Building a garage

NoNameNoNumber · 9 May 2019 at 09:59

Hows it meant to work... The key points in my mind are as follows

Come up with a few rough designs of what we're after

Consult a builder or two, see if it's possible and the sort of prices we're talking

Get an architect involved

Planning submission

Building control involvement

Build

Is that the right sort of order?

A friend has built an awesome garage using steel RSJs to build modular cubes, then brick infil. Nice thing is the lifting beams in the roof. So this appeals, also, I could do all of the fabrication of the steels so the skeleton could go up in a day.
Issue is, seeing as ours is on the boundary and we want a pitched roof therefore it'll need PP, I'm not sure the steel cube setup would meet building regs?

Any thoughts?

Cheers guys.

SimonR · 9 May 2019 at 10:33

I wouldn't bother with an architect for a garage, their fees are likely more than the garage would cost. I think for our kitchen extension (10m x 3m), local architects were quoting around £5k - £7k for drawings etc. We ended up using an architectural technician who produced a set of working drawings for about £450.

Martynt74 · 9 May 2019 at 10:40

SimonR said:
I wouldn't bother with an architect for a garage, their fees are likely more than the garage would cost. I think for our kitchen extension (10m x 3m), local architects were quoting around £5k - £7k for drawings etc. We ended up using an architectural technician who produced a set of working drawings for about £450.

But surely a garage will cost many times that? Assuming a decent sized one. I've been considering building an outbuilding and assuming at least around £20k for the structure/shell and that would be around double garage size.

Although i'd be inclined to agree, it's a fairly simple structure and doesn't need a huge amount of thought.

Semple · 9 May 2019 at 10:58

Those architect costs seem crazy. I could understand if you wanted some fancy shaped roof, or a full on glass design, or an unusual shaped garage. But for 4 walls and a roof shouldn't take any creativity/design or even much time to mock up some drawings.

SimonR · 9 May 2019 at 11:39

Architects seem to want to give you lots of 'creative ideas' for your space, with 3d fly throughs and 3d cad models. I wanted a box, with a lean-to pitched tiled roof, 2 windows and a 3m bifold and steel lifted into the floor. Nothing fancy. All of which I got.

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1...?key=NVVUOXU4aEI5dnhhcVBwWllUb2dqSElWSVg1WUpR

NoNameNoNumber · 9 May 2019 at 12:59

I had a few hundred quid in mind for an architect tbh

The garage will be a 6m x 6m square with a 3m x 3m extension on the rear left, L shaped. Essentially making it 9m x 6m without a cutout at the rear right.
L Shaped hipped roof.

No windows
Attic trusses would be nice otherwise standard 30º fink trusses
Slate roof to match the house
Breeze/ facing brick double skinned.
4m Roller shutter door up front
UPVC to the rear

SimonR · 9 May 2019 at 15:55

A few hundred quid will get you about 30mins - 1 hour of an architects time. No drawings or documents.

Firestar_3x · 10 May 2019 at 08:48

Is the architect also buying you a car, those prices are crazy.

Thecaferacer · 10 May 2019 at 09:09

Architects will design a building a charge a fortune. An architectural technician will produce the drawings for a simple garage for a fraction of that (my extension plans which were quite complex but with no fancy design element were £150 plus a case of Suffolk gin)

Is the garage connected to the house or standalone?

If it's standalone you can go up to 2.5 metres high (i.e flat roof) if it's under 50sqm and within 2 metres of the boundary without planning permission. If it's more than 2 metres away from the boundary you can go as high as 4m ( pitched roof)

If it's joined to the house then the same rules apply in regard to planning permission, but it needs to comply to building regulations. It also cannot be larger than 50% of the footprint of the **original house** and the maximum eaves height is 3 metres if within 2 metres of the boundary. Must be single story and not higher than 4 metres.

If connected to the house it should also match the style of the house.

Also factor in £500 for a structural engineer to advise the technician on construction and footing depth if connected. Best advise anyone can give is use the technician and engineer your chosen builder recommends.

I built my bike garage as a standalone building for £6k give or take. 6x5 metres on a reinforced concrete slab using 140mm single skin concrete blocks. I then used a flat roof using 195 joists and OSB3 sheathing covered in EPDM rubber. I've fitted 2.5 metres French patio doors with an additional window at the side for light. I've skinned the exterior in wooden cladding and plan to finish the bottom in brick slips with inside skinned in ply.

In relation to the steel frame construction. Building regs wont have an issue as long as it's skinned in brick. I'd argue that's a lot of expense for something that could be as simple as a double skinned brick and block extension. Generally steel frame is used as a way of making a stronger structures (big open plan with vaulted ceilings etc)

Martynt74 · 10 May 2019 at 09:14

@Thecaferacer

Presumably you were able to build that yourself? Got any pics during the build?

Thecaferacer · 10 May 2019 at 09:17

Yeah it was all DIY. I have a few progress pics that I'll stick up if I get time to get them on a hosting site. A decent brickie on day rate can throw that up in 2-3 days. I took 3 weeks as the blocks were like atlas balls.

NoNameNoNumber · 10 May 2019 at 13:34

Thank you Thecaferacer,
Good advice,
The garage won't be connected to the house
Standalone but on the boundary, I fancied a pitch roof A for storage and B for looks but appreciate the cost will rise considerably.
Eaves around 2.5m would be fine, not sure what the ridge would be at 30º over 6m width but I'd guess no more than 4m
~45m2 total

As above, a couple of pics would be awesome

Thecaferacer · 10 May 2019 at 14:05

How big are the dimensions?

6 metres is an enormous span on trusses with no supporting pillars in-between. I know as I had raised ties on my house this wide and it was borderline whether I'd need steel or not.

For something like that you would be looking at a 3000 run, rise of 875cm with a 30% slope. Overall ridge height of 3275 with a standard 2400 eaves height.

You could go as far as a 50% degree slope and get away with it being just under 4 metres not including your ridge tiles (1500 truss height)

NoNameNoNumber · 10 May 2019 at 15:01

Edit... I'll knock something up in paint

I didn't really want a brick gable end, so a L shaped hipped roof

I guess the other option would be to have a steel spanning the front door with another steel running the length?

NoNameNoNumber · 10 May 2019 at 15:17

Martynt74 · 10 May 2019 at 15:18

I'd probably use the funds to build a bigger house based on that pic

Thecaferacer · 10 May 2019 at 15:30

At that size of garage and potential cost you could also consider steel frame with single skin brick exterior, SIP interior panels and hipped roof. Would probably get away with a reinforced slab then instead of footings and no need for column supports

Thecaferacer · 10 May 2019 at 15:33

Edit

Looking at your picture, you would do well to price up a steel frame and roof as it probably wouldn't be much more than traditional double skin block and timber roof. You aren't far off the footprint of a 2 bed bungalow.

To give you an idea of scale. This is my kitchen extension 6.5m X 8m with 4.5 wide patio. The trusses here were the bare minimum I could get away before I went to steel. The lintel was also a piece of engineering in itself.

Thecaferacer · 10 May 2019 at 21:32

Not the best pic. But here's the bike garage nearing completion

sdavlaws · 13 May 2019 at 19:03

NoNameNoNumber said:

The roof for this would be no problem at all in standard trusses, if you wanted to add a vault to it would add cost how much would depend on the raise you where after. If you had a gable end getting a large vault (500mm+) shouldn't be much of a problem a vaulted hip roof is harder/more expensive. To make Attics worth using you would really need a gable end and steeper pitch the amount of useful space with a hipped attic would be very low for it's high cost. I had a little free time before I left the office this afternoon so I sketched the roof out as a standard hip and with attics.
Attics would be approx double the cost before other extra costs such as floor coverings.

I have put a basic model under this link https://skfb.ly/6KvNw
annoyingly this model viewer doesn't take note of overhang cut offs so it shows the flying rafters sticking out the roof, these would be trimmed to the hips when installed.