Vehicle enclosures...guide me oh wise ones

UTfball68

UTfball68

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 18, 2008
Location
Granite Quarry
This is going to be the kind of thread that most people hate and I will be completely exposing my ignorance. I'll be moving in to my new home in a couple weeks, it has a 3 car attached garage, which isn't enough space. I've done some research, and gotten some quotes on detached garages...those ranged anywhere from 30-50k to have a garage that matched the house and room enough for 4 more vehicles. I looked at garages like versatube, and other local metal garages...prices ranged from 8-15k including grading and a pad. Not so bad, but I bottom lined it...all I really want is some sort of shelter to keep my vehicles out of the elements, a place I'm not rolling around in mud trying to wrench, and a building that won't collapse when we get some snow/ice or a hurricane that comes further inland. Not really concerned with electricity or insulation, my top priority protection.
So I've been seeing some pole barn builds around here lately, and they're catching my attention. I have no real construction background, but have/can pour concrete, have built pergolas and gazebos...so the mechanical side of it shouldn't be any sweat. I'd need someone to perform the grading for me though. But where my ignorance truly comes in to play, something in the 30x40 range, I assume will need some sort of permits, and will need to follow some sorta code...where would one find these? Where would one find drawings/plans/instructions for this?

Do you guys think a pole barn would be the best fit for me? Any other options? Based on what I'm looking for, what would the out of pocket cost be for me? Would I be biting off more than I could chew attempting this myself???

I apologize for such a vague and newblet question...I just don't know where to start. Thanks.
 
I'm gonna be a jerk here. Read the posts in the threads YOU started :flipoff2::
http://www.nc4x4.com/forum/index.php?threads/metal-garages.147847/#post-1222935
jeepinmatt said:
...I'm in the midst of building a 34x40x13.5, and I've been doing everything as cheap as possible, doing all the work myself (except concrete), and its going to finish out at about $18k. I did all of the grading myself, got trusses on Craigslist for 1/4 the price of new, got a good price on lumber because my mom is in the construction industry, and I'm building the door myself because its 1/3 the cost of a regular garage door (18x11'). I am including insulation and electrical in that, but those were about $1k each. Take those out and you're still looking at $16k, and I don't see any way I could have done it cheaper other than doing the concrete myself, which would have probably not turned out well. It's closed in now, but here are some pics from late fall before I got the walls on.

Feel free to PM me about any specifics.
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Permits will vary county to county, but in Gaston county, you have to get a permit and inspections. The construction itself was not a difficult thing, just time consuming and labor intensive. I also have a skidsteer and built a boom for it so that I could reach up over 20ft to set the trusses, and ended up buying a genie lift for putting the insulation and panels on the ceiling. It's also for sale if you're interested :)

Cost was the main driver for me going this way. The enclosed carport style buildings didn't meet my cosmetic requirements, and the full on metal buildings were too expensive. Pole barn vs conventional construction were pretty close, but I wanted the taller walls, so the edge definitely went to pole barn.
 
Yep, gonna need permits and inspections. Benefits to the carport style buildings is that you can usually get engineer stamped prints to satisfy the permit/inspector's office. I put up my versatube building pretty much by my myself in a week. Daddy and my nephew helped me for a few hours a couple days. Getting engineered/stamped drawings for a pole building might be tougher. Some counties even have specific requirements for pole buildings.

Best bet would be to draw out what you want on a piece of graph paper and take that to the inspector's office. They are usually very receptive to people doing their homework BEFORE starting a project. They can be ASSES if you try to start something without the proper paperwork.
 
Thanks guys...forgot all about that thread...can be merged if a Mod wants to. But I dunno if I'm grossly overlooking something, but man that 16k just seems high. I'm figuring 5-7k in concrete and grading, so that's roughly 10k in lumber??? I was assuming I could build the trusses myself, or am I wrong there too?
 
UTfball68 said:
Thanks guys...forgot all about that thread...can be merged if a Mod wants to. But I dunno if I'm grossly overlooking something, but man that 16k just seems high. I'm figuring 5-7k in concrete and grading, so that's roughly 10k in lumber??? I was assuming I could build the trusses myself, or am I wrong there too?
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You'll probably come out better with engineered trusses if your going with a 30x40 building depending on your roof pitch the top of your truss is gonna be around 18 guessing off the top of my head including the overhang.
 
Are you on a septic system? If so, you'll need to speak with your local environmental health department too.
 
Call Heritage Buildings and get a quote. Never hurts to look around.

I've got a 32x50 shop where I live now and I will never own another wood framed building. I can't stress how much I would rather have a metal, I beam framed, building. They're not much (if any) more expensive than a tube framed building once you start getting in to the larger sizes.
 
UTfball68 said:
Thanks guys...forgot all about that thread...can be merged if a Mod wants to. But I dunno if I'm grossly overlooking something, but man that 16k just seems high. I'm figuring 5-7k in concrete and grading, so that's roughly 10k in lumber??? I was assuming I could build the trusses myself, or am I wrong there too?
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Not worth merging, just a good opportunity for me to give you a hard time. I did do a 34x60 overall footprint (20x34 shed off the end), which is an extra $1500ish in roofing, posts, and trusses. Mine is insulated and wired, but thats only a small portion of the extra $10k, I'd guess about $2k. The rest of it gets eaten up by stupid stuff like corner trim, doors, lag bolts for the trusses, etc. All those little things that I didn't think to put on my spreadsheet, haha. I'll be glad to post my spreadsheet once I get it finished up. Here was what I budgeted:
Item Quantity Price Each Total
34' Truss 5 374 1870
2x6x10 Perling for roof 80 6 480
6x6x16 14 40 560
Misc Lumber 1 500 500
Misc Bolts/Screws 1 200 200
Concrete 1 4800 4800
Gravel 1 1000 1000
Roofing 1 2000 2000
Siding 1 1500 1500
Insulation 1 1500 1500
Electrical 1 1500 1500
Garage Door 2 500 1000
Man Door 1 200 200
17110
 
Macdaddy4738 said:
Are you on a septic system? If so, you'll need to speak with your local environmental health department too.
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Yes, and I do have that covered...spetic is well out of the way.

Loganwayne said:
You'll probably come out better with engineered trusses if your going with a 30x40 building depending on your roof pitch the top of your truss is gonna be around 18 guessing off the top of my head including the overhang.
Click to expand...

Thanks...

Croatan_Kid said:
Call Heritage Buildings and get a quote. Never hurts to look around.

I've got a 32x50 shop where I live now and I will never own another wood framed building. I can't stress how much I would rather have a metal, I beam framed, building. They're not much (if any) more expensive than a tube framed building once you start getting in to the larger sizes.
Click to expand...

I'll give them a call...haven't gotten a quote from them. Thanks.
 
jeepinmatt said:
Not worth merging, just a good opportunity for me to give you a hard time. I did do a 34x60 overall footprint (20x34 shed off the end), which is an extra $1500ish in roofing, posts, and trusses. Mine is insulated and wired, but thats only a small portion of the extra $10k, I'd guess about $2k. The rest of it gets eaten up by stupid stuff like corner trim, doors, lag bolts for the trusses, etc. All those little things that I didn't think to put on my spreadsheet, haha. I'll be glad to post my spreadsheet once I get it finished up. Here was what I budgeted:
Item Quantity Price Each Total
34' Truss 5 374 1870
2x6x10 Perling for roof 80 6 480
6x6x16 14 40 560
Misc Lumber 1 500 500
Misc Bolts/Screws 1 200 200
Concrete 1 4800 4800
Gravel 1 1000 1000
Roofing 1 2000 2000
Siding 1 1500 1500
Insulation 1 1500 1500
Electrical 1 1500 1500
Garage Door 2 500 1000
Man Door 1 200 200
17110
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Thanks...and ultimately that's what I'm trying to capture right now, the stuff guys don't think about budgeting for. Realistically, if a pole barn is gonna cost me 15k, and I have to build it...I'd just as soon spend 10k on a metal building the same size and not have to touch anything.
 
Health dept will still have to come out and evaluate the site to verify that the building will not be on the current drainfield or the reserve bed. Gotta have the evaluation paperwork before you can get the building permit.
 
sgtbriangreen said:
Health dept will still have to come out and evaluate the site to verify that the building will not be on the current drainfield or the reserve bed. Gotta have the evaluation paperwork before you can get the building permit.
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Mother of pearl...thanks. The kinda info I was looking for. Don't have a stinking clue what kinda red tape is involved. Is it too far removed to still blame Bush???
 
I would go to the health dept and get your septic plan. That will show where your tank and drainfield are located in relation to your house. Then print a google maps satellite pic of your house. Draw where you want your shop on that pic. I took that to the building inspector's office and they gave me a nice orange paper that I had to stick on my mailbox that said "Site for Evaluation by Health Department" and had to give them some $$. Made all of my neighbors think that I was a nasty SOB. Once the health dept does their thing, they will give the paperwork to the inspectors office. Then you can take the inspectors office your building plans. They really like engineered drawings, but for something simple, a nice clean drawing on graph paper to scale should suffice. They issue you a building permit. They will tell you when they want to come out and inspect at each step.

Since my building was going on top of a slab, the inspector looked at my forms and footers before the concrete came. Once the concrete was poured and I had the structure up, they came out and inspected the structure. Then I did my rough in electrical. They inspected that. Then I did my finish electrical. They did the final inspection and authorized Duke to bring me power.
 
Mine was a little tricky because I dont live in city limits, but do live in city EJT. The county did my septic evaluation, the City did all of the building inspections. I had to run around to 3 different offices to get all of my permits. If you just live in the county, you may be able to do it all with just the county inspectors.
 
Drop dead on. But go online and read your local UDO!!! I can't emphasise enough for it wouldn't be fun tearing down a $15,000 structure because of an inspector's determination to make a statement.

Also helps to know an engineer / architect when doing custom stuff. Did mine custom and inspector failed me for using rough cut lumber. Thankfully I did my research before-hand and deep into Wake County's UDO I had found the wording where you could use unmarked rouch cut "as long as it is dried on-site". Ancient words but my engineer I work for wrote me out a certified letter stating such and that the structure was sound and the inspector passed. Basically the inspector didn't want to stick his neck out for custom work if it ain't engineered, in which mine was with loads calced and such.

That said, X2 on using pre-engineered trusses...
 
sgtbriangreen said:
Health dept will still have to come out and evaluate the site to verify that the building will not be on the current drainfield or the reserve bed. Gotta have the evaluation paperwork before you can get the building permit.
Click to expand...

UTfball68 said:
Mother of pearl...thanks. The kinda info I was looking for. Don't have a stinking clue what kinda red tape is involved. Is it too far removed to still blame Bush???
Click to expand...

Yeah, what Brian said. Doesn't matter where you think the tank and repair lines are, they will still need to do their paperwork for it. The way it works here, zoning comes first, then environmental health, then you get your building permit. Not sure how big your lot is, but here, I require survey plats for permanent structures over 144 sq. ft. before I'll do a zoning permit. I know a few other counties do as well.
 
From a former truss designer, no, you can't build your own trusses. They will be designed and built per your application and will come with supporting paperwork needed for your inspector.

I've got no idea on how much steel buildings are going for currently, but in the past they have been very competitive. I am a do it yourself kind of guy, but given your situation, I'd get a quote on getting it all done turnkey. I can guarantee you that you'll wish you did when it was all said and done.

The numbers you started with for building costs sound right.
 
broncosbybart said:
From a former truss designer, no, you can't build your own trusses. They will be designed and built per your application and will come with supporting paperwork needed for your inspector.

I've got no idea on how much steel buildings are going for currently, but in the past they have been very competitive. I am a do it yourself kind of guy, but given your situation, I'd get a quote on getting it all done turnkey. I can guarantee you that you'll wish you did when it was all said and done.

The numbers you started with for building costs sound right.
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I do enjoy being a do-it-yourselfer...and like to think I could handle damn near anything once I know the direction I need to go...but it definitely sounds like I need to do some more reading before I decide to take this project on.

Macdaddy4738 said:
Yeah, what Brian said. Doesn't matter where you think the tank and repair lines are, they will still need to do their paperwork for it. The way it works here, zoning comes first, then environmental health, then you get your building permit. Not sure how big your lot is, but here, I require survey plats for permanent structures over 144 sq. ft. before I'll do a zoning permit. I know a few other counties do as well.
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Property is an acre and a half...I have the septic layout somewhere in all my home buying paperwork...but I hear ya.
 
More general help than specific here.
The building inspectors for NC are part of the Department of Insurance.

Let that sink in, and think about the rammifications.

This has nothing to do with whether it is structurally sound, or even a good design. It is all about CYA for the state.

Follow their dog and pony, kiss the ring nd things go smoothly
 
I have a 24x38 in the back I built. I'm on 1.5 acres as well. I designed the trusses and sized the beams (was my job then) and a co-worker drew up the plans. All receipts total right at 30k for 900 SF. I did hire out the roofing, siding, boxing, and some misc labor. By law, you will need to hire an electrician to wire it. I had the bare minimum done and did more after the final. If I had to do it all over again, I'd gladly pay someone to build it.

The permitting process isn't hard. I learned that as I went. I needed my septic layout (drawn by myself and which had to be verified by an inspector later), the electrician, and some plans. That was about it for starting the process.

Getting familiar with building codes and construction methods will take a lot more time than it would be worth for you, IMHO.

My vote is to get it built and then customize or finish it out yourself.
 
Oops, my post should have said that I require the survey for lots under an acre for permanent structures over 144sq feet.
 
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