[johndykstra]

Let's forget about gear entirely, as it has no bearing on initial construction expense... with the exception being the monitors. It is of great benefit to design a control room around the behavior of a good set of main monitors.

If you do know of another engineer, or even a band that needs a place to practice, there are some benefits of teaming up, given that appropriate paperwork is in place for protection's sake.

The front or side window location is not where the benefits of acoustics lie, it's within the length orientation of the room... agreed? I may have missed something in the pictures, but I don't think we have that limitation yet... Again, I may have overlooked something, but that place is huge and relatively empty, and if that limitation is regarding an already existing wall, it's likely not on an angle currently, and will need to be removed. This design is an infant, and I think this is a down the road decision.

A current layout with dimensions is needed to truly get started.

Steve,

Look at the big picture, and don't get focused on the cost until we can get a grasp of what it would actually cost. A few decent sized projects can recoup quite a bit. You've already got an incredible starting point. And even investing what you have into a good sized great live room with the appropriate measures taken to tie infrastructure into a full facility, you could easily start as a one room studio, and build the rest as you can afford and design it. Do it in baby steps yeah?

John