Alan, I really like how organized your parts are and I see some cool stuff! What year is the fresh air box? 1969?
Anything I would have done differently? That's a good question. Nothing comes to the top of my mind right now. Spent a lot of time planning this before I broke ground and I way over engineered it. From the 6" slab to the 19.2" on center trusses with 12" cords to the fact I only used stainless or galvanized fasteners for everything on the building.... I didn't cut any corners, best practices and better throughout. Load bearing walls are double studded 12" on center (normal is one stud every 16", not two every 12"), all non load bearing walls double studded every other stud and all exposed wood is either PT or Cedar. All the wiring is 10 and 12 gauge throughout the whole building and the roof is a 50 year presidential. Doing this all myself kept the price down and I spent the savings on better quality material. The building inspector was blown away and said he had never seen anything like it in his 20 years of inspecting buildings.
However, this summer will be 2 years since I broke ground and I still have about 8 to 12 months left of work to do. Doing it yourself can take much longer then having it built be a pro. I can assure you that anyone that wants to build their own shop can do it. You don't have to do everything, but there's always something you can do to keep the cost down.
As for cars, one of the main reasons for building this shop is to get them all in one location. They are spread out in two garages about 10 miles apart. Once I'm done with the shop all the cars will be moved to this location and they will all be in the same place for the first time in my life. Here's a list of the cars (projects, drivers and restored) 2008 MXT 4x4, 2006 F550 4x4, 2004 Benz SL600 AMG v12 Twin turbo, 2002 Dodge Viper GTS, 2000 F350 4x4, 1995 Land Crusier, 1971 Ford Bronco Yellow, 1971 340 Cuda Purple, 1971 340 Cuda Citron, 1970 Challenger R/T 383 Hemi Orange, 1970 Challenger 318 White, 1970 Challenger 340 T/A Sublime, 1970 Challenger 340 T/A Lemon Twist, 1969 GTX 426 Hemi Blue, 1953 Dodge Power Wagon 4x4. I'm sure I'm forgetting one, but I'll post photos once they are all in one location. Better yet, come over and see them in person! I can't wait to finish the shop so I can have some parties with my car friends.
