Building a farm shop with living quarters

[Old Pokey 0]

What little I know of your operation Cliff, I'd bet you could make a go of it and be happy. I dont know what your codes are, but I think you can put a covered walkway between the shop and living quarters (office?). Either that or the hardware room can be a great barrier between the two places. I would'nt let the "staying single" bit worry me. That bridge can be crossed when you come up to it. However, one thing that would worry me is your dad may find it waaay to convienient......"hey Cliff, can ya have the truck warmed up for me in the morn'in?"...

[no_brainer 0]

if you can hide it from the tax accesser it's great idea ,most around here who do it wait until it's been accessed then add the home .

[red211 0]

I know of one guy close that lives in a corner appartment above shop.Was single,got a live in girl and is now married,still living in shop.It's only temporary to save some cash,but it works good for that.I would consider it,but would not want to put too much cash in that part since it would be temporary for me.Would be a great dog house later.

[steve_966_756 0]

magnum biggest problem with your link is the green an yeller color scheme

I'm working on barn/ new shop 36 x 40 x 13 ft ceiling with an 11 x 36 x 7 ft room up stairs

offices / bathroom / lounge with dish tv an Internet from house

Would have been ready for concrete now but back problems put a hold on things

for a bet

Need to get some pic's an post here of the progress

steve

[MOChad 0]

Well, my wife looked at Cliff's pictures says no problem. Not sure what that says about our current situation.

I know of several guys around here living in a)part of a larger building or b)who built a Morton type building on a slab to live in. The one guy I know(I built his cabinets) claimed he was gonna have about $80,000 in what I would guess was over 2200 sq feet of living space. It wasn't laid out the best but it was nice. Looks like a gambrel roof barn. The trusses let him basically get a free second story in half of it, the other half is open and looks great. If you don't have a good site for the shop building, you might just consider building a small house.

[MOChad 0]

i say go for it cliff, guess you would never be late for work

found this on agriculture.com check out the pictures

http://www.agriculture.com/ag/slideshow/sl....xml&page=3

O.K. That green and yellow on EVERYTHING is just too far.

[Sparky 0]

Everybody tells me that I already live in my shop. I just sleep in the house...

I do know of a guy north of Osceola I used to deliver fertilizer to that has a Morton building split in half. When you walk into the house half of it, you wouldn't even know that you was in a Morton building, has it all finished very nicely inside and seems like a house. Just like having an attached garage.

As far as the woman thing....my neighbor told me the other day that he thinks dogs are better company than women......

Travis

[ChrisNY 2]

Very interesting idea Cliff. I think it could be doable if it was set up right. Like others said the women thing could be an issue but also could work in your favor to weed out the ones you probably wouldnt want anyway. Of course I am divorced so you might not want to listen to me,

Another option might be that down the road if you have a hired man, you could use that for housing for your hired help and look at building a house when your financial situation changes.

I would without a doubt make sure that a sprinkler system and alarm system is installed. Very cheap insurance.

[The_CSMs_Wife 0]

Whoever said in an earlier post that this living arrangement would be a good way to weed out the women you didn't want to have around permanently had it right, IMHO. I think those pictures Cliff posted were great, and I'd sure not be too proud to set up residence in something like that. By the same token, resale or transfer of that kind of home might not be as negative as some think. Given that it's a very predominantly ag area with no encroachment from development or 'bedroom communities', there are surely others out there with the same needs or requirements: a nice home with a convenient work area.

I'd say 'go for it, Cliff', and be sure to have an open house when you get it finished!!

[Farmall Doctor 0]

One thing about it.... when the "boys" come over with refreshments, you don't have to worry about driving home when you suddenly realize that it's 1:00 am!!

Darryn

[Willbierfarms 0]

Man what color blind hack painted that guys office?

You know a 4020 looks okay in green and yellow but not a kitchen.

[Old-F20 0]

Cliff,

Look into the "Agricultrual Exemption" status in your county. I am almost certain is is a state code for 'farms'. around here when i want to build a building (of any type imaginable) i go tot he courthouse, tell the girls i want to build something, tell them my address and they give me an ag exempt certificate. this means NO CODES to follow whatsoever except road and property line setbacks. i am not kidding one bit when i say you can build whatever you want as long as you tell them its for 'farm use'.

A very good example of this would be the new 2200sqft house we built that that is considered an 'ag exampt' structure no kidding!!!! i told them it will have an 'office which we will conduct famr business in' and i got a permit. only inspection we had was the sanitation gal came out and looked at our septic system beforw we backfilled since that is a state and federal code now

heres what our 'farm building' looks like

[JD Humm 0]

Man what color blind hack painted that guys office?

You know a 4020 looks okay in green and yellow but not a kitchen.

That kitchen is about as attractive as this truck.

[rjpont 0]

Actually JD I think the truck looks better! That shop would look a lot better with just a bit of trim painted in those colours . Even the same amount of red black and white might seem a little much!

[MOChad 0]

Man what color blind hack painted that guys office?

You know a 4020 looks okay in green and yellow but not a kitchen.

That kitchen is about as attractive as this truck.

Neighbor built an older gooseneck trailer into a seed tender. Painted the whole thing greene and yellow. Used to be red with chrome wheels. Talk about ruining a perfectly good trailer.

[Farmall Doctor 0]

Jeez, it looks like somebody puked all over that poor old chevy truck!!!

Darryn

[JD Humm 0]

Jeez, it looks like somebody puked all over that poor old chevy truck!!!

Darryn

That truck belongs to a co worker. He brought that photo in for me to see, he was real proud of his paint job. Said he was also going to paint the wheels yellow but had not gotten that far yet. I was really ribbing him about that paint job. His reply was "heck, you don't see many of them painted like that!!" "There is a reason for that" was my answer.

[BOOMER LANDT 0]

Man what color blind hack painted that guys office?

You know a 4020 looks okay in green and yellow but not a kitchen.

That kitchen is about as attractive as this truck.

Hello all , Nice picture JD is that your ole' buddy goob when he was a kid ??? That shop with all the green/yellow is over the top IMO . That guy is either single , g*y or both & has his sister posing for article . Boomer

[red211 0]

Had a landscape company here that ran all older equipment and trucks. Painted everything * * green, trucks, trailers, mowers, everything. They are no longer in business.

[Detroit 0]

i say go for it cliff, guess you would never be late for work

found this on agriculture.com check out the pictures

http://www.agriculture.com/ag/slideshow/sl....xml&page=3

O.K. That green and yellow on EVERYTHING is just too far.

It always amazes me that those colors look so good on a tractor or combine but just godawful ugly on anything else.

[MOChad 0]

i say go for it cliff, guess you would never be late for work

found this on agriculture.com check out the pictures

http://www.agriculture.com/ag/slideshow/sl....xml&page=3

O.K. That green and yellow on EVERYTHING is just too far.

It always amazes me that those colors look so good on a tractor or combine but just godawful ugly on anything else.

What's more amazing is that the people who do it don't realize it.

[Old Binder Guy 4]

My son built a 72'X42' pole shed three years ago. One end was built to be added onto. Last summer he added infrastructure for his shop to be added onto this shed. Water, electricity, septic system and the foundation with four foot stub walls, so he can use 12' studs (now stacked in shed). His plan is to use hot water heat in the floor, which he loves from his present shop in Helena. He will build the bathroom with laundry facilities and three bedrooms. Since the shop will have two 12'X12' overhead doors, there will be an extra suspended "mezanine" for use as living room/den on the far wall...

Now at this point, as Hardtail is aware of, as a 25 year vetran of US Army/MTARNG, he got deployed to Afghanistan for a year. The Good Lord knew to deploy him before he got his family moved into this "mess".

Their plan is to build the shop, but pretty much live in it upon completion, sell their present home and shop, then build their home about a hundred feet from this shop/shed. Upon completion of their home, they'll move in and the "dream shop" will become the shop.

I have always been pretty good with metal. My dad was a blacksmith and I was a bodyman and used to be a pretty good welder when I could still see. My son is a darn good fabricator with metal but also got some of his paternal grandpa's carpentry skills, as I marvel at his cabinet making ability and the tools he has to do it. Anyway, he plans to build part the bedroom walls so be adaptable to carpentry, finish work, etc. when the 42'X106' building is completed.

So while he is married and has two children, I really think it will work for them, as it is only temporary.

OBG

[TP from Central PA 1]

I am probably one of the cheapest people who ever walked the face of the earth, and I wouldn't even consider doing something like that, putting a living quarters in a new shop. I'd worry about the fire hazard issue, smells, and since I am also a neat freak, I couldn't handle being that close to a filthy mess all the time. I go home to get out of it Could it be done, yeah it could I imagine, but you won't find me doing it.

I'd look for a house in bad shape with a good well and septic, tear it down, and have a new double brought in. Most of the homes around me were doubles put in back in the 70's, and alot have older people living in them and are going down hill fast, the septics and wells are good though. That is what I am planning on doing when the time comes. The widowed neighbor lady and here family pretty much have all but sold me her place, as it is shot and none of them want it for that reason, but the well/septic is good and the foundation is excellant, although I'd dig around the walls down to below the footer and install drain tile to cure a small water problem, pop a new double on it and be good for 20 years without having to constantly do renovations/repairs on old junk.

Honestly though, with my grandparents failing health, and my own parents getting older, it already seems like I do enough home repairs on two places I don't really have much interest in getting my own house and having a 3rd one to work on, especially that I am single. I am starting on my mom and dads bathroom shortly, just finished remodeling one of my grandparents full baths. Laid tile for the first time in that one............I guess it is nice to work with something that doesn't involve steel, welding, and wrench every now and then.