2023 #7: Garage 90% done, ?% paid for

Early last summer we committed to building a garage to store our Ollie. The original plan was a 3 bay garage with a center bay large enough for the Oliver, plus 2 additional bays large enough to hold our pickup truck and small car. Something like this:

We wanted wood-framed instead of a steel building. We thought it would be a little better with heat/cold, and easier to modify in the future. Not to mention a little more residential-looking. Then we started getting prices. That 3 bay garage was going to be too much for our budget, and probably for our yard as well, so we scaled back to a 2 and a half bay garage to house the trailer, truck, and some work/storage space.

Most of the work would be done by friends who were contractors, including the excavation/site prep, framing/roofing/siding, and electrical. We wanted to give work to people we know and we hoped to save a little money in exchange for a longer construction timeframe, since some of them would be working on this as a side job. More about that later.

Excavation began in late August and proceeded more slowly than expected for a couple of reasons. Our friend was doing the work on nights and weekends as a side job. We expected that. There were large rocks and boulders under the surface. We pretty much expected that. His big excavator machine broke down and he had to rent another one. We didn't expect that.

By early September, we were ready to pour the concrete knee walls and footers. The concrete guy, a friend of the excavator, was excellent.

By mid-September the general contractor was able to start framing, which went really quickly. He did a great job, on time and under budget!

The roof was on by the end of September.

The concrete floor was poured and the vinyl siding was going up by early October and the gravel driveway was roughed in by late October.

There was a delay waiting for the bay doors to come in but the bay doors were installed and the building was weather-tight on November 15. 

The last big jobs left undone were electrical installation and replacing/regrading our topsoil, and that's where we really got bogged down. The excavator and electrician, both doing this a side job, were having trouble coordinating and picking dates for the trenching and conduit needed to get electricity out to the garage. Time passed and winter weather was approaching. Eventually, we hired another electrical contractor to do both the trench and the rest of the electrical work in the garage. That was finished on December 7 and we had a fully functional garage.

Only the yard work, replacing the topsoil, remained to be done. And it remains that way to this day. We still have a mountain of topsoil in the back yard and the broken excavator machine is still sitting back there. We even decorated it with lights for Christmas.

We don't know when the excavator (the person, not the machine) will be back. Stranger still, we don't have a price for the work he's already done (except for an initial payment). So, I can't tell you how much this garage project will cost us in the end. I can however, tell you how much it cost to get this far:

Excavation to date: $10,000

Concrete work: $14,400

Framing/roofing/siding/etc.: $43,450

Electrical: $7,900

Fixtures/smarthome gear/security systems/etc.: $600

TOTAL TO DATE: $76,350

Things that work well:

• The wood frame construction makes it easy to add shelves, brackets, etc. for storage. 
• The size of the building is just about right for storage and working on the vehicles. I have a Harbor Freight workbench in there, too. (link)
• The 10' wide, 12' high bay doors are great for getting the trailer in and being able to work on the roof of the trailer.
• The side-mount garage door openers are very quiet and smooth and they have built-in battery backup for power outages. (link)
• There's a stick-on reflective stripe on the floor to guide the truck when backing in. (There's not a lot of room on either side of the big towing mirrors when going through the door.) (link)
• We're using a reflective traffic delineator post as a target to back the trailer in to the desired spot, using the rear view camera on the Ollie. (Because of the dually's "hips" I can't see the trailer tires.) (link)
• Rubber wheel chocks prevent backing in too far. (link)
• The double doors on the side are perfect for moving the lawn tractor in and out without moving the other vehicles.
• We have data out in the garage, so we have security cameras as well as burglar, smoke, and CO alarms. (WiFi, too!)
• The main interior lights are called "high bay lights" and they are extremely bright. (link)
• Most of the lighting is "smart" lighting, which we can run on schedules or operate remotely.
• There's a little Alexa Pop speaker out there. It can play music, run the lighting, or act as an intercom between the house and garage. (link)
• There are two 20 amp circuits inside the garage, each with multiple outlets. One circuit is mostly for plugging in the trailer for battery charging, etc. The other is for the workshop area. (We didn't put in a 30A trailer outlet because we're not going to run the trailer air conditioner indoors.)

I'll post an update in the future when the final excavation work is done. Meanwhile, HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!