New Garage

[Tree Spud]

Walters put up the walls & roof etc. I subbed out parts like the concrete ,electrical & plumbing. The rest I have been doing myself. I’m confused by what you mean by what value they provided. Lol

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Looks like you did good work ... nice that you picked Walters as a siding & roofing sub-contractor ... their are lots of those out there.

I'll ask again... what actual structural design, permit/approvals/code acceptance, site/foundation, utilities, materials procurement & scheduling, construction & project mgmt/sub-contractor coordination, etc. did Walters have to with your building?

Once again, your building looks great, looks like Walters put the paint job on the restored car ...

 

[Adittmer]

We had originally planned to build this with northland builders as they had just built us another shed at my dads cabin 5 miles down the road. Long story longer we had a huge falling out over elevation drawings they wouldn’t give us to confirm window & door locations and also they strung us along on the build date for 5 months. I had talked with Walters at that point and took what I gave northland and we fixed some of there mistakes like not having high lift doors on the side garage door preventing me from using the full height of the building. He recommended gutters for the building and roof tin with a felt lining to prevent sweating. We also changed the roof trusses to 2ft on centers rather than 8ft centers in the living quarters to make it easier to install insulation & ceiling covering. Also changing to 2ft overhangs from 1ft. We also changed the height from 16ft to 17ft so my loft in the living area had 8ft walls on both floors , 1ft for floor joists something I had overlooked. They tyveked the building for free using my material, northland contractor looked at me like I was retarded asking to even pay them to have tyvek installed. The crew was also directed to use perma columns last minute per me and did a great job having never built with them before etc. quality of the metal/trim lumber & hardware is much nicer than my dads shed. My wife & I got all permits and hired our local excavator to do site prep. We also bought all windows & walk doors. Biggest thing was they show up and worked on the planned build date till it was finished.


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[Northbound]

4W ... not sure why you are surprised. Morton prices their product more on brand name than product differentiation.

If yo really want the best at the best price, you need to write your own spec defining what your minimum s design wise. Things like post size & spacing, wall stud size, roof line construction (finished eves or not), type & rating of insulation, roof truss spacing & R factor rating, window rating, etc. Then take your spec to 3

If you get 3 quotes as suggested earlier, be careful how you mention it to builders or better yet, don't tell them.
When I have customers make a point to tell me they're getting other bids they generally say it in a way that they expect I'll lower our costs, almost threatening.. Music to my ears... when this happens I can assume they'll be saying same thing to other builders. Most likely the other builders won't even get back to them with a price as everyone's so swamped lately that it's a waste of time to compete. So I can up my price another 15 percent and 3 out of 4 times I'm still getting the job.
Your the customer and deserve respect, but don't forget that builder most likely is very busy and isn't going to want to waste his time if you come off as trying to beat his price down before you even see it.

When the market was terrible you could call 5 guys and they'd all give you a quote. Things are different at the moment, lots of work and major lack of skilled labor. Builders not only can cherry pick the jobs they want, now we cherry pick the customers we want as well. We don't just bid the project- location, referrals and owner personality come into play when the bottom line gets put into ink.
If you have someone that refers you to a builder that's likely your best bet at a good price, talk to him as if your a friend and go from there.

It's not always what you say, but how you say it.

 

[Tree Spud]

If you get 3 quotes as suggested earlier, be careful how you mention it to builders or better yet, don't tell them.
When I have customers make a point to tell me they're getting other bids they generally say it in a way that they expect I'll lower our costs, almost threatening.. Music to my ears... when this happens I can assume they'll be saying same thing to other builders. Most likely the other builders won't even get back to them with a price as everyone's so swamped lately that it's a waste of time to compete. So I can up my price another 15 percent and 3 out of 4 times I'm still getting the job.
Your the customer and deserve respect, but don't forget that builder most likely is very busy and isn't going to want to waste his time if you come off as trying to beat his price down before you even see it.

When the market was terrible you could call 5 guys and they'd all give you a quote. Things are different at the moment, lots of work and major lack of skilled labor. Builders not only can cherry pick the jobs they want, now we cherry pick the customers we want as well. We don't just bid the project- location, referrals and owner personality come into play when the bottom line gets put into ink.
If you have someone that refers you to a builder that's likely your best bet at a good price, talk to him as if your a friend and go from there.

It's not always what you say, but how you say it.

I didn't finish my post. My point on creating your building spec was not necessarily to drive price down, but to define & specify what you are asking to be quoted. That saves the guys who are bidding time and gives you a an even playing field to compare bids against. If one guy is high price on his bid, let him explain it. There may be a legitimate reason for it. You can also find out who is a skilled builder and who is not.

Keep in mind that in really good markets like this, there are also a number of unskilled and even unethical builders that exist just because of the overflow work that is out there.

This is our 2nd project with our builder. We have never once negotiated price with him on anything. He understands we are willing to pay for value & quality and has earned our trust to have a good discussion about any aspect of the project.

 

[Adittmer]

If you get 3 quotes as suggested earlier, be careful how you mention it to builders or better yet, don't tell them.
When I have customers make a point to tell me they're getting other bids they generally say it in a way that they expect I'll lower our costs, almost threatening.. Music to my ears... when this happens I can assume they'll be saying same thing to other builders. Most likely the other builders won't even get back to them with a price as everyone's so swamped lately that it's a waste of time to compete. So I can up my price another 15 percent and 3 out of 4 times I'm still getting the job.
Your the customer and deserve respect, but don't forget that builder most likely is very busy and isn't going to want to waste his time if you come off as trying to beat his price down before you even see it.

When the market was terrible you could call 5 guys and they'd all give you a quote. Things are different at the moment, lots of work and major lack of skilled labor. Builders not only can cherry pick the jobs they want, now we cherry pick the customers we want as well. We don't just bid the project- location, referrals and owner personality come into play when the bottom line gets put into ink.
If you have someone that refers you to a builder that's likely your best bet at a good price, talk to him as if your a friend and go from there.

It's not always what you say, but how you say it.

I didn't finish my post. My point on creating your building spec was not necessarily to drive price down, but to define & specify what you are asking to be quoted. That saves the guys who are bidding time and gives you a an even playing field to compare bids against. If one guy is high price on his bid, let him explain it. There may be a legitimate reason for it. You can also find out who is a skilled builder and who is not.

Keep in mind that in really good markets like this, there are also a number of unskilled and even unethical builders that exist just because of the overflow work that is out there.

This is our 2nd project with our builder. We have never once negotiated price with him on anything. He understands we are willing to pay for value & quality and has earned our trust to have a good discussion about any aspect of the project.

Spud can we see some interior pictures of that beast?? I love the 4 season porch off the back. Really Wish we could have gone that big ,maybe in another lifetime lol


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[4wanderingeyes]

If you get 3 quotes as suggested earlier, be careful how you mention it to builders or better yet, don't tell them.
When I have customers make a point to tell me they're getting other bids they generally say it in a way that they expect I'll lower our costs, almost threatening.. Music to my ears... when this happens I can assume they'll be saying same thing to other builders. Most likely the other builders won't even get back to them with a price as everyone's so swamped lately that it's a waste of time to compete. So I can up my price another 15 percent and 3 out of 4 times I'm still getting the job.
Your the customer and deserve respect, but don't forget that builder most likely is very busy and isn't going to want to waste his time if you come off as trying to beat his price down before you even see it.

When the market was terrible you could call 5 guys and they'd all give you a quote. Things are different at the moment, lots of work and major lack of skilled labor. Builders not only can cherry pick the jobs they want, now we cherry pick the customers we want as well. We don't just bid the project- location, referrals and owner personality come into play when the bottom line gets put into ink.
If you have someone that refers you to a builder that's likely your best bet at a good price, talk to him as if your a friend and go from there.

It's not always what you say, but how you say it.

I wasnt really shopping builders, I had plans made up for what I wanted, got the material list and went to Menards, and the local lumber yard for prices on the lumber. The majority of the work I will be doing with family and friends. I have lots of family and friends in construction. Anyhow when I saw the prices others were throwing out for their buildings, being built, I thought why would I build it myself, when others are getting it built for around the same price. So I got one other quote, that was from Morton, for double the price. The Morton price didnt surprise me at all, the thing that surprised me was the prices others were posting about what they paid. I have about $60,000 in materials, including cement, and that is without interior steel siding, which I will put on at a later time.

 

[Tree Spud]

I wasnt really shopping builders, I had plans made up for what I wanted, got the material list and went to Menards, and the local lumber yard for prices on the lumber. The majority of the work I will be doing with family and friends. I have lots of family and friends in construction. Anyhow when I saw the prices others were throwing out for their buildings, being built, I thought why would I build it myself, when others are getting it built for around the same price. So I got one other quote, that was from Morton, for double the price. The Morton price didnt surprise me at all, the thing that surprised me was the prices others were posting about what they paid. I have about $60,000 in materials, including cement, and that is without interior steel siding, which I will put on at a later time.

Not defending Morton's price as they are extreme, but materials prices have gone up dramatically in last 6-8 months.

A booming new housing market, and two major hurricanes in TX & FL have caused a real shortage. We were lucky to have purchased before all the increases, but the shortages added another 3-4 months on our project schedule.

 

[ksgobbler]

I have no time to do any of it myself. I was offered a promotion at work and have 18 months of schooling ahead of me. Heck I started finishing my basement and right now there is 1000 in lumber in my basement. Studying 16-18 hours on the weekdays and 8 hours a day on the weekend. I need turn key.

 

[Tree Spud]

Spud can we see some interior pictures of that beast?? I love the 4 season porch off the back. Really Wish we could have gone that big ,maybe in another lifetime lol

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Spud can we see some interior pictures of that beast?? I love the 4 season porch off the back. Really Wish we could have gone that big ,maybe in another lifetime lol


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Here is insdie the main barn area. Walls are 17.6' high and are 2"x8" studs at 16" centers. The ceiling trusses are 24" on center.

We hda 2" of spray foam insulation on inside of exterior walls then Ecobat R19 insulation over that. Exterior wall had 4x8 3/8" sheets of OSB, then Tyvek covered, then LP Smartguard wall covering.

Interior walls had poly film over them, then 4x8 3/8" OSB.




Lower area has workshop, full bath with washer & dryer and hunting room. Upper area is a living area with kitchen/great room, 3 bedrooms, & 1/2 bath.

 

[Adittmer]

That looks great spud. What’s the living quarters like??


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[Big Snow Man]

Spud are you working on this now in the shed area and the living area is done ? If you have pictures of the finished bath I’m assuming your done with the living quarters.

 

[nwmn]

Here is insdie the main barn area. Walls are 17.6' high and are 2"x8" studs at 16" centers. The ceiling trusses are 24" on center.

We hda 2" of spray foam insulation on inside of exterior walls then Ecobat R19 insulation over that. Exterior wall had 4x8 3/8" sheets of OSB, then Tyvek covered, then LP Smartguard wall covering.

Interior walls had poly film over them, then 4x8 3/8" OSB.

View attachment 16785


Lower area has workshop, full bath with washer & dryer and hunting room. Upper area is a living area with kitchen/great room, 3 bedrooms, & 1/2 bath.

View attachment 16787

This is awesome! Spud you should do a full thread on your project. I love this concept. Every man's dream right here!
I'm super curious on costs and how to put something like this together. We are exploring moving to in laws farm, and that would include plans to add a garage and maybe adding on to the house. These real world estimates are great for trying to theoretically construct a budget if we were to ever do it.

 

[ksgobbler]

I am gonna hold off. Don’t want to borrow money.

 

[Gator]

Some of these prices are outstanding. I just put up a 36x40 polebarn with 10' walls with a 12x40 lean-to on one side. 1" foam board insulation in walls and roof, gutters, ridge vent, 3 9x8 insulated garage doors, 1 12x8 insulated garage door and one man door. Concrete inside the enclosed portion with 2 ft skirts on each garage door. $41k. I also spent 1800 renting an excavtor for site prep. Concrete coming this Thursday.

 

[4wanderingeyes]

Looks nice!

 

[ksgobbler]

Totally jealous

 

[4wanderingeyes]

Finally getting the site cleaned.

 

[scott44]

Finally getting the site cleaned.

Good luck I hope the weather finally cooperates for you.

 

[4wanderingeyes]

Well I tried to attach a video to that last post, but it didnt work, I just tried to attach a panoramic picture, that didnt work. Anyhow, the dozer and excavator cleared it out, but after all of the rain, the soil was to wet to dig the footings. With some of the soil being questionably wet anyhow. I may have to redo the plans and do a slab on grade and do a mono pour.

 

[4wanderingeyes]

Some before and after pictures.