My turn finally... home and garage.

[green.bubbly]

The time has finally come to start what began as a silly thought two years ago. My wife and I are going to build a home using a commercial steel building. In the two years that it took to find a piece of land suitable for our project, I have had time to do a lot of research. It seems that this is becoming a fairly popular thing.

What I wish to accomplish with this thread is to share with others that are thinking of doing this. Amazingly, as popular as this is becoming, there is really not a whole lot of information on it floating around out there. I will try and list all the costs and the headaches.


Initially, I was planning one one large steel building with the living area in the front and a garage/shop in the rear section. But due to the higher than planned erection costs and other possible code issues I might face, we decided to do separate buildings. While not comfortable erecting my home, I think with the help of a few friends, we can erect the garage ourselves saving me a good bit on erection costs.

My garage/shop will be a 24x24 steel building. We will actually not be parking cars inside of it as I will have a attached covered carport on the front of the garage. This area will also allow me to roll out any woodworking tools and work outside under the carport cover.

Below is pic of the first and second floor plans. Upstairs will be some storage and a large hobby area for my wife. That will be her area and should keep her out of my shop.


The living room will have vaulted ceilings and the hobby room upstairs will have a french door and New Orleans style wrought iron balcony overlooking the living area. That will also be the balcony I push her over if I catch her in my shop.


The house will be 48 wide by 36 deep and will be a two bedroom/two bath. My floor plans were done using Punch! Home and Landscape. Not the best software, but for the price, it did what I needed and was easy enough to use.

I will try and take a lot of pics of the progress.

So far, these are the costs...


House Permits: $967.00
36x48x12 Ideal Steel building: $14,345.00
24x24x10 Meuller Steel building: $4,895.00
Roughin Plumbing: $2,200.00

Foundations: $11,092.00 ***edit*** now it is at $12,906 due to cross footings and the fact that my original crew bailed on me because they are too backed up with work.

Erection: $5,500
Construction utility pole: $225.00
Total for the foundation anchors is $346.00


***Edit*** 02/19/2011

Garage permits for electrical, water and drain: $220.00
Driveway plastic pipe: $135.00
Plumber charge for garage: $100.00
UFER ground: $25.00 (15 foot #4 bare copper and a clamp)
Sand for foundations: $950.00



Downstairs...







Upstairs...




***Edit*** 06/23/2012

Below are links to threads related to my build. Lots of good dumb questions and great answers.


Metal Panel Screw Spacing

Main Electrical Panel Install

Smoke Detectors

Appliance Wire Size

Cutting Large Holes in Sheet Metal Siding

Conduit Type Discussion

[Addrock]

Nice post. The pics aren't viewable on my end.

[hllon4whls]

Originally Posted by Addrock

Nice post. The pics aren't viewable on my end.

Same here and I want to see this!

[green.bubbly]

Hmmm... they show up on my end. Lets try this way.

The house will have 12 foot sidewalls and a 7:12 roof pitch. I wish I had a drawing of the building but it is basically a commercial steel building with one foot overhangs/eaves. Once I get it livable, I will install a wrap around porch kind of like the third pic except the porch will go all the way around the house.

[Bones35]

Hey green looks cool. Few things I noticed you might consider. I see that you only have a exterior entrance to the upstairs. I would reconsider the layout of your laundry and make a exterior door into that space toward the living room and do a 90 deg stair in the corner. This could have a door on it if your looking for privacy. What if there's two foot of snow or a heavy rains and you need something up there and I bet youll be in your pj's. looks like the room has plenty of space.

[green.bubbly]

Nice catch. The design I submitted will "not" have an upstairs. That stairway room will a storage room until the final inspection is complete. Then I will install the stairs and finish the upstairs.

We will be able to enter the staircase from inside the laundry room as well as from the door outside. The reason for the outside door is so that I can have a straight shot up the stairs if I need to bring boards/sofa/beds or other long items.

I spent the last year fighting with my wife over the design and trying to maximize the living area. We did not want a stair case in the middle of the house and this was the best layout we could agree on.

I am still playing around with the exterior door that leads into the laundry. If I leave it as it is, it will block the entry way into the stairway. I will probably move it towards where the sink is or at least have it swing the other way.

[KEH]

Neighbor across the road has a house built from steel building. Looks nice. It's on a concrete pad which is generally a no-no in this climate due to moisture and termites, but he graded properly and built the pad high. I know, termites don't attack steel building but they might get after wooden floors, doors, and door facings.

KEH

[larry4406]

Why are you planning on doing the upstairs later after inspection and I assume no permit?

[santagary]

Our daughter and her significant other built what they call the club house in Texas. Roughly 45' x 120'...all metal with a 25' deep porch on the front. House area is on the right and garage on the left. Garage has 20' walls (you can back a semi into it from the end). Living area has loft bedroom a great room/kitchen and one bath...fantastic space with floor to ceiling windows all around. This will be the guest house after the "main house" is built and where 5/8ths and I will stay when we visit them.

[green.bubbly]

Originally Posted by larry4406

Why are you planning on doing the upstairs later after inspection and I assume no permit?

Permit cost and property taxes. Because I do not have an actual build cost, the permit cost is based on the amount of living area square feet times $78.00/sqft. Property tax is the same way. As of right now, the upstairs will just be a storage attic.

Originally Posted by santagary

Our daughter and her significant other built what they call the club house in Texas. Roughly 45' x 120'...all metal with a 25' deep porch on the front. House area is on the right and garage on the left. Garage has 20' walls (you can back a semi into it from the end). Living area has loft bedroom a great room/kitchen and one bath...fantastic space with floor to ceiling windows all around. This will be the guest house after the "main house" is built and where 5/8ths and I will stay when we visit them.

That is sweet and was basically what I initially wanted to do but not quite as large. But erection costs forced me to downsize and build a separate garage that I could erect myself.

[Bones35]

Originally Posted by Bones35

Permit cost and property taxes. Because I do not have an actual build cost, the permit cost is based on the amount of living area square feet times $78.00/sqft. Property tax is the same way. As of right now, the upstairs will just be a storage attic.

Smart!

[larry4406]

Originally Posted by Bones35

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bones35
Permit cost and property taxes. Because I do not have an actual build cost, the permit cost is based on the amount of living area square feet times $78.00/sqft. Property tax is the same way. As of right now, the upstairs will just be a storage attic.

Smart!

Double edge sword - if it is an illegal unpermitted addition, you may have insurance issues and/or problems when you go to sell it (yes, it will get sold one day, maybe not by you but your heirs). In the mean time, your property taxes may be lower.

[green.bubbly]

Originally Posted by larry4406

Double edge sword - if it is an illegal unpermitted addition, you may have insurance issues and/or problems when you go to sell it (yes, it will get sold one day, maybe not by you but your heirs). In the mean time, your property taxes may be lower.

The upstairs will not really be finished as in sheet rock and pretty floors. It will basically be a closed in attic space. It will never technically be considered living area but more like an unfinished basement. But even so, unless the remodel/renovation is more than $5,000.00, no permit is needed if the work is performed by the homeowner.



So today, I called for a port-a-let to be delivered. I get a call from my son (who lives next door to my property) and he informs me that they delivered a freakin dumpster instead.

[John in OH]

Interesting plan! In what part of the country are you located?

[Brew62]

Originally Posted by green.bubbly

So today, I called for a port-a-let to be delivered. I get a call from my son (who lives next door to my property) and he informs me that they delivered a freakin dumpster instead.

So what, It will probably hold more than the port -a- let anyway.

[Ocho]

My boss built one of these about fifteen years ago. His building is 10k sq ft. The living area is 3k sq ft footprint, but it's two story. The upstairs is sort of like you describe - basement type finish out.

7k sq ft shop.

It's also semi built into a hill so it doesn't look nearly as tall as it really is, if that makes sense. On about 7 or 8 acres of land. It's a really sweet setup.

[green.bubbly]

Originally Posted by John in OH

Interesting plan! In what part of the country are you located?

South Louisiana.

[David79z28]

Sounds like a cool idea. I know several people that have done something similar around here.

I have heard nothing but good things about Mueller around here. They even put me in touch with someone who fixed my building when someone else screwed it up.

I'll look at them first if I ever build another shop..

[burleymike]

My wife and I have talked about doing this exact thing someday. Her uncle built his place this way and it got me thinking.

[green.bubbly]

Here are my first pics. I am almost getting excited...



Garage slab and house slab in the background...