Estimating the Cost of a Garage Addition Building Plan …

Building a garage addition is certainly a great way to spruce up your home. A garage addition offers great benefits and may considerably improve the value of your home. Before breaking ground you need to develop a plan.

A garage addition plan starts off with drawing up initial sketches of the garage addition plan and examine how it will match the existing home design. Although most homeowners favor a large garage, it's important at this point to think about the approach taken to seamlessly integrate the garage with the home. To make it look appealing from the road the garage addition size shouldn't go beyond two-thirds the length of your home. You don't want to let the garage addition overwhelm the home structure. The dimensions of the garage addition is less important from an aesthetic point of view.

When the initial sketches have been done the next step is create the building plan. It should include scaled drawings with measurements, and cross-sectional construction views with constructional materials described. The cross-sectional views ought to include everything from the concrete footings to the peak of the roof. Each transition from the footings upward must be properly drawn. Examples include: the foundation/sill plate transition, the footing/foundation transition, and the wall/roof rafter transition. The plans also need to incorporate a thorough bill of materials for the project. Additionally, all property lines and proper setbacks must be clearly displayed in the drawings.

Estimating the garage addition costs

Estimating the garage addition costs will depend on who's building the addition. If the homeowner decides to perform some of the work (for example, the framing) then costs should be assessed beginning with the bill of materials created through the planning phase. With a detailed bill of materials a homeowner may give a portion of the list to any home design store where they can submit the pricing for the items tasked for the project. For specialty items, for example, garage doors, garage door openers, and perhaps lighting and plumbing fixtures (if needed for the garage addition) the homeowner should contact specialty retailers for costs. Subcontractors can also provide some unit pricing (e.g. garage doors).

Should the homeowner manage the project he or she will need subcontractors. They should be brought into the project at and early stage of the schedule. Each subcontractor ought to provide a firm set estimate for the particular job using the plans and bill of materials. Also their quote needs to include start/complete dates for each particular job.

With garage addition plans and expense estimates in hand the homeowner is able to move forward with pulling permits and developing a reasonably accurate building timetable.

Scheduling

After permits have been approved, constructing the garage addition can start. You should note that even with the most effective plans in place the unexpected can happen and schedules may slip. To offset schedule slips a homeowner managing the project should add some buffer to the schedule and try to look ahead several weeks over the course of the project. They should check with suppliers regularly to be sure building material will arrive when needed and, on occasion, check with subcontractors so that that their schedules accommodate your garage addition project.

With your planning, budgeting and scheduling issues attended to before the beginning of the project, building a garage addition can certainly be a positive experience both before and after the construction phase.

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Estimating the Cost of a Garage Addition Building Plan ...