Well, we're heading into the homestretch and hope to be starting in the next few weeks (hoping my 3/1). I figured it made more sense to break this out into its own thread since the original is so full with random things going all the way back to the sale of our last home! If you want to read about that and see some pictures of the new home, check out that topic here: https://acurazine.com/forums/home-garden-37/well-house-officially-market-%2A%2Aupdate-pg-6-garage-plans-uploaded-%2A%2A-765041/

As for the garage... I had uploaded plans to the topic linked above, but we have since made changes. We knocked off the rear bump out and removed things like the deck, etc... stuff we can do later. The bids came in waaaay more then we were expecting... so now we're back to where we want to be.

For reference, the upstairs will be unfinished at construction. We will rough some items in, but that is something we will finish out down the road. When we do it will likely double as a theater. So when we do not have any guests, we can utilize it ourselves. Since we are completing it down the road I can wire it up for speakers (probably 7.1), the projector, etc...

As we progress, I'll update the thread. For now, here are the plans (may want to rotate them counter-clockwise):

 

Here's all we've done so far. The small tree and hollies I took down myself (you can see my chainsaw in one pic). The large trees were removed by a company. They took two hardwoods in the front, and two cedars in the back. We left the stumps just in case our builder decides to yank them instead of grinding them.

Two before, two after shots:

 

JB, if you don't mind me asking, how much is such a beautiful addition going to cost you?

I've always dreamed of a bonus room/garage like this, but with a Homeowner's Association, something that like would not be logical.

 

Subscribed!

 

We have an HOA as well, but since our house is so far off of the road, all they really care about is set-backs. I still did have to submit for approval though.

On price... unfortunately, way too much . We don't have hard numbers just yet b/c we made some changes to some finish items. Plus, the bid came in at +/- 5% since they can't give final numbers until we have the engineering drawings... but I'm anticipating ending up somewhere around $95k. As mentioned in the OP, that only includes roughing upstairs... not finished. We'll do that down the road as we're already spending enough

 

 

That is awesome. That garage design is amazing looking. Very similar to what I hope to have as a future garage. Any plans for a lift in the garage?

 

Sub

 

^ Thanks all! Looking forward to it

It is being built with a lift in mind, but that will not be installed now. Another down the road item

Just talked to the builder and they're working with the electric company to get the power moved (they were actually at the house this morning)... so hope to have that done in the next couple of weeks. They are going to move it further up the driveway (near where I'm standing taking the pics) then setup temporary power for the construction of the garage. Once that's done we'll get the permanent hookup for the garage done.

 

It looks like you have a nice lot there. Your neighbors aren't on top of you.

What kind of lift are you thinking about? Are you going to do a pit?

 

^ Yeah, we're pretty spread out. Our lot is 2.54, our neighbor (looking at the house, to the left) is like 2.10. Her house is visible from ours, but the way everything is positioned, it does not affect our privacy. The lot on our right is a 26 acre lot with no house on it. Guy who owns it owns another lot (33 acres) with a home, so he left that one undeveloped. Even down the road when he sells and someone does build, we'll never see them

As for the lift... not going to do a pit, just a standard residential lift. Something I can use to change oil, rotate tires, etc. Ceilings will be 10', so shouldn't be an issue. Would also be nice if I got a "low" car like a Lotus or Vette or whatever, to be able to store it up there with another car underneath if we needed the room.

 

Oh and quick little generic update... finalized the numbers and everything with the builder yesterday. Power company has been paid so they should be moving the box within a week... and should hopefully be breaking ground in the next 2-3 weeks as the permits are finalized. So things have been moving along the last month... it's just been mostly paperwork stuff. Physical construction is next . I'll snap pics when I'm home from work and document it the best I can...

 

 

 

Wow that's amazing! Can't wait to see the lift installed and the garage finished. Very cool house/yard/location!

 

^ Lift won't be for a little while. Just kind of planning for it down the road. This damn thing is expensive!!

 

I can imagine. Actually, no I can't. I can barely handle how much it's going to cost us to have hardwood floors put down and mirrors ripped off the wall lol.

 

^ Yeah, it's crazy. But we should get a good return on it... especially with the added square footage above.

I did price out some lifts yesterday, and they're not as bad as I thought. Figure around $3k-$3,500. Been looking at the Bend Pack lifts... 4 post. Still will wait a bit, but not terrible...

 

That garage will look good next to the house. The current car port makes it look like it is about to tip over. Are you doing anything with the driveway? That circle in front of the garage would look good paved with a nice landscaping in that middle section of the circle.

 

^ Landscaping is a work in progress, but yes, it's on the list.

Not paving any of the driveway. Leaving it all natural except for an apron in front of the garage. Probably be about 6-8' or so...

 

Wouldn't you want a bit more than 6-8 feet? I would think you would want at least a full car length so you would have a good place to wash cars without creating a lot of mud and dust from the crushed stone driveway.

 

^ May extend it to a car length. Haven't decided if I want to spend extra money on that yet. I can put it to good use elsewhere! Driveway does not get muddy though, and when it's wet... no dust (although this gravel really isn't that dusty to begin with... which is nice) so no problem washing it on the gravel.

Plus, the garage will have a drain ...

 

^Low dust gravel...interesting. A drain in the garage...perfect

 

Make sure your garage has either waterproof paint on or plastic wall covering then. Washing indoors will be nice during the winter months.

 

^^ Yeah, it's good gravel. Think it may be from BlueMax... not sure. I need to find more of it b/c we'll need to refresh after construction. But unless it's really, really dry for a long stretch... it's not that bad. We were able to get our cars cleaned last year and they stayed clean the same length of time they did in our old house. Surprised me b/c when we first looked at the house the first thing I said was we needed to pave the driveway. Glad we don't b/c there's a lot of driveway (which means expensive)...

As for the drain, it is in the middle of the garage... so basically the biggest area in the middle bay. Shouldn't really hit the walls assuming I don't have it on the "Jet" setting while spraying it full power.

 

Well, few small preperations started. They dug up the septic to prepare for the tie in. While it's dug up we're having it cleaned and we're also installing two pipes so it can be cleaned from the surface going forward. Dumpster also got delivered as demolition should be starting in the next day or so...

 

Man, I love the looks of the property, with the woods and lake. So jealous

 

^ Thanks! As you can see with the pic of the septic area... the yard needs work. But, it's come a long way since we moved in. Have a VERY long way to go though. Oh well... Rome wasn't built in a day

 

Here's are two pics taken from our bedroom window last weekend to hold you over until I get some good construction pics...

 

Gorgeous! I know you guys are enjoying that deck/views with this weather we're having now, too.

The carport area looks pretty bad right now with the trees gone. I know it will look better with the garage and some landscaping in, but compared to the rest of the property, it looks rather barren at the moment.

 

pretty cool that you can check out bald eagles that close to your house

 

^ Yeah, it's pretty cool. Last Saturday we just laid in bed for about 45 minutes in the morning (probably like 8am-8:45am) and just watched them.


Well of course it's barren... we have to cut everything down and clear everyting out for construction!! But yeah... it looks weird for now. Will be sweet when it's done though

And yeah, it's been nice to sit on the deck and hang out. We thinned out and limbed up a ton of that hill (where the eagles were) this past fall, so once summer rolls around we'll have even more of a view then last year...

 

Also, we finally started !!

 

 

 

 

Few new pics. Concrete was removed and grading started. Also HVAC has been moved to its temporary spot. Power company should be out today to relocate the transformer. Once that's all done the real construction should begin

.

.

 

 

 

This is gonna be awesome