Howdy NewClimber-
I'd say that the DIY option is very real, provided you have the desire to do so and quite a bit of time you can spare to work on the project.
Your experience sounds very much like mine a short while ago. I'd done lots of work in/on/around the house but had never done any significant framing other than throwing together a small shed, etc. In 2002, I decided to try my hand at building an equipment storage shed (plain steel bldg with dirt floor, no electricy or insualtion, etc) and it really wasn't too hard to do. The DIY approach was rewarding in several ways. The pride of having done it myself was nice and I saved over 50% off of what it would have cost me to have the same building put up for me (that building was 30x42 and cost me $4,400).
Built another, similar barn for a neighbor in 2004. That barn was built after steel prices started going up so the $/square foot was a little higher (about $4.50 per square foot instead of the $3.50 from the earlier barn).
Then this year, I built another, larger building for me to use as a workshop. A brief writeup of that workshop construction (and links to the other barn projects) can be found in the
YAPB thread here.
IMO, the only really tough thing about a DIY barn is that if you are going with any kind of roof trusses or steel beams as is common with most kit buildings is you need to have a way to lift those heavy members into place. It would be very dangerous and/or impossible to do that with two people on ladders. Your wife would probably object loudly to that option anyway! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
So you'll need to have a long extension for a FEL or rig up a boom pole as I've done. It's amazing what you can do with a winch and some pulleys.
Outside of that, it's just basic tools and some common sense. We did as you mentioned and hired out the concrete work. Outside of that, it has been just my wife and I for everything else!
Here's the only downside of DIY. It takes a LOT of time. Since we had no help and no special equipment, everything we did took longer than it would a pro. We didn't cut any corners and did the best job we could at every step. Because we wern't too concerned about finishing the job and moving on to the next one, I'm convinced that we ended up with a better building than if we'd hired it out, despite our lack of experience.
How many hours, you ask? Let's see...
Barn1: 1260 square feet: ~500 hours.
Barn2: 1944 square feet: ~750 hours.
Shop: 2646 square feet: ~1000 hours.
Given that most people work (50 weeks x 40 hours/week = ) 2000 hours at their full time jobs in a year, those numbers are pretty ugly. The fact that my wife and I are both teachers and have the summers off really helps a lot. As you can see from the dates on the pictures of the web page above, with the exceptions of putting the poles in the ground and having the slab poured, all of the construction on my last building took place during the Summer. Building ourselves a workshop sounded like great fun. But after working 10-12 hour days, day after day, week after week in the blazing Texas heat, it eventually became WORK instead of FUN.
But it's done now and I'm pleased with the results and proud that we did it ourselves. Plus, there is no way we could have afforded to have somebody do the work for us (the downside of being a teacher /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif ).
If I haven't discouraged you so far, I say 'go for it'! You'll find lots of great help on this list when you need some advice!
Best of luck.
Mark
