So we finally bought a place with a lot big enough for a real garage / workshop. Unfortunately the timing is poor due to COVID / material pricing spikes / etc so I'm struggling with a path forward.

Prior to COVID, I had been looking into a red iron steel building as it seemed the most cost effective for the size I wanted (I'd ideally like to be around 50 wide x 40 deep , 10-12 tall).

Once we were ready to pull the trigger, all of the material and labor craziness had set in and I had a hard time even getting a quote. We did finally get one steel building place come out and his rough estimate was nearly double what it was pre-COVID. He also wasn't willing to do any footwork or provide a formal quote as there are code requirements that aren't clear (mainly that the garage must be "aesthetically compatible" with the house) which left me a bit stuck. I couldn't get a straight answer from the city either as they wanted me to submit for permit to get the review (which this place won't do until I provide a down payment). My big concern with that requirement is the house is block coated with stucco which would be a massive pain / expense on a sheet metal building.

To be honest, I'm getting a bit fed up with hiring work done as the labor shortage/ housing boom is making it near impossible to hire anyone as its hard to even get a quote. I'm starting to seriously consider a DIY build besides the grading / concrete work.

My thoughts for a path forward on the building:
-Build a block / CMU garage. Block is still dirt cheap, but of course its labor intensive to install. Seems like it could lend itself to a good DIY project as I could lay as much or as little at a time as I wanted as my free time allowed. Stucco if needed could then easily be added direct to the block without extra permits (stucco on any other base requires permits/ licensed installer). If needed I could make this visually identical to the house. Would need to find someone to draw up the design / engineering plans to submit for the permit and that's where I'm struggling on pricing out this route.

-Switch to a cheaper style of metal building (like a Versatube). This size building is about 1/2 the cost of the red iron building alone and seems to lend itself better to DIY install. Given the exterior sheet metal is the same gauge, I'm not sure the structure strength is a big deal. We have to snow and very little weather (PHX area), so moderate winds are the worst it would ever see. Its not like this is being built in Minnesota or Florida. As with the red iron building, if I get forced to stucco, this would be a huge pain.

-Try to price out a wood building again. Theyve got places online you can easily buy plan sets from including a BOM for a small fee. I could then price the BOM at the lumber yard to see if this is even feasible given lumber has come down. Downside is potential for termites, but it would be easier in terms of finishing (running lines, drywall, insulation, etc) as its all traditional.

 

Read your post, awesome to know you are taking steps to give you a secure, well outfitted place to work away. I would like to be a fly on the wall to see how you plan to set this place up. With your mechanical aptitude I bet you are seeing well ahead as to what you want. 220 for welding, lift, A/C would be great, stellar overhead led lighting, enough concrete to be able to have multiple ongoing projects with room to walk around them all. Jheesh many of us would relish being able to do this, hope you can get this online soon enough. Red tape, always the red tape. Cant do this, have to match this, appears there will be a number of hurdles, some serious, like money. I'm a tile contractor and have not gouged my customers due to the critical manpower / skilled labor disruption. Yet as you have learned like up here, down there too some outrageous dollar amounts being tossed around for the exact same amount of work only a year back, rippers. I know of a couple large residential projects being back burnered for the very reasons you list, materials / labor. While they easily have the money to afford to build, it is not pressing that they need to do so. Going to be impressive and a welcomed addition, having a real garage to work and store your vehicles. You need to put plywood or plank floors up in your rafters, you just know your wife is going to want to take up your floor space with X-Mas, Halloween decorations.

I can appreciate you stacking your own 8x8x16 block, relatively straight forward. Don't get to lost on making every block perfect, eat up a lot of time, mud flashing on hot days. You know what your schedule is, so just chip away at it, day after day it will get done. No need to rent a mixer to make mud, you can spin up enough at a time with a 1/2 drill and box paddle in a 5 gal bucket. You probably have already watched a couple You Tube videos, so just follow the basics. You can layer on the stucco, texture it to conceal any canted blocks. Pour adequate concrete pads behind and alongside the garage and roof overhang to store outside things from the blistering Az sun, also scorpions need a nice place to thrive. I lived in Mesa for 8 years 83 to 91, whew hot, one gets acclimated though. Never had a vehicle with a/c, swamp coolered home and went for it. Saguaro Lake, Canyon Lake, the Superstitions at Apache Junction (Lived out there for almost 6 months in a t-shaped cave) long story.

You are young enough to take on this challenge, if for anything just out of pure spite, "Well looks like it is up to me to to do it, Fn rippers, slackers are not going to stop my project". I don't doubt for a second you wont do a good job, you are a pretty savvy guy. Nice home, nice cars, so you have the fortitude to accomplish this ugly task. LOL, going to be a challenge amigo. Do they still have day labor, cash workers lined up outside Home Depot, Lowes, that would be good grunt help. I use these men when necessary. You might score and get a couple hard workers who know block well enough to keep the schedule.

 

Sounds like an interesting project.
I used to sell Metal and also Post Frame buildings back in the day. When you see a metal building with the wainscot on it today ( it's because of me, I did the first farm building like that and every one copied it. )
I did see where a few folks put Trusses on the top of the black walls and then used a metal roof on it You might be able to do spacing of the trusses at 6 foot and still keep the top and bottom cords at 2 x 8 and 2x6 I will look once to see if I still have a plan book for basic sizes and I could send it to you providing that stuff didn't get discarded.

 

Its certainly been a long time coming. Moving to a place with some land was one of the top few considerations in our last move.

It seems like the biggest red tape so far is lack of people. PHX is in a tough spot between the nation wide worker shortage and the housing boom. It seems that anyone and everyone able to do construction trades is tied up indefinitely with supporting massive residential construction projects.

Since I started getting my feet wet in this, I'd bet I'm only at a 50% response rate from companies and of those, very few seem to follow through. If a company can't even be bothered to show up for an on-site appointment, how can I trust that they'll show up to the project?

My big concern with the money aspect is trying to avoid spending a bunch extra on a material type thats currently way inflated. I know I'll lose a good deal of the money put into this regardleas when we sell as ROI on big garages isn't good. But I also hate to spend double on a building today due to a short lived price spike (like lumber was) as all of that excess money will be lost at sale.

Thats one of the tricky parts that I still need city help with. If the code requirement implies that the garage must be built the same way as the house (its poorly worded) then it's going to need to be a flat / 3 side parapet wall roof. The height restrictions definitely won't give me enough space for much beyond insulation.

If I'm allowed a traditional peaked roof, then I'll certainly be able to do that given their funky measurment system for allowable height on normal roofs.

That and watching these guys build these omnipresent block walls all over the PHX metro is what turned me on to the idea. Besides knowing how to square / level / run string lines, there doesn't seem to be a high bar of technical difficulty here.

I also like the idea that it seems possible that the bulk of the labor can be done 100% alone which would let me chip away whenever time allowed without having to bother my wife/ friends for help.

I appreciate the advice! Given the ridiculous setback rules, I'm going to have a huge gap between the back of the garage and the rear block wall, so I'm considering paving at least 2-3 cars wide on that unusable space just in case (if nothing else - maybe a nice car wash spot as it would be permanently shaded by the garage). I think putting a single garage door on that back side would be a good idea regardless to let me open 2 opposite doors for cross flow air when its nice out.

My biggest sticking point with a block garage at this point is I can't seem to find a place that sells plans for them in the size I want. Ive found a few places online that list a handful of block plans, but they're generally some goofy design / with housing attached. Ive called a few local shops but so far haven't found one that does block designs. It should be simple as I just want a basic rectangle, its just finding a place that'll draw it up / do the engineering math for the roof structure.

Nice! We've out here about 10 years now and love it. The summer is hot, but we're used to it now and it seems to be a good tradeoff for a very pleasant 6 month "fall/winter/spring".

I honestly don't know. I used to see them periodically at a few spots, but haven't in awhile. They dont seem to be as prevalent as they were when we moved out. Its certainly worth checking into / taking a drive.

 

Wow, that is cool!

I'm really waffling on the idea of a metal building. The big allure to me is the ease of completion.

Take for example that Versatube company- theyve got designs pretty close to the size / shape I want and claim to be able to deliver it in 14 business days after payment (since they've got a facility in the PHX metro). So I could file the plans / permit on day 1 and could start construction as soon as I got approval. As soon as the concrete dried, I'd have 100% of what I needed right there on the yard on pallets ready to go. Depending on the permit approval speed, the whole thing could be done and over in just a few months.

My 2 big hesitations:
-The aestheic / architectural code regulation saying it must match the house. I can get a metal building in the same color as the house, but its going to be a peaked roof / corrugated metal sides. If I was forced to do a flat roof / stucco, that would be a disaster - especially since I haven't seen any steel building places offer flat / parapet roofs.
-There seems to be a lot of complaints on the local forums about metal buildings due to the extreme heat out here. It seems like some places offer insulation kits, but local people don't seem to have good things to say about it. I know block isn't a good insulator either, but our house is made of it (not CMU, but just a different style of block) so I know what I'm getting into with heat transfer there. None of our outer walls are even insulated and its still reasonable to keep cool with a normal size AC.