Note: This is strictly a low budget build. I'd much rather have a bigger, nicer building, with hydraulic lifts, insulation, A/C, etc. So most will not be interested in this series at all. But, for the low budget guys that can handle a $10k budget build, some of this info may be helpful.
Well, you gotta start somewhere. So, we picked a plot in the field to the West of our house. Decided to line the South wall of the building up with the outside of the columns on our front porch. So I tied a long string to the 3rd column from the building site, then used the string to mark the location of the South wall. Drove a stake(old broom handle) where I wanted the SE corner of the building, plus another stake in line with the columns & corner stake, and 20ft from it, to mark the SW corner.
I didn't do any squaring up, for the 2 stakes on the North end. Just measured 25' North, then 20' West. I left the squaring up, for the concrete guys, working off the South wall I'd established.
So, that's how it looked when the concrete guys got there, on Monday morning, which I believe was March 26. They went right to work, gettin it squared up, & driving their own stakes. The main concrete guy also did the slab under the house we live in, back in 2003. His son is now old enuff to work with him.
One thing I regret is that I failed to take any pics of the dump truck that brought the foundation dirt. It belonged to Mr. JT Allen. He has been in the sand/dirt/gravel business for a long time. He hauled the dirt for my 1st shop, back in 1975, and he hauled the dirt for our house, in 2003. So, I think it's pretty cool that he could also haul the dirt for this shop. I think he is around 80 years old now. Said he can't pass the physical to get his CDL to drive heavy trucks. So, he has a smaller single axle truck he can legally drive. I think 26000# is the max legal weight, without a CDL. Anyhow, sorry I didn't think to take any pics of the dump truck.
Pics below show how the foundation work started. I took lots of pics, but will not try to post 'em all here.