Building a shop, Whats the good the bad and the ugly? Options

[Wilhelm]

Made a deal with my wife that when the kitchen was done I could put up a shop and get my cars and tools out of the dirtfloored polebarn that I have to share with the (her) horses.

I have a few criteria:

Steel
Concrete floor through out
Adequate size, likely 40' x 50' with enough height for a 2 pole lift.
Seperate heated tool room to stop the endless condensation and relentless tool self destruction brought on by the moisture drifting out the Oregon winter moors.
Everything insulated as from experiance the pole barn is hotter than ambient in the summer and seems colder than ambient in winter.
Hot water, shower, toilet, fridge.
Doors, windows and garages that seal.

As I cruz the net, there is a bewildering array of manufactuerers and resellers all claiming their building is the next better moustrap and the other guys suck. (kinda sounds like the presidential debates lately). What I ask is the collected advise of fellow 914world members who've traveled this task to tell me who has good products, fair prices, who stands behind their product. Ease of erection (buildings, not 914members). Is one type of building better? ie pole, metal beam, truss, or certainly what is complete mickey mouse crap. Disasters you may have encountered, sellers you recommend.

Thanks, Wilhelm

[boxstr]

Why a building?? Go for a bunker. Follow this thread.
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12234
Solves allot of problems, if you can do it.
CCL

[Wilhelm]

Why a building?? Go for a bunker. Follow this thread.
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12234
Solves allot of problems, if you can do it.
CCL

I thought about a pit, but I'm absent minded enough that I worry about me (or the kids) falling into it and breaking some important part of the body. I think a lift will give more flexability for changing tires, dropping engines out of the bottom, getting stuff up to a comfortble work height.

I'm not seeing a lot of support for metal buildings. I do agree they are more difficult to insulate, are generally unattractive, probably don't help resale. Guess I set up a spreadsheet to calculate all the associated costs to figure out what is a better immediate and long term deal. Frankly if I had my druthers I like to have poured concrete/foam (like quadloc) wall with SIPS for the roof. Just seems like a lot of expense for a shop though.

[cassidy_bolger]

You should proably check with the county to find out their permitting requirements first. That may drive what type of builiding/construction you choose. For example, can you bring them purchased plans from a company that are "permit ready" engineered and ready to go? Or, do you need to hire someone to design and draw something in a way that proves it meets local code and won't fall down? Seismic and snow loads are not insignificant in these here parts, and one wall of nothing but garage doors can rob you of needed lateral load capacity....... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/headbang.gif)

[Wilhelm]

You should proably check with the county to find out their permitting requirements first. That may drive what type of builiding/construction you choose. For example, can you bring them purchased plans from a company that are "permit ready" engineered and ready to go? Or, do you need to hire someone to design and draw something in a way that proves it meets local code and won't fall down? Seismic and snow loads are not insignificant in these here parts, and one wall of nothing but garage doors can rob you of needed lateral load capacity....... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/headbang.gif)

Don't even get me started!!!! I designed and built my own home. The company that cut the sips (western insulfoam) provided the engineering, fastner requirements and wind/earthquake tie down engineering. This was not good enough for the local building dept. I had to pay an extra grand for outside engineering which resulted in 5 grand of extra steel in the foundation and comercial type foundation ties into the concrete. When the building inspecter came out to look, he said "whats with all the steel?" I wanted to 'Hoffa' him into the foundation. My biggest issue is really that I'm in a scenic area and this adds a extra thousand dollars to the application process and 5 months to the application for them to review everything and ensure my structure (which by the way is surrounded by farms and orchards) is "visually subserviant" to the surrounding area when viewed from the 'scenicivista' in the area that it is visible from: 5miles away, across the river in the winter when there are no leaves on the trees. Oh, but don't get me started.......