Affordable garage - standard concrete garage?

Hello everyone,

our house will soon be finished and we still don’t have a garage. The reason is, in my opinion, the way too exaggerated costs for it.
Now I would like to get some input from you.

The key data:
Outside dimensions of the garage: 4.17m x 9m
3m sectional door with electric door opener
Opening of 1m x 2m for entrance into the house
Door to the garden + 1x window in the rear area of the garage

The garage is located between the house and the neighbor’s garage. Therefore, I want to use the space completely, which is why a standard off-the-shelf garage is unfortunately out of the question.

How can I build an affordable garage? A custom concrete garage costs me about 20,000€ and I think that is quite a lot.
Would it be enough if I set point foundations, put up 12cm posts and simply brick up the spaces in between? Maybe also a 20cm concrete layer underneath? (The floor would of course already be compacted) or should I have a strip foundation made, or a slab poured? If I use a strip foundation, how thick should the concrete layer be in the middle if I don’t want to pave or lay tiles? Would a screed still have to be done on top? The strip foundation should already be 80cm deep, how wide should it be if I use 11.5cm bricks for masonry.

What is the approximate price difference between a wooden beam ceiling or a poured ceiling?

Basically, I just want a garage that will last longer than 10 years. From the outside it should simply be plastered. At least the surfaces that are visible.

I hope you can help me a bit. I’m of course happy to provide further information.

Best regards
a sandwich

First of all: Can't you take a standard 4m garage and clad/plaster the space to the neighbor? Pad foundations for masonry and/or a solid base slab are not advisable. The strip foundations will probably need to be 30cm wide because otherwise, a mini excavator cannot dig them out. If you want to excavate them by hand, 20cm would also suffice, but that depends decisively on your base slab. They do not necessarily have to be 80cm deep. Possibly 60cm is enough, but that depends on the other environmental conditions. How the structure inside the garage should be, you have to consider yourself. You can of course pave, but concrete or tiles also work. With pure concrete, it must of course be poured reasonably smooth (not a given). A precast element is certainly out of the question price-wise with your irregular dimensions. Calculate all the things precisely. If you really want something solid, it will also cost a lot of money in own labor, at least if you have little experience.

Hi 86bibo,
thank you very much for the quick feedback. Unfortunately, I haven't found a prefabricated garage with a width of 4m. They are always a maximum of 3.78m wide, and that is obviously quite a wide gap. Above all, the neighbor’s garage is not at the same level but set back further. However, that wouldn't be too problematic.
I understand the point foundations and walls. What other options would there be to clad the garage? I have nothing against wood as a building material, but it should always be plastered on the outside (or maybe faced), because wood simply doesn't fit as an exterior material.
Regarding the interior structure: I thought that if I make a strip foundation, I could just raise it a bit and pour another layer of concrete over the floor so that it looks like a slab, but thinner in the middle... does that make sense and is it understandable?

Thank you very much and best regards

Without sufficient reinforcement, it doesn't make sense, but of course, in principle, you can "simply" pour a concrete slab. But please don't just throw in some iron bars, mix concrete, and hope it holds.

If you can/want to do the masonry yourself, I would prefer wood, since you can do it yourself. Only for the lintel of the garage door you will surely need professional help, as you won't be able to lift it by hand. You can also do a lot with wood, but it requires the right tools and experience. Additionally, the wood must be properly treated, etc. Then you need appropriate supports, and structurally it is more complex. In my opinion, the classic masonry is much easier for a layperson to implement.

Hello,
I have just received offers from manufacturers who build wooden frame garages (similar to [Fertighaus]).
There were already quite attractive offers that were far below the price of a concrete garage.

Could that perhaps be an alternative?

Hi Robson,

for that I will certainly need either a base plate or a strip foundation.
That is certainly also of interest to me, as long as I can have the building plastered afterwards. Wood on the outside simply does not fit in with the rest of the look.
However, if I understood the 86bibo correctly, such a wooden stud garage would be even more elaborate to assemble.
Could you tell me where you got quotes from?

Best regards