This week is a good week! A 10 year dream is FINALLY coming true! I bought a piece of land in 2014 with the dream of building a real nice home and a nice garage for a workshop. I dodged a big bullet with the home, signed papers fall of 2019, keys in June of 2020 (and I was unaffected by price changes from all the issues of 2020). But, after that, builders gave me pretty crazy prices just to build my garage. I have changed the scope of the build over time and also got my own building and zoning permits (as I had builders concerned if I could even build something as big as I wanted).
The garage I am in process of building is 32x50, after it is built, I am going to put in a mezzanine floor inside. This is room for 3 cars and a 4 post drive on lift. Below is a pic to give an idea of the interior space. The garage doors are actually going to be 10ft, not 9ft wide. Easy access for a riding mower. And some ask "why the lift behind a bay door". If the weather is bad and I or someone I know needs to bring a car to the garage, I don't want to have to pull something nice out of the garage to work on it And for now, my 84 Camaro I want to restore will be in front of the lift (it has no engine/trans/front clip/wiring). Makes it easy to push on/off the lift if needed. My two Montes will go on the other side, leaving my daily for my attached garage.

 

This Tuesday, the dug out and poured the concrete for the footer.

 

And today, they set the block. Next phase I believe is framing. The concrete floor will be last to be done. This is awesome to see.
I also realize, I am going to have a LOT of driveway space lol. My driveway for the house can fit 6 cars. The driveway for this garage should be the same.

 

Very nice - thats a lot of progress for just a few days!

I presume the long shots are security camera snap shots? Thatll make a cool memory of a build timeline down the road.

I am curious about the block. Are you going with block wall all the way up? Id thought it was stem wall at first, but Ive never seen one so high on a flat lot.

 

Looking good!

 

You are right, the long shots are security cam footage. I need to pull some of the video off my NVR before it overwrites.

Today they did back filling and moving things around. some of the block will be under ground (as it is now). So only about 2ft of block is actually above ground. The rest is stick built and will use 14ft 2x6 for the walls. My ceiling height will be a bit over 16ft total. And it will be vinyl sided to match the house.

 

Today was back fill and dirt re-location day! The guy drove bucket loads of dirt from my house to my sister's with the skid-steer and filled some low spots in her back yard. Then a LOT went to my dad's neighbor who's back yard has sunk in a lot and when it rains looks like she has a pond. Nothing was wasted or hauled away! This guy did a nice job today!

 

Ah, that makes sense. Those are some really tall walls too! I bet it'll feel super spacious with that tall of a ceiling.

 

I am running into the next fun item of cost. The garage doors. I have a couple feelers out there and waiting for calls back. Pricing I got from one installer was very spendy. 10 wide, 8 tall, insulated, no windows, no opener and he said because of the ceiling height, I need a high lift kit (uhm, longer rails basically), $2500 per door installed

I admit, I want a garage door opener that is a side mount or also known as a shaft mount. It will turn the torsion bar to open it.

Before this project started, I looked in Menard's website and I checked again today. Same size, insulated door, claims to include all hardware (non-high lift), is about $1000 after their mail-in 11% rebate (and for higher insulation, higher price). This might become a "me" project if I don't get better pricing.

The reason for the high lift is concern over making the angle iron they use stay stable for about 8ish feet of length. I am not worried about the car lift. I want to set it up to disable the door when a car is on the lift and the rails on a 10ft wide door should clear the lift.
Anycase, this will get figured out.....

 

Funny you mention that, I'm at the same step as well. Running into a bit of analysis paralysis with all of the different options and various manufacturers claiming theirs are better than the rest. Been back and forth for a few months.

edit- I just put in my order today, 45 days until they come...

I'm curious what brand / line you'll end up picking!