' door and hardie siding I recently did was 55k including power, plans and dealing with landscaping and connecting drive. Should be cheaper there because you don't have to have windload.

In this county, code is tell your neighbors what you’re doing and ask they not rat you out. Then when they build, you won’t rat them out either.

I’m serious. Plus if you get busted, they don’t issue a cease & desist but rather just make you go get the permit you shoulda got to begin with

I've had 3 houses in the county and one in the city. Living in the city was a pain; nosy neighbors and the historical/hysterical commission. Living in the county is more like do what ye will, but harm none/can't see it from my house so Imma not worry too much about it.

 

[BobE]

probably run you about tree fitty to build one

 

[DaveXA]

probably run you about tree fitty to build one

It's actually fitty tree now. Everything is more expensive these days.

 

[VikesFan2017]

Check out garageforum for a lot of good info.

Up here, a 2 car garage would be in the $20k-$40k range. Down there I would assume you could get something done for $10-20k for starters.

Many standard contractors would be able to build you one and already have plans for one. They aren't horribly complicated structures because they don't have the same codes as living spaces.

Biggest question will be whether you want electric run to it or not, or if this is just a stand alone shed without lights.

 

[staphory]

Check out garageforum for a lot of good info.

Up here, a 2 car garage would be in the $20k-$40k range. Down there I would assume you could get something done for $10-20k for starters.

Many standard contractors would be able to build you one and already have plans for one. They aren't horribly complicated structures because they don't have the same codes as living spaces.

Biggest question will be whether you want electric run to it or not, or if this is just a stand alone shed without lights.

I really would like lights and an outlet or two. Definitely lights though.
Thanks

 

[Dago]

Take your mom's half down to the casino and put it all on black. Boom! Free garage.

 

[VikesFan2017]

I really would like lights and an outlet or two. Definitely lights though.
Thanks

Your contractor might have their own electrician, or if you are managing the project yourself, you can hire someone to build the garage and a separate electrician to do the electrical. Biggest factor on the electrical is how far from the house it will be and whether you want it to have it's own breaker box, or are you running a couple circuits off the house off your existing panel.

In Minnesota, when we build a garage, we need to worry about deep foundations to get below frost lines if we want to make sure it ain't moving around wrecking our concrete. We also have to worry about insulation, then if we are in the city, we need to pull a permit, and then they want proper insulation and they want it with drywall possibly. Our winters get real cold up here, so we also need to think about whether we want garage heat, and if not, we want electrical so we can plug in our cars on the really cold days so we don't end up with a frozen chunk of automobile sitting in our garage.

Then we also need to worry about rain gutters, pitch of the roof so the snow doesn't build up too high. We also need to think about a concrete apron in front of the garage door so it's easy to shovel or snow blow the snow away from in front of that new garage.

Once you start putting a heater in a garage, you say, hey, let's add water so we can wash those cars in winter. Once you start thinking about that, you want to add a water heater. Once you do that, you need a drain and cities up here are big sticklers on drains. If you have a drain, they want to inspect it. Can't just have a hole in ground to drain water, gas, oil into of course.

Well, once you add heat, electric, water, it starts to become a good idea to make a little office space for yourself, or maybe a little workout room... or heck, why not a mini-apartment.

As you can tell, building garages widely vary in cost based on what you all want to put into it.