Cost Of Coop ($5K!?)

[robk0220]

We built a 10 x 12 coop about 8 foot high in the front and about 6 foot high in the back:

All total (not counting labor as we did all the work ourselves) with buying ALL NEW materials, we only spent about $1,000 on the coop and I had made sure to order extra lumber to have on hand as a "just in case" thing...

 

[Whitewater]

Well, this will help -- I just finalized a deal on Craigslist to buy somebody's leftover brand new 8' 2x4's for $60. How many 2x4's are included in this deal, you ask?

33! And the plans for the whole coop only asked for 26

, but we're chopping off a third of the original coop, so . . . I spent most of yesterday figuring out what *we* would need and came up with 20 for the exterior, which means we'll probably have enough to do the henhouse as well.

Oh, and I have a source willing to sell me some 4x8 OSB seconds for $5 each . . .

I should have had more faith in myself!!! I spent 15 years being a props master and stage manager in the theatre (where you don't survive if you don't know how to make it for less!), and my borrowed bargain finder genes (I'm adopted) from my mother mean that I am pretty darn good at staying within ANY budget and making whatever it is be both very sturdy as well as look good.

Sheesh. Note to self: Try not to freak out about estimates. Just do the job and trust yourself!

So, right now, I've got 33 8' 2x4's for $60, 1 2x6 and a bunch of 2x3's that were scrap, for free, all the cinder blocks for leveling (free, another Craigslist find) and 200' feet of 12" hardware cloth for $60 (Ebay, and yeah, I know, 12"?? but I have no problems linking them together with those little metal clippy things for now and replacing the mesh with proper 3' mesh when I have the money)

Unfortunately I'm going to HAVE to buy the roofing material new (3 sheets at a total of $60) and 3 8' 2x8's (for a total of $25) new, but those should be the only things I have to buy new. So . . . let's talk actual #'s. Oh, and I'm going to do the labor myself with my husband helping out when he can, so no labor charges. And my mom-in-law has a circular saw we can borrow and bro-in-law has a jigsaw we can borrow, and I've got the rest myself (leveler, drill, etc).

$60 wood
$25 more wood
$60 roofing
$60 hardware cloth mesh
and probably $100 for hardware (Screws and plates and so on), though I'm guessing that a friend of mine may just have some extra stuff lying around that he'll give us. Might be a few bucks for paint too, Home Depot currently has some lovely (in my opinion) mis-mixed colors that would look great with our house.

Total: $305 (for now, we'll have plenty of time to save up for insulation and a heat lamp and so on come winter)

Am I good or what?

My brother is going to choke on his table saw.

But I must always remember, without Craigslist and/or Ebay, we wouldn't be able to do this, so there ya go.


Whitewater (feeling better about the whole thing)

 

[Intheswamp]

Does this mean you're not going to be sending the PayPal payment???

 

[equusvilla]

Today - I bought most of what we need to build our 7x8 8 foot high coop. That included:
brackets kit so that I don't have to worry about cutting exact angles, all the framing lumber, decorative exterior plankboards, plywood roofing with shingles, 2 boxes of decking screws, 2 boxes of nails and 1 box of shingle nails. All of that brand new cost us :
60.00 Bracket kit (cause I am lazy)
380.00 - everything else listed

What I still need and want.. door hardware, lumber and fencing for a turn out since we have a huge population of predators. Some kind of screening for the windows.

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

I asked a local what he charged to build a 10 x 14 and he said $3,500, labor and materials. It was quality building with good lumber, T-111 siding and on skids. I'd say $5,000 probably includes your bros contractor fees.

 

[fishfarmer]

Are you in Minnesota or the Midwest? I live in Minnesota and I can buy 2x4's for about 1.69-1.89 at Menards or Home Depot (been a while since I last checked). $60 for 33 pieces of lumbar comes to about $1.82 per 2x4, which in my opinion isn't a great deal, but assuming there isn't tax involved, it seems to be a good deal. You can also buy 4x4's there cheap if your source decided not to sell. If you need a door or a door frame, and happens to have a Menards nearby, do go there. You can buy doors and door frames with doors for as little as $5.00 in the bargain area.

 

[Whitewater]

Yep, I'm in the Twin Cities and when I checked HD a few days ago for lumber I was surprised to see that their price for 2x4 in 8' sections was a good $4-$5, or thereabouts. I remember the time when you could get a 12' 2x4 for $3 . . . not anymore! Those are now almost $7!

And let's not even talk about their prices for a 4x8 1/2" sheet of OSB . . . (let's just say, double-take inducing double digits).

The lumber guy at Fleet Farm said that prices have gone way up because of supply issues, that most lumber nowadays is imported and that the countries that have it have been having floods or earthquakes or other disasters, hence the price of wood has gone up quite a bit. Even at FF, the price for an 8' 2x4 was approximately $3. Now, I don't know enough about the supply and demand of lumber to comment on what the guy said, but I do know that these are the highest retail prices for new lumber that I have seen in quite some time.

If I can get an 8' 2x4 for less than $2, that's a deal, all right, at least right now. That's the lowest price I've seen anywhere, quite frankly, and I seem to recall that the last time I could get that price for new lumber retail was a good few years ago.

No, there's no tax. It's a cash only sort of thing, they bought it new and now have all this extra for somebody else. Probably building a new deck or a new shed, or something. Heh, maybe they were building a chicken coop!



Whitewater

 

[fishfarmer]

I'm glad you found it cheap!

I'll have to go to Menards and check the prices soon... I'm planning to built a new cage for my quails and run for my chickens. It make sense how prices are going up for everything, but I thought that U.S. have plenty of lumbar. Anyways, I'll update you on the prices at Menards if you haven't check there already. I haven't been to Home Depot/Lowe's in over a year, so I don't know how that have changed. But I have been to Menards a few month ago to buy some wood, hopefully the price haven't changed much!

 

[sevenchickens]

Quote:
Love your coop. It's so bright and pretty!

 

[Dixiedoodle]

I have just over 1000.00 in my (7x10 x8high) coop and (10x15) run. My dh 'beefed' up EVERYTHING... we used chainlink fencing and hardware cloth, concerte flooring, heavy duty metal roofing, 6x6 corner posts, 4x4 for the other posts, 2x6 for the roofing, 7/8" plywood under the roofing and 7/8" wood siding, inside and out. 2 windows, a metal exterior door, dropping board and 4gal. of barn paint! BUT we built it... Maybe the labor is over the top where you are but I could have had it built here --'turn-key' for 1800.00.