Called Morton for Pole Barn...couple of questions

[WilliamBos]

Brace yourself for the price quote from Morton.....

Oh yeah, grab the lube!! Then get quotes locally.

 

[hunterridgefarm]

Well, day 5 and no call back. I left 2 numbers he could reach me at. I will give them 2 more days and call back. Morton built a large barn at the apple orchard 1/2 mile from me last year and the owner was very pleased.

I just need some prices so I can decide what size and how complete I want it. I plan to do some of the work myself. I will also call the metal truss guy this week to see if I can talk with him.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I was really into building an all metal building 4 years ago and got prices both online and from local fabrication companies. What it boiled down to was the price of the material alone (not including slab, wiring, insulation or interior sealing) was more than it cost me to build a wooden structure. I was pricing a 30x40 steel and it was between $30-35K for material only and I had to pay more for erection, put in the slab, wiring, lighting etc. I got a contractor to build a 30x52 (30x30 slab with 12 foot wing sheds on each side) wooden structure with 9' 8" interior ceilings with 12 x8 bathroom on one side of the lean to, concrete floor on the 980 sq ft structure, full 100 amp electrical services complete with lights and receptacles, plumbed for the cold water bathroom, 6" bat insulation walls and ceiling, Attic floored in the middle 12 foot section for additional storage with pull down ladder, 1/2" exterior grade plywood sheathing on the outside and 3/8" plywood sealing on the inside walls and ceiling with exterior painted, galvalume roofing, 8 foot tall insulated garage doors with electric openers (one 16' wide and one 10' ) all for $25,500. Granted the price of everything has increased a lot now but I got a much better building than what I would have gotten with the steel especially the electrical and insulation. I can keep it warm in winter with a 1500 watt heater and cool in summer with a 14000 BTU window air conditioner. I did sacrifice ceiling height but I could have gotten it higher if I wanted for just a few dollars more. Hindsight tells me I should have went with a 12 foot ceiling but other than my 70 HP tractor, I have no trouble getting all my smaller stuff inside.
I thought this would be large enough, but 3 years later I added another 14 x 30 shed on to the back for my boat and lawnmowers. Good advise on building as big as you can afford and then some because it is always too small "eventually". Attached photo is about the best I can do at the moment for showing how it looks upon completion.

 

[jmc]

I built a Morton in an industrial park with covenants that required a masonry front for cosmetic reasons. I think they had to pour a footer to support the brick weight (just on the front), which negates one of the pole barn construction advantages. Another option was to use thin panels that looked like brick to avoid the footer.

Then I built another Morton at home, 36x53x14. Couple of points on that one:

They suggested the 14' height so you could drive the cement truck inside to get the cement to the back of the building without watering it down or using a pumper truck. Extra height is cheap they said since there's not much extra material required. Nice to have that tall door for the backhoe too.

36' wide lets me store stuff along the edge and still be able to maneuver the tractor up to it. Like a boxblade up against, and parallel with, the long wall then having enough building width to back the tractor up to it. You can get access to disproportionately more stuff in there with a little extra building width.

When backfilling the home barn, I creased the siding ribs accidental for the width of the fel bucket and it hasn't rusted in the 9 years since.

Morton's slab contractor quoted about 75% higher than the guy I hired to do it.

 

[Midniteoyl]

View attachment 328662I was really into building an all metal building 4 years ago and got prices both online and from local fabrication companies. What it boiled down to was the price of the material alone (not including slab, wiring, insulation or interior sealing) was more than it cost me to build a wooden structure. I was pricing a 30x40 steel and it was between $30-35K for material only and I had to pay more for erection, put in the slab, wiring, lighting etc. I got a contractor to build a 30x52 (30x30 slab with 12 foot wing sheds on each side) wooden structure with 9' 8" interior ceilings with 12 x8 bathroom on one side of the lean to, concrete floor on the 980 sq ft structure, full 100 amp electrical services complete with lights and receptacles, plumbed for the cold water bathroom, 6" bat insulation walls and ceiling, Attic floored in the middle 12 foot section for additional storage with pull down ladder, 1/2" exterior grade plywood sheathing on the outside and 3/8" plywood sealing on the inside walls and ceiling with exterior painted, galvalume roofing, 8 foot tall insulated garage doors with electric openers (one 16' wide and one 10' ) all for $25,500. Granted the price of everything has increased a lot now but I got a much better building than what I would have gotten with the steel especially the electrical and insulation. I can keep it warm in winter with a 1500 watt heater and cool in summer with a 14000 BTU window air conditioner. I did sacrifice ceiling height but I could have gotten it higher if I wanted for just a few dollars more. Hindsight tells me I should have went with a 12 foot ceiling but other than my 70 HP tractor, I have no trouble getting all my smaller stuff inside.
I thought this would be large enough, but 3 years later I added another 14 x 30 shed on to the back for my boat and lawnmowers. Good advise on building as big as you can afford and then some because it is always too small "eventually". Attached photo is about the best I can do at the moment for showing how it looks upon completion.

Thats crazy!

I put together a 32'x40' pole barn with 10 polycarbonate skylights, copula, 16' and 8' garage doors, entry door, and slab, installed with grading and gravel for right around $16k 5 years ago. This was for my M-I-L.

 

[Rustyiron]

Pole bldgs. are not rocket science, but Morton deffinetly has it down to a science. I'd price them along with several local guy's that have buildings in the area that you can inspect. Chances are that the local guy will give you overhangs, more door & window options and allow a bit more flexability at the same price or less than the big guy.

 

[QRTRHRS]

First off, the Morton barns I have seen including one that we boarded at so I had time to really check it over are built very well. That said, I think Morton reps are inconsistant. I called Morton in 2003 when we were going to have a barn built. I spoke about features I was interested in including some that my friends barn had. The message I got was we don't work outside the box, we don't do this and we don't do that. Out of the ten prices or so I had for a 40x120 barn with a 16'foot open shed down one side for a total of 56x120, my best price was from a Mennonite builder. They ended up doing the horse stalls and everything. I had one complaint in all of that for a piece of trim by one door that was sharp, that was it!

Something of interest perhaps: later on, I worked for one of the builders that I had a bid from delivering materials to the jobsites both within and for outside builders. This company had ten to fourteen crews not all created equal so to speak. Some did a better job than others, much better. Don't be afraid to speak up if you see something that you do not like.

 

[NoTrespassing]

I called Morton about 10 years ago. Still waiting for that call back.
Very happy with my Wick building, but that was mostly due to the local builder/dealer.

I called Morton for a quote in 2000. I took the day off work to meet him and about 3 hours before the appointment the salesman tried to cancel on me. I gave him such a hard time he showed up anyway. He said his allergies were bothering him. lmao He never got back with me on the quote. Thirteen years later I'm still getting offers in the mail. It'll be a cold day in _____ before I call them again.

Kevin

 

[Kyle241]

I'm interested in hearing whether Morton gives you a decent quote. I'm planning a barn/garage on my second property in the near future and don't feel like building it myself this time round. Morton was on the list to contact along with some local contractors to compare pricing.

 

[KYDan]

I have 3 pole barns of varying sizes, one is a Morton, one is a Blitz, and one is a no name. The Morton is the oldest and heaviest grade of sheeting by far. I had it built in 1980 and it is still in use and good shape. The Blitz was in 1995 and it is used as a garage and shop. It is much lighter sheet metal, but has served my needs. The 3rd is a hangar that was built by a local guy and appears to be the same mil metal as the Blitz, and it has served me well so far. Morton is very proud of their buildings by their price which is why I switched companies. Morton insisted on gutter as a part of the package and that is one of the reasons that it cost more, but good drainage is essential for barns to last. The Blitz and the other did not. I put vinyl gutter on the shop/garage and won't do that again. I had seamless 6" gutter installed on the hangar and used it to replace the old gutter on the Morton as the original was galvanized and had rusted through.