Well, I know a lot of people who would be banging down your door for that garage! My friends/neighbors just did a nice covering for their garage floor - I don't think it was just paint - I thought it was some sort of epoxy paint stuff with little flecks in it. It's really, really nice and they did it with rollers in a weekend after a couple of days of deep cleaning. I personally wouldn't put money into fixing it up too much. Everyone has a different reason for wanting an XL garage and they could just fix it up for their use - whether it be woodworking, car rehab, cycling, storage for 'toys' (i.e. sports equipment), boat, model trains, model planes, or even real planes. In my case, it would be nice to have space to build our real plane. We had to rent a storage unit down the street to store the stuff that had been in our garage. We haven't ridden our bikes in a year because they are in storage. So, slightly off topic, but just in case anybody is wondering, here's a link to our plane-building blog... Never mind, GW won't let me post the blog site - you have to google "some assembly required velocity blog" and it will be the first result.

Ok, here is the ONLY problem I am running into with this extension cord construction. They told me I needed to run 6/3 4 wire cable to handle the 50amp welder with ground. I have a welder outlet box that of course fits 3 plug. ON THE INSTRUCTIONS ON THE PACKAGE it says..."plug Green/ground into screw labeled GR, plug White into SILVER SCREW labeled W, plug Red and Black into the two remaining terminals" I have a GR label, I have 2 gold screws for black and red but I have NO SILVER SCREW and there is NOTHING LABELED "W" on this. The problem I am running into is this. Where does the White wire plug into on this outlet? Lowes personnel were idiots and knew little to nothing at all so I went to homedepot. I figured I needed to buy a 4 plong outlet for the 4 wire that was already running from the breaker anyway because it only had a 3 wire on it and the ground wire wasn't even attached. Home Depot guys said that in a normal 200amp service panel, the white and ground both attach to the bus bar, this is true, I've never had a problem with service panels. I took them to the exact welder and the plug that I had and they didn't know for sure on any of it but said YES it needed a ground and YES I did need a 4 wire 6/3 cable just as the guys at Lowes stated. They said they thought white may plug in with the ground because it is a neutral wire anyway but would not give me advise to confirm this, instead said I should contact Lincoln and ask them, which I did just now email them the question. Anyone have an idea where WHITE might plug into on this outlet? I know I'm not going insane because the instructions point blank say to connect white to W/silver screw which where is none. Thanks guys!

Your max is the lowest bottom end potential cost. It will more likely be 30-80% more than that for something average in build quality. Depends on if you are in Kansas City, MO, or Alexandra, VA. That is if the foundation and garage framing can hold up a second floor, and the top plate heights at all line up with the home. And the home's main drain is on the same side of the house. Most likely one of those assumptions is not the case. You might have to tear down the garage and completely start over as a new build. And pay for a new sewer tap. If allowed. If the main drain is in the wrong spot, the project will never be feasible to do.

Visually, you definitely don't want that narrow recess on the front of your house. I would add to Virgil's and PPF's suggestions that, depending on the style of your house and your climate (as in whether you think you would ever use it) you could also build an exterior wall between the garage and your bedroom, add a patio door somewhere and have a private courtyard off your master suite with a garden view from the tub. Then you wouldn't need the blinds closed in the bathroom all of the time to retain privacy. I know someone on this Forum who is adding on to their Mid Century Modern house has one of these private courtyards.