Pole Barn Pricing Surprises

[Bull]

How can large pole barns be so cheap? Is there a catch? For example, here is a page for Hansen; they don't build in my area but it's just giving me ideas.

http://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/pole-barn-prices.php

These prices seem stupid low to me. Of course, concrete, insulation, and interior finishes would drive the price way up, but still. It just seems like the pricing is so low my fantasies might come true.

My assumption is that the low prices are a result of the following:

Posts in wood or wrapped, not the better "permacolumns."

One man door, one garage door.

No or few windows.

No fancy trim or accessories; a plain rectangular box.

What else is there to it? Cheaper wood? More work needed to get interior ready for finishing? Thinner gauge steel for walls and roof?


I had a Morton priced out years ago before I went with my Geobarn. Granted I was shooting for a huge building and probably added some accessories, but as I recall the price was around 75k. I don't believe that included a finished interior, either. Maybe I can find the paperwork.

 

[Krodad]

Just built this shell for $40k. 36x56 with the sliding door, one man door, 6 decent windows. Also included the cupola and the "turkey tail"

I didn't exactly consider it cheap, but it's certainly about the least expensive way to get some pretty good square footage. No interior trim out on this one at all, but it is built as a "finish frame" building...meaning the 2x6 wall purlins are flat, so they come out to the edge with the poles and no further interior framing is needed as they are on 2' centers.

Insulated floor added another $10k. Power to the building will add another $5k since I need a pole at the road, trenching 250', transformer, etc.

If I were going to insulate the entire building, I would have built a completely different way, but only half of this will be insulated, and I'll do that as a separate interior room. This will be a machine shed and workshop until the house and new man-cave "super shop" are built. Will be doing a lot of that work myself so this barn will come in handy as my projects commence.

Lot's of different ways to build a pole building. I'm partial to the laminated 2x6 poles as I really like the way the trusses nest into the top of the poles. We were also able to schedule the timberset first, where they layout and install just the bottom part of the poles in the ground, with a few feet above grade in treated lumber...then we did the floor, and they came back to take the poles to truss height with untreated lumber plies.

 

[theoldwizard1]

Yeah, those prices are UNBELIEVABLE !

 

[larry_g]

Those cheap buildings are just that. 4 walls and a roof, slider door, and maybe a man door. They are made to keep the rain off your stuff. All the materials to build dumped in your lot. Now you have to add on everything that it takes to get it erected. Want it to be a shop then interior needs to be added.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[Ross/Kzoo]

Those cheap buildings are just that. 4 walls and a roof, slider door, and maybe a man door. They are made to keep the rain off your stuff. All the materials to build dumped in your lot. Now you have to add on everything that it takes to get it erected. Want it to be a shop then interior needs to be added.

lg
no neat sig line

I believe that your Morton building is only as installed by them. The quote you got is a stack of lumber and nails as larry g noted.

 

[PetesPonies]

Look at the building in my avitar. It is 56 x 64. I did the design, had a company supply all the materials to my property for $16K. The materials were very nice, high quality wood. I got everything except the doors. THis is a huge building but the bottom line is my building materials and the concrete floor cost me $26K . . not bad. So it can be done, but understand the advertised one you show says "starting". So the price is going tog o up But there are places that building these that their prices are not even close. So if you check around, there are deals here and there.

 

[rieferman]

The items you (Bull) note are indeed common price difference items. No gable or eave overhangs, solid rather than laminated posts, no engineered plans, no site prep, no concrete, weaker trusses designed for less snow load, lower pitch roof (4 typically), no gutters or downspouts etc etc etc. That's why I left the industry basically, and the same thing you find in all industries these days.

That said, you can usually have a very high quality pole
barn shell built for less than a stick frame structure due to speed of construction (materials are similar in both cases). Once you decide to finish the interior the price difference starts to fade away. For many, that's acceptable since building the shell is a hire out job while finishing the interior is DIY.

 

[shr00m]

It looks to me like that price is for materials, not built. The local company here has a 35x50x10 kit for $5200. Those come with one walk-in and one slider.

I paid them $9900 for my 30x50 with one walk-in provided. They installed my second walk-in, two acquired windows, and framed for three roll-up doors. That's installed with a 4x50 lean to on one side.

Kevin D.

 

[188slo50]

I've been pricing them my self and the last quote I got was a 28x40x10 for $8700 built not including doors.

 

[rburke65]

I just read, and re read their ad.....I see nothing about a "garage door"...... I'll go and read it again though. Nope....a slider but no garage door. I went this route 35 years ago and I was glad to get it at the time. But it is cheaply made, and as it is so often in life.....you get what you pay for. I know that is improper English, but that is how the saying goes.

 

[Ross/Kzoo]

"All steel framed entry and sliding doors".

Looks like a slider.

 

[NHBandit]

My 30x40x12 from National Barn Company was $11,600 for the building, fully insulated, good quality man door with window, scissor trusses, 1 3x3 window, 2 vents and framed for 2 10x10 overhead doors but not including those doors. The wood was all first quality materials in fact what they left me when they were finished was way better quality than the **** I bought at Lowes to build my office area. The 2 10x10 doors were another $1800 installed from a local garage door guy and the concrete slab was $4000 from a local company. I did my own electrical. No plumbing. I have slightly over 20k total invested including the lift & the compressor. I ain't complaining..

 

[Bull]

My 30x40x12 from National Barn Company was $11,600 for the building, fully insulated, good quality man door with window, scissor trusses, 1 3x3 window, 2 vents and framed for 2 10x10 overhead doors but not including those doors. The wood was all first quality materials in fact what they left me when they were finished was way better quality than the **** I bought at Lowes to build my office area. The 2 10x10 doors were another $1800 installed from a local garage door guy and the concrete slab was $4000 from a local company. I did my own electrical. No plumbing. I have slightly over 20k total invested including the lift & the compressor. I ain't complaining..

If I could get something like that for $20k, or something a bit larger for another $10k, I would be stoked out of my mind. It's a great looking building and a great size. I feel like up here $20k won't go nearly as far.

When I was talking about garage doors, I just meant a large door for a vehicle. I know the really cheap barns have sliders, which I would not want.

I have a builder who has done a lot of work for my parents and for us; he does nice work and is a great guy. When it is time for this to happen I will probably ask him for an estimate on a shop. But I don't want to waste his time if his price for stick built is going to put him automatically at the back of the line compared to a decent pole structure. It is interesting to hear that as you finish the pole buildings, the cost difference becomes less of a factor.

All of this comes from my 24x32 feeling too small for what I want to do in there. I envisioned a lift in there when I built it, but didn't do my research and made no specific accommodations for one aside from one bay having a 12' ceiling. I think that bay is so short and so narrow that a lift would be jammed in with no room to spare. How can you work on the side of the car that is 1" from the wall? Ugh, stupid of me to do.

Anyway, once I'm not paying over $2k a month to send the kids to school my wife has agreed that another building is doable. She'd like a parking space and, ideally, a mudroom connected to the house. I'd like something big enough for a lift and to spread out in. I hate having only a couple of feet of space between the side of a car and the wall, and I hate bumping my head on stuff when I am on my back under jackstands. In the words of Danny Glover "I'm too old for this ****."

 

[Bull]

I found a website for a local contractor who does Lester buildings. They have a neat price calculator that supposedly takes my local codes into account.

A 30x36x11'3" "lined and insulated deluxe" shop is around $27k, concrete, electrical, sitework, interior finishing not included. So, that looks like a $40k building, which isn't a great price for a 30x36 IMO. But maybe it is a realistic price.

 

[joe_padavano]

I just erected a 36 x 48 x 12 pole barn earlier this year. I spent $1200 on trusses, $600 on posts, about $500 on other lumber and fasteners, and $6000 on metal siding (no doors included in that), so my cost for materials is about what their "kit" price is. Probably a good deal if you don't want to hassle with running around ordering materials separately.

Of course, a concrete slab will cost about $10K-$12K more, and doors will be anywhere from $1000 apiece and up, depending on what you want. Then there's insulation, wiring, lights, etc, etc.

 

[Highbeam]

Permacolumns are not standard and not even something you could say was "left out". They are an oddball thing.

The savings from building pole vs. stick built do not go away. You still saved 10s of thousands on the cost of getting a dried in building frame. As a percentage of total building cost, that savings may diminish as you fancy up your interiors.

 

[NHBandit]

I just erected a 36 x 48 x 12 pole barn earlier this year. I spent $1200 on trusses, $600 on posts, about $500 on other lumber and fasteners, and $6000 on metal siding (no doors included in that), so my cost for materials is about what their "kit" price is. Probably a good deal if you don't want to hassle with running around ordering materials separately.

Of course, a concrete slab will cost about $10K-$12K more, and doors will be anywhere from $1000 apiece and up, depending on what you want. Then there's insulation, wiring, lights, etc, etc.

I guess concrete is a regional thing with prices higher the further North you are ? My slab was 30x40 with an additional 2' apron in front of the overhead doors and the total price was 4k. That's North East Tennessee not far at all from the VA border. You're talking 6-8k more for Northern VA ? What am I missing ? That has to be for more than just a basic slab. Also the theory that adding more features to your building would raise the price is what common sense would tell you. However it's a very competitive business and having a little background selling used cars I beat the National Barn salesman up pretty bad. Initial quote for mine was $13,500. We did the dance roughly 4 times over the phone. First time he dropped the price to $12,000. I told him I was looking into other options. He called me back and asked if throwing in the $2000 insulation package for free would help me decide. I said it helped and I would think on it. Couple days later I called him back and told him we were close and he dropped to $11,600. I said that sounded better. Called him back a fourth time and asked what was this I read on the website about a "veterans discount"... Finally he says ok $11,600 fully insulated, and he'll upgrade the man door to an insulated door with a window and throw in gable vents and a 3x3 window if I'll sign the damn agreement that day.. lol.. I said cool send it. Play hardball with these guys. The economy ***** and they need the work. I'm figuring that in discounts and free upgrades I saved around $4000, maybe a little more, simply by "playing the game" with the salesman.

 

[hippie2cams]

When I had mine built it was quoted price of 19800 for a 30x40 including site work concrete and garage doors 16x8 in front and 8x8 in rear for ventilation and access. also included one 3.0 mandoor and efoil insulation on roof only

 

[ixlr8]

I found a website for a local contractor who does Lester buildings. They have a neat price calculator that supposedly takes my local codes into account.

A 30x36x11'3" "lined and insulated deluxe" shop is around $27k, concrete, electrical, sitework, interior finishing not included. So, that looks like a $40k building, which isn't a great price for a 30x36 IMO. But maybe it is a realistic price.

Bull,
Did you ever figure out what you are going to do for a new garage? I put up a 30x30x8 steel building, Miracle Truss, it sits on a 3 ft stem wall. Building was $12K, concrete was $16K, engineered drawings for site/foundation $2K, it was about $450 for entry door and about $1300 for the two garage doors, a 9x7 and a 9x10. I was considering a Geobarn for my next place, but I think that will be pushing my budget too far.