A home gym in Rochester, MI now fills the barn behind Alex and Amanda's new house. Forged handled the whole done-for-you project, from the first layout to the last bolt, so they never had to research equipment, haul boxes, or build a thing.
At a glance
- Location: Rochester, MI (barn, two rooms)
- Who it is for: Alex and Amanda, who moved in this summer
- The goal: Train at home without giving up a room in the house
- Timeline: Under six weeks from first call to finished gym, two days on site
- Investment level: A serious, low five-figure barn build
Before: The House Came With a Barn
The house is close to 200 years old. The barn out back came with it. Most people fill a space like that with boxes and forget about it.
Alex called us the first week of July, before the move was even unpacked. He had a different plan for it.
The barn gave us two very different rooms. One was small, tucked off the office, with climate control and old carpet on the floor. The other was the big open main room with a bay door and no climate control yet. Here is that main room, empty, right after their floor went in.
The main room before the gym went in.
The Goal: One Space for Both of Them
Alex and Amanda wanted to train at home. They did not want to give up a bedroom or a den in a house they had just moved into. The barn was already standing there. It just needed a plan.
They also owned a treadmill and a rower. Those pieces had to fit the new layout instead of fighting it.
The Blueprint: We Design It First
Before we move a single piece, we design the whole gym. This is our Home Gym Design and Fit Blueprint.
For Alex and Amanda, that meant measuring both rooms to the inch and laying out every piece before anything was ordered. We planned which room got cardio and which got the heavy lifting. We planned where the turf would sit and how much rubber each room actually needed. We planned the delivery and the install ahead of time too.
One wrinkle showed up early. They had their own contractor coming to pour an epoxy floor in the main room in the middle of August. A normal one day install would have either blocked their contractor or left the gym waiting another month.
The Blueprint is a paid design step. If you move forward with a build, the full cost goes toward your project. And this plan had to include building them a gym they could use in the meantime while they waited on the contractor to finish their epoxy.
Want to know what your space could hold? Start the same way Alex did.
Building the Barn Home Gym in Rochester
So we split the build in two.
On August 4 the crew took the cardio room first. They pulled the old carpet, prepped the floor, laid rubber, and set up the pieces Alex and Amanda already owned. The two of them were training in phase one that same week.
Their contractor poured the epoxy the following week. On August 17 our crew came back and finished the main room.
This was a done-for-you project. You can see our home gym design and install process in full, but here is how it went for Alex and Amanda:
- We designed both rooms around how they train
- We picked equipment that fits a barn, not a showroom floor
- We sourced and delivered every piece
- We installed it in two visits, scheduled around their floor contractor
Alex and Amanda's build included:
- A Forged rack with weight plate storage and an adjustable bench
- Commercial-grade extra thick rubber flooring in both rooms
- A removable turf runway set into the main room floor
- Olympic barbells and weight plates on a vertical bar holder
- A rubber hex dumbbell set on a rack, plus kettlebells
- A weighted sled
- A plyo box
- A wall ball target
- Their own treadmill and rower, worked into the cardio room
- A transition strip where the carpet meets the rubber
The turf is the part we are proudest of. Alex wanted it to come up someday, so we did not glue ourselves into a corner. Before the turf went down, the crew numbered the underside of every rubber tile that came out to make room for it. Four marks per tile, so the numbers never wear off. If the turf ever goes, those tiles drop right back where they belong.
The old house got a vote too. The doorway to the stairs has a door almost as old as the building. We stopped the rubber just short of it rather than trim a 200 year old door to fit our flooring.
After: The Barn Is the Gym Now
Two days on site, worked around somebody else's floor contractor, and the barn was done. First call to finished gym: under six weeks.
The finished barn gym in Rochester.
Our crew's notes from install day are short. Alex was testing and lifting everything before they packed the truck.
FAQ: Barn and Garage Home Gyms in Southeast Michigan
Do you install home gyms in Rochester?
Yes. We design and install done-for-you home gyms across Southeast Michigan, within about 90 minutes of Novi, MI.
Can you put a gym in a barn or an outbuilding?
Yes. We measure the space, plan for the floor you have, and pick equipment that suits the room. Alex and Amanda's barn holds two rooms of gym.
Can you work around my contractor?
Yes. We split this build into two visits so their epoxy floor could go down in between. Nobody waited on anybody.
How long does the install take?
Most Forged builds are finished in one to three days on site, after the design is set.
Want a space like Alex and Amanda's? If your garage, basement, or barn is sitting full of boxes, you don't have to manage design, contractors, flooring, deliveries, and install yourself.
We've helped over 3,000 people build their home gym, with a 5.0-star rating from our clients, and we work within about 90 minutes of Novi, Michigan. Read what our clients say.