PT 8: 2024 Garage Build – Materials

With the concrete and masonry done, it was time to add the wood. The first step in the process was determining the materials, and getting them ordered and delivered. The materials list and quantities is called a “Takedown”, and this is made from the engineered plans. I am sure there is a software that does it, but it can also be done manually. Its a service that material supply companies generally offer, and if their bid is selected the price of the takedown is put towards the material purchase.

In 2008, we used STOCK building supply to deliver the materials. This company had been sold in the interim, and was now Builders First Source. I contacted them multiple times but did not hear back.

With that failure, I targeted small town companies to get better customer service and contribute to the local economy as much as possible. The three companies I bid were Goldsboro Builders Supply (Goldsboro, NC), J.E. Womble & Sons Hardware (Lillington, NC), and Garris Evans Supply (Wilson, NC).

I asked Goldsboro Builders and Garris Evans to complete a takedown service. I also attempted a takedown computation on my own. I did this manually using Bluebeam Revu, and putting markup objects on the PDF planset to indicate each Stud, Joist, Rafter, etc. Then I counted each, and added 10% overages. This was done in multiple iterations for each dimensional lumber size on each sheet. I also had to decide on lengths of lumber – if a quantity of 8′ 2x4s are needed, should I order that quantity of 2x4x8′, or should I order half that quantity of 2x4x16′? There were tons of decisions to be made here, and I relied heavily on the commercial takedown quotes that Garris and Goldsboro provided to guide my choices.

Once the 3 were on my desk to compare, I resent the bid to all 3 companies to get a direct comparison price. Each came back with an itemized price list, which I was able to input into Excel. I also tried to reconcile what each material quoted on the commercial takedown prices was to be used for in the construction process. Some of the materials were easy to identify (for example, the LVL beams), whereas some were harder to identify.

Mr. Brandon Scott at Garris Evans was by far and above the most responsive to my inquiries, and was extremely helpful throughout the build process. He always picks up the phone (or calls right back), he gets to emails within the day, regardless of how many dumb questions I asked, and overall made me feel like a valued customer. The fact that Garris had the best pricing made the choice easy. Throughout this initial portion of the build, and continuing throughout the next 10 months to the time of this writing, Mr. Scott has been a tremendous resource to me. I would not hesitate to recommend his services to anyone reading this.

With that decision made, it was time to pull the trigger and get materials onsite!

One thing to not forget to order – NAILS. SO MANY NAILS. I ordered probably 10,000 nails, and picked up at least 5000 of them off the ground during this process.