How about labor and profit costs, as well as some other business overhead that a DIYer doesn't have? Did your buddy do his own electrical work?

60-100K. Finishing out a storage area is a nickel. The bulk of the work is in it’s building and getting the electrical needs satisfied to make it finishable..

You’ll need an electrical sub panel, and you might even need to heavy up your whole home service to do this. Just the dirtwork and slab will run you 20K+ if you were to try to GC this yourself. Which I don’t recommend, because what you think of as “simple” is not.

Just my tractor pole barn that I had all of the equipment for the dirtwork, and we used a gravel floor, was 30K. Second floor parts storage. But no real electrical. Or windows. Or HVAC. Or insulation. Etc.

Thanks all. Yes, as I noted, I there are TONS of variables. But I don't know where to start. I don't know what all the available choices are. Do you want "this kind of...or that kind of..." I need to sit with someone who can go over that with me. I know I need a plan, but I need help creating the plan. Who does that?

No slab yet, we'll need that. And electrical, not a big panel, but some. No need to insulate.

Sophie: sorry but $60-100K for a garage is not realistic. I know people DO spend that, but we paid $305 for our house, so we're not in that echelon of income or lifestyle. I don't have boats, hot rods, RVs, horses, etc (or a huge ego). Houses that we looked at with garages were around $330, 335. (Hindsight, yes, we should've bought one of those. But we didn't know.)

We can spend $40 or so if we have to. I just want to be sure we have to. Thanks again for the considerate replies. Oh, also, anyone know about some of these pre-fabs on the market?

If you can’t design a square box, then you are not going to DIY assemble a kit either. You need to hire a builder who has a draftsman on staff to draw it up for the permit. And then build it.

Did I mention that the 30K tractor shed was all DIY labor? As in, materials only. A 2 car garage was 30K, 30 years ago. That would be 65K today.

I don’t think you have a realistic grasp of construction pricing. Of course the house with the garage was priced below the cost of adding a garage to your house. That is how it works. You never get 100% payback on any renovation project. That is TV fiction.

http://www.remodeling.hw.net/cost-vs-value/2018/

I would think that getting a plan would be first, and then seek bids. Every builder needs to be looking at the same plan.

A detached garage does not cost 60-100K across the board. My in laws house cost 120K. If they built a new garage, it's not going to cost half their house price.

But there are many variables. The slab will probably be 10K alone. you can get kits for a basic 2 car garage for 10-20K, no labor. The building you are asking for is bigger than that. The labor, depending on your market, could be another 10K. So you are looking at 30K minimum.

Again, Thanks for the reasonable responses. To Sophie, yes I can design and box, thanks for your polite and intelligent input.

back in the day an unattached garage could use a slab with no frost footings. you dig a 1' deep perimeter trench and pour that and slab in 1 pour. is that not allowed now? and that costs 10k? with minimal site prep?

It also depends what you want to store in the garage, and it's function. If you are going to have tools (table saw / chop saw / drill press / etc) they will rust unless it's heated. Here in Minnesota, I have thermostat set to 55 degrees. Also it's really nice to have to it sheetrocked. Much easier to hang shelves and store things, plus the sheetrocked ceiling reflects light. On the subject of lights: I have four / duplex / 4 foot / HO fluorescent fixtures. Really nice to have a lot of light when you need to make a car repair or saw a board. Also nice are a lot of outlets back / sides / front by the door. Don't forget some out side lights on a photo-cell - a nice security feature.

30-50k is not unreasonable for a two car garage, depending on the finishes of course - 50k in my area would get you a pretty impressive garage. 20k is a little light given the scope of the work. I would check to see if there are any local Mennonite builders in your area, that's the route one of my neighbors took since the regular (?) GC's were way out of their budget

All good stuff folks. Talked to my draftsman today, he'll help me come up with a plan to present to the right GC. I guess one thing is I know there are GCs who (deservedly) focus their business on high end clients. What I need is to find honest, qualified contractors who are ok with smaller, less glamorous jobs. Maybe an older guy, needing less income, or a good younger guy. I don't need a custom builder and so far seems like those are the ones whom I've been referred to. Thanks again!

Building the garage - a good cement guy (too insure that the slab is pitched properly) and a good carpenter and an electrician. Not sure you need a general contractor.

Geoffrey, that's exactly the kind of guidance I need, do I even need a GC for this? Maybe I can find a carpenter who can assist in lining up the others. I'm not opposed to doing some legwork, just need to know how it works. I'll ask around locally...

Almost 20 years ago I built a 28 x 28 insulated garage. It was what I detailed in my previous post. That garage was $30K in 1995. There were extras for the drive way (which is cement). You will also need a guy that is good in installing garage doors.

Why don’t you just build a pole barn 3 car garage? That should be much cheaper.

Thanks summer...but I have no idea what that is. Can you elaborate?

We just finished a 24 x 36 garage/workshop for approx $35,000 in upstate New York. Board and batt wood siding from a local Amish mill, shingle roof, no electrical (yet), no insulation, two man doors and two large carriage style overhead doors ($5,300 alone). Maybe 6 low end windows? This price does NOT include labor of any kind as we built it on our own.
We also own all the equipment needed for construction, site and dirt work.

In my town, we were required to have stamped plans and pull a permit.

A comparable steel pole barn kit would have cost approx $14,000 not including the slab and labor. We didn't go that route because, IMO, the kits look cheap once built.