The SheStudio

westerner

If you are gonna be stupid, ya gotta be TOUGH!
H-M Platinum Supporter
Joined
Mar 29, 2017
Messages
734

First, some background- My Dad was a general contractor. My brother and I were drafted into the business in our very early teens. The Old Man did mostly insurance work like burned up kitchens and flooded bathrooms, but he also did several remodels/additions and we built 4 houses from the ground up.



I worked for two other contractors, and was self-employed in the field for several years as well. At the ripe old age of 40, I finally wised up and got a real job, with benefits. I am about to retire from that career, and I will miss it a little. I still love to build things, but I am sorely out of practice. (And sore, no kidding)



My second career involved fixing things, which is my true calling. I have a nice shop at the house, where I fix things for the fun of it. Always have, and always will. I have a detached shed, with parts, tools and stuff related to all these varied interests of mine.



My wife is a builder of sorts too. She enjoys crafting, and flea market flipping. She had a booth in town until the owner shut the shop down, pre CV-19. All her stuff moved into the HeShed didn’t it? Filled it right on up, that did!

Neither she nor I could find what we were looking for without a 30 minute game of Tetris.



We started looking at the sheds at Homeless Despot and other vendors. None matched the HeShed even close, and the prices seemed outrageous given my background. Only a few had some means to separate wood from ground, and that is crucial to long lasting construction of any sort. Let the games begin…
 
My neighbor John had a concrete pour coming up, and we worked a trade, labor for mud. My son and his buddy, John and his two sons and myself had three separate slabs to pour. One here, two there, 7 yards total. The truck showed up 30 minutes late (not unusual) and the driver jumped out and his first words were “This mud batched out about a 4 (very thick, he is in control of that, and we did not order a 4) let me add some water”. In the end, what we found out was that the truck left the yard with our concrete, and someone else’s too. It’s called ‘piggybacking’. By the time it got to us the mud was starting to harden. No amount of water will stop the chemical process. We worked our asses off to get a marginally acceptable finish. I will never do that again. I will refuse the load, and call his boss to tell him why.



The concrete truck figures into this story in another, more significant way. As I am backing the truck up to my pour, I signal him to stop 3 feet away from my forms. He keeps coming and actually HITS them with his tires! He did not run them down, but I heard them crack. I ignored it, and paid the price later. Turns out he pushed the corner down ¾”, and sideways 1 ½”! This building is 10’x12’, and that inch and a half out of square is significant.

My Daddy always told me “If it ain’t right down here, it won’t be right all the way to the ridge cap on the roof”. Truer words never spoken.
20200609_171438.jpg20200610_111405.jpg
 
As the job progressed, its designs and details changed. It started out as a simple shed with no power and no interior paneling. She said “Can we put something on the walls?” I said “Sure, but if we do that, we might as well insulate them”. Then I said “As long as we are insulating the walls, it makes no sense to not insulate and panel the ceiling”. And the next thing you know, the shed morphed into a “Studio”. Good thing I had some good help from my kids and friends. If the job went too slow, and I got too much time to think about it, it might have morphed into a “Boutique”. We spent maybe 25% more than they wanted for a SHED, poorly designed and skimpy built.



She is happy, and that is all that matters. My buddies in the trades could see the places where the ‘out of square’ is showing, but no one else will. I can show you every one of them, but I can live with them just fine.20200615_194800.jpg20200623_155409.jpg20200703_154815.jpg20200623_155505.jpg20200704_183641.jpg
 
Hey, thanks for writing this up....

So I'm not a builder by trade, I have a little experience but nothing like building an entire house. The size we're looking at is same as yours, 10' x 12' so this makes a good comparison. I can't get a cement truck into my back yard but the area where I would put our shed is already covered with 12" pavers and I haven't seen any problems with the other shed that's been sitting on pressure treated lumber for 5 years.

The company I'm thinking of hiring to build the basic structure is http://www.californiacustomsheds.com/ and it would cost just shy of $5k without any insulation, paneling, electrical, etc. which I can do myself. My wife wants a space she can move around in so would go with the taller roofline as well.

I guess my question is does $6k align with what you put into yours?

Thanks,

John
 
Material and labor costs vary by region, surely. We are in it roughly $4k in parts, but that does not account for the favors I called in from some of my friends, or the labor provided by my indentured servants.....(kids). We all know contracted labor will cost a huge amount over our own.

The 'beaded panel' I used for the walls cost $50/sheet and we needed 11. I cheated on that around the door, so it should have taken 12= $600.
Insulation and drywall are still fairly cheap, and I had all the romex I needed, left over from previous projects.

I simply cannot put a building up with ANY wood to ground contact. I have seen too much damage done by rot, water and bugs. Not to mention the opportunity for varmints to invade the space under the floor, and supply the inevitable physical or olfactory surprise.

I would guess that if I hired the whole damn thing done by contract, I would be in it far more than $8k.

Your mileage will surely vary.
 
Thanks for the info, my wife did ask about putting it onto a slab so we may have to look into that. The company I talked with builds onsite and will provide drawings if you want to have one poured. That may require a permit here though which could push the project into a completely different league.

thanks,

john
 
Hey John, at the risk of highjacking the thread, about ten years ago I built a 12'x16' 'shed'. The foundation was 24" sidewalk blocks, three across the 12' dimension and four across the 16' dimension, so four rows of three.
They were set on sand that was thoroughly tamped as if paving stones were being laid. I then built the wood base from pressure treated 2x6 and sheeted with 1" T&G ply. Was solid as a rock and dead level for five years. I don't get any frost here though so that is likely a factor for you.
 
That may require a permit here though which could push the project into a completely different league
Quite the understatement! Anytime the gubmint gets involved, the complications explode. I am grateful my County Building Dept. changed their requirements lately. 200 sq. ft. of roof area is the new spec. I did NOT inquire about electricity tho......:cautious:
 
My neighbor John had a concrete pour coming up, and we worked a trade, labor for mud. My son and his buddy, John and his two sons and myself had three separate slabs to pour. One here, two there, 7 yards total. The truck showed up 30 minutes late (not unusual) and the driver jumped out and his first words were “This mud batched out about a 4 (very thick, he is in control of that, and we did not order a 4) let me add some water”. In the end, what we found out was that the truck left the yard with our concrete, and someone else’s too. It’s called ‘piggybacking’. By the time it got to us the mud was starting to harden. No amount of water will stop the chemical process. We worked our asses off to get a marginally acceptable finish. I will never do that again. I will refuse the load, and call his boss to tell him why.



The concrete truck figures into this story in another, more significant way. As I am backing the truck up to my pour, I signal him to stop 3 feet away from my forms. He keeps coming and actually HITS them with his tires! He did not run them down, but I heard them crack. I ignored it, and paid the price later. Turns out he pushed the corner down ¾”, and sideways 1 ½”! This building is 10’x12’, and that inch and a half out of square is significant.

My Daddy always told me “If it ain’t right down here, it won’t be right all the way to the ridge cap on the roof”. Truer words never spoken.
View attachment 330180View attachment 330181

Yep, if you don't fix a project screwup, it won't be the only one.
 
Back
Top