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Stand alone Workshop - cost to build?

Rick_A

Well Known Member
Are there any good Rule's of Thumb to figure what it might cost to build a stand alone workshop?

I'm just trying to get a ballpark idea of what it would cost to build about 1,000 sf shop, with heat & A/C , a 1/2 bath and plenty of electrical capacity, 1 double garage door and a few windows. I figure a steel building is probably the least cost but if I do this, l might need to have a more attractive exterior (like brick).
 
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Rick, my shop is almost as you describe, with exception that it includes a small guest apartment. 10 years ago, it cost about $50K and I did all of the finish work (painting, apartment finishing, etc).

As you know, it all depends on where you are building...
 
Couldn't give a cost per square foot but when we built the last shop the 40x40 10'8" walls, no insulation, conventional 2 x 6 construction, floating slab painted floor full 110/220 wired, no windows, 1 door, 2 9' high insulated drive doors, standard trusses, came to $27,000 3 years ago. Got a bid for tube radiant propane heat for $1600.00 installed last week. We did nearly all the labor with help from friends.
 
location

It depends on were you live and if you will owner build or hire a contractor. I built a addition on my existing garage in 2005 at $30.00 a sq. ft. lights, Sheetrock, insulation, 8 foot tall two car door, engineer, architect and permits. Did all the work myself and with the help of Friends. At $30 a sq. ft. it is a Little high but in reno if you tie into existing structure you need the engineering and a full set of drawings with calcs.
 
I built mine 32' X 56' with 9' ceiling height. 4X6 pole construction and 2X4 stringers inside and out gave me 9 full inches of blown in insulation in the walls and 18" in the ceiling. I put in a private 1/2 bath and also a shop sink in the work area for washing up, all on a septic/well. On demand hot water. Dry walled interior, cement board siding, shingled roof, and lots of nice windows. A 9' X 16' commercial insulated roll-up door, a nice front entrance door, and a covered porch for taking breaks. Looks like a ranch style house from the outside. I got a used Lennox Pulse furnace for free to heat in the winter and even in the summer, it is so cool inside due to the insulation that I don't even need to run a fan,,,just keep it closed up. I wired 110/220 volts throughout the shop. The furnace and a 7 hp 80 gallon air compressor are in a corner utility room. I got a small refrigerator and coffee pot and can spend all day out there. NOTHING but airplane related stuff is allowed in the shop,,,,period! I did about 90% of the work myself building it and had some help from friends to assist me in the heavy framing. The only things I contracted out were the site work, cement flat work, and having the ceiling drywall hung and then all the drywall taped and finished because I hate drywall work. I built my shop 4 years ago and it cost me in the neighborhood of $46,000.
 
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Airplane Factory In The North East

Just completing my personal airplane factory in the wilds of NJ (OK in the city of Linden) Basic 3 car detached garage (30 deep by 36 wide) with second floor loft over two bays. Third bay has a car lift to ceiling. Used steel beams to get a clear span. Cost w/o electrical or heat is 50K. Plus 5k for lawyers, engineer, variances, and building permits (it is in a city after all). I budgeted 65K after all is said and done with shop equipment. Looks like I might make that (yeah right)... More realistic number would be 70K.

You certainly don't need that much space to build an RV, but the other toys needed a workshop/home too. I probably should have just moved, but too late now!!!

Ed
 
About 55K in 1996 dollars

A photo during construction in 1996. Attached to the existing house we added my shop on the ground floor and a great room, spare bedroom and bath on the upper level. Shop is 24x36 with 9 foot ceilings. I wanted 10' ceilings but ran into solid granite during excavation and did not want to blast it out.

shop.jpg


An inside view while building the fuselage.

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$30,000 2006 for 24x24 1 1/2 story garage...

10' from the house, 20' from the kitchen, with 2 ton 16 seer heat pump system, 2x6 walls, 9'2" ceilings downstairs, insulated garage doors 8'x10', 100 amp service. I did most of it by myself but had some help with I beams and concrete. I do hvac for a living so that saved a bunch! Have fun.
 
I'm just trying to get a ballpark idea of what it would cost to build about 1,000 sf shop, with heat & A/C , a 1/2 bath and plenty of electrical capacity, 1 double garage door and a few windows. I figure a steel building is probably the least cost but if I do this, l might need to have a more attractive exterior (like brick).

Rick, I built pretty close to your criteria a few years ago. The architecture needed to match the existing house so the whole thing is conventional stick-built with 10ft walls and a standup attic. 1050 sq feet in the main room, plus a wing for visual interest (and storing all the lawn & garden stuff). Heat pump, heavy insulation, white drywall, twelve 8ft double tube fixtures, piped air, and explosion proof exhaust fans for painting. No windows in the main room, easy cleaning, better AC performance, more wall space, and with one door the anti-theft system is a clean rifle shot from my front porch.

$35 to $40K all in. I subbed the slab, framing, drywall, siding and shingles, did the rest myself.

 
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Montana pricing

I've been looking at building a hangar for a yr or so. Here's my numbers for a 50'x40' hangar building erected on my site(s).

The shell, dirt work and labor included:
Pole Barn style $8-10/ft
Steel building $12-15/ft

Concrete slab, $4/ft

Insulation, add $4/ft for Corbond type insulation, less $ for batts.

Electrical, add $1/ft for DIY. (more for contractor)

Hydroswing door $8000

Heat/AC can range wide. radiant floor with solar=big$$$ up front($5-10K), but a real saver in the long run around here. YMMV

So I can build a basic shop for <$20/ft finished ready do work, a hangar with solar heat will be another $15K. I built my 30x40 shop in 2005, for $12000 complete.

Around here, if you have the dirt, And you call a contractor. They will build you a very nice home for $150-$200/ft. A basic home with nothing fancy for $70-80/ft. and they will get you a shop/hangar type building from $30-50/ft.
 
24 X 36 work shop three years ago

It was made very clear to me when I wanted to build the RV, "Not in my garage" So, I built a 24 X 36 pole barn. This is after a 1-1/2 year battle with the local township zoning gods and a threatened law suit to get them moving.

The results are better than I originally planned except it is to small. I wish it were 28 x 42 with a higher ceiling. Some of the zoning conditions were:

The architecture had to match the house.
Can't be lived in, no bath or kitchen.
No higher than 9 foot wall on the outside.
No higher than 21 foot to the peek.
No more than 840 sq feet.
No commercial business to ever use the building.

That being said, I built a pole barn with 10" thick walls, special trusses to raise the center of the ceiling to 14 feet and extra heavy for the hoist I installed.

Total cost with me doing all the work except for concrete, roofing, and siding was around $45G.

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/1853/img0074qk.jpg

http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/8743/img6443b.jpg

http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/6660/img6136l.jpg

Note, the interior walls are covered with metal siding. this is really handy for sticking stuff to the walls with magnets.
 
I just finished building a new house and detached shop this past spring in New Jersey. Just under 1000sqft. I live on a boatable lagoon and was required to build the shop so that the first floor surface was no less than 7ft above high tide. I designed the building to be up on 10 pilings with the floor 3 ft above ground level. The floor system has 2x12s on 12" centers with a double 3/4 T&G plywood floor. 8ft 2x4 walls, cathedral ceiling, double layer sheetrock all around(soundproofing), fully insulated including 12" deep cellulose between the floor joists. A custom 12x8 barn door at one end with a 12ft wide HD ramp(rated for 15,000lbs) to ground level. It has an exterior french door set and 7 vinyl double hung windows. It has a water supply, HW heater, slop sink, setup for bathroom if desired later, 200 AMP panel with 220 and 110 outlets all around. The exterior has 4 layers of 30lb felt over the walls and roof(soundproofing) and asphalt shingles on roof and 1/2" cedar shingles on the rest. It is build well over conventional residential home standards. I have a little over $60,000 into it, including having the 10 piling hammerd down to 15tons pressure. A more basic structure over a concrete foundation could be done MUCH cheaper. Hope this helps.

George
 
My shop

Here is my shop 30 X 82 w/ 12' side walls 1 16X10 roll up door and 1 12X10 roll up door and 1 entry door. Built by American Steel Buildings built in 2005.
$ 19,115.00 for the building, $ 9,000.00 for the monolithic slab. All heating and air conditioning is controlled by God ( heated in August, Cooled in February ). All electric and plumbing completed by a friend who is an electrical contractor and myself, price ( materials and Beer ) what a great friend can't remember which one cost more LOL

2448pwo.jpg
 
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Man Cave......

Are there any good Rule's of Thumb to figure what it might cost to build a stand alone workshop?

I'm just trying to get a ballpark idea of what it would cost to build about 1,000 sf shop, with heat & A/C , a 1/2 bath and plenty of electrical capacity, 1 double garage door and a few windows. I figure a steel building is probably the least cost but if I do this, l might need to have a more attractive exterior (like brick).


30' x 40' With 2x6 14' High Walls, 12 x 40 bonus/storage room above = $15/SF to dry in, ie) shingles on roof, windows and door set, ready for siding, big doors and inside stuff. This is materials and labor on fairly level ground. Planing for 13' 6" x 20' roll up entry door and hydraulic tilt back wall if I can figure out how to build it. Have a donor forklift for parts. Been watchin' to many "Man Cave" shows.........

Plan to start ordering RV-8 parts at Sun-N-Fun............

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