What does your zoning deparment have to say about this?

Do you plan on paying cash or taking out a mortgage? If mortgage, you need to talk to a banker ASAP before spending any more time on this. Do you think you may ever want to sell the property?

The "hint" is that your idea is highly unusual for the residential market.

You still have to comply with all national and regional building codes and inspections, as well as zoning restrictions that mostly hate metal buildings except in industrial zoned areas. It will have very limited resale appeal, which means banks will not be comfortable lending for such a plan. They like safe and conventional, and resellable.

A better plan would be a small simple conventional mortgageable house with separate shop building. Or a large shop building. But the shop portion will not appraise at a residential rate and would likely need to be all cash. Or personal loan.

We built our own 30x60 shop, cash. No loans, as no one would give a loan for the construction level we wanted to achieve. 2K was what it was valued on appraisal, even though it cost the equivalent of 65K in today's money. Which is why cash is king.

It is called a Bandominium and it actually quite popular. Getting funding for one is not that easy if you have to cover the costs of the build. While they are strong, more secure in many ways, they do not tend to appraise as highly.

We were going to go to go that route but could not get the funding for it.

R

As pointed out, you *may* have to follow all building codes for a residence. In some rural areas, you can get away with more, but the rules are getting tougher everywhere.

We're looking at something very similar with living quarters over the shop. It's pretty affordable and quick to put up so we can live in it while our main house is being built. We'll use it as a guest house afterwards. Have you checked out Barn Pros? They have some attractive options.

We are doing something similar. My dad is building a shop/living quarters (barndominuim) as we are building our house on the same land. He drew out his plans and is using a draftsman that our builder recommended to finish out the plans and create the needed drawing. I believe his building is going to be about 50 x 50. The living quarters is going to be 20x50. We do not have any zoning issues to worry about here. These are usually pretty simple layouts and design so a draftsman should be able to provide everything you need.

You might want to check out the Homesteading Today forum. They have a homestead construction page with several threads on this topic. People there tend to push the envelope, so I would balance their experience with the wise advice you've been given here. One caveat: Be certain this is allowed in your jurisdiction. in our semi-rural area, the building department is extremely picky (and greedy) about what is built where. One gentleman decided to build a room with a bed and kitchenette into his existing shop without getting county approval or paying for a permit. A neighbor reported him and he was fined and required to tear it out.

We built a 12,000sq ft shop for my husband's business with the intent of building a home on the property at a later date. In preparation for the build and sale of our home, we included a kitchen which also serves as an employee break room, a separate bathroom with shower (which can be used by employees at a later time) and a small living quarters upstairs. It was difficult to obtain a construction loan for our home after the shop was built because it is a non-conforming property...most normal mortgage brokers will avoid it like the plague since it's not cookie cutter! But we worked with AgStar and are now in the process of building our home while living at the shop (or shouse!) . We're saving thousands of dollars each month by not having to pay rent, separate utilities etc during the build. AgStar specializes in agricultural/unusual properties and has been great to work with. We've had friends who did the same thing with great success.

One of the important considerations is what type of shop will it be?
If a woodshop, consider how you will separate hazardous dust from the living spaces, sufficient that it's not deemed a health hazard in the future. Ie, you may need a several-thousand-dollar dust collection system.
If a metalshop, consider the need for flammability containment, possible blast walls (if gas welding), and again, hazardous fumes.
If a paint shop, again, fume removal is key.

Ie, the safety/health hazards MUST be addressed, or I forsee difficulty getting permits, never mind selling in the future.

We did something similar, a 1500 sq ft barn with a loft living quarters. It was meant to be a living quarters and shop while we build the house. We purchased the barn and it came with plans that we gave to the county for permits. It was considered a farm office, so it was allowed on the property along with a home. This will depend where you live, but our farm credit allowed it.

We have something like it near us. It's a boat garage/ house actually. You wake up overlooking your boat. Have coffee on a balcony and look at the boat, sit in the living rm and look out at the boat etc. It's been for sale for a long time.

It can be done based on the county and state in which you live. The jest of it in our rural Tennessee county is if a shop building/ barndominium has any living quarters, it has to be built not as a pole barn but as a conventional house ( 16 inches on center so forth). The jest of this is that one might as well build a house since it will cost the same. There are many house plans for a garage with an apartment that banks may look more favorably at funding. We have lived in a shop building back in the day. They can be extremly cold and hard to heat. We lived in one years ago before they were such a trend. So check with your county and state codes departments on whether or not you can do pole barn construction which is cheaper and the reason many think to go this route.