I've recently gotten some bids on building a 30x50 shop. Not just a shop, but a completely unfinished shop. Basic cheap roof, basic cheap siding, 16 foot tall, no electrical, plumbing, insulation, sheet rock or paint... just a fucking wooden box with engineered trusses. Not one contractor has come in below $60k. Let me tell you the problem i have with this. Materials are only $20k, and that is maximum, including concrete. That is my cost, so you know they get it cheaper. I've worked for contractors, i've built shops this size or bigger (and we did it for less money). I know how long it takes. It's absolutely ridiculous that labor is double the cost of materials.

So here is what i'm planning to do. I am planning to hire a concrete guy to do the slab... and the rest, i will be doing myself, mostly alone or with the help of 1 or 2 people. I'm going to record every labor hour at the rate i know most construction labor gets paid, and probably round up and still beat the labor rates they wanted to charge me. I planned this project so i didn't have to do it, so i could sit back, relax and watch someone else do the work, unlike i usually do (i've remodeled my entire house). I did the drawings, i'm doing the permits, i'm having the site leveled... i took the research out of it. It's just unacceptable to me. Someone will give me shit for this, i know it. I know contractors are trying to make a buck or 2 before the next big crash that most everyone feels is coming. I just think the way they seem to be going about it, is unethical and i'm not going to play along.

So my flame suit is on, and i'm impervious. Have at it. If one of the contractors is on here and this seems familiar, don't bother contacting me. You can't make it right. You've already given your excuses.

Coming fro ma framer, who has built everything house, apartment, shop related under the sun, a " basic" 16 foot tall wall shop at 30' x 50' is not a cake walk of a job. I have done bids before for shops of this size, and while this was a few years ago $60k is a little on the high side.

If you were closer i would totally be up for helping, ran my own crews for years. You got to think also, the permits cost $$$, then plans, engineer, plot map, etc..

Then concrete guys do a foundation/ slab at the same time and at 30' x 50' i would go with 4-6" inch concrete to help from cracking down the road and to be able to support whatever you want down the road, to someone else thats an easy 10K dollar job and thats probably cheap.

Then 2x6" minimum for 16" walls and at that you didnt mention what kind of siding, plywood then real siding or just T1-11, then trusses , plywood, roofing, gutters, etc..

Sorry just rambling..lol.. sounds like you have a plan, invite some friends over and get to it..

Yeah the slab alone was bid low side at $8500. I want to beef it up so it will be pretty close to $10k with labor but concrete alone is about $5k.

As for the rest, it will be about $15k for everything. Trusses, 200 #2 doug fir 2x6x16's, and engineered beam for over the doors. Have gotten quotes for $6k for all of that. Then metal siding and roofing for about $5k with edges. Materials are $2500 for both roof and side sheathing. That's all retail. If you do enough business, the big box stores will give you a decent contractor discount as well. Add about $4k for garage doors and i'm right near target material cost.

Oh wow , metal siding saves a lot, cant believe they came in so high for such a plain jane build..

Framing labor alone they wanted to charge me 3x framing material cost. It's just ridiculous. 3-4 guys framing it for 3 days and it will be up. Give it another 2 days max and the trusses are up. 2 more days and the whole thing is sheathed. That is about $6k labor for 4 guys at $25/hr. If it was up to $8k even, it's understandable... but $19k for framing labor?

I do understand there's lift and maybe crane rentals but i can't see $10k +.

3 years ago when I started looking at new houses we considered the price of a shop. We estimated it would cost 75k for a turn key shop. We decided to only buy a house with a shop already on it. Recently my mom had a 30x40 built down in Texas. I was a little pissed at how inexpensive it was. 20k!!! 8 for the slab and 12 for the shop and assembly. I think I have this figured out. First of all overhead is higher up here so contractors have to charge a bit more. Steel is the same price. 2.25 a foot for 3ft wide cut to length. So that leaves only one thing. Because they can. I have learned after 15 years in Texas and 7 years here that people up here will pay for it while folks in the south and other parts of the country will tell them to get fucked and build it themselves. That can be good and bad. Up here permits and inspections usually have to be done. I am dealing with this BS right now, but there is a bad side. In the south and my county in particular, there is no permit department!!!! Some folks might think this is awesome and the whole country should be this way. In my town, very few things are built to code and many of them are very dangerous. As a firefighter I will go into a house fire up here with some confidence it was built right. In my old town, you can kiss my ass. That junky ass shop will be on the ground in less than ten minutes. The other downside is since lots of shops and houses are built half ass, the county is shit and people with money, educations, and jobs don't want to live there. You end up with the poorest county in the entire state of Texas. I guess you get what you pay for, but if you have the ability, I would do it myself also.

I'm sure it's the labor also. It might be a little cheaper and easier to come by down there.

My point is though, the math just doesn't add up. If the bid was $40k i'd be following the original plan. A 1:1 ratio, materials to labor is a respectable demand, but when it's probably only going to take you 3 weeks after concrete, it's just not reasonable to ask for $40k in labor imo. The lowest bid actually had T1-11 as the siding and no sheathing.

there's more to construction than just the labor and materials...

permits, insurance/bond, L&I, etc...

then you need to make profit... while I think 20K is an absurd profit, it's not out of the realm in this area...

contractors need to make money too, and pay overhead, offices, secretaries, payroll people, etc...

so yeah, if you can do it yourself, you can save a lot..

If I'm not mistaken, there are some kit shops you can buy pre-fabricated, you just need to lift up with a crane and connect the walls to the foundation and the posts/roof...

may be an option...

I once tried to get bids on a bathroom remodel, something that would cost me about 3K in materials/labor if I hired people and watched them do it myself and pulled my own permits.. .contractor wanted 10K minimum... that was an eye opener...

I guess the guy felt he needed to make 500$ a day just to show up and tell his people what to do...

Who and where did you get a 10k quote? the MIN bid we got last year was $20k before tax.. Most were more like 30k. and this is for a 7x8 bathroom.. Prices for construction out here are just insane.

Sounds about right for contractor labor lately. Gotta take into consideration how much your time is worth, too. If you figure your own time costing what an employer would pay you for OT.

I have a 40x60 with 16' doors and it is insured as a structure for $120,000 including electrical, plumbing, fixtures, heaters, doors, windows, etc. Not contents. $15,000 big shops are long since extinct in the modern world.

Don't remember but it wasn't a full remodel.. Just a few upgrades, shower pan and tiles

Used to be ads in the nickel ads for cheap shops. Might give it a gander..

I used to oversee the construction of retail buildings in 15 different states. I can tell you that first, any building, no matter how small isn't cheap. It's not all in the materials in fact many Contractors don't mark up materials at all. The main expense is in outside services starting with the architect that draws the plans to the structural engineer that reviews and approves them. Add water, electric, and heat, you just added another layer of expense that still doesn't put a single "stick" in the building.

Permit "fees" are often based on a percentage of the architect's estimate for construction cost. If not then what they dig out of the assessor's files for similar buildings.

You're going to spend a major part of your cost in Labor. If you have a Contractor he'll probably have a total "Profit" in the job around 12-15% (and then he gets to automatically pay 12.4% of that amount to Social Security and another 2.9% for Medicare.

You can act as your own Contractor but unless you have some experience it can often cost you more. Case in point is my SIL. Got quotes of $30K for an unheated garage/shop. Being "cheap" he figured he could do better. Been two years "under construction" and he doesn't even have all the walls on. Cost to date is approaching $40k.

Some of the most cost effective buildings are "pole buildings" with simple metal roof and metal siding. If you can go that route (zoning, CCR's, etc) there are a lot of people out there that will put them up for "fairly" reasonable prices. Just get the shell and then wire and plumb it yourself. Add the concrete slab after the building is up so you can bury any sewer/water lines without having to cut the floors.

FWIW, construction "inflation" has varied from 3-4% to as much as 10-15% per year since the late 90's. It's projected that it will continue to increase 4-5% per year for the next few years. That's just another way of saying "The longer you wait the more it's going to cost

Quit whining, and nail that bitch up yourself, soonest.

Spend the savings on more cool firearms.

Buy me one of those M14 semi auto 50 cal rifles for this consultation.

Oh - re-bar the living rat fuck out of your floor slab, and pour it thick.

One tip when looking for a contractor whether it be for a shop or a bathroom remodel. Try to buy as much of the building supplies yourself, from the screws to the lumber. You'd be surprised at how many of these guys try to charge up to 25% for materials they simply pick up at the Home Depot. Yes their time is valuable, and they should be compensated for it, but a good professional contractor will have figured for it and will have simply added that cost into his labor.