Building a garage with 2 lifts, to save money...

Loganwayne said:
How much are you budgeting per square foot for the garage? What kind of finishes are you planning on doing. I'd say most homes you can figure $50-75 sq.ft.

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I don't have a good grasp on that yet, because I don't have a great intuition about construction costs. I may be planning something totally unrealistic, and I won't know until it is far enough along in the design phase to actually get something quoted. I could say I'd be okay with $50 PSF or whatever, but I don't have much intuition about what I would actually get for that amount for a garage.

I assume you're talking about interior finishes (I'm not super familiar with building terms).

Interior finishes will be standard drywall and some type of insulation, both of which I'll likely either do myself or have done at a later date and not during construction. Once it's after dry-in I have all the time I need to get stuff done inside on my own schedule. It's not living space or an artist's studio, it's a working shop and place to park, so it will be pretty basic inside. Except for the travertine flooring and walnut T&G ceiling (just kidding).
 
If $50/ft, then a 12x25 will cost you $15k


Larger buildings (especially warehouses and garages) tend to get cheaper per sq/ft the larger you go. Typically, building 1300 sq ft garage will be cheaper per sq ft than a 1000 sq ft garage. The additional cost isn't really linear so it can be difficult to estimate but for your contractor, it should be pretty easy.

$50/ft seems high. It would be easy to get it down quite a bit.

I'd use plywood inside rather than sheet rock. It's easier to attach light weight things to it and not always require a stud to secure to.
 
Ron said:
C2, please.

From that angle looks identical to what I sold when kid #1 came along....
Still miss it. Only car Ive ever said that about.
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So you traded your C2 for a kid, and you still regret your decision. Did I interpret that correctly..? :D

I'm not a parent, can you tell...? :lol:
 
no trade.
Just had kid coming needed money. sold car. loved car. still love car. love kid way more. want to have both.

BTW C2 referred to the grid location
 
rockcity said:
I'd use plywood inside rather than sheet rock. It's easier to attach light weight things to it and not always require a stud to secure to.
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Walnut plywood. Gotcha. ;)


Painted OSB can actually look pretty cool as a wall material too, nice and tough. OSB is about the same cost per sheet as 5/8 Type-X or whatever it appears.
 
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yep
69
mach 1
black on black
351W 2V (venturi not valve) 3 speed
PS, PB, A/C
 
rockcity said:
Larger buildings (especially warehouses and garages) tend to get cheaper per sq/ft the larger you go. Typically, building 1300 sq ft garage will be cheaper per sq ft than a 1000 sq ft garage. The additional cost isn't really linear so it can be difficult to estimate but for your contractor, it should be pretty easy.

$50/ft seems high. It would be easy to get it down quite a bit.
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That's my entire point, I don't have much intuition about how much it would/should cost, or what I would get for a particular PSF cost. Somewhat flying blind on this so far, but part of the learning process. I have total cost numbers that I'm comfortable with in my head, but don't know where the actual design would fall in that range yet, because there isn't a design to quote yet. I have some driveway revisions and a house attachment/breezeway as part of the total cost as well.

I don't want this to turn into a "help me estimate project cost for a design that doesn't exist yet" thread, this all started as an efficient use of space discussion. :p

I do appreciate everyone's insight and experience though. I'm afraid there are a lot of questions that I don't have answers to yet though.
 
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Whatever you do,plan on making use of your roof/attic space. This may be your dedicated shop space but im sure it's gonna get all your wife's overflow junk that doesnt have a permanent resting place...
 
ramjo said:
Whatever you do,plan on making use of your roof/attic space. This may be your dedicated shop space but im sure it's gonna get all your wife's overflow junk that doesnt have a permanent resting place...
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We have some low height attic space off of the master bedroom for that. Luckily the wife is from a military family, and still has the transient attitude, so she gets rid of anything she hasn't used for 6 months. She knows better than to look sideways at my stuff.

But no, because cathedral ceilings in the garage most likely. Again, trying to make the greatest use of vertical height without creating dead space by using trusses.. Unless they're scissor trusses, and then there would still be no storage created there and they still aren't a great use of vertical space. If I wasn't planning on having lifts, things would maybe be different.
 
Ya just looked the 50 dollars a sq. Ft. Was on a project with stained designed concrete floors and other things that jacked price. Depending on if it is going to be considered attached you may have to insulate and drywall or plywood at least one wall. With a breeze way between I think you'll be okay. Best bet is to call a couple contactors tell them what you want your budget and what you want the exterior to be like. They will likely price finishing the inside let them it may end up being cheaper than you think. Worst case is tell them to take it off their bid price

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Loganwayne said:
Ya just looked the 50 dollars a sq. Ft. Was on a project with stained designed concrete floors and other things that jacked price. Depending on if it is going to be considered attached you may have to insulate and drywall or plywood at least one wall. With a breeze way between I think you'll be okay. Best bet is to call a couple contactors tell them what you want your budget and what you want the exterior to be like. They will likely price finishing the inside let them it may end up being cheaper than you think. Worst case is tell them to take it off their bid price
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I'll have them line item a few things when it gets to quote time, because yeah I'd rather not do drywall unless I'm saving a lot of money.

Was that a garage you were at with the stained floors?
 
Fabrik8 said:
Walnut plywood. Gotcha. ;)


Painted OSB can actually look pretty cool as a wall material too, nice and tough. OSB is about the same cost per sheet as 5/8 Type-X or whatever it appears.
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Except - way more flammable, great for a working shop, lol.
 
I'd definitely only consider this if you plan for the lift under and over space to be used for commonly driven, non-project cars. Or at worst project car on top. Otherwise as mentioned you'll find yourself in a situation where you can't get to the one on the lift.
 
RatLabGuy said:
I'd definitely only consider this if you plan for the lift under and over space to be used for commonly driven, non-project cars. Or at worst project car on top. Otherwise as mentioned you'll find yourself in a situation where you can't get to the one on the lift.
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Yep, the 4-post would be for standard parking. The 2-post would be for the interesting stuff.

Might put a partition wall between the two sides to keep dust and stuff somewhat contained. Throw a nice 9 or 10 foot barn door (or a pair of center opening 5 footers) in the wall and good to go.
 
I currently have a 3 car attached garage with the single bay having a 4 post lift. I am getting ready to build a detached garage and want another lift. If you are just looking for storage and not necessarily to work on, I would suggest the single post lifts. Only take up a small portion of the floor and you don't have 3 other posts to try and maneuver around. BenPak makes one as well as some other companies. A neighbor has 2 of them and they are nice.

I plan to continue to use my 4 post for "work" and then the single post in the new garage will be storage.
 
AdamH said:
I currently have a 3 car attached garage with the single bay having a 4 post lift. I am getting ready to build a detached garage and want another lift. If you are just looking for storage and not necessarily to work on, I would suggest the single post lifts. Only take up a small portion of the floor and you don't have 3 other posts to try and maneuver around. BenPak makes one as well as some other companies. A neighbor has 2 of them and they are nice.

I plan to continue to use my 4 post for "work" and then the single post in the new garage will be storage.
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if you are planning to use a lift for the main purpose of storing a car, you really want one that supports under the tires/suspension. Depending on the car, having the suspension hanging can cause ill effects to the car long term.
 
AdamH said:
I currently have a 3 car attached garage with the single bay having a 4 post lift. I am getting ready to build a detached garage and want another lift. If you are just looking for storage and not necessarily to work on, I would suggest the single post lifts. Only take up a small portion of the floor and you don't have 3 other posts to try and maneuver around. BenPak makes one as well as some other companies. A neighbor has 2 of them and they are nice.

I plan to continue to use my 4 post for "work" and then the single post in the new garage will be storage.
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How would you park another car under a single post?
 
Ron said:
How would you park another car under a single post?
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The single post is off to the side, like a single heavy duty version of a 2-post lift, but with a platform instead of lift arms. Need a good strong floor. Bendpak discontinued it I think.
 
THis is how I use my single post.....:lol:

There specs say 10 anchor bolts in 3000 psi concrete 4" thick with rebar/wire. Not really anything other than what it needs to be to begin with but I think I would like it to be a little thicker where the foot is though.


singlepost20.jpg
 
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Gotcha. New to me. Only singles I have experience with are the single ram/post in floors
 
Ron said:
Gotcha. New to me. Only singles I have experience with are the single ram/post in floors
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Yeah, it would be cool to have a big shiny polished pillar of in-floor awesomeness. I like how they just disappear when not in use, but I don't even want to think about in-floor lift maintenance.
 
You better really trust your concrete guy with a single post too. I considered the single post but the weight capacity was not enough for what I wanted. Also a 2 post makes a lot more sense to me from an engineering standpoint.
 
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