Posted on 03/19/2011 7:59:23 PM PDT by Bean Counter
My wife has convinced me that I should really start making plans to finally tear down my old shop and build a proper one in its place.
I have in mind a 20 x 16 footprint building with a second story for storage with a barn shaped roof. I've sketched things out on paper but I need to have a proper print for the permit and for the contractors who are going to build it for me, not to mention coming up with a cost and a budget for the construction.
I don't want to reinvent the wheel trying to find something suitable online if some here might already know of a website or freeware to help me design the building and work up a good bill of materials that I can estimate from.
Anyone have a suggestion for something they have used to design a garage sized outbuilding?? I really don't want to spend several hundred dollars on an architect, and I really don't want to break out the drawing board and do it myself on paper...
Thanks!
Check with Lowes, you can get a kit with everything needed.
Costs @ 30-35/square foot
You have mail - twice
Buy a 2 or 3 car garage kit with a second story. Pre-fabbed in the factory, then delivered and assembled on site on your poured slab. It is done in ONE day and everything is very tight. Even the interior walls and trim are are painted. My BIL had one put up and it turned out beautiful. Looks like and old gable-roof barn on the outside, but is a professional woodshop on the inside. Also came with a full length covered porch for just sitting around and chewing the fat with customers.
Google Sketchup, is google’s free program.
Check out http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/.
There’s a forum on Garages/Workshops which might be helpful.
Thanks for all the suggestions, and I appreciate the help. I do have experience building things like this, I’m just looking for the best computer program to help me plan it. We don’t intend to even start demolition until 2012 so I have lots of time. Planning is half the fun.
And for the record, I already asked my wife what she gets out of this, and she mentioned the new futon she would buy for the new shop...
What kind of work do you do in your shop? I do woodwork, and my shop is a 12’x 24’ portable building that I bought used and rewired. If you are doing machining or auto work, for instance, you will obviously have differing requirements.
The only real advice I can give you here is this- figure out the maximum possible number of electric circuits and plugs that you would ever need- then double it! In my little shop, I have six separate circuits, and lots of plugs- and it’s still not enough.
My shop is about twice as big as my old one, and seemed huge when I got it- but it’s shrinking rapidly as I aquire more and more tools and materials (not to mention that I’m doing big production runs, and no good place to stack pieces in between operations!). If you can, you should expand while you are at it.
Expanding the electrical system is a major goal. My current “shop” is less than half of what I have now and is largely storage. To do anything means I have to move tools to my garage, or even on the patio. I want a place to work on anything, whether it is wooden toys for the grandkids or overhauling my lawnmower...
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