As some of you know I recently had a new 24’ x 40’ shop/garage building added to my property near San Diego, California http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=96581. No, I’m not a carpenter so building my own wasn’t a possibility. After checking various sources, including “stick built,” I decided to have Tuff Shed build it. The following is a critique of the process that I thought might be helpful for anyone else who might be interested in doing something similar.
Cost:
Stick built estimates came in the neighborhood of $70,000 for a similar, but smaller structure with an unfinished interior.
Actual cost was $10,000 for the concrete foundation and just under $20,000 to Tuff Shed including painting exterior, adding Hardy board to the exterior walls as required by local building codes for fire protection. The cost also included an extra walk-in door and four window openings.
All my other costs would be rather typical if I added them to the “stick built” structure cost.
Process:
After receiving some bids on a “stick built” for a building the size of a normal three car garage garage I checked out the Tuff Shed website to see what one of their buildings would cost using their “build a quote.” I couldn’t believe the difference I was seeing between the cost of a Tuff Shed building and the stick built quotes.
My wife and I visited our local Tuff Shed dealer who had one of their garages on site to look at. It was easy to see that it was built as well as the garage in our tract house that we're living in. We decided to check into the possibility of having Tuff Shed build our building.
We visited the closest Tuff Shed facility to our construction site. I had already determined that a 24’ x 40’ garage/shop could be built on our site so we decided to see what the possibilities of having them build it were. I must say that the “salesman” from Tuff Shed that I started with knew his business and stayed with me for the whole process. That was very helpful because I knew who to contact when I needed to. After he figured out the price of the building we wanted and we took some time to figure in the “other costs” my wife and I signed a contract with them. We were told that Tuff Shed would build the garage in a total of three days. Two days were needed to get the building ready for the first inspection and a third would finish the job.
The process was officially started in June. Tuff shed gave me a set of plans and engineering specifications that were required by the county building department to apply for a building permit. What they didn’t supply was a plot plan of the building site which turned out to cause quite a few problems due to the details required by the county. I was required to submit the plans to the county for a building permit. It turned out that the plans I received weren’t up to code according to the county’s building department. It took more than a month for Tuff Shed to correct the plans and engineering specifications to meet the county’s requirements.
The biggest change in the plans had to do with the foundation. The county had switched from requiring six inches above grade to eight. This change not only added a lot of time to the building process, but it also added to the cost. As anyone who has used concrete in construction lately knows, it isn’t cheap.
While Tuff Shed was working on the original plans I had met an electrician who I thought could do a great job at a decent price for my electrical work. He turned out to be an excellent resource for the whole build. While I had to act as the homeowner/general contractor for the project my electrician, who was much more familiar with contractors in the area than I was, found the contractors and workers I needed for the work. Without him I would have been in trouble more than once and would have most likely have spent a lot more money.
Once the permit was granted the building process went rather quickly and smoothly. The foundation forms were in before we got the permit so the foundation was laid as soon as we could schedule it after we got the permit. The concrete contractor figured out the needed concrete exactly right and the finishers did an excellent job. We were off to a great start.
A week later the Tuff Shed crew showed up. They put up the walls and trusses on day one. At the end of day two the building was “ready” for the first inspection. Due to some miscommunication between Tuff Shed and the county building department it didn’t pass. A couple weeks passed getting those things “fixed” and passing inspection before the shingles could be put on. When the crew came out to put the shingles on the building I was under the impression that they would also do all the “finishing” work so that the building would be ready for the final inspection. Well, they didn’t. In fact there was quite a problem in the internal communications at Tuff Shed and it took several weeks for them to finally complete their work. In the end I was fully satisfied with their work. The building is exactly what I thought it would be.
Analysis:
First I have to say that I’m very excited to see my dream of a workshop come to reality. I’ve wanted this for many years, but due to space and money it was never possible before now.
That said I am somewhat disappointed in some aspects of the building process. First off the fact that Tuff Shed didn’t get the permit cost me a lot of time and money that I shouldn’t have had to spend. The second major problem is that they didn’t do the concrete work. While I was very fortunate to have found someone who contracted the work and ended up with a great foundation it would have been a lot easier for me if Tuff Shed had been responsible for that part of the work. While I’m satisfied with the building and say it’s just what I expected fitting the drywall was very difficult because of wall studs and trusses that weren't straight. A lot of extra cutting had to be done especially in the ceiling.
Recommendations:
This is an option worth looking into. No, it isn’t an option that is good for everyone. It would not be a good choice for those looking for a building to match their current construction or someone that couldn’t “live with” eight foot walls.
Final analysis:
Wow, I have a shop/garage. Because of the reduction in building cost I was able to afford a building that was larger than I had originally hoped I would have. The exterior, other than a slight difference in paint color, matches the exterior of my house. It looks like the two buildings were planned together. Most importantly I have a space for woodworking that would not have been possible without having Tuff Shed build it for me.
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