There are many reasons for building a garage and being your own contractor. It is a great outdoor project for the whole family but the weather conditions and getting to your car is of course the most frequently thought of as the best reason. Another is renovating the old garage into living area and then adding on another garage.
Closing in an old garage can be a good financial choice. A lot of times the garage is attached in a way that will probably not be to expensive to renovate it into a family room, play room, etc. It can be less expensive to then construct a free standing or connected garage for the car.
If you have experience and know-how of building you can save money on your building projects by acting as the general contractor on your own. This can be from simply purchasing the materials yourself or going all the way and taking total responsibility for the constructing and renovating.
The most important part of acting as a contractor on your garage is getting real good plans. You could decide to go to an architect but that would probably be very expensive and counterproductive to doing this project on a tight financial plan. There are very good plans available that should not only save you the money on architectural plans but have things like material lists that will assist with purchases and shopping for the best prices.
As the contractor you may do the hiring of the individual subcontractors. This would include carpenters or framers, electricians, plumbers, etc. Getting a good and accurate set of building plans is essential particularly in the carpentry part.
There may be a benefit with local permits and requirement to acting as your own contractor in many counties and cities. Electricians and many times plumbers are required to have their individual permits and inspections of their job but as your own contractor you may not be required to have a general permit and pay the usual percentage fee.
Good plans should get you off to the best start with your building project and let you to save a great deal of money. With the right plans you can see the entire project and control your cost from the very start.
For more info on home woodworking and building ventures go to: Garage Building Plans. There are many great, simple and even free ideas at the Garage Building Plans Online blog web site.
