building a shop

[boygenius]

I never got a good look at your house since it was dark when I got there. But I remember that there is a pretty steep incline to your property. What if you sunk part of the garage into the hill side so only 1.5 stories of the 2 story building would be visible to your neighbors. First level would be say 25' wide by 35' deep so you could open the doors on you car with another car in the garage and have plenty of room in the back for a bathroom, tool box, benches, ect...

The second story would be 25' wide but only 10' deep measuring from the back wall. That way you will have plenty of room to lift a vehicle without hitting the ceiling. You could keep a fridge in the loft along with a mini couch and some VW literature to take a break and get some ideas. You could also place hooks along the walls to hang body panels from to get them out of the way.