November 3, 2026steel buildings

What Size Metal Shop Do You Need? 30x40 vs 40x60 vs 40x80 in Spokane (2026)

Short answer: a 30x40 (1,200 sq ft) shop fits two pickups and a workbench, a 40x60 (2,400 sq ft) fits three or four vehicles plus real shop space or one RV bay, and a 40x80 (3,200 sq ft) is where a fifth wheel or motorhome, a lift bay and a workshop all fit under one roof. Installed, Raven's going rate works out to about $72,000 to $90,000 for a 30x40, $144,000 to $180,000 for a 40x60 and $192,000 to $240,000 for a 40x80, with electrical, plumbing and utility hookups extra. Here's how to size a metal shop from the vehicles, doors and lift you actually plan to put in it.

Start with what goes inside

Measure what you own, not what a brochure calls a "two-car" or "RV" building. Manufacturer specs for some common Spokane-area rigs:

Full-size pickup: a 2026 Ford F-150 SuperCrew with the 6.5-ft box is 243.8 to 243.9 inches long (about 20 ft 4 in), 95.7 inches wide with mirrors and up to 78.5 inches tall, per Ford's spec sheet
Fifth-wheel trailer: the 2026 Grand Design Solitude line runs 34 ft 4 in to 42 ft 11 in long and up to 13 ft 5 in tall, about 8 ft 5 in wide
Class A motorhome: the Winnebago Adventurer runs 35 ft 6 in to 37 ft 3 in long, 12 ft 1 in to 12 ft 4 in tall and 8 ft 5.5 in wide
The legal ceiling: Washington caps vehicles at 14 feet tall (RCW 46.44.020) and travel trailers, fifth wheels and motor homes at 46 feet long (RCW 46.44.030)

Two takeaways: a full-size pickup needs a bay at least 21 to 22 feet deep before you add a bench or walkway, and a modern fifth wheel needs a door taller than 13 ft 5 in.

Overhead door sizes set the walls

Door size drives sidewall height and bay layout as much as floor area does:

Single-car doors: 8x7 or 9x7 are the standard residential sizes, per Clopay. A 10-ft-wide door is easier with a full-size truck
Double doors: 16x7 is the standard two-car door
Taller doors: Clopay says most residential doors are now available in extended heights up to 16 feet, and commercial doors go much bigger
RV doors: Precision Door lists 12 to 14 feet tall for Class A motorhomes and 12 to 13 feet tall for fifth wheels. With a 13 ft 5 in Solitude, a 14-ft door is the realistic minimum

The building's eave has to be taller than the door plus its header and track. When we quote a 14-ft door, the steel manufacturer sets the sidewall height to fit it.

Planning a car lift? Check the ceiling first

A two-post lift is usually what decides how tall a shop needs to be. From BendPak's published specs for its 10,000-lb 10AP series:

Standard 10AP: 145 inches overall (12 ft 1 in), so your ceiling has to clear that plus a little room
Taller columns: the 10APX is 157 inches, the 10AP-168 is 168 inches and the 10APX-181 is 181 inches (15 ft 1 in)
Lifting height: up to 82.5 inches on the standard models and 89 inches on the X models
Width: 135 inches overall at the narrow setting (11 ft 3 in), so a lift bay needs that plus room to walk around the posts
Slab: lift posts anchor into the floor, so the slab has to be designed for them. Our shop slab thickness guide covers floors for lifts and heavy equipment

Do the math for your truck: a 78.5-inch-tall F-150 raised the full 82.5 inches puts its roof about 161 inches (13 ft 5 in) off the floor. That's why a lift shop needs a 14-ft or taller clear height, and why the overhead door track can't run over the lift bay.

30x40: the two-truck shop

Floor area: 1,200 sq ft
Fits: two full-size pickups nose-in with roughly 18 feet of bench and storage space in front of them, or one truck plus a workshop and a lift bay if the ceiling is tall enough
Doors: two 10-ft doors or one 16-ft door on the 40-ft side
Won't fit: a fifth wheel or Class A motorhome behind a door on the 30-ft end. A 42-ft trailer is longer than the building

40x60: the shop most people grow into

Floor area: 2,400 sq ft
Fits: three or four vehicles side by side along the 60-ft wall with shop space behind them, or one RV bay running the long way plus a workshop
RV fit: a fifth wheel up to about 42 ft 11 in fits on the 60-ft length unhitched. The truck parks in its own bay; you can't drive a truck and fifth wheel in hitched
Popular because: it's the smallest size where an RV bay and a usable shop share one building

40x80: RV, lift and shop together

Floor area: 3,200 sq ft
Fits: a 46-ft RV bay (Washington's legal max) with room to walk around it, a lift bay and a full workshop, or a long equipment and toy storage building
Doors: a 14-ft RV door plus standard doors for the shop side
Watch: zoning lot coverage and setbacks on smaller rural lots. Bigger footprints hit those limits first

What each size costs installed

Raven's going rate for an installed pre-engineered metal building is about $60 to $75 per sq ft, and pole buildings run about the same. Electrical, plumbing and utility hookups are not included and are always extra.

30x40 (1,200 sq ft): about $72,000 to $90,000
30x50 (1,500 sq ft): about $90,000 to $112,500
40x60 (2,400 sq ft): about $144,000 to $180,000
40x80 (3,200 sq ft): about $192,000 to $240,000
50x80 (4,000 sq ft): about $240,000 to $300,000
Always extra: electrical, plumbing and utility hookups
Varies by site: grading, gravel, driveway approach and how far utilities have to run

Our 30x40 and 40x60 cost breakdown goes deeper on those two sizes, and our red iron vs. pole barn comparison covers which framing system fits your site.

Spokane snow, wind and frost come with every size

A bigger, taller building isn't just more steel. It's more roof carrying snow and more wall catching wind:

Snow: Spokane County's design criteria use a 39 psf ground snow load with a 30 psf basic minimum roof snow load, and the County says some areas reach 150 psf. We check your parcel on the County's SCOUT snow-load map
Wind: 110 mph in the County's design criteria table. Taller RV-door sidewalls catch more of it
Frost: footings go at least 24 inches below grade under the City of Spokane / Spokane County joint frost-depth policy
North of Spokane: Pend Oreille County sets a 50 psf minimum roof snow load and a 30-inch frost depth

Every building we quote is engineered by the manufacturer for your parcel's loads, and those column reactions size the footings we pour.

Every shop size on this list needs a permit

Spokane County's exemption list only covers one-story detached accessory buildings of 200 sq ft or less, so a 30x40 and up needs a building permit, and electrical is permitted separately through Washington L&I. Our Spokane-area permit guide covers the City, Valley and County rules, and our lead time guide maps the schedule from quote to keys.

Faster steel, from whoever can deliver first

Raven isn't tied to one metal building manufacturer. We source each building from whichever manufacturer can deliver the engineered package fastest, which can take weeks off your schedule no matter which size you pick.

Sizing tips before you call

Measure your tallest rig with everything on the roof, then size the door to it
Add a bay if you're on the fence. Adding on later means a new permit and matching the original steel
Plan the lift first if you want one: it sets the clear height, the slab and the door track layout
Think about heat: a heated shop needs insulation and condensation control. See our metal building insulation guide

Get a shop size and price from Raven

Raven Buildings erects PEMB and pole shops and pours the slab across the Spokane area, including Spokane Valley, Mead and Deer Park. Call 509-350-2016 or request a free quote with what you want to park inside, your door sizes and your address. See our steel building services.

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