Cost of building a garage

[Kyle B.]

Hoping to get some input from rehabbers who have done this in the past. I'm looking at a property that does not have a garage, although it does have the slab where a garage once stood. All of the comps in that area have sold with garages, so it seems to make sense to build one if I were to flip the property. Without getting into local code issues (unless you're from NW Indiana), can anyone provide general cost guidlines for building a 1.5 car garage?

For reference, the rehabbed home would resale for $130-$140k and is about 1,600 sq ft. (this would be a dettached garage, just wanted to clarify the price point).

Thanks,

Kyle

[Jon Holdman]

A rule of thumb around here is $5000 per car for a garage from scratch. That include site prep and concrete, so if you can reuse the existing, it would save you some money. If you have to break it out and replace it, it will cost you more. And of course costs vary with commodities prices. Lumber seems to have gone up since the last I priced a garage, so these numbers may be a bit higher. I think that number includes minimal wiring, too.