Yup, some members pop up regularly to beat the "my purchase is ALWAYS the best choice" drum blindly, best to ignore them IMHO. FWIW, much of government and university "research" is the same bad drivel, sadly I've done my share organizing that tax-writeoff for the corporate dayjob.
That report is comical for various assertions, one of the more humorous is below. The reason its humorous is that my grandfather's mill produced these exact poles for decades, along with cedar shaker roof shingles (guaranteed 50 years, 50 years ago), wooden drainage tile, and several other treated wood products, life expectancy on poles was never half what that report claims. If they were then most of the utility posts in small town America would be early 20th century, farmers would almost NEVER need to install new fence posts, and quite a few other common tasks would be unnecessary. Pole barn companies also wouldnt need so dam much fine print in their warranties regarding above vs below grade...
Who is talking about a structural collapse? Pole barns like any other structure are designed to be self-supporting - ie. cut the poles at ground level and they'll probably stand fine for years. They do lose a big chunk of their rigidity however so are susceptible to wind and snow loads, but theyre not going to simply collapse without extreme circumstances. Usually they slowly lean and folks attempt various jacking, cabling, or other repair means then call for help. The standard fix we do on pole buildings is to lift the building, cut the poles, and anchor them to piers, not an easy nor cheap solution to hire done but sometimes warranted vs replacing the building. Of the buildings we've done, most are 70s-early 90s construction with few older than that, most were taken down long ago.
The distinction between permanent and temporary structures is that with maintenance, a permanent structure is designed to remain structurally sound almost indefinitely. In my area for example there are quite a few stick-built homes and public buildings dating back to the 18th and early 19th centuries, I live in one atm thats pre-Civil War. Pole buildings and other temporary structures by comparison are designed with the understanding that they will be replaced in ** years or be structurally unsound, not to be confused with collapsing, but not nearly as strong as they once were. Given that building costs are pretty comparable between smaller finished stick and pole buildings, for most GJ'ers pole shops simply dont make much sense IMHO. OTOH, if someone needs a hangar or large barn sure....but those are other forums entirely.
