Thinking about building a hangar home, where to start?

[FastEddieB]

Financing. You are going to need to finance your project.

Not everyone does.

 

[wayne]

Here's the money shot taken from a drone over my neighbor's hangar. My house, the runway, Lake Norman...

Your home looks beautiful. I've seen prior posts and I still like looking at it.

What happened with the lot/home/hangar at the water end of the runway? Looks like someone was going to build a big house on the water and ran out of money. There's still a foundation perimeter in the photos and a hangar that might have some living space in it.

 

[SoonerAviator]

Here's the money shot taken from a drone over my neighbor's hangar. My house, the runway, Lake Norman...

Man, that would be my ideal "forever home" site. Back side on a lake with a dock for my boats and fishing. Front side with a nice runway. Truly a perfect match for those who love the air and the sea.

 

[flyingron]

Your home looks beautiful. I've seen prior posts and I still like looking at it.

What happened with the lot/home/hangar at the water end of the runway? Looks like someone was going to build a big house on the water and ran out of money. There's still a foundation perimeter in the photos and a hangar that might have some living space in it.

That's actually the house that the developer was building for himself. He is currently living diagonally across from me (I think he built that house for his mother, but she refused to move in). He spends about half his time in Mexico these days. He's actually sold the house he's living in now, so he's making talk about actually finishing the other house. It should have a real nice view (complete with infinity edge pool looking out over the lake).

 

[FastEddieB]

The view from the kitchen ain't bad.

Ours:

Ours is 60' wide by 40' deep. Big enough, but clutter is always a problem - has something to do with entropy, I think.

One oversight: we forgot to plan for closets, and don't have any. Oops! May have to add some in the future.

 

[Stewartb]

Don't forget to consider HOA dues, airport fees and assessments, and everybody's favorite? Taxes.

 

[Computerjim]

Good example , you got 2 houses for sale in your airpark, but they’re out of my price range. One prices out to $396/sqft and another has been for sale for 600 days. That’s the problem with small houses and large hangars, going to be tough for people to swallow paying more 3/4 million for a small home.

I agree! some people just have big expectations. Several properties have sold the year the were private sales in the high $500 - $600 K range.

 

[superwaddle]

Hello,
I built a wonderful Morton hangar home on an airpark in Arkansas last year using an in house bank loan on a 5 year bubble. I need to refinance this home into a fixed rate mortgage, but most banks won’t touch a “hangar home” for appraisal reasons.
Can anybody offer a suggestion on a reputable lender that will work with a hangar home?

 

[flyingron]

Did you check with Morton? Thought hey don't finance things, they have relationships to refer customers to lenders that do.

 

[pmanton]

Ours is the one with the hangar door open. Hangar is 50X50. Way too small. Hangar separate from house keeps smells at bay.

 

[superwaddle]

Did you check with Morton? Thought hey don't finance things, they have relationships to refer customers to lenders that do.

So far they have been unwilling or unable to make any recommendations. The local sales guy was clueless. The regional guy just didn’t have any recommendations. Maybe if I keep going up the chain…
There have got to be some banks that will take on unique appraisals! Anybody here have any recommendations?

 

[pmanton]

Try this. https://www.thecountyrecorder.com/Introduction.aspx
Look up LaPaz county AZ. and go to Indian Hills Airpark,
There will be dozens of contracts listed that use companies who write mortgages for Airpark homes.

 

[WDD]

View attachment 106913
Ours is the one with the hangar door open. Hangar is 50X50. Way too small. Hangar separate from house keeps smells at bay.

Yes, kitchen odors would be a nuisance in the hanger

Can anybody offer a suggestion on a reputable lender that will work with a hangar home?

Try Churchill Mortgage. They look more at the borrower and situation vs credit score and comps.

 

[Drax520]

My wife has been designing airport homes ever since she got the inkling to fly. When we finally bought our property in 2004, she immediately set to designing a house for it. The floor plans are largely hers. To get buildable plans we paid an architect who is also a pilot (I joke that when I hired him he was flying a Bonanza but by the time he finished he'd gotten a Baron). There's a cardboard model of my house still sitting in his office reception area (I was kind of annoyed I didn't get to keep that). He's gone on to do one more POAer's house.

Some neat features of our plans (other than looking like a Frank Lloyd Wright house on steroids) is that we wanted to see the runway. The reason we chose our lot is that the taxiway for the lots that don't have runway frontage goes down the side of our lot. This allows us to have our hangar facing that taxiway leaving the view out the living room, music room, and the "party deck" unfettered. We are one of only a few houses in the neighborhood where the hangar is integral to the house. I don't have to step outside to get to the plane. The other neat feature is since we're on a slope, we put the hangar further down the hill which keeps the same roof line with the garage. The row of clerestory windows in the hangar and the garage has been a real nice feature.

Good morning all!! New member here, I actually stumbled upon this site while being completely lost in a Google search! I'm actually glad I found you all. I was going to start a new thread, still might, but I thought it would be fitting to just reply on this old thread.

I live in NJ currently and will be moving down to NC in about 18 months when my last child is off to college. My wife and I decided we're going to try and make the airpark dream a reality. Unfortunately we were having a lot of trouble finding buildable lots near Lake Norman where my Mother lives. We ended up going into contract on a lot over at Duchy which is not that far of a drive to Lake Norman (better to fly) when I need to visit Mom. As long as I was somewhat close to a metro area for work and some civilization as to not "culture shock" the wife who is a NJ lifer!! We looked at Gold Hill and she just couldn't handle being that far "out there".

I'm desperately trying not to make this too long, here's my current dilemma...... Our closing on this property is set for this May and we are presently trying to find a builder who can give us an approximation of how much our home will cost. The need here is to see if we can build our dream within our budget. If we can't then it doesn't make sense to close on this property, we'll have to buy a normal lot somewhere, build a conventional house and park the plane at the local airport. So far I have reached out to 2 builders that have built at Duchy and the prices just don't pass the sniff test. The house is gonna be about 2700sq/ft with an addition 2k sq/ft of semi-attached hangar. What both of these folks are doing is adding the house and the hangar together and coming up with 4800 sq/ft and giving me a $250/ft price. This is ending up being approximately $1.2m. The part that doesn't seem right to me is the hangar, I understand the big giant door and free span steel considerations that need to be made. However I cannot get over 2k sq/ft hangar being $500k and the same price per foot as the completely finished house. As a comparison a friend of mine built a 1800sq/ft barn up in Jersey with a loft, automotive lifts inside, a clean room for engine building, etc and he did that for $225k ....... in Jersey.

Is it possible someone could give me their opinion, additionally if there are any recommendations you can provide for hangar homes in the Mebane area it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much ...John

 

[rockwoodrv9a]

Will the hangar be insulated, HVAC, drywall, painted? Those cost the same if hangar or house. Will it have plumbing and electrical? A free span opening of 40' requires some additional engineering and structural enhancements not in normal home construction. The door itself will add probably $10 sf. Im not saying hangar space is the same costs as the house but it is not cheap like it would be as a pole barn or metal building at an airport.

 

[rwellner98]

However I cannot get over 2k sq/ft hangar being $500k and the same price per foot as the completely finished house.

Yeah, that seems high. Trent did a very, very nice hangar build for tons less than that.

 

[Drax520]

Will the hangar be insulated, HVAC, drywall, painted? Those cost the same if hangar or house. Will it have plumbing and electrical? A free span opening of 40' requires some additional engineering and structural enhancements not in normal home construction. The door itself will add probably $10 sf. Im not saying hangar space is the same costs as the house but it is not cheap like it would be as a pole barn or metal building at an airport.

It would be insulated, basic electric, HVAC not sure as it will be partially below grade and might not be needed but if we do it will share the infrastructure of the house. Sheetrocked with a couple windows and man door on the side not so far underground. It will partially share the foundation with the house.

Very basic rendition, we are not married to this. Its 2700 sq/ft with a 2k sq/ft hangar attached. The basement, same grade as the hangar will have 2 garage doors and will be my auto shop. I have two "rough quotes" telling me 1.2m for something like this.

 

[rockwoodrv9a]

For the design you are showing that does sound high. The hangar is not really part of the house so that does make it less expensive to build. Having it partially below grade does up the cost for the foundation.

In my opinion construction contractors are starting to get hungry. We do over $200m a year across the country and prices are being negotiated down - some areas more than others. I dont know the market where you are building so it may be different but I think everywhere is going to be more attractive to people wanting to build this spring or early summer.

 

[SoonerAviator]

Maybe don't tell them it's a hangar home, lol. You might be getting the "rich pilot" quotes instead of the "bardominium home with a 40x60 shop" quotes.

 

[TCABM]

…The house is gonna be about 2700sq/ft with an addition 2k sq/ft of semi-attached hangar. What both of these folks are doing is adding the house and the hangar together and coming up with 4800 sq/ft and giving me a $250/ft price. ...John

$250/sqft doesn’t sound too unreasonable depending on the specified finishes for the home. How much of that translates to the hangar is questionable though.

Why not just get quotes for the home and then get quotes for the hangar? Even though the builders may have done existing homes, they may he subcontracting the hangar build and making sure they get their cut of profit for supervising that work.

 

[Drax520]

$250/sqft doesn’t sound too unreasonable depending on the specified finishes for the home. How much of that translates to the hangar is questionable though.

Why not just get quotes for the home and then get quotes for the hangar? Even though the builders may have done existing homes, they may he subcontracting the hangar build and making sure they get their cut of profit for supervising that work.

I'd like to get two quotes and think that would be ideal, one for the house and one for the hanger. However since they will be sharing the same foundation and I will be building this remotely I sense an opportunity for contention between the two builders or between the home build and myself. Particularly with the foundation and tying the roof lines together. I can see the conversation going.... "yeah, your price for the whole package seems like too much. How about you do the house and the foundation work but then for the structure over the hangar foundation I have ABC hangar company coming in. Any questions regarding the foundation or tying pieces together, ya'll can just be friends and work it out".

 

[TCABM]

I'd like to get two quotes and think that would be ideal…

Do you have soec’s floor plans or blueprints to go with the quotes you’ve already been provided or has it just been “home + hangar” @ xx sqft @ $250/sf?

It may be the builder(s) are letting you know the time isn’t worth their work yet or the builders have enough work planned to not even worry about starting a new project in a couple of months.

 

[Drax520]

I have no plans yet, just preliminary drawings that I sent to the builders so they could approximate the cost. So I guess we can say they did the “home + hangar” @ xx sqft @ $250/sf estimate which again I understand except that I thought it would have been more a ..... (Home @ 2700 sqft * 250) + (Hanger @ 2000 sqft * 150).

The real shock is the 250 / sqft for the hanger estimate. At $500k for just the hanger it makes more sense for me to build a conventional house near a local field and use the money to upgrade my plane.

 

[TCABM]

I have no plans yet, just preliminary drawings that I sent to the builders so they could approximate the cost. So I guess we can say they did the “home + hangar” @ xx sqft @ $250/sf estimate which again I understand except that I thought it would have been more a ..... (Home @ 2700 sqft * 250) + (Hanger @ 2000 sqft * 150).

The real shock is the 250 / sqft for the hanger estimate. At $500k for just the hanger it makes more sense for me to build a conventional house near a local field and use the money to upgrade my plane.

In would expect a hangar to come in at <$100sf unless code requires a fire suppression system.

I’m curious if you changed the hangar to “over size garage/shop”

 

[mandm]

Agree with you that feels weird to me too. I would think a 60x60 hangar would be around 300k but I have NO idea. If I were to buy a home on an airpark without a hangar, I would be thinking that I need to drop 300k for the hangar. It’s not cheap though.

For building a home, depends on the quality of the build and finishes. The thing with developers and contractors is they overpromise and under deliver, for that reason I’ll probably never go your route. I rather get something done and dusted, test the water pressure, the quality of the fixtures and go from there.

 

[SoonerAviator]

Agree with you that feels weird to me too. I would think a 60x60 hangar would be around 300k but I have NO idea. If I were to buy a home on an airpark without a hangar, I would be thinking that I need to drop 300k for the hangar. It’s not cheap though.

For building a home, depends on the quality of the build and finishes. The thing with developers and contractors is they overpromise and under deliver, for that reason I’ll probably never go your route. I rather get something done and dusted, test the water pressure, the quality of the fixtures and go from there.

The thing about it is that a 60x60 metal building with concrete should be in the neighborhood of $100K, including spray foam insulation and basic power service. Now the expensive part is the structural part of the building where the door is to be mounted, and the actual door/lift mechanism itself. Bifold/cantilever aircraft hangar doors are specialty items, not something most builders will make on their own. Adding drywall and plumbing, interior finishings, etc. will make the cost skyrocket quickly.

 

[FastEddieB]

In would expect a hangar to come in at <$100sf unless code requires a fire suppression system.

I’m curious if you changed the hangar to “over size garage/shop”

Ours is officially an “attached garage”. No fire suppression system, but it did need to be “finished” - I.e. required insulation. Our all-in building cost, including 1,350’ of living space, came in under the $500k mentioned prior, albeit at 2018 prices.