40th anniversary present, a new shop for my Dad

[alex e]

My motherinlaw wants to have a new shop built for their 40th anniversary, partly to rid the property of the ragtag existing shop, and partly to keep him out of the house when he retires. This guy lives outside friday to sunday and looks the part. The current setup is a converted shed with a garage door front plus a door next to it. He converted a roofed livestock pen with dirt floors and built a covered work area in front of the metal garage/shed since there's concrete slab and between the two structures. It looks terrible but works. There is a lot of equipment out there since they live on their farm and lots of shop equipment that is slowly getting ruined in the Houston humidity, not to mention the cobwebs and dust. I am the sole male in the family and I am watching all that beautiful stuff rust and fall apart.

We brainstormed and figure a 2000-2500 square foot shop with living quarter, full bathroom and a den attached for guy TV, passing out, etc. and keeping Mom's couch clean of grease and woodchips. My thought was to go with a metal building on slab. He can configure the interior himself. I'll project manage and hire the subs, etc.

Is a metal building cost effective? Where can I get some good info on this type of project?

 

[fj40charles]

Do a search and you'll find some good info. I like metal buildings since they're more cost effective than a wood frame.

I have a metal building. Purchased from Mueller Inc. (www.muellerinc.com). Mueller is one of the better manufacturer of metal buildings. They have a location near Houston. Mueller is known for their quality sheet metal. They also manufacture their own sheet metal.

Things to consider:

Concrete will cost about the same as the cost of building.
Metal buildings are cheap as advertised until you start adding up doors, insulation, ridge vents, gutters, etc.,

Not all metal buildings are created equal. Need to find out what kind of support beams they use. Some of the cheaper buildings will use C pulins for support instead of I beams and use thinner gauge sheet metal.

I hope you know what you're doing if you're going to manage the project. Might be worthwhile to pay an engineer to design the concrete foundation. I had to get an engineered drawing for my concrete since it was in the city limits.

 

[D'Animal]

I did a lot of research before I bought my metal 40x60. The compnaies that came to the top of my list were Butler, Bullard and Metallic.

 

[alex e]

I'm going to supervise the project not build it myself.
Thanks for the leads.

 

[photogod]

Kudos to your M in L. She has the right idea. The right way to please a man includes but not limited to, building him a workshop! My Father in Law put up two pole barns twenty five years ago and they are still in perfect shape except for the fading red pannels.

 

[alex e]

I think it's more a case of the old one is an eyesore, and he's a nusiance and trashes the house on the weekends.........hahahaha. sad but true.

 

[chet]

you need to check out www.garagejournal.com they will answer most if not all of your questions! Warning though there is a lot of cool ideas over there!!!