Pole Buildings. Reviews?

[UnionMan]

Hello Folks.

Ive looking on here for a bit now and asking some people local to me (Virginia) about the companies they have used for their pole barns/garages. Some have used Fetterville Sales, Lester, Morton ETC. It seems like Morton are on the Total High end. I contacted a Morton salesman in early December but haven't met with him yet to talk numbers since the holiday season is busy enough as it is. I hope to build in the 40x60x12 area with a couple garage doors and some windows. Something Simple. Its going to be a Wood working shop with a small stall area to work on my own cars/trucks/tractors. I recently picked up a local paper that had a add from Pioneer Pole Buildings. I checked them out online and they seem to have some nice buildings and dont mind listing most of their prices. If anyone is local I would like to hear from you and see what company you went with and how your experience with them went and the general size and cost of your garage/building if you dont mind.

UnionMan

 

[Whirnot]

Definitely check several places. I was quoted $18 - $20 PSF (insulated) from one builder and $25 (uninsulated) from another for the same 38 x 48 building.

 

[bygasper]

Your building maker is one consideration. If possible, try to see work done by the foreman that will be on your build. I had a great company (Wick Buildings), but a crappy foreman. Turned a 6 week build into 4 months.

 

[Garage Dog]

FWIW:

I have a 50 x 100 x 14 Lester building in Minnesota that is now 17 years old - insulated and interior finished when new. I have used it for 12 of those 17 years and think it is a high quality building with no complaints.

GD

 

[Kevkx125]

UnionMan I had pioneer pole buildings build me a 30x40 about 7 years ago, very happy with their work, has held up so far.

 

[junkman104]

http://www.nationalbarn.com/

Very happy with price and service. NHbandit will chime in soon.

 

[rburke65]

If you are going to finish the interior, you may as well stick build it.

 

[kj_mustang]

Fetterville Sales built mine and I am very happy with it. I also got quotes from CB Structures and a local pole building contractor but Fetterville gave me the best price.

 

[Autorotica]

I know several folks who have been happy with services and pricing from http://www.diypolebarns.com/ . I got pricing from them and met with their builder and he was a nice guy. I ended up going with someone even more local to me who did a great job. His site is http://www.extremepolebuildings.net/

I went and saw other buildings he had built and talked to the owners for their opinions (I also took them $20 Dunkin Dognuts gift cards to say thanks for their time) and I was happy with what he did.

He is done with my shed at this time and I am slowly working on getting all the other things done to get it to where I want to put stuff in it. Extreme was a piece of cake to deal with compared to everyone else.

Take the time to go look at something someone built for someone else. Extreme has their own building and I wouldnt go look at that. It would either be the Taj MaHal or a pile of left over stuff he put together for himself.

References and seeing someones work for yourself is the way to make sure you will happy with a project IMO.

Chris

 

[furely]

Chris, I stumbled upon this thread when researching Extreme Pole Buildings. I live in southeast PA where there are endless pole barn builders. I am looking at going with Extreme. Is there anything that you would have done different? Thanks.

 

[barnjunkie]

I had National Barn build me a 40x60x14 last summer and I am very happy with it. It was almost $11/sqft. 4ft truss spacing and insulated ceiling.

 

[hot rod reverend]

I live just outside Winchester and about 5 years ago, Conestoga (I think the name "Dutchway" comes to mind as a subsidiary of theirs) built my PB. It is 40x24 with a 1 foot eave all the way around, 10 ft ceiling height, two entry doors, and two 9 foot garage doors. Very, very happy with service and installation. They are out of PA, but they have a shop down in Harrisonburg where they have a showroom or some models to look at. I never did a sq foot price breakdown, but my total cost on the building was around 12K or so. That did not include my own site work, concrete pour, electrical, etc. Only change I would make if I had it do all over again would be to build a tick wider than what it is ... say 32 or so.

 

[Signal10]

Your building maker is one consideration. If possible, try to see work done by the foreman that will be on your build. I had a great company (Wick Buildings), but a crappy foreman. Turned a 6 week build into 4 months.

I could not agree more. Most national companies are fine with only a few differences. In example some space their trusses at different spans and things like that. I have been involved in 3 pole building projects. My first auto shop build was through FBI buildings. The building was done and very nice, I did have to fire two crews because they liked to have a liquid lunch (alcohol). Mthe third crew was very good. The second building was through Burns buildings and had no problems to speak of. The last building was my own person shop at home and I did the building with a kit from Menard 40x64. No problems at all except the hard work. In the end I would find a company and then maybe see the crew who would be doing your build in action. Good luck

 

[CHUNKER]

I'm in the business but your too far away.(Frederick, Md)

I buy my building packages from A.B. Martin in PA.(two locations).

CB (Conestoga), Fetterville, Pioneer are all good to go.

Check out Perka Buildings for a hybrid steel/wood.

I have a Perka 40x60x12 for a shop.

 

[bry@n]

Great thread. I'm thinking of doing a bldg but I'm 2-3 years away.

 

[justin1795]

i had a wick put up. it was a couple grand more than a bargin one. i felt like the couple grand was well worth the extra quality. best thing you can do is get lots of quotes and really study the details. i had lots of not tradition requests and did some of the finish work myself. only snafoo i had was over some door trim. i thought it should have been included. i called wick over the weekend and left a message. when i got home monday the trim had not only been droped off but it was installed.

 

[bookman51]

I had a pole building by Wick put up 10 years ago this fall. I was pretty happy with it until this fall. About five or six years ago I had a window out of the cupola come lose. Got up there and found it was fastened in just with double stick tape. Contacted Wick and they in turn gave me a name of local franchise holder. I contacted him and he drove over and spent 30 minutes fixing it. When I ask what I owed him, he said gas money, so I paid him $50. Pretty good.

Fast forward to this fall. In October another window come lose. I contacted Wick and they gave me the name of another builder for them. I contacted him. By the time one of his workers came out, the Plexiglas was broke. Got to looking at it and it was obvious the double stick tape was not a long term solution for a window exposed to the weather. I contacted Wick who contacted the subcontractor for the cupula. The subcontractor said, yep, about ten years ago we had a design flaw!! There were got enough to send me a new windows that fasten in mechanically. The building came out and did it (took way too long for a couple of unskilled labors), and now I have a bill for $456. Neither Wick or the subcontractor want to do anything about it. Beyond any guarantee for them, but obviously the design was a design error and not a long term solution. So, I am not happy with Wick. Now trying to work with the builder to get the costs reduced since his two young workers took way too long and managed to drop the top of the cupola off the building and scratch and bend it. So, some things appeared to be designed long enough to get the building a few years down the road...and then problems.

 

[rburke65]

CHUNKER.....Love, love,love your ICE sign. Jealous! Very nice!

 

[ducatithunder]

Talk with the Morton guy about prices. I agree they def I high end but you can get a simple bare bone pole barn and upgrade over time. A bare bones 30x40 with 11ft walls and an attic was about $39,000. That what I was debating on doing. If my modern garage idea falls flat I will end up going the Morton route. My father in law has a Morton building over in Whitepost VA. I went down to look at it to see the quality of Morton. They have very good quality and its nice to have a foreman/sales guy who is with you through the entire thing. My main concern was being at sea for a few months while the building was going to be built. He assured me it wouldnt be an issue and was upfront on what exceptions were to be meet. I did do my homework on Morton and I didnt find anything but positive reviews.

Whats is also nice about Morton is you can fiance through them which was a big plus.

 

[tomroblee]

I wonder if the OP is still trying to decide on a builder after three years?