Michigan Amish Built Drive thru Pole Barn

[Merew65]

This project actually started a year ago with the 1st tree coming down on my 10 acre lot January of 2017, and primary construction took place the following August once the excavation was completed. Because I usually don’t have a lot of down time until the winter months, I’m finally going to begin posting the details of this project.

I own 10 acres of wooded land in central Michigan behind my parents’ lakeside cottage. After years of using their pole barn to store all my “stuff” that accumulated there I decided to build my own barn so they could go back to parking their car in theirs. The plan was to utilize the one existing location that had a buried culvert pipe / entrance over the drainage ditch and open up a clearing to build a drive thru pole barn. I also wanted a roughly ¼ mile path cleared for access to the pond.

Here is a satellite view of the property with the area in brown that ended up being excavated.
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I spent a year visiting this site and coming up with a design that fit all my needs and figured if I’m going to spend the money I wasn’t going to cut corners. I know I could have done this a lot cheaper but I didn’t want it to be “cheap” looking and some specific features were a must . Here are some versions of the color scheme and a final design that I created with photoshop using photos I found online.

Green doors:
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Brown doors:
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Here is the final quote from Menards for just the materials (not including the single hung vinyl windows):
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The drawing I submitted for my zoning permit:
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More to come.

 

[Cougar]

Cannot see the pics.

 

[DynoDave]

Sounds great...just waiting on those pictures.

 

[Merew65]

Before I committed to this project I didn’t know anything about Pole barns or how they were constructed. That changed when I found the information bonanza on this great website. Unfortunately the more I discovered, the more I realized this barn was going to be a lot more expensive then I figured because of all the details I wanted. I thought I could offset the costs by doing a lot of the labor myself and just order a kit. For 6 months I went back and forth with some of the bigger “kit” companies and none of them would do exactly what I wanted so I would have had to compromise. Then I accepted the fact that I wasn’t in a position to build it myself since I don’t live on the property, and I have no experience.

Wanting more control over the design and functionality, I ended up doing a lot of research on the Menards offerings. The store nearest me actually had a partial build in their store so I could look at what trim was needed, how corners and joints were framed, and a lot of the hardware that was needed…it was very educational.
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I did end up buying their vinyl windows because I want brown ones and got them with a 15% off sale. The salesman that put the order through thought I was crazy for putting $1000 worth of windows in a barn that wasn’t going to be heated. For me it was all about appearance.
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Some people are dismissive of Menards but there is nothing wrong with their materials if you know what you want. I took my plans to one of their “design” pros at their help counter and he admittedly wasn’t very knowledible with designing pole barns, but we did get my plans laid out on their software. Later one of their engineers from their corporate division actually called me with some questions and he was the one that did this layout:
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As a company Menards started out as a Pole Barn supplier and they do save you money by designing plain jane structures without the bells and whistles - - which is why they seem so inexpensive. A 32 x 44 x 10 pole barn built to code would have cost about 12K in materials, but once I bulked up my materials list to include everything I wanted I was appraching 19 grand before tax and delivery. I could have bought during their rebate period and received 11% off in the form of Menards credit.

I started doing research on mid Michigan builders to find someone to build my Menards kit. There are a few Amish barn builds on this site and everyone raves about their craftsmanship, and as luck would have it, there was one working in the area and he came by to give me a quote.
I’ll save that for the next post.

 

[Growlertdi]

this sounds like a good one. looks like a beautiful piece of land.

 

[Merew65]

Thanks Growlertdi, it is a nice lot but as you will see, it needed a lot of work. To show you how times have changed, my parents bought this property in 1986 for $40 grand, the medium price for a new car today. My Mom went back to work after we all graduated high school and her income paid for it. It was a nice cozy cottage that had frontage on a wide river that feeds into a lake.

The property also included 24 x 32 pole barn and wood shed. They put a lot of money and sweat into their property for over 30 years and along the way they bought the undeveloped lot next to them doubling the water frontage as well as 8 acres of woods behind them. I bought the 10 acre lot next to their 8.

Here’s what $40 K bought you in 1986:
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The old cottage was torn down in 2013 because in the long run it was worthwhile to start over then to renovate (their pole barn will be a 2018 project). Here it is that spring:
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Here is my son last year with his new bass boat. He was only able to buy it because I promised he could store it over winter in my new barn once it was built

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This shot is from the 2nd lot. A realtor had bought the property out from under them and offered to sell it for $10 grand more then he paid for it. He screwed them over big time but they bit the bullet and bought it anyways.

They’re glad they did.
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Here is a view from their deck.
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As you can see, this is why I needed my own space…most of this is my stuff:
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We bought the 10 acre lot from the estate of the woman that owned it in 2011. I was ecstatic because I've wanted to own a few acres of land since I was a kid.

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[Merew65]

My barn plan:

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32 x 44 x 10 barn with 38 x 16 x 8 wrap around lean to porch (10’4”interior height from concrete surface to truss bottom cord)
6/12 trusses with 14’ scissors and 30’ spread web
18’ x 9’ OH garage door – non insulated
12’ x 10’ Split sliding barn door
7’ x 8’l steel roll up door
36” Steel door with 9 panel window5
Single hung painted vinyl windows installed
All posts 6 x 6 ground contact PTL lumber
2 x 12 double truss carriers with sandwiched truss tie downs.
Post Footing – 16” W x 8” D cookie at 48” down
Uplift cleats on posts
PTL 2 x 8 skirt board
2’ gable end overhangs, 1’ enclosed eaves overhang 6” facia
enclosure mesh on roof edge and vented ridge cap.
3’ Wainscoting

Bonus: This Amish builder used .27 gage steel on their walls and roof. All the kits I looked into used steel that was a flimsier .29. The Menards quote was for their “premium” .28 upgraded steel. Big win here.

Also, because the trusses I wanted had to be 2’OC by local code, the Amish use 5/8” OSB on the roof rather than 2 x 4 roof purlins…so the roof is as strong as any residential building…another big win.

A common slight for using Menards is that the materials cost isn’t going into our local economy. The Amish use the family owned supply store in town and all the lumber is milled and treated in Michigan.

So, keeping in mind the Menards quote for materials ($20 K including tax) I told myself if the Amish could build this barn the way I want it, and do the concrete as well for under $30 K, I would give them the job.
He came back with $29,200 and I asked how soon can you start!?

One thing I’ve learned from this site and from my own experience is when you’re investing this much money into a project is to educate yourself and know exactly what you want and make sure it is all in writing to cover your a$$. All the details were in print.

The one thing that Ernest, the owner of the company, did emphasize is that the barn had to be erected on a compacted sand pad that was higher than the surrounding grade to avoid any future water drainage issues.

What I have been most envious about on this site is reading about everyone that has a brother, cousin, nephew, in-law or good neighbor that has their own excavator and / or backhoe and offer to help with the excavation work. I didn’t have those connections, and it’s a resource that could would have saved me a bundle.

After the initial clearing of the 10,000 sq. ft of woods, this is what greeted me on my
1st trip up
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More to follow.

 

[Growlertdi]

MMM Soup du jour...

what an adventure. looking forward to the updates

 

[glend123]

Looks like a good basic build. I'll be following.

 

[LXCam]

Holy ****, what a muck hole that turned out to be.

 

[Merew65]

My biggest problem is that a 1/3 of the lot is below road grade…and of course it’s the section I wanted to build on. The neighboring lot owner mistakenly had a culvert pipe buried on my property and I caught it (he didn’t have the property line surveyed) before he added the road. He left it there so I wanted to utilize that and install a 2nd driveway and arrange the barn so I could drive thru it and not have to back a trailer in

I had the same company that did some recent work for my parents come out and give me a quote for excavation. It was going to require a TON of fill dirt eventually (800 TONS TO BE EXACT) but for now it only included clearing 13,000 sq feet of woods and brush, and top soil, adding two driveway lanes, and one culvert pipe.

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Not sure if I was gouged or not, but they did manage to do the proposed work in 2 days.

To save me some money I optioned to have the stumps and other debris buried on the back of the clearing instead of paying to have them hauled out, and they took they fallen trees for firewood.

I spent a few sleepless nights realizing that my total excavation labor, machine hours and materials costs by the end of the project would probably surpass my materials cost for the barn itself. Would it be worth it? Investment wise I would be upside down as I could not recoup my money if I had to sell it. ALSO, there was no utilities access so I also faced a huge bill to get electricity someday.

However my dream since I was a little kid visiting my great grandparents up in the U.P. was to own my own property someday to do whatever I wanted with. After talking it over with my wife I gave them the ok. It’s only money right?

The excavation began in late January of ‘17. I was able to go up for the day to meet Kenny. He was a local farmer that did excavations work for the company I hired. He was super nice as I showed him the area I had paint marked for the drives and clearing for the barn.

I also explained that I needed some additional work done that wasn’t in the original quote…I wanted to have a narrow road cut from the back of the clearing to the pond in the back lot corner.

The frozen pond
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I had thought about cutting the pond trail myself with a rented excavator for $300 a day...but watching him tear down medium size trees and pull out huge root and toss them aside with ease I realized it was not something I could have done, and certainly not in one afternoon, so I felt better about the additional cost.

He started the 1st driveway here and continued back to the pond, it was maybe a ¼ mile.
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Here’s some of the trail when he finished.
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I couldn’t be there for the actual clearing of the roughly 100 x 100 area the next day, so I had to make due with just a few pics Kenny sent me
pics

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All the trees down
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the owner of the company did warn me that the project would require about 24” of sand to fill in the depression that was made by stripping out the topsoil, it was necessary for a good pole barn foundation. Until then it would look like a hopeless mess.

More to come.

 

[C_F]

I'm loving this build already! It looks like a wonderful spot you have there, despite the muck and mud you've shown so far. I bet it looks fantastic in the summertime!
I really like the style of the building, looking forward to your continued progress posts. And thanks for all the great photos!

 

[TurtleValley]

Great Location, great design.

Will be well worth the money you will be pouring into it. I don't mean that negatively, just that the end result will be well worth it!!

Subscribed!

 

[sean Buick 76]

Good job sticking with your plan, it will be great!

 

[Deezler]

Nice plan! So your lot isn't also on the lake/river?

No electricity, huh? That's kinda rough, lol. You could get a decent solar / powerwall setup going for about $20k (before 30% tax credit), I'd wager. Or clear the lane for power lines yourself slowly over time, and get real power for less.

You could also get a real nice woodstove setup in place for well under $2k if you wanted. Just for temporary heat when you're out there.

Look forward to seeing the next steps!

 

[Merew65]

Thanks C_F, TurtleValley and sean Buick 76 !

Because my property was so much lower than the surrounding grade I thought it would have been cost prohibitive to build on. When I found garagejournal.com in 2016 it really opened my eyes to what was possible even with my lot. So after reading about everyone else’s garage projects, it really inspired me to go for it and move forward. I may have spent more than I ever imagined I would, but I don’t regret it! Things have a way of working out. I hope by showing all the steps along the way, it may be inspiring to someone else

When I was able to visit the property in February it didn’t look too bad. The mud was frozen enough to walk on.

1st driveway and new culvert
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2nd driveway
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Of course that pile of top soil is right where the barn will be
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For scale and I'm 6'2"
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Road to the pond:
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The clay mound in the upper right corner is where the stumps were buried
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End of March was a different matter. Melting snow and rain was forming small pools of water in the below grade depression and just very muddy conditions in general. Once the top soil was scraped away it was all clay. Yuck.

Rain had washed out some of the culvert sand and gravel
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driveway
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More to come.

 

[1Garageman]

WOW, I am subscribing! Looks like a really nice area you have up there!

 

[Merew65]

Nice plan! So your lot isn't also on the lake/river?

No electricity, huh? That's kinda rough, lol. You could get a decent solar / powerwall setup going for about $20k (before 30% tax credit), I'd wager. Or clear the lane for power lines yourself slowly over time, and get real power for less.

You could also get a real nice woodstove setup in place for well under $2k if you wanted. Just for temporary heat when you're out there.

Look forward to seeing the next steps!

Thanks Deezler!

Right now my need for electricity is minimal but I’m sure that will change. With all the doors and windows there will be plenty of natural light in the warmer months. During the colder months when I have the doors closed and during the night will be an issue.

I have researched DC systems using solar power and that’s what I’m going to set up at least for the short term. I am going to use 12 volt A19 size LED RV bulbs that generate 800 lumens but only consumes 10 watts of power hooked up to 12 volt marine batteries. If need be I can also use a garage door opener on DC. My trials with this lighting have worked great and I plan to expand the system this summer to add a solar battery charger

A wood burning stove is a good idea, it can help in the winter even if I don’t plan on insulating I would imagine. I can still remember my great grandmother had one in her kitchen waaay back.

I also have need for water as it gets old carrying buckets from the house so my solution for this will be rain barrels - -another summer project.
Here’s where the lots are located in relation to the house on the river.

WOW, I am subscribing! Looks like a really nice area you have up there!

Thanks 1Garageman, glad to have you along!

 

[Bob2112]

Impressive what you have managed to get done so far - great read. Subscribed!

 

[Done That]

Great stuff, looking forward to watching your progress. And yeah, it's only money, spend it if you got it and enjoy the fruits of your hard work.

 

[Deezler]

Thanks for the zoomed out perspective on the lot lines. Why do you think elec power service would be cost prohibitive? I mean, those houses right across the street surely have it. have you gotten a number from the power company yet? Sometimes they subsidize most, if not all of the install costs. Check all the different options (which side of lot to bring in from, overhead vs underground, what if you excavate the trench, etc) if you can.

For reference when building my house 800' off the road down here in southeast MI, with one simple easement from a friendly neighbor, DTE got me powered with over 600 ft of underground service lines and a transformer for just a little over $3k.

 

[86turbodsl]

Wow, i didn't know there were any Amish working east of here. I'm in Central MI. Good luck with the build! Looks like a very nice plot.

 

[Blackhawks63]

Thanks Deezler!

Right now my need for electricity is minimal but I’m sure that will change. With all the doors and windows there will be plenty of natural light in the warmer months. During the colder months when I have the doors closed and during the night will be an issue.

I have researched DC systems using solar power and that’s what I’m going to set up at least for the short term. I am going to use 12 volt A19 size LED RV bulbs that generate 800 lumens but only consumes 10 watts of power hooked up to 12 volt marine batteries. If need be I can also use a garage door opener on DC. My trials with this lighting have worked great and I plan to expand the system this summer to add a solar battery charger

A wood burning stove is a good idea, it can help in the winter even if I don’t plan on insulating I would imagine. I can still remember my great grandmother had one in her kitchen waaay back.

I also have need for water as it gets old carrying buckets from the house so my solution for this will be rain barrels - -another summer project.
Here’s where the lots are located in relation to the house on the river.

The faded yellow is my parent’s properties and mine is the 10 acres beneath theirs. The magenta jigsaw looking thing is the area being cleared.
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Thanks 1Garageman, glad to have you along!

You definitely need to add fill and to come up with a solid drainage plan if that is where the building is going. I'd hold off the build until you can have the money to get that done first. You can't possibly build in a low lying quagmire like that. Electricity can't be more than a couple thousand so definitely make that investment in the beginning to avoid major regret. Don't let your haste to get the building up result in major mistakes on the front end.

Sent from my QTAQZ3 using Tapatalk

 

[Merew65]

Impressive what you have managed to get done so far - great read. Subscribed!

Thanks Bob2112!

Great stuff, looking forward to watching your progress. And yeah, it's only money, spend it if you got it and enjoy the fruits of your hard work.

Thanks Done That!

For reference when building my house 800' off the road down here in southeast MI, with one simple easement from a friendly neighbor, DTE got me powered with over 600 ft of underground service lines and a transformer for just a little over $3k.

Yes I believe at some point necessity will dictate a need for electricity on the lot and I will try to plan ahead for that day. For now I think I can get away with DC and solar power at least for the lighting. Perhaps a small generator for tools.

There are power lines across the street so I would need at least one utility pole installed and a long trench along the driveway. It’s just a cost I can’t really afford right now (2 kids in college) but I am keeping in mind where a breaker panel would go and allowing for conduit in the concrete floor. I would be very happy with the quote you got from DTE!

Wow, i didn't know there were any Amish working east of here. I'm in Central MI. Good luck with the build! Looks like a very nice plot.

This Amish crew is out of Gladwin, about 20 minutes west.

You definitely need to add fill and to come up with a solid drainage plan if that is where the building is going. I'd hold off the build until you can have the money to get that done first. You can't possibly build in a low lying quagmire like that. Electricity can't be more than a couple thousand so definitely make that investment in the beginning to avoid major regret. Don't let your haste to get the building up result in major mistakes on the front end.

You are correct Blackhawk63...see my next post for my leveling plan! I am taking into consideration future electricity when I can afford it.

 

[86turbodsl]

Ah, i see, you are building a pole barn up north. Your signature says metro detroit. That was what threw me off. I'm south central, there's Amish over in Calhoun county, a bit west of me. My neighbor had Amish build his house, they did a very nice job for very cheap.

 

[Merew65]

Memorial Day weekend 2017. Here is the quote for the fill and grade project. 600 yards of sand is roughly 800 TONS!

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Sand!
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More sand!
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And more sand!
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24" deep
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The top soil was too waterlogged to flatten out...left to dry out.
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Wow! what a difference! I was so happy at this point...no more mess!
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Never thought I'd be able to do this!
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Secluded view from the road
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I measured out the corners and doorways...this is where the barn will sit
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More to come!

 

[C_F]

Adding a bunch of sand sure does make a difference! Looks much nicer there now, keep the great updates coming.

 

[Merew65]

June 2017. Final grade and ready to build

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[GLTHFJ60]

Love it!!

 

[Merew65]

Adding a bunch of sand sure does make a difference! Looks much nicer there now, keep the great updates coming.

Love it!!

Thanks!

 

[Merew65]

August 2017

Grass is coming in. I'm thinking now I should have planted something the deer like to eat.

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Materials delivered
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Bright and early!
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More to come

 

[GLTHFJ60]

That went up fast!

 

[neilc]

Looking great! That's going to be a great setting and a fantastic building!

 

[FTWingRiders]

Looking great!! It can be a bit overwhelming once you start adding up all the additional costs from your original quote for a building.. I know, I've been there.. Glad you're pushing ahead and following your dreams.. it well worth it!!! Its hard to think of everything, but it looks like your doing great. Even if electricity, water etc aren't on your plans, do all you can to prepare for them to be added now to save yourself a headache or two.. (Personal experience)..LOL!!

Keep up the great work, I'm following along with the rest!!!

 

[C_F]

That went up fast!

It sure did! How many days did it take them to get it to that point?

 

[Merew65]

That went up fast!

It sure did! How many days did it take them to get it to that point?

They were very efficient! That was at the end of 3 complete days. There were some rain delays in between.

Looking great!! It can be a bit overwhelming once you start adding up all the additional costs from your original quote for a building.. I know, I've been there.. Glad you're pushing ahead and following your dreams.. it well worth it!!! Its hard to think of everything, but it looks like your doing great. Even if electricity, water etc aren't on your plans, do all you can to prepare for them to be added now to save yourself a headache or two.. (Personal experience)..LOL!!

Keep up the great work, I'm following along with the rest!!!

Thanks FTWinfRiders. I try so hard to plan for everything ahead of time that it gets overwhelming. It helps so much to have done it once or twice before but I didn't have the luxury. This website really filled in a lot of the blanks and I tried to read all I could from other member's experience here. It really gave me the confidence to move forward. And of course if I were to do it again, I would have made some changes, but not many!

Here was the next stage...concrete! A great benefit with working with the Amish is the same crew also did the concrete so their quote to build the barn included that.

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More to come

 

[Merew65]

Looking great! That's going to be a great setting and a fantastic building!

Thanks neilc! I appreciate the compliment!

 

[Merew65]

I couldn't be at the property when it came time to add the sheet metal, windows and doors so these are from my trail camera.

I asked their crew leader when the project started if it was okay to take pictures of them and he was fine with it as long as it was strictly of them working.

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More to come.

 

[Cougar]

That's a nice looking shop.

 

[wagonproject]

Your build looks very nice. I just had a 40x80 built this past year and am looking to have another one built this year. I was wondering if you had any contact info on the Amish who built yours? Thank you.