Would you buy house with 13 foot clearance garage for 12'-9" bus?

[digesterman]

For some reason I thought the lot was on a slope, if level then I would not lower the floor, I would look for another home and shop.

[Mex-Busnut]

And there is always the old truckers' trick: Let air out of the tires to lower your bus...

[belfert]

Would this 13'-4" building work for me with a new door, yes.  Would it be my ideal, no.  It is way better than what I have now because I have no building and the bus has sat outside since I bought it.  (I don't even have a house right now.)

The other house I was looking at doing a rehab on might not work out.  The best price I got for a 40x50 garage with 16 foot walls is $51,000 with asphalt shingles, or $45,000 with steel pole barn type roof.  The city will not allow pole buildings unless over 5 acres so that greatly increases price.  I would have to drive at least another 10 miles each way to find a city that allows pole buildings on any lot.  That would put me around 40 miles each way to work.

[B_K]

Considering the lot is nearly flat around 3 sides of the building wouldn't I just be collecting water if I lowered the floor by a foot?  I talked to the company that built the building today.  They said $3,000 to $5,000 to convert the overhead door to a roll-up door.  The building was designed at 13'-4" to allow space for a door opener with a 12 foot overhead door.  It is also designed to still have 13'-4" clearance even with a concrete floor.

If the numbers for construction work out in the morning I will be making an offer on the house that needs rehab.  I just need to get the garage to come in around $42,000 or so.

Brian,
You didn't do my math correctly! If you take the floor down by 1 foot and put in 6" of concrete you've only lowered it by 6"

Also from looking at the posted photo it makes the garage appear to be sort of higher on a mound then the rest of the surrounding area.

However if you are digging the floor out to pour concrete then while you have the bobcat or backhoe there doing the digging I see an easy fix for the slope of the yard and to divert water away from the shop.

As for;

Would this 13'-4" building work for me with a new door, yes.  Would it be my ideal, no.  It is way better than what I have now because I have no building and the bus has sat outside since I bought it.  (I don't even have a house right now.)

The other house I was looking at doing a rehab on might not work out.  The best price I got for a 40x50 garage with 16 foot walls is $51,000 with asphalt shingles, or $45,000 with steel pole barn type roof.  The city will not allow pole buildings unless over 5 acres so that greatly increases price.  I would have to drive at least another 10 miles each way to find a city that allows pole buildings on any lot.  That would put me around 40 miles each way to work.

Keep checking you'll find a builder that needs the work an will build it in your price range.

Also if it were me I'd be looking at 60' X 30' (or wider) rather than 50' as your bus is 43' long and when the engine compartment is open that gets closer to 47'. With a 50' shop that limits you pretty good to the amount of space in front of or behind the bus when working on major projects.

For your personal use I'd think that 60' X 35' would be ideal with a 14' X 14' door for the bus and 10 X 12 for the other side leaving 4' on on side of the bus 3' between the doors and 2' on the other side of the small doors.

I'd say you might even look into trying to find an Amish crew to build it. They could have the shop up in 1-2 days and then they'd have an electrician do the wiring for you. (actually you could wire it yourself to save $, just make sure when yer done it's inspected by the proper inspector.)
  BK 

[belfert]

Keep checking you'll find a builder that needs the work an will build it in your price range.

Also if it were me I'd be looking at 60' X 30' (or wider) rather than 50' as your bus is 43' long and when the engine compartment is open that gets closer to 47'. With a 50' shop that limits you pretty good to the amount of space in front of or behind the bus when working on major projects.

The builders who are any good around here are working their rear ends off.  Some won't even bid on jobs unless they are really big.  If a guy is desperate for work you have to wonder why he isn't busy like everyone else.  The economy is doing pretty good here and a lot of construction guys (and gals) retired or switched careers doing the recession.  The cheapest bid was from a lumber yard that also has a division that puts up pole buildings and garages.  They probably have an advantage on materials pricing.

I'm actually thinking that 56x36 would be a good size, but it is also 16 square feet over the 2,000 square foot limit.  It makes sense because the dimensions are divisible by 4.  I need to able to deal with both the bus and regular cars so I want both a 14x14 overhead door and an 8x16 door on the gable end.

[B_K]

The builders who are any good around here are working their rear ends off.  Some won't even bid on jobs unless they are really big.  If a guy is desperate for work you have to wonder why he isn't busy like everyone else.  The economy is doing pretty good here and a lot of construction guys (and gals) retired or switched careers doing the recession.  The cheapest bid was from a lumber yard that also has a division that puts up pole buildings and garages.  They probably have an advantage on materials pricing.

I'm actually thinking that 56x36 would be a good size, but it is also 16 square feet over the 2,000 square foot limit.  It makes sense because the dimensions are divisible by 4.  I need to able to deal with both the bus and regular cars so I want both a 14x14 overhead door and an 8x16 door on the gable end.

Brian I didn't say desperate, I said one who needs the work. (our local Amish crews would use a job like yours to fill in a few days between big jobs like a complete house from beginning to end)
Also like you also said "Some won't even bid on jobs unless they are really big."

Try some of the smaller guys looking to make ends meet and build a name for themselves while doing it.

There is always a way if you look hard enough. I like your idea of the 56'X36 too.
  BK 

[belfert]

The problem I'm running into is financing a building.  I got two quotes of $52,000 from companies who specialize in garages and pole buildings.  The bank requires that I hire one general contractor to oversee the construction of the garage and the work needed on the house.  The two general contractors I talked with figured between $70,000 and $90,000 for the garage alone.  I'm not sure either one would want to subcontract out the garage to one of the other two builders.

I just don't have enough cash to both put money down on a house and build the garage without financing for the garage.

[DriverGT5]

We are in the process of purchasing 10 acres of land in NC. It's mostly wooded and we don't want to put an ugly metal building in or one of those aluminum canopy things because we don't want to ruin the appearance. The whole reason we want to be in the woods in the first place is to be a little closer to nature.

We have been looking at building a wood shelter (no walls) with 6x6 beams in concrete footer tubes 12' oc with 2x10" beams and a metal roof. I have a friend building a 3000 sq/ft version and his cost is $10,000 for materials. Ours will be a little over 12x48 and we project costs around $2000 in materials. The floor with be 6" of crush and run gravel to form a level pad to park the bus on. The pad will probably run another $1000 to have leveled and spread with labor and gravel.

Should be cost effective and aesthetically attractive nestled in our wooded lot. Since it isn't a "building" something like that may offer additional options in certain areas.

Something like this without the attached building...

[belfert]

I very much doubt the city would allow something like a shelter with just a roof, but it couldn't hurt to ask.  Of course, in Minnesota I would really want a full building.

[B_K]

Get permission to build a shelter first then as time goes on enclose it in and side it and nobody will know the difference!
  BK 

[DriverGT5]

Get permission to build a shelter first then as time goes on enclose it in and side it and nobody will know the difference!
  BK 

I've seen it the other way too. I know a guy that wanted a concrete pad but they wouldn't let him build it so he got approval for a large building and "ran out of money" after the foundation was poured....

[Dave5Cs]

DriverGT5
do yourself a favor and on the last 10 feet of the pad pour 6" of fiberglass infused concrete pad so that the buses engine and maintenance areas are over something level and hard surfaced. Trust me on this. It is a pain to jack up in gravel and lay on it to work on her.

[lvmci]

We call that building in Drivers picture, a carport, quite common in the southwest, lvmci...

[Dave5Cs]

Tom that's no Carport that's a BUSPORT, LOL

Dave5Cs

[belfert]

I've been looking at a different house I think would be almost perfect for me except for the $300,000 price.  I also don't like the fact that it is heated with propane.  Natural gas supplier wants $20,000 to extend the gas main further down the road.  The building at this one is 56x36 with a 56x13 lean-to.  Building seems to be fully finished inside and even has a bathroom.

I have a number of options available including the home with building with 13'-4" clearance.  Home prices have gone up quite a bit since I put my home up for sale six months ago.  I was hoping to spend under $200,000, but that part of the market is down to nothing.