We built our shop/garage a number of years ago.
Living in the North where the frost can get down several feet, you have to make sure your concrete pad is properly tamped and footed so it doesn't heave and crack. Otherwise, your really pretty floor won't look so good after a few winters... Our floor is concrete and we hired out pouring the pad. Bad idea - The guy didn't put enough gravel fill in and properly tamp it, so it has cracked several places, and not just at the score lines. So make sure you get a good concrete contractor!!! We have treated the concrete with sealer, so that it is easier to clean. Through the years, this has had to be repeated.
As for the floor drain, I'd be checking local codes as a lot of municipalities (even our rural township) requires "any plumbing devices such as sinks or drains to go to a properly installed septic" and if you have sewer I don't know if they would let you run your floor drain into that. Universal Building Code is worded really funny about this stuff so be sure what the rules are beforehand. You might want to consider a small slope to the floor that would send any spills or water from cleaning towards the front instead of sloping the whole pad to a floor drain. How would you keep this floor drain from freezing in the winter? From plugging up? Have you ever dropped anything important?
What size electric service are you planning? Are you going to run a secondary from your main in the house or get a separate service from the power company run to this garage? Our house has a 200 Amp main. I was able to run a service from our main direct buried (at least 2 feet deep and in conduit (pvc - electrical) I think at least 15 feet away from each structure for mechanical protection. Conductors sized based on the size of service and voltage drop (length) as you don't want to undersize when running welders, air compressors, etc. You can never have enough outlets. We installed many 20A 120V, many 15A 120V, a 30A 120V for the Lincoln Welder, and several 240 outlets - one for the air compressor, and one for the Miller welder. It still isn't enough! Buy at least a 100 amp multi circuit box main (I use only square d - not home line).
You need to plan out your lighting ahead of time too. Good lighting, especially as we (my husband and I) are getting older is becoming more important. I am using more and more full spectrum cfl. These new style start right up when it's cold ( I use them in the barn, too) and put out a whole lot of light for less bucks. Now if you are an experienced electrician, I am preaching to the choir, so forgive me, but don't forget to balance those 120V loads - at least the lights, and the loads you think will be on at the same time. And put some of those outlets in the ceiling too, as a drop cord from above is a whole lot safer than that cord running from the shop wall.
Our shop is standard stud wall wood construction, with T111 siding on the outside and drywall on the inside. We ordered premade trusses, and the roof is shingles. We just completed new vinyl siding on the house, and bought enough to do the shop as we are tired of painting it. When we were doing the wiring, and the walls were just open stud walls we also ran copper air lines (hard lines) from one end to the other and then just plugged them until we had the couplers to use them. This is easier than dragging (and tripping over) air hose, plus it is a lot easier on the air line for wear and tear.
Our shop is 24 x 32 x 8 ft tall, and is insulated, and heated for winter. I am not up on the building codes for your state, but here in Wisconsin there is a form and a fee for just about everything. But at least if you buy a property here, you have a better chance it will be up to code. We also did all the electrical and all interior construction for our two barns which are attatched (see the view from above in my gallery). FYI - Agricultural buildings have different electrical requirements.
Will you have to get a building permit to install this? Will you have to get a separate electrical permit? If so for either, then it will probably have to be inspected when completed.
These are just some suggestions based on what we have experienced through the years..(I am a registered PE in WI, EE, my husband has a Civil degree, but drives truck for a living...
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Maybe I should take pics of our shop and put them in the "man cave" thread..
