Building a Shop Cost/Considerations

It’s going to cost me a total of right at 16k to build a 26x41 with 3 roll up doors and 2 windows and 1 entry door. That’s just slab and kit building, the dirt work was done as part of my house foundation work. I went round and round on what type of building to go with, at the end of the day these Carolina or Eagle carports have too good of a price to spend double for a pole barn.

I had mallet come price my 30x40 shop. They basically build the shop then pour the concrete in. If its wooden beams, they will be exposed to rot, i dont care what protective wrap they sell, its peace of mind using metal. I went with simpsons out if marksville. Had the slab poured in 1 day...10 days later they had the entire shop up and was gone in 8 hours. Im very pleased with their work.

Does the 34k include lights, outlets, electrical wiring?

They come to Baton Rouge? What’d it cost you?

I agree it seems like they’re trying to sell me $7k extras to protect the building. Wondering if I should go with a metal building. Reed metals or Mueller maybe.

Are you doing electrical to the shed?

Figure about $7000 for that if you need a new service.

One thing to consider is that even though it's turnkey, you turn the key and walk into a bare shop.

As mentioned you'll need utilities, but also lumber/metal for shelving or buy it in a box, increased tooling storage, lighting, circuitry, pegboard, etc.

And IMO since you can only save so much on bare bones utilities, and since you want to have as structurally sound and as best built of a shop as is possible and one that is ergonomic and efficient to work out of, and taking price into account, it's often wise to have a good reflection or two about just exactly what size shop will suit you while planning/maintaining for expansion in the future if needed.

Now I'm not saying that it's wise to downsize and wind up with a shop that's barely that, but one thing is for sure: You (nor I) will EVER have "enough" room if we don't have a plan for how we use available space. I tell my wife this all the time: If we just keep creating more space to store chit in willy nilly style, then we'll wind up on that discovery channel show "hoarders." I'm sure you may have already walked the floor with gnashing of the teeth thinking about the size you need, but maybe think again, and keep in mind planning for any future addons. Do you just HAVE to have that wing right now? Not adding on a wing can save some bucks, and it's easy to do yourself later on. It might be that future addons are not so extensive that you could take that project up on your own (save the dirt and cement work) (unless you get it done with the main shop's construction with planning in mind) (hello wash rack for muddy vehicles) because when or if that times comes you'll already have a nice tidy shop to work out of.

Regarding efficient use of space, one thing I see neglected all the time in a guy's shop is his lack of use of vertical space. I have shelving going all the way to the ceiling throughout. I have extension cords, air reels etc mounted up high where I can grab the hose end at ground level but store the bulk of it's mass up "yonder." I grew up learning how to work out of a "store and retrieve" kind of shop where, because space was limited, you would store even your larger items like tablesaws, etc. up off the working floor, and retrieve when you needed them, and put up afterwards- as opposed to having the tablesaw taking up valuable floor space. This is not feasible if you have a large saw, but the same concept applies to the tools that can be stored, but whose use requires floor space. Plan for that and maybe, possibly, voila, you can save some good money and splurge on other real meaningful necessities that do more than just keep the rain and cold out. A 100 square foot deduction can save, what, a couple grand?

Ultimately the place where you will save money is in square footage, and building materials. Me personally, I only want to save so much on the latter, less the building gets "chintzy" in a hurry.

quote:

---

You (nor I) will EVER have "enough" room

---

Definitely true. I have had progressively bigger and bigger shops as I've gotten older. They have always been the same amount of jammed full of shite

More space = more room for stuff. I've got to go through and organize everything once or twice a year, but you can only hide so many pieces of equipment

What I could use is a dedicated place to store metal and wood (racks or something), or even gas powered equipment. Drawing out a floorplan where all of the big stuff goes is a good idea

Back before I got myself and then my money right'ish, for years I was used to living in tiny spaces and being dirtfloor cracker poor, but being a practical DIY kinda guy, I had more "stuff" than the average dude who doesn't do all that kinds of stuff. (I'm like the rest of the OB folks basically.)

Living in small spaces will ingrain into a person the importance of not buying "chit" (because that's what most of our stuff is) and it'll make him throw other "chit" away with the quickness if he does buy another chit item to go in its place.

You can oftentimes tell who the folks are who've had that way of living drilled into them by observing their utilization of vertical space, and not just how much of it they use, but in what manner: Even a hoarder with a warehouse's worth of crap will pile it up to the ceiling. One is not like the other.

Lol. Yeah man it’s a mini shop! Good catch.