New barn now, concrete later?

[cold1313]

Debating the pro's and con's of having the concrete floor put in a new building a few years later vs all at once.

I'm waiting on one last quote but I think I've reached a point of do everything in a few years vs put up a building now and put a concrete floor in a few years later.

I would like everything done at once but given the cost of concrete for this job, $20,000+....I'm considering if I would be okay with a building first.


The biggest negative I see is having to move all the junk back out of the barn when it's time for concrete.

I suppose I could put half the floor down but that might be a hassle.



Just wanted some opinions from people who have waited or have been in a similar situation.

 

[EddieWalker]

I didn't spend the money to have concrete on my first shop and I hated doing anything in there. I put gravel down, and it was always a pain to do anything in there. Just walking across the shop meant tripping on that odd rock that wasn't there yesterday, but came up and away from the rest of them all of a sudden.

I have concrete in my current shop and would never consider building a shop building that I planned to do anything in without concrete. If I have to wait another year to save the money, that's what I will do.

I sold that shop and the land around it 15 years ago and the guy that bought it still hasn't poured concrete.

The problem is that once you start using the building, it becomes harder and harder to empty it out and pay to have somebody come and do the pour. Another issue is that when I built that building, I was paying $72 a yard for concrete. I forget what rebar cost back then, but both rebar and concrete have gone up over the years, along with the cost of labor. I make more money now then I did back then, but it's still just as painful to pay the higher price for materials as it was when I make less money. Maybe more painful now since I know what I could have done it for back then.

My next shop will be sectioned off into different uses. My wood working area will be concrete for sure. I might not pour concrete in my parking area. I'm leaning towards gravel for just parking tractors, but I also think that I'll regret doing that once I start to use it.

 

[deezler]

Definitely try to get the floor in as soon as you can, IMO. I had my 30x36 pole barn built in 2017 and knew I would do all the slab prep and coordinating myself (wanted to ensure proper sub-grade compaction, ratwall, insulation, pex tubing for heat, etc). But in the meantime I still wanted to start using the barn, and even went so far as to put in a section of temporary wood floor over the dirt (pallets with OSB atop). I don't totally regret this, because it gave me a clean workspace for a few months. But I did just have to tear it all out again. The other part that I left bare dirt, turned to fine, powdery DUST that was impossible to control.

A concrete slab is a vital part of any good barn, unless it's truly just a vehicle warehouse. In which case gravel can suffice. Bare dirt sucks.

 

[3 Horse Ranch]

Debating the pro's and con's of having the concrete floor put in a new building a few years later vs all at once.

I'm waiting on one last quote but I think I've reached a point of do everything in a few years vs put up a building now and put a concrete floor in a few years later.

I would like everything done at once but given the cost of concrete for this job, $20,000+....I'm considering if I would be okay with a building first.


The biggest negative I see is having to move all the junk back out of the barn when it's time for concrete.

I suppose I could put half the floor down but that might be a hassle.



Just wanted some opinions from people who have waited or have been in a similar situation.

I have considered stall mats as a shop floor but I am not quite to the point of building a shop yet.. I put them down in the horse barn over compacted pit run gravel topped with 3 inches of compacted crusher fines. It's a solid floor that is easy to walk on and it all seems to stay in place. Might be difficult if I tried to roll heavy stuff across it though. My tractor has no problem with it and vice versa.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I was in the same boat. My Father convinced me to do it when the building was built. The contractor was already there, and up to speed with my project.

And like the contractor said "It Will Never Be Cheaper".


Not only that, but depending on how old you are, those extra years of use, are important. Friend/neighbor of mine finally had the floor poured in his pole barn after owning it ten years or so. Drove away to go on vacation, and got himself drowned! The man never got to enjoy his concrete floor! I still haven't got over that one.

 

[cold1313]

I agree with everyone.

Unfortunately right now it's looking like I can put up the barn this year and do the floor in a year or two. Or put the entire project on hold for another year or two. Stinks!

 

[deezler]

What size building are you looking to build? I took out a home equity loan to build my pole barn garage. My 30x36 slab was only $3200 (Again, I did all the prep) - shop around hard. Might be worth a bit of debt to do it right, and sooner.

 

[cold1313]

About 3,500 sqft

 

[deezler]

Dang. That's huge. You'd better get your entire project budget sorted out, definitely don't want to end up with a half built monster.

 

[cold1313]

Dang. That's huge. You'd better get your entire project budget sorted out, definitely don't want to end up with a half built monster.

All set, just exceeding the budget with the concrete.