Garage Build

[Scott]

After years of planning, a house move, and job settling, I finally got to start on my garage build.

To facilitate the construction, first thing was to sell my (ex DJ) M3.  


Step  #2, and possibly the most important step was to upgrade my wife's mom mobile to a new Volvo XC90 (happy wife, happy life)


On to the important part.  Garage plans.  After a couple months of back and forth, we agreed on plans with the contractor:


Two full stories, real staircase going up, and full floor for the second story.   Main story will be completely finished.  Upgraded electrical throughout for future cooling/heating as well as the future finished 2nd story. We also added plumbing under the staircase for a sink as well as ran the pipes to add a toilet if desired.

Placement help


Progress:






Finally, where we are as of today:

---

The boss has already trying to figure out his spot:

[davej]

wow, that's pretty good progress for day one!

Looks awesome man! Were you trying to put a lift in the bottom or nah?

[JPolen01]

That looks great. How many miatas will it hold?

[Senor_Taylor]

Wowowowow. Dreams

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

[Scott]

wow, that's pretty good progress for day one!

Looks awesome man! Were you trying to put a lift in the bottom or nah?

Lol, I wish.  It broke ground in August and has been nothing but contractor issues and delays. 

Lift will be going in hopefully next year.  My budget is pretty shot at this point.

---

That looks great. How many miatas will it hold?

6 easily before the lift

[Kaan]

we are looking to move and the only houses/property that meet our criteria don't have a garage (for some reason)

i guess i need to figure out what to budget for this adventure.

[ScottyB]

i love it. my dream is to someday have a 2 story, 2 bay shop/garage combo building on my property. i'd love to hear more about the process and the ups and downs with the contractor if you have time. looks great so far.

[HAULN-SS]

How is the floorplan of the loft going to look? Is it going to be completely liveable, or just a place to hang out in a finished spot?

[Scott]

How is the floorplan of the loft going to look? Is it going to be completely liveable, or just a place to hang out in a finished spot?

The floor plan is fully open and runs the total length of the garage.  For now it will only have the floor but could be made totally liveable.

---

we are looking to move and the only houses/property that meet our criteria don't have a garage (for some reason)

i guess i need to figure out what to budget for this adventure.

Probably dependent on area.  I'm happy to share what my outlay was once it's actually completed. When I was getting quotes, they ranged from $35k (this guy showed up drunk) to $120k

---

i love it.  my dream is to someday have a 2 story, 2 bay shop/garage combo building on my property.  i'd love to hear more about the process and the ups and downs with the contractor if you have time.  looks great so far.

During this process I have run into several issues with the contractor, power company, and county

- We closed on our house in May, and weren't going to move into until the end of July. Construction was supposed to start the day after closing and be completed before moving in. They broke ground in middle August

-During planning the contractor said he "rarely" uses subs and won't on my project. In reality, it's been nothing but subs

-We planned for 6in of concrete throughout the entire garage, prepped for this, and the concrete guy came and poured 4.... We are currently negotiating what this means regarding $$. I was out of town between when the pour happened and the walls started going up

-County was very interested about the plumbing and "living space" upstairs. Took several visits by me to the planning commission to get it sorted, and after that I got another letter and several more visits to the commission to convince them that I was not going to be running a business out of the garage in a residential area.

-At this point, it needs the wiring run, insulation, drywall and paint to be completed, more a week or two worth of work. Of course that would require work to be done every day. Currently we get maybe 1-2 days a week of work completed.

[ScottyB]

ugh sorry to hear about the delays. that said, your comments seem to mirror a lot of stories i hear. i just have no idea how these guys stay in business.

is there any kind of stipulation in a contract to penalize a contractor for doing the job behind schedule or not completing a set number of hours of work per week? or is that simply not a thing they're willing to negotiate on? i imagine even if you were able to make terms you'd still have to be able to pay for litigation if they broke contract and that's money you probably wouldn't see again.

the concrete situation is eye opening...if i understand concrete work that would mean they can't pour an additional 2 inches on top of what's there, they have to fully demo the floor and start over right? i hope they make you whole on it. my garage suffers from really poor quality concrete and it makes leveling anything an incredible pain in the ass.

the subcontractor situation doesn't surprise me but it still sucks. are they at least doing a decent job? i hear a lot of people say that babysitting subs on-site is almost a requirement if the GC isn't there so that they don't constantly cut corners or screw up the plans, do you feel like that's been true?

[.RJ]

 i just have no idea how these guys stay in business.

They dont, generally

is there any kind of stipulation in a contract to penalize a contractor for doing the job behind schedule or not completing a set number of hours of work per week?  

You could but then the penalties would add up and they'd just stop showing up.

[Scott]

the concrete situation is eye opening...if i understand concrete work that would mean they can't pour an additional 2 inches on top of what's there, they have to fully demo the floor and start over right?  i hope they make you whole on it.  my garage suffers from really poor quality concrete and it makes leveling anything an incredible pain in the ass.

Just can't pour additional inches on top.  It's not the end of the world, I was going to go with 6 all around since I'm not exactly sure where the lift is going to go until I live in it for a while and figure out the "flow" I want.  When it's decided, I can cut out where the lift goes and repour, which is a PIA, but not the end of the world.  I'm getting quotes on having that done and negotiating with my contractor.  

I'm paying them in 4 payments during the process and there is one to go, I'm holding it until we get an exceptable deduction for the concrete issue.

---

 i just have no idea how these guys stay in business.

They dont, generally

is there any kind of stipulation in a contract to penalize a contractor for doing the job behind schedule or not completing a set number of hours of work per week?  

You could but then the penalties would add up and they'd just stop showing up.

RJ is correct.  It's a fine line of pushing them to stay on a timeline and having them rush and do crappy work.  Or quit showing up at all.

[JPolen01]

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a penalty structure in a residential contract. The fees can be enormous on the commercial side. Into the thousands per day.

[.RJ]

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a penalty structure in a residential contract. The fees can be enormous on the commercial side. Into the thousands per day.

and guess who has their shit together

[ScottyB]

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a penalty structure in a residential contract. The fees can be enormous on the commercial side. Into the thousands per day.

and guess who has their shit together

i figured as much with the residential thing.  

how in the world do you source a residential guy that takes their job seriously, anyway?  just luck/word of mouth and hope the good ones aren't booked up for the next 2 years?

-----
funny side story - i'm watching the opposite thing happen in my neighborhood.  our shitbag developer tried to weasel out of building a second entrance to our subdivision for 10 years and our HOA finally took him to court and won.  i guess as a deal, he gets to develop about a dozen plots on the new entrance road.  these houses went from dirt to drywall inside of 3 weeks.  big homes too, probably 3000+ sq ft and i cringe to think about how rushed the construction quality is.  i mean the electricians were probably following the painters into each room to put in wall switches as the paint was drying.  the road is hilariously slapdash too, didn't even take the time to pour fully formed gutters and a grass verge like the rest of the neighborhood, just road straight to sidewalk. oh well, the fat cat's gonna get his money one way or the other.

[D_Eclipse9916]

the concrete situation is eye opening...if i understand concrete work that would mean they can't pour an additional 2 inches on top of what's there, they have to fully demo the floor and start over right?  i hope they make you whole on it.  my garage suffers from really poor quality concrete and it makes leveling anything an incredible pain in the ass.

Just can't pour additional inches on top.  It's not the end of the world, I was going to go with 6 all around since I'm not exactly sure where the lift is going to go until I live in it for a while and figure out the "flow" I want.  When it's decided, I can cut out where the lift goes and repour, which is a PIA, but not the end of the world.  I'm getting quotes on having that done and negotiating with my contractor.  

I'm paying them in 4 payments during the process and there is one to go, I'm holding it until we get an exceptable deduction for the concrete issue.

---

 i just have no idea how these guys stay in business.

They dont, generally

is there any kind of stipulation in a contract to penalize a contractor for doing the job behind schedule or not completing a set number of hours of work per week?  

You could but then the penalties would add up and they'd just stop showing up.

RJ is correct.  It's a fine line of pushing them to stay on a timeline and having them rush and do crappy work.  Or quit showing up at all.

Rotary 2 posts only need 4 inches btw...

I love my Rotary (and it’s what’s in all the dealerships)

[.RJ]

how in the world do you source a residential guy that takes their job seriously, anyway?  just luck/word of mouth and hope the good ones aren't booked up for the next 2 years?

Basically. I got pretty lucky with my kitchen GC, but, they werent the cheapest by far.

[Senor_Taylor]

the concrete situation is eye opening...if i understand concrete work that would mean they can't pour an additional 2 inches on top of what's there, they have to fully demo the floor and start over right?  i hope they make you whole on it.  my garage suffers from really poor quality concrete and it makes leveling anything an incredible pain in the ass.

Just can't pour additional inches on top.  It's not the end of the world, I was going to go with 6 all around since I'm not exactly sure where the lift is going to go until I live in it for a while and figure out the "flow" I want.  When it's decided, I can cut out where the lift goes and repour, which is a PIA, but not the end of the world.  I'm getting quotes on having that done and negotiating with my contractor.  

I'm paying them in 4 payments during the process and there is one to go, I'm holding it until we get an exceptable deduction for the concrete issue.

---

 i just have no idea how these guys stay in business.

They dont, generally

is there any kind of stipulation in a contract to penalize a contractor for doing the job behind schedule or not completing a set number of hours of work per week?  

You could but then the penalties would add up and they'd just stop showing up.

RJ is correct.  It's a fine line of pushing them to stay on a timeline and having them rush and do crappy work.  Or quit showing up at all.

Rotary 2 posts only need 4 inches btw...

I love my Rotary (and it’s what’s in all the dealerships)

What model do you have?

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

[JPolen01]

how in the world do you source a residential guy that takes their job seriously, anyway?  just luck/word of mouth and hope the good ones aren't booked up for the next 2 years?

Basically. I got pretty lucky with my kitchen GC, but, they werent the cheapest by far.

Word of mouth referrals are the only way to go when it comes to residential construction. And know the laws of your state that cover homeowners.

For example, in MD a contractor can only accept 1/3 of the total cost as a deposit. Every week you see a story on the news about a homeowner who gave a contractor 100% of the money upfront only for the contractor to not complete the work and disappear.

Obviously that is a shitty way to do business but it’s also in the homeowner to not pay before the work is processed.

[D_Eclipse9916]

Rotary 2 posts only need 4 inches btw...

I love my Rotary (and it’s what’s in all the dealerships)

What model do you have?

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

ROTARY SPOA10N700 Lift, 2-post 10,000 lb Asym 2-stage