Shop First or House First?

[herd]

I have gone thru the same thing, in '04, we sold our large house , cleared some land, and planned on building a smaller home. I wanted to do the shop first, in fact, was onto right away, had the foundation ready to pour. Then things fell apart, had to divert my attention away from the shop to other things that took up time. Long story short, was forced to get a house done quickly as the interim house we leased for one year was not a nenewable lease.

Here, five years later, still finishing up the shop. Actually built it in stages, the most expensive way to build. Will finally be done with siding and all trim work by the end of the year.

Build the shop first. I wound up storing so much stuff out in the open under tarps or at family and of course, that means I didn't take care of this stuff and lost a good bit.

Can't say it was a nightmare, can say it was a bad dream!

 

[BobRip]

If your wife and you are willing to live in the shop then you can save the rent/payment on another place. I had my 8 X 8 shed broken into during construction and the apartment insurance would not cover it because the house was under construction. If I had lived there I don't think this would happen.

 

[two_bit_score]

We've got 4 acres of open pasture except for the 6 live oak trees that we've planted.


Or would it be beneficial to do them both at the same time to combine the building loans into one and to tie in all the plumbing and electrical together with the house?

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I think there is a LOT to be said for that proposition if you can swing it. Don't scrimp on the shop. If it comes to an either/ or choice about what to get first......do the shop first and do it right.

 

[forgeblast]

Of course having the shop first it great, but remember you not living there then and if you have it filled with tools and supplies they may be taken. Some type of security sytem would be needed. If you could swing it doing both on one loan would be best case. That way things like cement pours etc could be coordinated and you would be saving on delivery charges.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

If your wife and you are willing to live in the shop then you can save the rent/payment on another place. I had my 8 X 8 shed broken into during construction and the apartment insurance would not cover it because the house was under construction. If I had lived there I don't think this would happen.

I took out builders insurance for this very thing, wasn't that expensive. I had lumber stolen once during construction, but was a very small amount so I never even reported it.

 

[Cat_Driver]

Here's twist, build the shop with a loft, bathroom and kitchen. You get the best of both worlds. Nothing fancy just a place to sleep etc. then you can work on the real house and when you get tired you have a place to crash and eat meals etc.

You will be much more productive because you won't have any travel time and you can work, take a break and go back to work.

Beside you can keep an eye on all your tools and equipment living above the shop.

The loft wouldn't cost all that much more added to a great shop.

When everything is done it's a place to stay for friends and or relatives.

 

[Alan L.]

We bought our land in 1998 and built a shop building with 880 square feet of pretty nice living quarters in it in Dec '00. Lived in the building until we moved into the house in June of 07. Couldn't build the house with salaries however, had to borrow. Salaries were too busy on living expenses and paying for the land........

Sure glad to have the shop building. I keep my truck, tractor, mule, and ZTR and other mowers and stuff in there, all my tools, and still have room to work on stuff. And have used the living quarters as guest quarters for kin folk and friends that come to stay a weekend. There are 2 baths in the building and 3 in the house, so plenty of facilities.....

 

[sodamo]

Another vote for shop first, especially with living accomodations. Many advantages, as previously stated, to living on your property before and during the house build. Once living there you may see ways to improve your site plan.
This is so common in my area, the inspectors don't even give you a hard time.
Make it something of an adventure for wife and kids. As for compromise, the money saved on rent can help pay for those little extras "she" would really like.
We lived in our 16x20, gambrel roofed shed over 2 years while we built the house. Basically, what we saved in rent paid for the shed.
We were fulltime owner-builders and living on site was the best thing we could have done.
Have fun.

David

 

[mjncad]

Another vote for shop first because of all the good reasons already stated.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I built my shop first also. I needed a place to store my boat and some household items that I no longer had room for in my old house which was up for sale. It was a good thing I did too, as we had the house on market for over a year with no offers then an offer came in for our asking price but we had to vacate within 1 week of closing. I had not started on the new house because I needed the funds from selling the old one because I didnt want to have a house loan because I am getting close to retirement. Anyway, the shop got built and paid for during the year of waiting and lots my boat came out of the rented storage facility along with a lot of garage items. That saved me $150 a month and then when the house sold, I was in West Africa working and wife had to find a place to rent. The rental ended up smaller than our house so, a 24 foot Ryder truck was packed full of stuff we wanted to keep but had no room. It all went to the shop for storage. That saved me from having to pay another $150 a month for a second storage facility. So the shop is saving me about $300 per month and all my stuff is locked securely away and waiting for the new house to be built (supposed to start in Jan on construction) By the time it is finished (I estimate about July or August completion) I will have saved about 2 years worth of storage rental which is about $7200 or about 1/3 the cost of my shop.