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Building a backyard office, the build and cost breakdown

imkylelambert.com

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Re: Building a backyard office, the build and cost breakdown

#191

Post by cucumber3732842 »

eysquared wrote: post #60
niwtsol wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

woof, where are you located, coastal/northern Canada?

Cascade mountains. I've seen over 5 feet of snow in under 48 hours, then freezing rain. Its heavy! Lots of these "it'll be fine" type structures collapsed. Building code for snow load is a factor of location and elevation here. We are around 130 lb/sq ft. Roof pitch can help with shedding, but then you've got other problems (roof avalanches can and do kill, not to mention snow up against materials that don't want to…

> We are around 130 lb/sq ft

That's not too bad, that's just a floor (and that's for a flat roof, it gets less demanding with pitch).

Re: Building a backyard office, the build and cost breakdown

#192

Post by pwg »

ApolloFortyNine wrote: post #76
Jnr wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought my first minisplit ~4 years ago since none of the contractors were available in the hot summer. I bought the tools as well (vacuum pump, manifold, pipe cutters, etc.). It cost me ~650$ total. The next time I bought a minisplit (3.5kW one), I already had the tools and it cost me only 450$. A proper one meant for use during harsh winter would probably costs a bit more though, at around 1000$. So I have set up…

In my state they require: >160 hours of education/vocational training and 2 years’ verifiable experience in the trade To get the license to install minisplits (two years experience generally means working an apprenticeship). It's no wonder install costs are so much in the US. And as you've experienced, they're hardly rocket science to install. The 160 hours training would be more than enough, I'm not sure why 2 years…

Unless your state is very unusual that is the requirement for installing them for other people as a tradesman. In most states if you are DIY for yourself all you legally need are the electrical permits for the wiring hookup (which for DIY don't require that "apprenticeship").

Re: Building a backyard office, the build and cost breakdown

#193

Post by doodlebugging »

For the author, I really like the way it turned out. Your choice of the larger windows does change the game for a space like that. You gained useful space on your property that can be reconfigured later if conditions change.

I did notice that you mentioned soffit vents. From the photos I am having a hard time picturing how those vents were installed on that shed since they are designed to allow airflow from the soffit to the ridge. Knowing that you had a ridge vent cut in it makes it likely to me that you used baffles to allow the airflow between soffit and ridge and then insulated between the baffles and the interior space. I don't see that in the photos though so I apologize if this makes no sense.

I like the way that you finished it all out. It looks very functional. I have often considered something similar for our property but have been tied up in so many other projects that it never seems to happen.

Good job for having a plan and making it happen.

Re: Building a backyard office, the build and cost breakdown

#194

Post by pwg »

Kirby64 wrote: post #153
chasd00 wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if someone finds out you did this yourself then can't the city put a lien on your property preventing a sale until you rip everything out and have it re-done by a licensed person? I know with electricity whether you do it per code or not a licensed electrician has to sign off before you can sell your house. at least i think that's how it is..

> I know with electricity whether you do it per code or not a licensed electrician has to sign off before you can sell your house. at least i think that's how it is.. Where? No electrician is inspecting every house that goes up for sale in the US. Sure you can ask an electrician to inspect a house electrical… but that doesn’t bar a house sale anywhere I’ve ever seen.

For the home inspections I've been a "walkthrough witness" to, the "electrical inspection" portion involved the inspector opening the normal access door to the breaker panel levers, and plugging in one of those $5 Home Depot wiring fault detectors into a few random plugs here and there to verify no wiring faults appear.

But they do not remove the panel cover to look inside, nor do they open up any receptacle box anywhere to look at any of the wiring inside. So they wouldn't know (nor discover) if the wiring job was done well or done in a shoddy manner.

Re: Building a backyard office, the build and cost breakdown

#195

Post by pwg »

lstodd wrote: post #104
gehwartzen wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, I would recommend just doing it yourself. Especially if you have a contractor pull in the electrical connection for it. I installed a pre-charged unit in a much more complicated attic setup (condenser mounted to outside wall on second floor, 20' of refrigerant lines run with lots of angles) and the whole thing took 6-8 hours with no experience. Mounting it to a shed where you're basically just cutting a hol…

Pulling in the electrical connection is actually simpler. So you might as well do that yourself too.

It is, but you'd be surprised at the number of folks who will DIY stuff, but won't DIY anything electrical.

Re: Building a backyard office, the build and cost breakdown

#196

Post by Kirby64 »

pwg wrote: post #194
Kirby64 wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I know with electricity whether you do it per code or not a licensed electrician has to sign off before you can sell your house. at least i think that's how it is.. Where? No electrician is inspecting every house that goes up for sale in the US. Sure you can ask an electrician to inspect a house electrical… but that doesn’t bar a house sale anywhere I’ve ever seen.

For the home inspections I've been a "walkthrough witness" to, the "electrical inspection" portion involved the inspector opening the normal access door to the breaker panel levers, and plugging in one of those $5 Home Depot wiring fault detectors into a few random plugs here and there to verify no wiring faults appear. But they do not remove the panel cover to look inside, nor do they open up any receptacle box anyw…

Better home inspections will remove breaker panel box or at very minimum use a thermal camera to check if the breakers are all reasonably warm. Usually both. But that still doesn’t really tell you much about whether something is done to code or not.

Re: Building a backyard office, the build and cost breakdown

#198

Post by tclancy »

bellowsgulch wrote: post #156
kslambert wrote: post #128

Author here. Thanks for the comments everyone! There are many comments on the price point. I would like to comment on one thing. "$20k is too much" I agree $20k is an investment. Could I have done it for cheaper? Absolutely. Would a DIY shell been cheaper? Would doing more of the work myself have been cheaper? Could I have saved by putting in the smaller stock windows and not having a skylight? Of course! But I am a…

[flagged]

Huh. I would have gone the other route if I was going to rant and say there’s no way to do this for so cheap because I’ve looked at replacing a shed in NH with something a bit more sizable and while you can get a nice looking prefab for like 6-8k, that’s before the pad. Add in real windows and a mini split and insulation and I’ve no idea how to keep it that low, but I am jealous.

You can buy all the Quickcrete you want (not sure the last time you priced it), but it won’t make you good at pouring a level pad. That alone puts me off trying to do it some days.

Re: Building a backyard office, the build and cost breakdown

#199

Post by tclancy »

bombcar wrote: post #164
jasonpeacock wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not $5/bag. There's also tools to be bought or rented, knowledge and skills to learn, and time spent. $2k is the cheat code to skip all of that. My calculus is to evaluate time, cost, and quality. If someone can match or beat me on 2/3 of those dimensions then I'll hire them.

He's getting downvoted, but he's not wrong - however, finding someone who specializes in doing this would be hard, and knowing how to word it so you can use "standard crews" would itself be $2-3k for a GC. This is the danger of "cheap projects" - they can grow legs before you know it, and you end up paying half the cost of increasing the square footage of the house (or the garage).

Unless he’s a commercial builder, I’d suggest he is wildly wrong about what is involved in properly pouring, leveling and making sure concrete has properly set in various weather conditions. And if you take a look at his post …
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