Morton Price--what do you think?

[jcmseven]

I finally had my local Morton rep come to my property and give an estimate on a small storage building. I mainly want something to hold my compact tractor, Gator and some small yard tools. I might put some of my tools there and want a small workbench but I can add that later. My only stipulations were: it had to closely match my house, it had to have a high enough door to park my tractor without having to fold the ROPS each time (as I do now) and it had to have a provision for adding electricity, either at or after construction. I know Morton does some fancy things with their buildings at times, but I really tried to discuss things I needed not wanted to keep the price down. For an 18 by 23 foot building, the price was $13,676 with a gravel floor, two windows and standard door, and $2000 or so more with a full concrete pad floor poured. The rep said the crews to build are about 8-10weeks behind now, so if I went this route, it would be June before starting. I also got an estimate from American Barn. For a 24 by 24 building with some similar features and a gravel floor, it was just a shade under $10,000 installed. To me it seems the material on the AB building is not quite as good, but it might be good enough. My third possibility is to ask the gentleman who is building my parents' new home now to give an estimate. His building would likely be very nice and custom, but I cannot imagine it would be able to come close pricewise to the others. What does the group think about these prices and what are suggestions about which direction I should be leaning? Thanks.

John M

 

[DCRC]

I sure like the look of the Morton buildings.

18 X 23 = 414 sq ft. $13 676 = $33 sq ft. (ouch)
24 X 24 = 576 sq ft $9999 = $17.36 sq ft.

Have you priced a steel building?

Mueller has pre engineered SPEED building in
24' x 24' x 12'
2 - 10' x 10' Framed Openings


Pitch 1:12 20/20/95mph $4590
pitch 4:12 25/30/90mph $5172

of course you would have to add erecting cost, and concrete.

 

[JAK]

ive got quotes from bci and national barn company for 30 x 50 pole barns with 10' side walls and 3/12 pitch roof. all the magagines they are in there quoating around 7500 dollars, but to come to my area the cost is around 10,000 from both companies. my finial hard quote for a 30x50 enclosed building with 10' side walls, 5x5 poles on 10' centers, trusses set on 5' centers with a 3/12 pitch roof,1- walk door,1- 10' slide door, 6 roof skylights and 8x50 porch/ shed installed 11,400. i can buy all the material locally and have it delivered for about 7700 dollars, but it would take me 2 months or so to build. they can have it built in 3 or 4 days thats worth the extra 3700 dollars to me plus save the headake i would get from my wife for not getting it done.

 

[froggy]

Look at the Mueller web site, they have plenty of locations in East Texas:

Mueller locations

 

[rdln]

So what you want is a large 2 car garage
That is about a foot taller than normal garages. I would have somebody just stick build it on concrete slab with shallow footers (rat wall).

I'd say you should be in the $10k range for this. Maybe the garage door itself would put you over.

 

[deere755]

I did a lot of research on buildings starting back about 10 years ago when I was on the board of trustee's for the fire dept. We looked at morton and a few others including a local contractor in our area. Our buildind was big enough for 6 trucks, men and womens restrooms, meeting room, kitchen and office space. The total from Morton was around $236,000. Our local contractor was $154,000. Morton builds a great building but we found our local guy had basicly the same specs on all the material as Morton, and the design was the same. I built a 30x40x10 here at home with 3 windows, 1 walk in door, and a 16x8 insulated overhead door, no concrete for 10,200 2 years ago by that same local contractor. I believe i would shop around and see if you can find a better deal. Just make sure that the quality is there and you are comparing apples to apples.

 

[greatrandini]

Morton is kinda like Deere. They make very good products which they are very proud of. I think if you own a John Deere tractor you should have a Morton building to park it in!!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[jheady]

I have a Morton, less than a year old. 30x40x12 w/ 2 10x10 insl. garage doors, 1 man door, insulation/vapor barrier (ceiling and walls), and 1 ft overhang all the way around. Cost just a hair under $20k to Morton. That was just the finished building, the concrete and stuff were on me.

I researched, looked, and priced about everybody in my area. Local, regional chains, national based builders and the like. I even considered doing it myself, but just don't have the time. I had a spreadsheet break down of the costs and numbers for comparison to make sure it was apples to apples.

Morton was actually my highest bid, but I still chose them. Here is some of my reasoning/justification, I am sure I can think of more:

1. Warranty - No one can beat, let alone even match it.
2. Materials - They use 26 ga metal as standard, where everyone else uses 29 ga. Plus I did like the wood kick board around the base.
3. Standard items included - Alot of the little things are extra with other Co. The gutters, roof pitch, and skirting are good examples. This really drove up the price on some other buildings.
4. 6x6 posts - not uncommon, but several of the Co. only offered 4x6 or it was an upgrade in price.
5. Finished product - I drove and looked at several buildings around my area. Talked with the owners to see what input they had to offer. In the end I (and the boss) personally think the Morton buildings looked better. Not knocking any of their competition, I did see some nice buildings across the board.

A word of advice I was told by several people. Figure out the size you want, then double it. That will be the size you will need or want later.

Hope it helps,

 

[cowboydoc]

<font color="green">A word of advice I was told by several people. Figure out the size you want, then double it. That will be the size you will need or want later.
</font>

With rare exception that statement is 100% true and EXCELLENT advice!!!

 

[EddieWalker]

One thing to consider when having a build built besides price and materials is the crew itself. I don't know anything about Morton or their crews, but it's almost priceless to hire somebody to do a job, and they actually do it.

Too many good deals turn bad because the cheapest guy out there isn't reliable or even competent. A friend lost his but on a deal because he relied on the contractor to finish off the interior. He did a great job on the building, but for some reason, he didn't have a clue when it came to working with wood.

It not only cost him more to hire another contractor to redo what had been done, but it cost him several months interest on the loan and seveal meetings with his banker.

Eddie