Who has built a detached garage?

Hard to really stop theives. At best your hoping to make yourself less attractive than someone else. But if thieves decide there is something in there they want bad enough, bars won't slow them down. Couple minutes with a cordless demolition saw and done. Same tool can cut a hole through the wall next to your door, reach in and open a walk-in door from the inside.
True that you can't really stop them once they know what you have and want it. But if you omit the windows they won't be able to "window shop" and decide to break in.
 
To eliminate window shopping, I don’t have any windows. However, i wish I had put windows high in the wall of my 40x60x12 pole barn to allow some light in but mostly to let cell and radio signal in. All metal buildings are big faraday cages, cell service drops to mostly nothing as soon as the doors close. High in the walls, someone would need a ladder to look inside. “Standard“ double wide garage doors are 16’ - put an 18’ and you aren’t fighting cars too close together. +1 on plywood or OSB wall boards, mount anything anywhere because it will take a screw - and you can remove a wall panel to get back into the wall if needed (screw it down, don’t nail it). Also +1 on 4 gang outlets every 4 feet - you can’t overload things in a one man shop since you only run one tool at a time. Run your 3 phase In conduit on the inside. Insulate the crap out of it - maybe I’ve paid my debt to working in cold shops, but heat also saves tools from getting rusty and no more water dripping off machines when the weather changes. I did 5” high strength reinforced concrete, saw cut expansion joints (maybe wish I hadn’t done that, need to fill the cracks with something). Hog wire grid is not reinforcing, 1/2” or better, on chairs to space off the bottom is reinforcing - don’t let them try to convince you hog wire is good enough. 100A is probably good enough unless you’re running some big welders at full tilt. Put a big panel in - like a 30 breaker. It will seem like overkill, but much cheaper now than when you run out of space later - I’m down to less than a half dozen holes. Wire it in 12ga and never worry. 14 is maybe fine for LED light circuits, but the price difference isn’t really that much at this point. Labor is free if you do it yourself. Take lots of pictures of the wiring before you cover it up. Put lights on the outside so you can see in the dark. An 6’ apron outside the doors is really handy to land machines and get them rolled in as opposed to having the concrete stop at the door. A cover over the people door is nice when it’s raining. I planned and watched a long time before I built my shop, and still missed a few items, but still a nice place to hang out and work on stuff.
 
I built mine using insulated structural panels. Made for a finished wall on the inside right away, insulated and rapid build. Did house wrap and siding on the exterior.


Pierre
 
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Some good replies here @gi_984.
I have built two homes and two shops from the ground up in the last 14 years or so. So much of it is personal preference but judging by your initial description, you will have a setup similar to mine, whereas the shop has the exact same look as the house.
One of the big decisions you will need to make is which concrete contractor to use. I was fortunate that I had a crew that was beyond fantastic. The floors in both the house and shop are unbelievably flat and smooth. No worries about having a flat foundation for that first sill plate.
I love natural light and have quite a few windows in my shop. I get to watch the wildlife in my wooded acreage or the doggies playing in the yard. I could live in fear of break-ins, but I will not have potential thieves dictate how I will live. They might have to answer to "Ruger."
For the electrical, do as others have mentioned here and put in a large panel. I had to add a subpanel to mine already. Keep in mind that every 220v outlet is 2 panel slots. I have seven 220s and therefore lost 14 panel slots right off of the bat.
Insulate well, although you are in what I would call a moderate climate. Install a mini-split for heating and cooling.
Bathroom with sink and stool - yes. You will not regret it, and neither will the wife when you need to clean up before coming into the house.
I have 11ft ceilings in mine. It allows one to have ceiling fans and move material around without clipping the ceiling.
LED strip lights. 50lm/sq ft minimum. I would recommend more.
I have finished 5/8" plywood on my walls. It allows me to hang pretty much anything anywhere without finding a stud. The bottom 40" or so is a metal wainscot. Looks good and keeps any sparks away from the wood structure.

I hope you don't mind a couple of pictures showing the house and matching shop. My shop is 36x36 (and waaaay too small, LOL).
 

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A very big thing to keep in mind, no matter what size you build, it will be too small. Build as big as you can get away with.

I also plan to build with at least 2 courses of block below the walls, even if it means shortening off of the 8 foot studs. when there are sparks bouncing around on the floor I do not wand them to get to the wood structure. I had thought of metal wainscoting but there will still be a gap at the floor where the sparks are bouncing around unless you actually caulk or use some kind of sealant.
 
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I moved my shop out of a detached garage to a pole-barn built for that purpose. Some thoughts:

  • If you're trenching for water/sewer, buy a pre-terminated direct bury fiber cable and also run that between the house and shop. Internet access in the shop is really handy, from using CAD to streaming music.
  • Sounds like you're already thinking along these lines, but 10' ceilings min, 9' height x 10' min width door.
  • Insulate! Most "garages" are not built with insulation in mind. Blown in insulation works well, can often be done DIY, but you want good insulation so that your shop is 4 season comfortable to work in. That typically is easier with an enclosed ceiling. Remember that long sleeves/jackets may be a hazard around shop equipment.
  • Mini-split AC units are very popular for shop use, and would probably cover your heating needs in the Springfield area, as well as giving good cooling and humidity control option.
  • Don't skimp on power. I'd want at least 100A @ 220V in any shop. For mine I upped my service to a 400A service with 200A for the main shop and 200A for everything else (house, etc).
  • Plan on serious lighting. Then wire for double that capacity, as you'll want to add spot lighting over key machines/workbenches. Much easier to have the wiring in place and just hook up additional lights.
  • Make sure to put in a few windows or your shop can feel claustrophobic. Given a front facing garage door I'd want some windows in the door so I could look out and see anyone arriving up the driveway.
  • Think about drainage, and get that arranged before construction. Unless you plan on a forklift or really heavy machines, a 4" thick slab is probably OK, but I'd want several inches of gravel under that, with a water barrier between the gravel and concrete. Depending on your soil, this keeps your slab dry and good under-slab drainage so water doesn't perk up through the concrete in rainy season.
when i bought my house i had nonthing and no money and i had to do everything myself i pored a peir and beam for a 20x20 and had a metal car port built on it the put a wooden flor in it it worked great for a week just not big enough wish i had made it 40x40 but it was in my price range at the time as of now i have a 20x20 built in front and yes it is still not big enough but it is still in my price range kinda looks like i see one more in the future hope this gives you some ideas( there is always a way you just have to find it)
 
If trying to match house/shop/neighbors aesthetics permit, use roll-up garage doors instead of panel style. You'll end up with quite a bit more ceiling height inside the building.
 
I didn't build a detached garage but I have been involved with a few going up and built a house with a giant garage so I have a little educated opinions.

If you can afford to do it, add a glue lam and some engineered trusses and ad a second level for storage. You can't do it later.
You can buy trusses that need no support that can span 30 feet. I know, I did them on the house I built. No support walls in the entire upstairs. And you can end up with a vaulted ceiling. I know I did.
Even if it's a single story, look in to the engineered trusses. They went up super fast and cost about the same as regular flat trusses.

I'll echo the insulation. Best thing I did with the garage was insulate it and put up drywall. Not only did it keep the garage in a normal temp range but, with me, having that insulated barrier of the garage helped keep the heating bills of the house down.
 
I have a detached garage. Built originally as an RV garage with a small shop space. Later sold the RV and turned the large space into more shop space (cause who doesn't need more shop space). Pole Barn construction. After a couple of years, I added a second floor to about 1/3 of the space. for storage. NO HOA, outside of any city limits so no building permits needed or hoops to jump through.
 
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