As someone who is building a custom house in Washington, I'd suggest buying a house with a big backyard and add a gym later. (you need to look at regulations to see if local officials will even let you do that.)
Building a house is a major investment in time and money.
If I were in your position, I would look for a teardown or deep reno and build it out how I wanted. That way I wouldn't have to deal with running utilities or ground work.
Also keep in mind that property tax relies heavily on living space. An outbuilding for a gym would make a lot more long term sense and when you get old, you can turn it into a bar or woodshop
Don't put the gym on the second floor. With all the weight from the squat rack, plates, dumbbells, it'll probably be too much unless you have some serious support. Not to mention the sound from dropping the weights. Plus all that movement over time might loosen nails in the framing and cause your house to be unstable. You are better off having a garage gym or at least a basement gym.
Are you OK waiting 2-3 years, spending hundreds of hours personally, and paying extra money because you need to get exactly what you want? That is only reason to build around here.
I can vouch for this. Been waiting on permits and its been a 2yr journey to this point. I went custom becuase i found an empty parcel during the pandemic and it was too good to pass up. At this point i’ve been tossing around the idea of being my own GC to not get ripped off by all the overages. Any advice here would be appreciated.
Unsure if I'd want a gym on the second floor.
As someone who is building a custom house in Washington, I'd suggest buying a house with a big backyard and add a gym later. (you need to look at regulations to see if local officials will even let you do that.) Building a house is a major investment in time and money.
I'm also building in WA and 100% agree. Especially with the latest round of energy code requirements.
As someone considering building in WA, can you elaborate or point me towards the code requirements?
https://sbcc.wa.gov/state-codes-regulations-guidelines/state-building-code/energy-code
If I were in your position, I would look for a teardown or deep reno and build it out how I wanted. That way I wouldn't have to deal with running utilities or ground work. Also keep in mind that property tax relies heavily on living space. An outbuilding for a gym would make a lot more long term sense and when you get old, you can turn it into a bar or woodshop
Don't put the gym on the second floor. With all the weight from the squat rack, plates, dumbbells, it'll probably be too much unless you have some serious support. Not to mention the sound from dropping the weights. Plus all that movement over time might loosen nails in the framing and cause your house to be unstable. You are better off having a garage gym or at least a basement gym.
Dude just no. If building from scratch it’s crazy easy to design for a second floor gym.
Are you OK waiting 2-3 years, spending hundreds of hours personally, and paying extra money because you need to get exactly what you want? That is only reason to build around here.
I can vouch for this. Been waiting on permits and its been a 2yr journey to this point. I went custom becuase i found an empty parcel during the pandemic and it was too good to pass up. At this point i’ve been tossing around the idea of being my own GC to not get ripped off by all the overages. Any advice here would be appreciated.