Post Frame or Stick Built HOUSE??

[Ryan10700]

Hey guys, I'm a newbie here and have been learning a lot by reading posts and getting great answers from everyone on the site. While I have been looking for pictures and information on building a pole barn (24x30), I saw some pictures of folks who've built apartments or houses out of pole barns. So I got thinking, could I save some money by building a pole barn, say 30x50 with a lean to porch on on sidewall and save a substaintial amount of money rather than building a stick built house about the same size? It would have that country style with the lean to porch on the side and could be the front of the house. We typically build on basements in this part of the country, but it is an additional $25k or so, and rather than just do a craw space, why not the pole framed building on a slab?

Please throw some thoughts and opinions into the ring!

 

[little d]

im seeing more and more of it done every day ryan. my self, if your going to have concrete anyway, id do a top and bottom plate on the concrete, ya wouldn't have to worry about rot.

 

[Teach]

It wouldn't fly in my town....but it is very small, is largely a historic district, and they try to keep development to a minimum.

I had to do full 8' foundation walls [on footings] just for my garage....boy, I hated to fill it all in after paying for all of the concrete and site work.

 

[bradleys]

The guy who did the engineering on my pole barn shop told me that he can design a house using the same techniques. He said it could be built for about 25% more than an equivalent mobile/manufactured. Since it's built in place, it's considered stick-built by the county, banks, and insurance. I'll verify all that before proceeding, but have no reason to doubt him.

But, as Teach indicated, it's probably very dependent on your location. Check with some pole barn builders in your area, as well as your county planning department. Make sure that you talk to local builders. They'll know what can be done, whereas a website halfway across the country won't have any idea.

 

[Ryan10700]

As far as codes go, in my neck of the woods, as long as you're in the county, no worries. The only thing required is a soil test and permit for septic systems. Other than that, it is pretty much fair game. Keep the comments comming!

 

[Scout Driver]

The Morton Building company salesman for our area says that they have been building more "pole-houses" in the last few years. Most don't look like a stereotypical "pole building" either. They are a very nice home and look the part too. If I was building a home, I would strongly consider going with Morton. Our family has had many farm buildings, a garage, and a shop build by them over the years. Great company.

Scott

 

[Daniel Dudley]

I would do this for myself. I always considered that a three car garage with an apartment on top would make a great starter home. All you need to do is keep track of the code requirements and follow them.

I also like those monitor style barns with the metal braces at the joints. The thing is, if you don't set the posts into the ground, a pole barn could last for hundreds of years.

 

[Ryan10700]

I'm fortunate to not have to deal with a lot of codes in this area. For the most part the land isn't level enough to build a big enough place without a lot of dirt work. This has me a bit torn on which way to go. I'm going to get some bids for excavation. It's common to build on a basement in this part of the country, but that adds about $15k to the price on a 1,500 sf house when compared to a slab. We do get tornados on occasion, but as little as I have to worry about that, I don't think I would do the basement for that sole purpose. It is cheap square footage in the long run, but the here and now is what might hold things up.

 

[green.bubbly]

I will soon be doing something along this line as well. In the process of finding a piece of land. Looking for metal buildings is what landed me hear on this site. I do not post often but I stop by and read several times a week. Keep us updated if you decided to do this. I can not wait to start a thread here when we get started.

I have been searching for many months on metal building home ideas and there is not much information out there. Hopefully, I will have the time to document everything in details.

 

[krooser]

I will soon be doing something along this line as well. In the process of finding a piece of land. Looking for metal buildings is what landed me hear on this site. I do not post often but I stop by and read several times a week. Keep us updated if you decided to do this. I can not wait to start a thread here when we get started.

I have been searching for many months on metal building home ideas and there is not much information out there. Hopefully, I will have the time to document everything in details.

Do a Google search for "pole building homes"....tons of info...

http://www.build-yourown-home.com/pole-barn-homes.html

http://www.mortonbuildings.com/cabin.aspx

 

[firstko]

I built a 30x60 pole house for my folks inlaw and would definitely recommend concrete floor. We built on a wood floor w/3 foot crawl space underneath to save money, and are now having bad mold problems in the crawl space.

 

[Leadfoot3232]

We built a 30x60x10 post frame for a house,60' porch on front,30' on back,slab floor and love it..I had the shell built and the heat and a/c installed,did the rest of it myself..still got a little left to finish,but gonna have less than 60K in it..

 

[Ryan10700]

Does anyone have pictures of the post frame houses they've built? I looked at Morton's site and have done a Google search, but haven't seen a lot of picture.