Our little 3m x 3m garden shed is bursting at the seams, you have to climb over the ride on mower to get to the fire wood, climb over the bags of compost & quick set cement to get to the hand tools... its a bit of a nightmare situation and not to mention perhaps an ACC claim waiting to happen.
So... it's time to build a garage... a few years earlier than what I had planned.
We've spent hours searching the internet for ideas, obtained a few quotes for complete builds which were coming in around $25K to $30K for a simple double garage.... so in the end we've decided to go down the DIY road again.
Essentially it is just 4 walls, a door and a roof... how hard can that be...?
We've decided that we will build the biggest double garage that $15K can buy. Granted $15K doesn't buy much to be honest, and we will be stretching that, which is why we decided to give the DIY a go.
Hopefully it doesn't turn into one of those DIY building nightmares you see on TV, but in reality it should be easy, you get a contractor in to do the foundation work, and then you just put it together like kitset furniture. Easy!
After researching a few kitset options, we decided that Versatile Garages was the best way to go. For $10K we were able to secure a 6m x 8m double garage but we changed the cladding, as we wanted to be able to paint the garage the same colour as the house... so it all matches. Versatile has been easy to deal with, quick on email replies etc and very good to date on the many questions I've sent their way.
So a quick run down on the figures:
Kitset: $10,000
Paint: $200 - (we have paint left over from the house, so will be minimal)
Concrete Foundation: $5000-$6000 (contractors estimate)
Council Fees: $1300
Water Tank & Fittings $1000
On paying the deposit to Versatile, you are sent full building plans which you send to the council, with the building consent application, and they have sent out a 45 page instruction manual on how to build the garage. Looks all very simple, but I intend to study that in great depth over the next few weeks.
It might seem daunting, but submitting the building consent application on Kaipara Council's website was much easier than I thought. In fact I thought I had missed something as it was so easy, and sent a message saying that to the council. The very next day I received a call from the Council, just confirming that I had done everything correctly. Pheww! So not just a 20 business day wait to get the consent.
Once the consent is received, I will get the contractors in to start the foundations, and Versatile will start building the kitset. Once the kitset is completed, I pay the balance payment to Versatile and then it is trucked out from their factory. Easy Peasy!
Below is what we are planning to build...
Update.... the contractor has been busy preparing the concrete pad:
Site Preparation
Ready For Council Pre Concrete Pour Inspection
Due to the slope, we've put in another small retaining wall on the lower side of the garage. We will put in some good stop soil and make a garden bed out of it, which will be handy, and we will not have to bend over to weed this garden bed. Bonus!
I will add posts once we start building... should be interesting. :)
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