Building a hangar at the local airport....

Around these parts hangars are pretty scarce and the waiting period is in the 3-4 years, IIRC.

So I was wondering, how many of you all have just leased a plot of land at the local airport and built your hanger? What are the pitfalls/rewards?

Thanks!

Be sure and get with the airports engineering firm and find out all the requirements. That $40,000 hanger might end up costing $100,000. It can get insane!

In the Houston area, there was a T-hangar project that died an ugly death, partly due to a retention pond being required. That requires lots more land than just a hangar.

Karl

Can do....

Hi David,
I went through this exact scenario with a very unenthusiastic and uncooperative City council a few years back and bought a piece of property adjoining the airport since they wouldn't let me build a private hangar on city property. The FAA told me that they don't like to see "through-the-fence" operations like mine and would rather see all hangars on airport property. There are several solutions, one of which is to have the City build the hangar and you lease it for say, ten year intervals. The other option is to lease a small plot for $300 or so per year and promise to deed it to the City at a) Your death or b), After xxx years. A win-win situation for everybody. A little innovative/creative bargaining with the City fathers should be able to produce a hangar for you yet.

Good luck,
Pierre

Hanger Building

We have just built a hangar on city property. It was a struggle to get the lease signed. It took a couple of years. We had to build a 60' X 50' approach.
The city also promised utilities last spring. To date we are being told be patient. We are running off a generator as the local utility wants $ 7,400.00 to hook us up to temporary power, then an additional fee when it goes underground. We were forced to build as they said that the city hanger was to be torn down. Now they say they want to lease it to a Airport board member and not tear it down. We are still occupying the old hangar so we can build, however they are pressuring us to vacate.
We are very proud of the Hangar in spite of the problems incurred.
If we can be of assistance on the actual building process contact us off line.

Things are different with some "administrations." At an unnamed airport I frequent, you build whatever you want, sell it to the airport and they lease it back to you at a rate based on the sale price. Building yourself (rather than them having to jump through all the hoops) saves TONS of money; one recent construction was 40% less, making the lease 40% less. Seems there are different rules for an individual and for the airport corporation construction. Also you get exactly what you need. Check into everything. I don't know if this is common, but it works in Indiana. There are fewer inspections when you build your own house than when a contractor builds. Sorta like building your own airplane...

Bob Kelly

Met with the planners...

Thanks everybody for your great input.

I sat down w/ the folks in charge for about an hour and had a very nice conversation. We discussed the topics that were brought up here and a number of others. One topic in particular that wasn't mentioned here were taxes - ouch!!

Any recommendations for hangar manufactures? I'm interested in both single and "condo style" (i.e. five units arranged in a circle kinda thing).

Any recommendations for hangar insurance?