I am in the early stages of designing a new shop as I have zero experience in doing this I thought I would reach out to tman for help. Should I do all metal or a wood frame. Energy efficiency is a big concern so it will be insulated. I am planning on an area for putting up fur and another area for building cool stuff out of metal and wood. What has worked for you? What do I want to avoid? What would be in your dream shop. Please post pics if you got them.

Wood or metal frame dont matter to me , metal on outside, concrete floor, high ceiling, good lighting. plenty of wall outlets. your not always gona put up fur . build it for things to come. dont forget water hot and cold . I beam down the center for hoist. almost forgot floor drains, stove for winter and air for summer and insulate.

Make it about 1000ftx1500ft...even that won't big enough!

Decide where your recliner and frig will be, then design your work area. Give the wife a small area and a glue gun.

Water and drains

my shop is 24x24. big enough to fit my atv and toys in. running hot water and toilet. beer fridge freezer in the corner. I need to put a few exhaust vents in the ceiling for the smoke and what not.

If I ever build a new shop it will have concrete floors with 3' tall side walls and a 8" drain in the floor. Metal on the outside. I would put in lots of LED light's too. Oh and the most important thing would be radiate barrier insulation in the walls and ceiling. I put this in my house and trapping shed and it's been the best money that I've ever spent. It saves me money every day.
[img]https://www.energyefficientsolutions.com/ARMAFOIL-radiant-barrier-foil.asp[/img]

Mine is 30x60 and I wish it were about 3 times that size. I'm a 'reverse kid', the older I get the more and cooler toys I get. Go with 4' or larger LED panels for the lighting and don't space them far apart. I just finished a storage rack on the end wall 3' wide shelving every 2' apart the entire length of the 30' wall. One entire corner is devoted entirely to game processing. Electric winch from the rafters next to 8' stainless table and refrigerator surrounded by plush office chairs for cold beer after the skinning is done! The old drop-in bed liners work well for a catch basin while a deer hangs. Pull it out and hose down after you're done and leave it out until the next one. I have concrete floor, insulation, metal sides and roof but the ins. company made me remove the wood stove.

I had planned on a stainless sink and table. I will check out the radiant insulation as I would like to keep at least part if not all of it climate controlled. My neighbor had the local amish build him a wood frame metal shop. I think it is nice and he seems happy with it.

When you're doing the layout, try to figure out the workflow so that you can do the most work without having to do alot of extra moving around. Should be able to from skinning to fleshing to boarding by just turning around.

Face doors and windows that'll do the most good. Doors facing the N,NW will take a beating in bad weather and possibly leak. Windows facing the east will allow the morning light to shine in as well as free passive solar heat.

Figure out how much space you NEED, add 10% then double that. Won't cost much more to go up 2 story's.

paint the walls and ceiling White before moving anything in.

Russ

Fold up work areas.

Great suggestions above. Add a bathroom put one of these in the bathroom. Maybe add a ductless hvac system.

mine is the forth that I've built , it's 26-28 12 foot side walls, its' 4foot of cement block an 8 feet of 2-6 wood , 6inches of fiberglass in walls ,18 inches of blown in attic, metal on outside , led light lots of it ,no shadow any where , floor drain's, stainless steel bench , winch for skinning , wood heat , a wooden wood bench , a fridge , two freezer , a point for water , an pluming in for a bathroom ,

- Slop sink
- Workbench that puts the stuff you're working on at almost chest height. Work benches are too short.
- Lots of bright light - paint everything white.
- 10x more shelves than you think you will need

I didnt think of painting everything white. The suggestion of lots of outlets is a good one. One of my complaints of my current shop is it's too small and not enough outlets.

Retractable drop cords for electric. Piped air to several hose connections throughout the shop. I have slowly done both to my shop over many years and wish I had done it earlier.