Is it realistic to build a garage

Thinking ahead is by no means hair brained. A two story garage would certainly be nice to have but I think this depends on what you want to do with the extra vertical space.

I have three Bend Pak lifts in two separate garages. Both are 24 x 40, one with a 10' height and the other 12'. The concrete floors in both are 4". This requirement assumes you will be lifting the max allowable weight which is something I rarely do. You can mitigate the 4" requirement a bit by using a 12" x 12" steel plate under each leg.

Unless you want to be able to stand up underneath a vehicle to work on it, or store a vehicle on it with another underneath, a two story garage isn't necessary. I find I'm much more comfortable sitting on a rolling stool while working instead of standing. this means the max lift height isn't a major factor.

You could install that 9' Bend Pak in your 8" 9" building but you may have to use a creeper to work under the vehicle depending on it's height. When fully raised, you should still have enough clearance to park a car underneath with a little storage space above.

My only requirement was, I needed enough height to park my pickup under the lift. I use all the racks for equipment storage and park vehicles under them when not in use. I park my pickup under the lift in the 10' high building with 40" of storage space available above. More vertical clearance can be had by arranging the equipment on the lift to fit between the ceiling beams. Obviously, this wouldn't work for a vehicle or a large piece of equipment.

Good luck making your dream become a reality!

As an owner of a 2 story Garage, (with High Doors) that was built 8 years before the house was built, hundreds of miles from our main residence, I can tell you that it is a Fantastic Idea to have one PRIOR to building the house there, as a storage location for items being brought down.... and camping, if you're into that!!!

Personally, I would not consider it as a DIY project, especially if your main residence is far from this garage....

In our case, we had it built, via "Remote Control" (We never visited, but had friends take pictures), and the Fellow who built the garage was SO GOOD, that we got in a waiting line and used him to build the house, 8 years later! (House was built via remote control also, though we did visit twice during the build).

But even today, 5 years after moving here, the 2nd floor storage area is still being used.... (as a Shop for electronics repair) and storage.

We Built Garage first only to keep costs under control, but it ended up providing so many benefits of being built first, that we tell this story to others, too!!!

guys....Should I have mentioned I have no experience building a garage.....but I know 2 people who were in the same shoes who did. Only thing is they did take about a year to get it done.

The other comment I know got, is that my cousin spent 1/3 by DIY. So let's say if the structure is 15k, he only spent 5. It took him 1 year, spending 3X means it would be there over a weekend. That's something too.

In my own assessment I'm likely better to have it fabricated, and to start with a shed as a DIY. I'm really after that satisfaction of knowing I did it....

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/

particularly:
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=3

I want to say I've seen that forum for tools? Sounds like a great idea!

I built my house back in 1980 and the first garage in 1988. I didn't know much about construction in the beginning but I spent some time helping friends build their houses and learned in the process. There is indeed a tremendous amount of satisfaction in knowing I did it myself.

I was planning to build a second garage in 2006 but discovered new building codes had been adopted in my county. Licensed contractors were required followed by a strict inspection process. As a result, I hired a company to put up a steel building instead.

good point, codes....thoughts of these things though keep me interested in life outside of work. That consumes so much of our time...if we could just put the virus behind us, then I can say that I learned a lot while working from home, about the home...