Big doors. Especially in the same direction as prevailing winds. We did this with ours and the doors on the south and north made a huge difference in cooling in the summer. Easy to close and regulate air flow

If you decided on 30x40, make it 40x60. It is amazing how a shop that you thought was going to be plenty big becomes much smaller quickly

Are you talking about a real gantry crane or just an I beam down the middle with a hoist on a trolley? If you’re talking about a real gantry Crane then you need to go higher than 10’. You’ll be spending a lot of money for something that won’t help you very much. I use the one in our current shop for all kinds of stuff that I never thought of. If we had 10’ walls I would only be able to do maybe 10% of it.

Other than that make damn sure the floor is LEVEL. Nothing worse than trying to fab on a crooked floor

Your foundation is currently chickenchit.

2' deep x 1' wide beams along the perimeter, and down the middle both ways.
5" thick is more reliable.
Put piers under your load bearing columns, and a strip of them down the center.

You've been in my shop. The crete was poured February 2014, and it is still perfect. The foundation was about 50% of the cost of the building. It's just the way it is, when it is done right.

Make the walls taller than 10'

My sliding doors are one of the best features. I wish I would have done them on both ends. Large opening, trouble free, and inexpensive. They are just slow to build the wall for them. 6 years later, I don't care how long that took.

Love my skylight panels. It is extremely rare to turn on the lights in the daytime.

If you plan on outside storage, go north. The north side is never in the sun, all year. The sheds on mine are a Godsend. Keep all the stuff out of the shop, so the shop can be a shop.

This!

Everything Fireman said. I would not build it if I had to cut corners. My 2 cents. I built mine like Fireman said, 15 years ago and it is still a very good shop.

So would 6 inch thick be sufficient?

Budget is $35-$45k. Has to look nice as it will be on an interior lot in my hood. Per the deed I can’t make it bigger than 25% of the square footage of my home, a 30x40 barely exceeds that.

The shop we moved out of was a 10” thick slab poured in the early 90’s, no piers, no runners, just 10 inches thick and it’s still perfect. But they did add lime to the soil.

I don't recommend sky lights because those fade.

On your doors, if they aren't roll up, add glass panels in the 6-8' panels. They don't fade being glass and add in light too.

I added a 24 L x 18 W x 2 story (it was the biggest I could fit in the space I had) about a 18 months ago. Hand cut Austin stone with a little brick for the fascia, remainder was brick. I think you're budget could be on the skinny side for a residential add-on of that size. I took down the front wall on the other side of the house and put stone there as well so they would match and it doesn't look like an add-on. $7 for foundation, $8 for framing,$14k for brick/stone. $2 for roof, $2 for foam (full upstairs), fiberglass downstairs, 2 garage doors installed $1.5, $4 for sheetrock/float/paint. Those are close anyway...

I had an engineering firm spec my foundation. Did a 5" floor as I'll be putting in a 4 post lift., 4" is the minimum for one. I would also do a 12ft ceiling, 10 ft with a lift is too short, IMHO.

I would not put air lines/connection everywhere as it's just more to leak/maintain vs a couple of well-placed air reels would be more than sufficient. I do have lots of outlets with cord reels front and rear. Your lift will likely need an air connection for the locks, doesn't have to be hard-plumbed, just something to consider.

I initially started with a 12' high door opening in the front. It just didn't look right here in the 'hood. Different story if I was in the country. I have 10ft in the front and 8ft in the rear.

BE THERE when they pour the foundation/driveway and lay the base framing out. Also check the foundation floor pier depths yourself before pouring.

Good luck!

Charlie

Also have it built so you can add on to it easily bc you'll want to.

No they don't.

Polycarbonate from Meuller. They hold up to hail quite well, also. They get installed on top of steel on each end of the panel. So in the event they are bashed out by large hail, pull some lap screws, pull some frame screws, put a new panel in. Piece of cake.

$175+ per pier, you're only talking 9 to 12 piers. You added a bit more crete with the beam. Do the math and see what your 6" slab costs instead of how we are telling you it should be done.

Maybe they dont, but it's just something to leak or break.
The glass garage door panels are easily the better option

Floor drain. You can wash the floor, as well as drain water. Inexpensive to do now, compared to after the concrete is poured.

Plumb water to the building. faucets inside and outside.

Urinal out in the open. Do that for me buddy! I’ll live vicariously through you

My place gets 42" of rain per year. The shop has in place for over 5 years. They don't leak, they have not broken.

Are your statements based on hearsay? Because they are not correct.

Keep in mind if you make the covered parking area roofline the same height as the shop walls it may not give as much sun or storm protection for regular vehicles. I went 14ft on my new garage and extended the roofline to the carport. Lots of sun and rain come in the carport. I would do my best to talk the wife out of shingles.

From the contractor who built ours. He hates panels on the roof or side. He'll do them, but he talked us out of them.

He might be basing his statements on the old fiberglass ones. Those do degrade under the sun, flake, weaken and leak. The new polycarbonate is very strong, and durable. My Mueller salesman told me a friend of his had some installed for 10 years, and they were still just fine. That is what talked me into them. If they got beat by hail tomorrow, I wouldn't even call Farm Bureau, they wouldn't meet deductible. I would just call Mueller, order some more, and write em a check.

Here's our shop that was built this weekend. A 50x80 with only garage door panels for light. This shop is north facing, and no lights on, shows you how much light they let in.

That's something to break though by hail. And still a possibility to leak. It's just easier to forego that. And we definitely didn't work with a prefab company, not saying all are bad, but our custom built guy can't be beat. I understand our shop is a Cadillac and overkill for most, but I don't have any regrets with it, as of yet.

How tall are those walls? No way I can do a 50x80 on my 1 acre. Would be nice though. We had a 40x100, loved it. It only had 12 foot wall and 14 in the center, lift worked perfectly.

I believe 14' the big doors are 12x12.