ᐅ Prefabricated Garage or Self-Built Garage

Hello everyone,

We have already made good progress with our planning. Now we are facing the challenge of garage design. Our preference is for a garage about 6 meters by 6 meters (20 feet by 20 feet) to 6 meters by 8 meters (20 feet by 26 feet) in size, without an internal partition, with two doors and a side door. We are now wondering what the best approach would be: buying a precast concrete garage or building it ourselves. What are your experiences or recommendations, and what costs should we expect, especially regarding self-construction?

Hopefully, you can share some tips with us. :-)

Best regards,
Frank

Hello Frank,

In my opinion, you are making the better choice with a precast concrete garage.

The sizes you mentioned are likely to be considered standard dimensions and therefore should not incur additional costs. If I were you, I would simply get two or three quotes for precast garages.

In the case of self-built garages, in addition to materials and labor, you also have to consider the structural engineer’s fees.

Best regards,

Dirk

We faced a similar problem, except the dimensions were 3.5 x 6.5 meters (11.5 x 21.3 feet) and only one garage door plus a side door were needed.

For us, prefabricated garages (concrete or steel) started at around 8,000 euros (about 8,800 USD) and went up to 12,000 euros (about 13,200 USD). That was a bit too expensive for us. So we built it ourselves: we set concrete pad footings (we got concrete leftover from a driver for 20 euros (about 22 USD)). On top of that, a wooden structure made of solid timber beams (80 x 80 millimeters (3 x 3 inches)). The garage has 8 studs, MDF boards on top, and then pond liner as the roof.

Then we installed a roll-up door at the front, and everything was fine.
Costs: wood plus screws 3,000 euros (about 3,300 USD), door 1,000 euros (about 1,100 USD) – working time: 8 man-days, of which 4 man-days were for assembly (2 people for 2 days).

We were offered both options. However, we found that a garage with a roof (hip roof), built as a finished garage, was significantly more expensive than a masonry garage.

Thanks in advance. Does anyone have experience with prefabricated metal garages?

Our neighbor, I believe he is satisfied. The thin walls actually save some space.

At first glance, it does not look like a metal garage, but on closer inspection and when touching it, it feels a bit "cheap"....