Price Check, Metal Building (1 Viewer)

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BadReligion

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Aug 23, 2011
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Reno, NV
So we are going to break ground on a house and shop next summer. Our original plans were to have a 4000SF stick built "nice" shop to match the elevation of the house, but with construction costs gone insane, especially in Reno, NV due to the California exodus, we are now getting bids of well over $150/SF for just the shop, not even including any living quarters.

We have accepted the fact that the main house is going to be $450/ft, but I am not paying $150/ft for a shop. After looking at some metal buildings, I think that is the route we want to go, with about 4000SF of floor space, 4 oversized doors, maybe a small 10x12 office with bathroom in a corner, and that's it. It looks like metal buildings are very customizable and can be made to not look like a metal building.

It appears that there are maybe a handful of actual manufacturers in the whole US for components, but many distributors that will aid in the design, sale, and construction of the building. I don't want to give our contractor another 10-20% for simply watching the build team from one of the distributors do all of the work, so we will likely do an owner/builder on the shop and sub out the grading/concrete, electrical, and plumbing ourselves.

Has anyone built a metal building recently? And if so, did you go with one of the national distributors, or work with a local company? What did you end up paying per foot for just the building kit? I'm trying to keep this under $100/ft for everything, including slab, assembly, and plumbing/electrical.

Here is the basic design we are going for. Other design goals are radiant floor heat in 6" slab, 300A panel, R30 insulation in ceiling and walls with finished interior walls (metal), sectional fold up doors, 40x20 mezzanine in the rear, 2T single beam gantry crane, and a lean to across the back 80'.

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you want to build in the most expensive time ever to build anything.

With the cost to prep the land, bring in utilities, build, and finish out... it's going to be close to 750K.
 
you want to build in the most expensive time ever to build anything.

With the cost to prep the land, bring in utilities, build, and finish out... it's going to be close to 750K.

I wish we could have started 2 years ago, costs would have been about 30% less, but it took that long just to get a 30x30' easement from the USFS to access our property and county approval too. Design of the house also took a while.

However, I feel like if we try to wait this out another year or two, construction prices will level out at best (other than lumber and steel hopefully going down), if not continue to increase. Interest rates will only be going up too. Reno is kind of a unique market so even if nationwide construction prices dip, with long term continued influx of retirees fleeing California, coupled with the limited availability of land for new construction, Nevada is unfortunately becoming the new California. Plus we need the space now as we have outgrown our current house and the wife is not happy with her garage being overrun by Landcruisers (but she is ok with a shop full of them).

I would like to keep the shop at $500k mostly finished so I hope its not $750k, but not the end of the world. I would be ok doing some of the interior finish work on my own. I am not factoring in well, septic, power system, grading, etc into the price since we will have to do that anyway for the house.

This is a rough estimated budget so far:

-$260k for the building kit, including the mezzanine, crane system, lean to porch, R30 insulation, interior panels, but not windows or doors

-$50k for assembly

-$70k for site prep, concrete, and PEX tubing

-$50k for doors and windows

-$25k for plumbing and electrical

-$25k for a finished 12x12 office with attached shower/bathroom

-$20k miscellaneous

Not included would be the boiler for the radiant system, 2 post lifts, 4T minisplit system for AC

Do you think I am underestimating some of these costs?
 
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We had our shop w/ an apartment in one end built 4.5 years ago by a local father & son company that specializes in metal buildings. Yeah, price of materials have gone way up since then, so my numbers wouldn't do you any good. But there's no need to have Mueller do it; there will be local one-off companies that will do it cheaper than them.
 
That building kit is a hefty price. I would shop around, you could save some significant money there. I think you're other estimates are reasonable.

I understand you on happy wife, happy life. I would probably do it too.

I pity anyone building right now. It crazy the price of everything. I read high prices have added 38% to an average home in the past year. Home builders are buying back contracts to prevent getting killed on guaranteed cost builds. Keep us updated on if you hit your estimates...just as a reference point.
 
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That building kit is a hefty price. I would shop around, you could save some significant money there. I think you're other estimates are reasonable.

I understand you on happy wife, happy life. I would probably do it too.

I pity anyone building right now. It crazy the price of everything. I read high prices have added 38% to an average home in the past year. Home builders are buying back contracts to prevent getting killed on guaranteed cost builds. Keep us updated on if you hit your estimates...just as a reference point.

Thanks. Agreed, I think the kit price is a bit high. This is going off my first estimate for one of the national companies. I will definitely bid out at least another big company and then someone local.

We are currently trapped in subdivision hell with stuck up neighbors who routinely ask "are you lost" or "are you visiting your parents" if they see me driving around in my 80...but its all smiles and waves in the 200 or G63 so we cannot wait to get out. With 2 young kids, we really want the extra space, along with some goats, chickens, and sheep that they can help take care of. Plus I really want a few pack llamas for backcountry hunting.

We thought this project would be our "forever" home, but with what has happened to my state in the last 5-10 years, we are out when the kids finish high school. My wife and I are actually flying up to Pinedale in June to check out some property for our escape plan. I hope you don't mind two additional 4th gen Nevadans relocating to WY in the future.

Here is a shot of the property. It's 5 acres about 20 min from downtown Reno, 20 min from skiing, and 25 min from Tahoe. We lucked out on purchasing this a few years ago before it hit the market. I'll keep everyone posted on how things turn out. Hope to break ground on the shop late fall, with the house late next spring/early summer.

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Well it looks like @snobdds was pretty close. I'm starting to get some bids in and it looks like this is easily going to be $550-600k. Here are some more renderings of the monitor style design:

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I've had two bids for the building kit, the first from Great Western, and the second from a contractor that uses Varco Pruden for their kits, and both are more or less at $300k, for the kit, including shipping and tax. A lot more expensive than I thought, but with metal prices where they are at, not entirely surprising. I do have a lot going on with the design and that $300k figure includes a 40x20 metal mezzanine, insulation, liner panels, and a 82x12' rear porch.

Another surprise was concrete. It is going to be $15/ft for a 6" slab. Just the install for the PEX tube will be close to $5/ft, plus $2/ft for 2" foam board. Grading and excavation are easily another $6-7/ft since the building site is on a 3-4% grade, so around $125k for all of the above.

I also underestimated the construction/erection cost of the building. This is going to be more like $70k. The other estimates are still accurate, at least for now, though I have a feeling that the door/window package is going to end up over budget too.
 
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I have no idea what your codes are like at your location. I've watched a couple of videos regarding this particular company, and the method intrigues me. less materials overall than traditional framing. Fwiw
Here's a link to their site;
 
Here's another post and beam supplier. They sell theirs as a kit and you or a contractor puts it all together. These guys mill their own lumber so bypassing the processing step that's causing dimensional lumber prices to triple over the last year. Prices on their kits have been pretty steady as long as I've been tracking them.

 
Well it looks like @snobdds was pretty close. I'm starting to get some bids in and it looks like this is easily going to be $550-600k. Here are some more renderings of the monitor style design:

51191783500_164e88d8b1_o.png


51190719531_94163bdfe6_o.png


I've had two bids for the building kit, the first from Great Western, and the second from a contractor that uses Varco Pruden for their kits, and both are more or less at $300k, for the kit, including shipping and tax. A lot more expensive than I thought, but with metal prices where they are at, not entirely surprising. I do have a lot going on with the design and that $300k figure includes a 40x20 metal mezzanine, insulation, liner panels, and a 82x12' rear porch.

Another surprise was concrete. It is going to be $15/ yard for a 6" slab. Just the install for the PEX tube will be close to $5/ft, plus $2/ft for 2" foam board. Grading and excavation are easily another $6-7/ft since the building site is on a 3-4% grade, so around $125k for all of the above.

I also underestimated the construction/erection cost of the building. This is going to be more like $70k. The other estimates are still accurate, at least for now, though I have a feeling that the door/window package is going to end up over budget too.

It's amazing that same structure would have been 300-350k 3 years ago. I wonder if you could get the dirt work, utilities, and slab work done this year, then do the building next year when hopefully prices come down. It's still going to be hard to get any building supplies as contactors are now buying in bulk to lock in prices and have a known supply, which only further exacerbates the problem. With the shortages on everything, contractors are building in down time into their estimates. Their fixed cost remain whether or not nails are being driven.

It's just a crazy time right now...I hope things get back to normal soon.
 
Crazy times indeed. Even the plumber said they are starting to see shortages on PEX tubing. I'm definitely not an expert at predicting the markets but I am pretty certain that lumber and steel are at or near their peaks and will likely only go down over the next 6-12 months. Our contractor cannot start on our main house until next summer so waiting a bit longer on the shop is an option. Of that $300k for the shop kit, I'm not sure how much of that would change if metal prices decrease by 25% or so. If that only translates to a $30-40k price reduction, then probably not worth waiting as I need the shop space ASAP, but if its more like $60-70k then waiting a few more months would make sense. As of now, we want to have the grading/excavation/slab finished before late fall because that part is more weather and temperature sensitive, but erecting and finishing the interior could take place over November/December. If prices change significantly (in a good way), I would likely wait on everything until we start on the main house next summer.
 
Some places out here will not let you buy in bulk, it's more per job +10 percent at the moment.
 
You are going to have to over design the foundation unless you commit to a building as the only way you can get reactions from the metal building supplier is by committing to a building.

I’m glad we built our cabin over the last three years. I had to buy a few more studs to finish out the fireplace framing and they were 3x what studs were three years ago.
 
Look at prestressed concrete buildings as well. I have been looking at moving and have also been looking at building a new shop.
 
Update:

After bidding the shop out to two other major metal building companies (Varco Pruden and American Building Company), I ended up going with Great Western as they had the best pricing by around 15%.

Next step is to work with their project manager and my architect on finalizing the design and layout of the shop. Right now that is mostly window placement, roof pitches, eve heights, mezzanine layout, paint colors, etc. I won't be able to get stamped plans until later this year, and GW likely won't be able to start production until December/Jan so we are looking at late spring to do the grading and excavation, then hopefully have the slab ready by May/June and shop ready by July/August 2022.
 
Prices are through the roof across country and you want to blame it on California Exodus shame on you !!!! good luck when you move to WY ;) 🤔 :)
 
Prices are through the roof across country and you want to blame it on California Exodus shame on you !!!! good luck when you move to WY ;) 🤔 :)


When 75% of new residents and home buyers come from a neighboring state and make cash offers site unseen and for 15-20% over asking price, that absolutely has an impact on construction pricing...whether or not they are building. Contractors no longer price at a set % over cost, but now at what these new residents are willing to and accustomed to paying. No one is paying $450/ft in Elko, Ely, or even Fallon which is 60 mi east.

As for WY...can't wait to make it there on a permanent basis in the future. 80 acres with 80 acre ft water in Pinedale goes for what 2 acres cost in Reno. A 300' well is $12k there, with $5k for a large septic system. That would cost $30k and $15k locally, not to mention 10x the permit fees and months of waiting for county approval. Run some cattle on your property and you pay AG property tax rates, which are a fraction of regular residential rates. There is a reason why it's the least densely populated state in the lower 48.....4 month winters at -20. Fine with me as that is what is keeping the CA exodus away from WY.

I'm not faulting those for moving to Reno from CA, I'd leave that failed state too. But to say they have no influence on local pricing is simply not true.
 
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This is a global problem, we see prices going up around all densely populated area’s. People are looking for more space and a higher standard of living for the same money. As they come from more expensive area’s they have more to spend which makes it easier for them to over bid locals. When your company is getting more work than it is equipped for you raise the prices until it equals out. As for steel, prices are up all over the globe, it more than doubled this year.
 
This is a global problem, we see prices going up around all densely populated area’s. People are looking for more space and a higher standard of living for the same money. As they come from more expensive area’s they have more to spend which makes it easier for them to over bid locals. When your company is getting more work than it is equipped for you raise the prices until it equals out. As for steel, prices are up all over the globe, it more than doubled this year.

Same thing is happening in Albuquerque, NM as well. The locals aren't able to buy a house like they used to.
 
When 75% of new residents and home buyers come from a neighboring state and make cash offers site unseen and for 15-20% over asking price, that absolutely has an impact on construction pricing...whether or not they are building. Contractors no longer price at a set % over cost, but now at what these new residents are willing to and accustomed to paying. No one is paying $450/ft in Elko, Ely, or even Fallon which is 60 mi east.

As for WY...can't wait to make it there on a permanent basis in the future. 80 acres with 80 acre ft water in Pinedale goes for what 2 acres cost in Reno. A 300' well is $12k there, with $5k for a large septic system. That would cost $30k and $15k locally, not to mention 10x the permit fees and months of waiting for county approval. Run some cattle on your property and you pay AG property tax rates, which are a fraction of regular residential rates. There is a reason why it's the least densely populated state in the lower 48.....4 month winters at -20. Fine with me as that is what is keeping the CA exodus away from WY.

I'm not faulting those for moving to Reno from CA, I'd leave that failed state too. But to say they have no influence on local pricing is simply not true.
This is a global problem, we see prices going up around all densely populated area’s. People are looking for more space and a higher standard of living for the same money. As they come from more expensive area’s they have more to spend which makes it easier for them to over bid locals. When your company is getting more work than it is equipped for you raise the prices until it equals out. As for steel, prices are up all over the globe, it more than doubled this year.
This ^^^^^^^
If you think it's bad in your state it nothing compared to coastal Calif.
I think what people fail to see is the world has become overpopulated. All to easy to blame the next guy/state
My guess is when you make your move from you current location you won't complain about the price you well sell it for.
I would also wager that most of the people that move form Calif. where not from Calif. they were just hear for the best paying jobs and the best weather. They make there money then they move on.
How do you think I feel, when I know my kids well never be able to afford to by a house where they grew up.
When I was a young man you could buy a house here for 40 to 50K now a starter house is 800 to 900k nice homes are in the multi Millions and most of them set empty except for a few week a year when those rich folks come for vacation.
Do I blame people for wanting to come to our nice little beach town, no it's called progress and you can't stop it and I won't be a hater, life's to short.
I wish you the best of luck with your new endeavor ;)
 

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