True. The nice thing about 16' lumber is that you can still just barely haul it in a full-size pickup by weighing it down, strapping it in, and putting a flag on the ends sticking out. Once you're talking about 20' plus you probably need to pay them to deliver it -- which realistically is the better option anyway if you're talking about doing a whole garage, as that would be a lot of trips in a pickup truck. A shed is small enough it's easily manageable with just a pickup truck.

The one thing the big box store had, that I wish I had gone to a lumber yard for, is PT 4x8' 3/4" plywood for the floor. I ended up using non-PT and painting it to seal it, but it still probably won't last as long. At least it's a couple feet off a bed of gravel, which should help.

You can also get yourself a ladder rack for your truck -- once you're putting the the lumber over the front of your truck, you can balance it better, and of course then you don't have lumber sticking waggling out 10 feet behind your bumper.

Roof rack with a hitch attachment lets a truck carry long boards.

Real lumber yards have free delivery.

On some minimum order size, surely. Like I wouldn't expect I could order a handful of 2x4"x20' and have those delivered for free.

Generally not - contractors (their main business) order enough for a house but then on the last day call in 2 sheets of plywood because they didn't estimate something right.

I'm guessing the first order (a whole house!) was more than large enough to cover the cost of an extra free delivery though. This is about relationship management at that point, which won't be the same for a hobbyist only doing one smaller project.

The point is hobbyiests don't visit often enough to be worth figuring out how to charge for shipping.

Note, at a real lumber yard you need an account. They can accept cash sales but they would rather not. They won't talk to you if someone else with an account is there. Once you have an account (which is free) you have passed the initiation and they love to help.

> You probably know that you can find longer dimensional lumber at a lumber yard instead of a big box store.

Not to mention that the lumber at lumber yards tends to be of superior quality as well.

There is a certain humor in going to HD and buying 2x4s that are allegedly kiln dried but weigh 25 pounds and squirt water when you nail them.

Interesting. Are you doing it all by yourself, or is the work such that you need some physical help for the labor?

Speaking for myself, it helped a lot to have another pair of hands for much of it. I enlisted my dad a lot and my friends a little bit. Anything involving moving a whole sheet of plywood is tough, especially when going from ground level to attaching to the structure.

I did all the smaller stuff myself, including framing, putting together the roof trusses, and roofing (minus the sheathing itself). You can easily manhandle around dimensional lumber by yourself; it's long but skinny easily to easily handle, unlike sheets.

There are parts of framing that are safer and easier with 2 people, but there are a few places that I used a block and tackle to haul stuff around by myself. The only days that I really needed extra hands was setting up the posts & beams (most buildings now don't have these but I liked the idea), and setting the roof ridge beam, a 27' long pair of 2x8s that needed to be put 25' off the ground and 15' above the floor decking before any of the supporting structure was in place. Sheathing the roof would be smarter to do with 2 people but I didn't.

What links have you looked into for these projects? They seem really interesting.

I started by googling "Free garage plans" and going from there. I went with these plans:

http://www.todaysplans.com/og2424g.pdf

I modified them to add a full size staircase in the corner, change the window and door layout, and add dormer windows upstairs. I got a permit and had the plans approved by the city. Once the slab was poured I just started framing the walls and went from there. I'm working mostly on weekends, so during the week I'll research the next few things coming up. YouTube is the best resource for fiddly things like how to solder a pipe, how to lay tile, etc. Websites with diagrams and pictures are more helpful with technical things like how to lay out window framing, how to properly vent drain pipes. I know I'm working much slower than a pro, but I don't mind, and I get to have things that would normally cost a ton extra for just the cost of materials.

Also a note since full-sized truck has been mentioned a few times, I have a compact truck (2005 GMC Canyon) and it has carried all of my supplies after I had the main lumber order delivered. A compact truck with full length bed is perfectly capable if you are working alone or with 1 helper. The amount of drywall I can hang in a weekend is about what I can carry in the truck. I have a bed extender that was less than $100 so I can carry 16' materials no problem, 20' if it's a short drive.

Worth mentioning that when I was talking about full-size truck, I was specifically referring to the size of the bed. If it can carry a full sheet of plywood or drywall then you're good. Hell, even a shorter bed (like say 6') might be fine if the tailgate opens up flat and you can secure a load sticking out the back properly.

Wow. Any resources you could link to?