Clear-Span or Box Beam Barn

[olds67]

Well, its been 3 months in the barn is still not complete. Hopefully the installer will keep his promise and finish the ridgelight on the roof so I no longer have a hole in the peak. The installer has left me on his lowest of priorities and I learned a valuable lesson of not paying in full until the work is complete. I am happy with the way it is turning out. Just wish it would have been completed a couple months ago.

 

[milkman636]

Sorry to hear about your troubles. It's too bad that the only way to ensure that a contractor will act in good faith is to hold a hammer over them.

Remember that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Call him regularly until he gets it done.

In commercial contracting there is a schedule of values that assigns value to the materials delivered to the jobsite and milestones that are achieved. The contractor submits progress billing for the agreed on values after the materials and/or milestones are delivered. If it is not delivered or done they will not be paid for it. Typically a 20% holdback does a nice job of ensuring final completion.

 

[jhand]

Oh.. I am looking at this barn right now from Branstock!! Hoping to get an idea on quailty of the prooduct delivered? I am looking at a 38x60x12 6/12 for horses... thinking about adding hay storage in the future...

Curious how your lighting the barn since there is no truses to hang from


Was putting in walls more expensive for the same reasons...?

I am mainly in sand and not sure if thats enough for the posts where I might be better off with a standard pole barn?? I'm in Paw Paw, Mi snow load is 50 ( I think)

Where are you located and who was your builder? Would any pole barn builder beable to install this barn?? Is it easy?

I am deciding on which direction to go this weekend... looking at a barn in Delton Saturday.


Lots of questions... and thank you for your post!!!

Jen

 

[olds67]

Oh.. I am looking at this barn right now from Branstock!! Hoping to get an idea on quailty of the prooduct delivered? I am looking at a 38x60x12 6/12 for horses... thinking about adding hay storage in the future...

Curious how your lighting the barn since there is no truses to hang from

Was putting in walls more expensive for the same reasons...?

I am mainly in sand and not sure if thats enough for the posts where I might be better off with a standard pole barn?? I'm in Paw Paw, Mi snow load is 50 ( I think)

Where are you located and who was your builder? Would any pole barn builder beable to install this barn?? Is it easy?

I am deciding on which direction to go this weekend... looking at a barn in Delton Saturday.

Lots of questions... and thank you for your post!!!

Jen

Hello Jen and welcome to TBN! Answers to your questions are as follows:

Lighting: I have not run power yet but I am planning on using high bay lighting that I can hang from the beams. I do have a ridgelight which let's in the daylight. It's a clear panel at the peak of the roof.

Walls: My barn is completely open so I have no walls. Not sure on how to set up stalls but I would think you could put in posts inside the barn.

Sand: My soil is mostly sand as well. They put in footings just like a standard pole barn before the post so you will be fine. I did have 67 yards of sand brought in to raise the hight of the barn becuase of it being in a low spot.

I am located in Battle Creek and you are welcome to come see the barn if you want.

Not sure who you are talking with from Branstock but I worked with Chris who was great to deal with for the package and questions.

The installer Chris had me work with was Shane, Mr Precise was his company name. DO NOT have this guy install the barn. He has one excuse after another and took 3 months to build my barn and did not finish it. Grant it I had to reorder siding in the middle of the build but he was very difficult to get back to work on my barn.

I would recommend having a local reputable builder construct the barn and do not pay them a dime until the barn is complete. These barns are simple to put up. You do need a crane to set the beams.

I really do like the design. I am planning on building a loft later on which further expands the storage space under the same footprint.

Good luck with your decision and if I can give you any more information on this style barn please let me know.

Mike

 

[olds67]

Sorry to hear about your troubles. It's too bad that the only way to ensure that a contractor will act in good faith is to hold a hammer over them.

Remember that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Call him regularly until he gets it done.

In commercial contracting there is a schedule of values that assigns value to the materials delivered to the jobsite and milestones that are achieved. The contractor submits progress billing for the agreed on values after the materials and/or milestones are delivered. If it is not delivered or done they will not be paid for it. Typically a 20% holdback does a nice job of ensuring final completion.

Thanks Milkman! The pain is over and the barn is finally done. I had to finish it myself. Big lesson learned by me on working with contractors. In the future I will keep holdback of 20% or more until the job is complete. Otherwise you have nothing to hold them to. Thanks for the advice.

 

[crbr]

Lots of good info. Thanks

 

[crazyal]

I would let Branstock know of your problems with the contractor (if you haven't done so). While you don't have much sway over a contractor once you've paid them they do. Branstock feeds this guy plenty of business from the sounds of it and I doubt they want their name to get dragged through the mud because of a poor contractor.

 

[olds67]

I would let Branstock know of your problems with the contractor (if you haven't done so). While you don't have much sway over a contractor once you've paid them they do. Branstock feeds this guy plenty of business from the sounds of it and I doubt they want their name to get dragged through the mud because of a poor contractor.

I did let Chris from Branstock know and he put a lot of pressure on this guy for me. I was very thankful for that.

Branstock has multiple installers, if I had to do it again I would of asked for more than one name and their references. I did go and look at another barn they had put up before I had mine built and the owner said it was done in 2 weeks. Should of talked to the guy that installed his.

Oh well, what was done is done. I have my barn finished now and I am happy with it. Learned a good lesson too.

 

[jhand]

Thanks Mike for your help! Sorry to hear your had trouble with the builder...I've actually talked with Shane a couple of times about building it...Good to get advice from u ! I went and looked at a 36x60x12 today north of Battle Creek and got some great advice from the owners... they really like the building and liked working with Chris but also had trouble with the builder...but it was a differnt guy. I rehab homes and contractors in geneneral aren't reliable. Which is sad because if they were they would get more biz.

So Im back at trying to decide if I hire one of the people whom have put this barn up before... hire a builder whom has never built this type before or just build a pole barn.

There's got to me more people out there that have built these with better luck with builders.

Looked like a really neat barn though! Glad yours is done!

I enclosed a few of there barn pics There simple barns:thumbsup:

 

[olds67]

You're welcome Jen! Good luck with your barn and I hope everything works out.

 

[BillSco]

I just had a Branstock building put up. I saw the building here on this forum (actually this thread) and it was exactly what I was trying to find. So I called and was surprised at how reasonably priced the building was. I could not find a better constructed building for the money. Chris at Branstock was very good to work with. I am very impressed with the construction. The building is 38x60x16 with 12" eves all around, a 12 x 14 insulated door plus a man door. With the 2x6 girts on 32" centers and the 2x8 perlins on 24" centers and placed perpindicular to the beams it will be very easy to insulate in between them.
I used Shane to put up my building. He was extremely knowledgeable with the construction of the building. I paid him according to his payment schedule, that seemed fiar to me, and the building was completed in 2 weeks. It was only him and 1 helper. I thought his rates were very good especially since I live in KY and he had to get a hotel for the duration. Sorry to hear olds67 that you had problems with Shane.
Just want to thank everyone on the forum for all your good information on various subjects. Everyone here is great.

Bill

 

[Lohman446]

I am reviving a long forgotten thread and just registered. After a year how do you all feel about your box-beam barns? I wanted a barn on my property like I used to play in when I was a kid and found I simply cannot afford to have one just like that built.

I stumbled across Chris and branstock by chance and he is currently sending me a contract to look over and color chips. The barn is going to be fairly small (24x32x12). I need it to store my old Ford 3000 (currently stored in the off-season in an old truck box), the lawnmower, and a couple quads. The roll bar on the old Ford is a true 8' tall so the doors will be 9 foot on the back of one eave and 10' on the gable - sliding doors (recall I wanted a barn). Someday I will add a hay-loft to store some hay for my wife's ducks and I will have a (very mini) version of the barns I remember


Looking at this I am excited. I had accepted that I could only afford a pole building and this looks to be as close to an economical version of what I had in mind as I can find. How happy are you guys after owning them for a time? I am building it on a high spot near the house in clay though I will have and hauled in for a base.

 

[Lohman446]

This is what I learned about doing these projects:

Get it in writing.

On June 1st Chris delivered my building. He said he had two contractors nearly done with the jobs they were on and they would contact me quickly. I heard from Rick on June 3rd and decided he would start the next day. I called him every day after he did not show up and Crhis was finally on him pretty heavily. Last week Rick came in on Thursday the 14th to start the building. I had to work and he was short labor so my sisters boyfriend came over to help. He worked the later half of the day on Thursday and about four hours each on Friday and Saturday with one helper on Friday (plus me) and a second helper on Saturday. In fairness it was extremely hot and I understood the need to limit hours.

On Saturday I paid him for the framing (which was 90% +/- done) and he said he would be back on Tuesday to finish.

Today I talked to him and he has started another project. Rick says Chris would send a different contractor but Chris knew nothing about it.

I have found a local person who will finish this project for me. Total labor costs will be about 30% over what Chris originally estimated they would be and about 3 weeks past the timeframe I was told it would be on building delivery. I was told it was a three day to week long project to get done. It may be but that would be of working. In reality the building I expected done before the tenth will likely not be done before the 30th. Not a major difference except that the estimates of being done by the 10th were given on the second.

My error in this was not talking to the contractor and having a contract lined up before the building was delivered. I got too involved in it and took too many words as being meaningful in the order process.

The entire process has bothered me to this point though I am comfortable with the overall quality of the building from what I can see so far. I am short some track for the sliding door and will see how that is handled. When I started this project it was fun. It quit being fun some time ago.

 

[RxRatedZ71]

This exact reason is why many of us have elected to build our own buildings. If you have the rest of the materials then try to finish yourself. Im sure there are some local TBN buddies that may be able to help. Also, if something goes awry or needs fixing in the future then you can do it. They are not that complex of a project.

 

[johnhunter247]

I live by MIS speedway and am looking to have a barn put up. I am interested in this type of barn or a pole building. I have received two bids on pole barns. I have sticker shock! How do these compare in price to a regular pole barn? Thanks John

 

[bertwillie]

I have the prints and was redrawing them on autocad adding dimensions, thats the only thing I've recieved. Did they completely assemble the beams there or were they partially preassembled for straightness before delivery. It seem's it would be hard to hold a 20' 2x12 straight with out a jig. The print had a engineering stamp that said Terry Baker. I found a Terry Baker civil engineer at kater engineering in holt Michigan only the number was disconnected. He graduated from Michigan State in 1969 that puts him around 65 years of age. I wanted to ask him who owned the sole rights to the prints. My prints aint exact with out the original but, I put in the dimensions I know and auto cad does the rest.

 

[woodman75]

We probably have the same plans. My beams were laminated before they were delivered and then they assembled the entire thing on site. I can measure anything you want or feel free to come check ot out and measure whatever you want. Pm me and I will give you my phone number if you have anymore questions.