i have had the same dream but finnally got started! in fact sold my house last year and right now we are living in a fifth wheel camper. i hope to get the concrete poured next week. building a 60 x 120 barn on 3 acres the house will be 30 x 60 and the display area will be 40 x 60. with my shop taking over the rest. crazy to sell a nice house that was paid for to build a barn and owe money--but you only live once!
Interesting ideas. Mom always said dream big. After reading your post a place I visited several times came to mind . While not an automotive themed place it had a lot of similarities in the concept. Edward Lowe ( kitty litter fame) built a place in C***opolis ,Michigan that was his dream place and get a way. A large piece of propery ,it housed his personal residence and "Billy Town" which was built as a old turn of the century main street with a railroad theme. After his death the place was entrusted to the Lowe Foundation a nonprofit en***y(another of his dreams) and is used as a corporate retreat and educational venue. Not suggesting a challenge to him but theres a lot of things he did as he put this together that may be helpful to your project.
It would probably have a better resale value in a larger metropolitan area. Houston's not too far away. But judging by the bankroll you must have to get all those toys- you prolly don't need me to tell you that. Sometimes we are blind to the most apparent things...so just thought I'd throw that out there. If I had the liquidity to that...you only live once!!
Ok Doc, that does it, I gotta come see this project when you start it, not if but when....... believe me guys when doc chases a dream he catches it... Kudos my friend............
Doc, I think you should do it...BUT!!!, I honestly think 20,000 feet isn't going to be enuff for the plans you have. If you subtract the 4,000 feet for living quarters you're left with 16,000. I know that's a HUGE amount of space, but to have you're drive-in area, carousel, city theme, and work space, it will fill up quickly. I think the work space would end up sacrificing square footage, and it's the area that will probably be used most. You have to think about all of the debris that comes from the shop too. With all of your clean areas, the shop funk is liable to creep to the places you don't want it too. RJP has a good point with a hanger or industrial site, those places are GINORMOUS!!! I wish the firehouse would have worked out. I love when old vacant buildings are brought back to life. ScaryLarry's place is my favorite building in the world, but he doesn't have a lot of garage space to work in. He has a two car garage, and he had to build that one. I want to build a shop/house as well. What I want to do, is build a tall building and put the living area on the upper perimeter of the building. This way you can look down on the car area and enjoy it even more. Keep us posted and show us your progress. I always love seeing other folks collection of vintage stuff. Reverend Jake
Do it. If you've been thinking about it, and you've already had a meeting with your banker about it, this means you really want to do it. If you don't, you'll always regret it. Banks have a hard time thinking outside of the box when it comes to financing anything different than the norm, so you might have to work on them a little bit. But, I think it would be a killer idea. I've always wanted to buy an old firestation or warehouse to do something like that....house in the back, or upstairs, garage downstairs.....so I'm with you on this idea. This would be every car guy's dream house. If you want to do it, there's always a way to sidestep around fire codes, insurance, building codes, etc. As far as resale goes, how soon after you build it do you plan on moving? Hopefully not for a while. If that's the case, worry about it later. Don't think like your banker does, think like a car guy does!
I can't imagine having enough cash to even think about your project. But you can't take any of this **** with you. I would start on it on Monday. Scott
My 2 cents....WOW that sounds bad *** that you'll get to live out your dream like that. Yes, of course its a crazy idea, thats why its so cool! Here's the question I have for you: can you live with the results financially and emotionally if you build it and hate it and decide to move? It's gonna be tough to sell and get decent money out of it, obviously, but if you can do it and be alright if you have to bail, then f-it you only live once. Gotta be the coolest thing I've heard of in a long time.
Ummm what about you ability to sell this place when you have to move to a nursing home? But back to plans, Reynolds Alberta Museum in Wetaskawin Alberta has a kick *** car museum. The have an indoor drive in with real cars. Here is the website. http://www.machinemuseum.net/ The don't have any photos of hte drive in. It you email they maybe they can take a couple of shots for you. Better yet, go visit.
I have a small apartment in my shop.. I told the tax accessor that a lot of people have a large house with a small garage.. I have a small house with a large garage.. I also use this as my homestead exemption.this make for a large saving on property tax.. As my insurance cost are also down. As per my ins agent stick or wood buildings cost less than metal to insure. I worry less about breakins as I am here a lot...I have a large fence to keep the unwanted guest away.As far as selling I would not worry.Go for it... Enjoy life its to short..Bobby..
I'm not sure. Real Estate is the family business and I think this place would be a really tough sell if you had to get rid of it, or if you decided you didn't like it anymore and wanted to move on. And it would be really expensive to build new. Not saying that you would ever have to sell it, but since you have to borrow the money, it should be a concern to you and I'm sure it's a concern of your bank. My second concern is that 20K square feet seems like a lot, but it'd get eaten up really fast with all the things you want to have in there. I think you'd be surprised if you drew up a scale model on paper. That's only 140x140. But I do think it's a neat idea and I wouldn't discourage you from trying something like that. My approach would be different. There is a building in my hometown which used to be a furniture store. It's all brick with big gl*** windows, there's 18K square feet of floor space in the store, plus there's already an attatched brick 4 bedroom house about 2K square feet. I've tried to buy it already, I think $180K would buy it, less when the elderly owner dies. For that kind of money, you could redecorate the house to your taste, install some overhead doors in the building (there's no car-size entrance in it now) and set up your movie projector and kiddie playground. You'd have what you want but you wouldn't be buried in it. Plus, old buildings have lots of character and history that a new steel building would not have. Get a good real estate agent and tell him/her you want to see some commercial buildings in your area.
Sounds like a cool idea to me, kinda like combining Chaz's shop and Scarry Larry's house with some extras added
Just another thought, since you already talked with the banker, I'd be talking with your insurance agent. Insurance companies are getting real fussy about what they are covering these days. Your biggest problem I can see will be the line between business property and housing. The banker wants to be able to get his money back should you default, and the insurance wants to know what your going to do with all that equipment in that big building and how they are going to be able to collect money from you without putting themselves too deep into risk. The next problem will probably be with zoning, around here the zoning board would have you by the short hairs. None of them comprehend a guy wanting to have all his cool stuff at the same place he lives. Most are going to presume you plan on opening a business/amu*****t park and should that happen they will all want a big cut of what they think will be a huge profit and will be a huge risk to all of them. Those guys like things nice and simple, and this project just doesn't fit any of their molds. Now, when you get that place done, I want to come for the guided tour. Gene
I just wanted to say I've been beating myself up tonight about buying 2 vehicles today. After reading your post, I don't feel quite as bad spending $4800 as I did. If you've got the means to do it, then you're no dummy with money. If it keeps you up at night because you're so excited about doing it- go for it.
Doc, maybe Waskom's for sale!! Go for it!! There is already a little old town of about 3 or 4 buildings started out Ellerbee maybe you could combine with it!
My banker asks me if it's OK for him to order that second diet Coke... Since I'd be paying. Money doesn't do any good in the bank. Sounds like like it's be a dream project.
Thanks for the feedback guys. I went and looked at a building today for some scale. It was 15,000 sq ft and it wasn't close to being big enough. My banker is on board. He's says I'm good for it. My wheels are turning, and I've done lots of crazy stuff in the past so who knows. I do appreciate those who have tried to warn me of the pitfalls. If we decide to do it, I'll post the project on the HAMB if ya'll want. Doc.
If you buy a wooded lot, take a look at the trees growing there. I've had several friends off set the cost of their houses by calling in a portable wood mill, then removing selected trees, and selling them for the wood. There's a demand for cedar, oak, maple, etc. in the fine wood working industry. Buddy of mine cleared $12k on three cedar trees that had to come down to make room for the house. Father in law just got $2k for a small diseased black oak. The *******s that put up my sub division stripped off all the top soil, then sold it to local farms...I don't recommend this, cause nothing grows in hardpack and clay. I wouldn't worry about resale. I think if it came down to that, there's enough people on this board who would be interested in a house with a shop, diner, drive-in, and a merry-go-round. Just think of the stories! 'Where's Doc?', "He stripped down to his tidy whiteys, got liquored up in the diner, rode the merry-go-round until he puked, and then he p***ed out next to his car in the drive-in while watching The Little Mermaid"......And you never left your house!!!
I do county inspections. There is a required firewall between garages and homes, no windows, etc. In our current office/warehouse we had to construct a steel studded floor to ceiling double 5/8" firerock both sides wall. I have ewven seen small offices inside warehouses forced to be rebuilt with steel studs, etc.
Well Doc, you know my taste and your taste in "themed" rooms are about the same so if you want an objective opinion from me...your not going to get it because I say GO FOR IT!.......BUT you MUST let me help with the decorating. I see real Craftsman toolboxes as your kitchen cupboards with tons of stainless steel and diamond plate......kinda like a "garage" themed kitchen. A tiki lounge with double french doors leading out to a hot tub paradise.....women like hot tubs. One of the "themed" shops on Main Street could be "Doc's Auto Parts Store" where you could have all your extra parts stored for current and future projects. Of course you'd want this located close to the "real" working garage. Another one of the "themed" rooms/areas could be an Art Gallery...hot rod related of course. It could be set up like a real gallery with everything on the walls lite properly and benches in the middle for viewing. It needs to be very minimalistic. A penny candy store for all those grandkids that are sure to come...plus the kids of friends that are sure to visit. Lots of other ideas as well. When this goes down we can talk in more details. As far as resell, if you ever watch any of those "Off Beat America" type shows on HGTV you would realize here are lots of folks living in stranger places. With proper planning yours could be layed out whereas IF/WHEN you ever decided to sell it and it wasn't selling in it's current condition that with alittle paint and the moving, subtracting or adding a few walls and stuff, that it could be used by someone else for another whole different purpose such as a group home, small home business, etc. It's an exciting project, I hope you go for it.
Hey Doc, when it's done, you can charge us HAMBers a buck to tour it. I'd gladly pay a dollar for that! I've paid more at other places, (museums and collection houses etc) and saw far less and far more questionable stuff. Vance
If you use paint to do most of your customizing, when your ready to sell someone could come in and change whatever they want. your house could become offices or whatever. If you can afford payments Go for it!! what are you saving your money for??
If you manage to pull it off, You are my idol. Of course if you are crazy, that means i are two for thinking this be a kewl idauh.
As you probably know my shop is done in kind of a city theme. Diner , Flower Shop, Dental Office, Toy Store , *****house etc. Its a VERY small version of what you are talkin. I love it, and I always get lots of visitors and friends stopping out even though its 11 miles from town. I work in the amu*****t business, so theming is kinda what I do.. Bankers are just pawns too. If your numbers and credit are top flite you'll get the necessary funds. The bankers work mostly by formula. If its a close call they'll go on their impressions. My banker kinda likes to use me to show that they'll support any business as long as the numbers work. He likes to bring his family and friends by too! As much as that carousel is right down my alley, A small train makes maybe even better sense... You will never regret a decision to follow your joy.. At least I never have,,,
Hello, want crazy, this may inspire you, google Wing's Castle, I started to build this when I got home from the Viet war , I also am totally overwhelmed with cars and motorcycles of all description,, anyway life is short do what you want , its only about 75 years if your lucky, and its one time only, press on
Doc I just read the first page, so I hope I did not miss much. I am building the 1/4scale version. I have a 2000sqft apartment(1500down,500up) inside of my new shop. The building is 60x100x16 with a 20x100 shed roof on the back. The shop side is 4500sqft with a very easily added 1000sqft. I am doing everything as first cl*** as I can afford. Mine is paid for, so it has taken me 3 years to date, only 7months of construction. My Apatment is only being built as short term housing(2-3years). I am building a 2000sqft house in front of the shop. The area in the shop will become an office/gameroom, and will make for a nice guest room. The resale should be higher with the shop not being the main house on the land. My house will not cost as much as my shop, but it will be close. Resale was not my first concern. I would guess you would come in around $50 a sqft. I know tons of guys have done it for less. The flooring, lighting,wall covering,insulation,trim, and hvac all add up. Finish grading and landscaping can add up too. You can get the shell up for $10-$20 a foot. There are a few issues like neighbors, and zoning. I would hate to try to build mine within the city limits. It helps when there are buildings in the area like yours. Horse communities have large buildings near high end residential. I happen to have horses, the girlfriend trains horses, so we are in a very horse friendly area. With enough money any problem can be solved. Hurry up and start building, I need some fresh ideas to steal
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