Want opinions on a shop

J

JD3020

New member
Been house shopping for the last year, and haven't been able to find what i want. Really not even that worried about a house right now, just want a shop to wrench in on a piece of land where i could build a house down the road. Im now thinking about buying 5 acres off my grandparents on the family farm as they will sell it to me for a good price, and building a shop. Looking to get an idea of what it will cost. Thinking about building in one of our hay fields so i would need to drill a well and have new power service ran. We have skid steers, trenchers, forklifts, and an excavator so i'd be doing all the dirt work, plumbing, and probably the electrical work myself. Only thing i would hire out would be pouring concrete. I'm leaning towards doing a steel building.

Plans for the shop is more or less a hobby shop. No desire to wrench full time, just work on my own vehicles, maintenance and repairs on our fleet trucks/equipment, and possibly a side job here or there. Want enough room that i can work on 2-3 things at a time without being cramped. Has to have an area that i can pressure wash our plow trucks and salt spreaders in the winter. But also want to keep it small enough i can afford to heat it in the winter. In SW Ohio so not extreme cold, but still gets below 0 a couple times a year. This current floor plan i've made is for a 36x48, 12ft eaves(i think it would be tall enough?) 10x10 bathroom with washer and dryer, and a 5x5 utility room for the air compressor. 1 12klb 2 post lift. 20ft of pallet racks on the one wall, and would probably do a loft over that end for additional space.

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By .02 is take the size of the shop you think you'll need and go to the next one up! And I was going to do 16' walls to get a 14' door so I didn't have to worry about things not fitting.
 
I used the barn planner on fbibuildings.com. Pretty easy to use.


And ideally i'd go 40x60x16, but on a tight budget and i don't plan on running a full-time shop out of it so i don't think i could justify the added expense. 36x48x5" thick pad would take 27 yards, at $130/yd(think thats what it was last time we poured) is $3510. To go say 40x60 would take another 10 yd/$1300 just in concrete, not counting added labor and all the material, and that much more space to heat and cool. And if i needed more space i could throw up a pole barn with a gravel floor pretty cheap. Or throw a lean-to on the backside to park a truck and trailer.

As for height i think if i went with a steel building and 12ft eaves i'd have enough height to put a 14ft door on the end, and have enough room inside for a lift. May be wrong on that though.



Really like this set-up a lot, wouldn't take much to lay a nice paver patio around it with a little water feature either...
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I would definitely recommend a 40x50 or 50x50 as well. Unless you won't actually have all those trucks in there at one time. Will there be tool boxes and benches in there as well?
 
Bigger. Is better. Min I would do is 40x60. For personal stuff. Also heated floors will save you a fortune in the long run
 
x10 on going bigger. Our turbo shop filled this 5000 sq ft building and we are only 6 months in. We do zero wrenching. I never imagined filling it in the next 3 years.
 
Go bigger and go higher. Once it's built you'll regret not having the extra space.

I would also build a littl shanty beside the shop to house the compressor. Less moisture and less noise when it comes on.
 
I plan to build a small utility room inside to house the air compressor and other odds and ends i wouldn't need very often. I've worked in several shops with a 15cfm compressor 20ft away from you, and know how annoying/dangerous it is when you're trying to work on something and can't talk over the compressor. At our current shop the compressor is 20ft away in another garage, so nice not hearing it when it's running. As for heat i can get 1/2" pex dirt cheap so its a no brainer to put it in the floor, although i'm not sure what i'd use as a heat source. Insulation is also a big thing, where i'd like to build is basically in the middle of a 30 acre field, fairly flat with no tree's so it can get windy.


With that being said i'm now thinking about going with a pole building instead of steel, frame between the posts with 2x6 to insulate it, and make it easy to finish out the inside. I saw an ad today for a local pole barn company showing a 40x64x14 basic barn for $17k erected with 1 sliding door. If we get rained out tomorrow i might just make a trip up and get a quote. Still think i'd go with 2 10x10 doors on the side, and a 14hx12w door on an end to get hay wagons and other random tall **** in. All overhead and insulated. 3 man doors(one on each end and one side). And a friend of a friend that does concrete work said he'd be around $6-7k to do a 40x60x5" pad, not adding in any rebar or mesh.
 
Go bigger. Wall space is a necessity for all the equipment you end up getting.

Urinal

In floor heat. Once you get it you cant go back.

Urinal

Make sure the utility room can also fit water heater, possibly water softener, or in floor heating unit.

Try to get a urinal.
 
Is that form and pour and finish? Included concrete? Putting any drains in? Best be carefull on finishers. That's a big slab an part of what I did for a living. Some guy who will do it for a good price might leave a pile of dips and crap grade on your slab. Just a heads up. Good look at his work and talk to him. Lots of people know how to talk but can't do the work properly.
 
We didn't set down and talk numbers, just told him what i'm thinking about doing and he said it'd probably be $2kish for him to finish it. I'm perfectly comfortable with doing all the grading, compacting, forming, setting drains, laying the pex for heat, and hell i could probably lay the wire mesh and help pour as well. I'm figuring doing the whole pad 5" thick, 40yd at $130/yd, so looking at $5k in concrete. Just basically need somebody to finish it. I did all the prep and helped pour/finish a 30x70 pad this spring, after that i'll leave the finishing to somebody with more experience than me.

I'm planning on putting a sink and water fountain(already have both) somewhere along the back wall, but a urinal is definitely a good idea!
 
Got bored so i played around with it some more, this is 42x64, patio is 12ft wide. Bathroom is 10x10, utility room with compressor and water heater is 5x5. And i added a nice little living room area, because every shop needs a nice place to drink beer and watch TV. All its lacking is a bed and i wouldn't even need a house. LOL
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