Morton Building worth the $?

[NJJohn]

I am looking into having a 30' X 50' pole barn erected. I have gotten a quote from morton, with a 6' porch along the front side, 10' x 12' door, windows and walk in door, fully insulated and metal finished interior on a 4" slab, 44 and change.
This is the building I want, but was hoping for 10 grand less. I'm getting quotes from a few other 'local' builders, but they can't even get the specs right on the quote.
Is Morton worth the extra money, or am I just buying the name? I don't want to go with a cheaper quote only to find out that it's an inferior building.
Are there any other alternatives? I have one too many projects going on to tackle it myself.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

You can go to some local lumber yards and ask them about it, most any lumber yard can run you a price on the barn but they can also recommend a contractor to get a hold of that they deem trustworthy which is a good factor to go by. Morton's does build a lot of barns and they are good at it since that is all they do but it is hard to get $10k below that price unless you delete a few features like finishing the interior will help. From the adds I have seen Mortons run they are very competitive with their pricing and you may be able to get a better deal from a good contractor and lumber yard on this size barn if you work with them but you probally will only save a few hundred to $1k at the most. Good luck and have fun.

 

[cowboydoc]

Are you talking 44k??? If so that is crazy. I built a 45x65 fully insulated, fully lined, 6" concrete, windows, 12x12' garage door opened and 16x7 garage door opened, heater, etc. for only 16k! You can't beat the quality on this thing. The steel on it is second to none and is the heaviest gauge on the market. If you want I'll get you pics of it. I can't imagine almost 30k just for labor.

 

[cowboydoc]

BTW I don't even have that much in an 86x120 building that I put up. This building has a 15' leanto as well and an office and tack room with full plumbing, shower, toilets, hot water, etc. in a room that is 20x36 that has concrete floor, central air and heat, etc. This includes modular stalls, 14' high, two 14x14 doors, etc.

 

[MikePA]

Does the 44K include everything, e.g., electric, phone, plumbing, finish work? That works out to about $29/sq ft.

Back in '91 we had a Bonanza (they've been bought out by someone since then) pole barn built and paid $23/sq ft, but that price included everything except the horses /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif, e.g., excavating the area, water and phone (both run 300 ' from our house), paved drive, new electric service, finished tack room (which I did), 2 twelve foot sliding doors, door for humans, 6 foot wide porch in the front, 3 complete stalls with exterior dutch doors, etc.

 

[s1120]

Thanks all you guys for chimeing in. I almost fell off my chair when I read 44k! I am planing a 30x40 building, and I did not think it would be anywhere NEAR that. I thought 10 to 15k. I hope I am right, or I will never get this building.

 

[s1120]

<font color=red>I built a 45x65 fully insulated, fully lined, 6" concrete, windows, 12x12' garage door opened and 16x7 garage door opened, heater, etc. for only 16k! </font color=red>

Is that concrete block? If so did you do it your self? I have been thinking of also going this route. Is it doable by myself?

 

[cowboydoc]

No that's just a 6" poured floor. I will get you some pics of it so you can see. I did do it myself.

 

[forestcreature]

be sure to check out any warranties also.
my dad has a morton, and it is by far the best building i have seen constructed.
you will need to compare each feature price, very few people offer acoustic deadening metal interiors for instance.
there is no finer building than morton, but not everyone needs the finest building to be good enough for their purpose either.

 

[SteveBenson]

I think you'll find that the pricing on Morton buildings varies significantly depending on which region of the country you live in, how much local competition there is, and how expensive labor is in your area. I live and Connecticut and that quote you got sounds very typical for Southern New england. I recently built a 34x48x10 pole barn w' steel siding and 1' overhangs all around. I got a quote from Lester (which in our area is competitive with Morton) for 27k for the shell w/ two sliders. No site work, windows, insulation, floor, interior finish, just the shell. There are no other pole barn builders in southern New England, Morton and Lester, that's it. These prices made me sick, especially when looking in Lancaster Farming and seeing similar barns w/ extras like entry doors and insulation going for 11 or 12k, erected. It's all about competition (there's plenty of that in PA). I decided to buy a kit from Carter Lumber in PA and have all the material shipped to CT for $400. The Shell cost me about 8k and included entry door and 2 double sliders. I bought some cheap windows at home depot. I couldn't be happier with the way it turned out and would do it again in a second to save 20 grand. The next will be a breeze now that I kinda know what I'm doing (enough to be dangorous anyways).

 

[BB_TX]

I put up a 30'x40' building 2 yrs ago. I also got a quote from Morton. They quoted about $26K for what I wanted. Instead, I bought a prefab building from Mueller Steel Buildings. 30'x40'x10', 4-12 pitch roof, gutters, 2' overhanging eaves all around, fully insulated, 2 10'x10' doors, 1 walk in door, 3 windows for a little over $9K. Had a contractor pour a good slab with substantial beams around the perimeter and crisscrossing the middle. The building came as a kit. All the structural members bolt together. Had help with those and the roof panels. Otherwise I did it all myself. Plumbed in a bathroom. Did all the wiring myself. All told it came out to about $18K.
I looked at some Mortons and they looked great. But hey, that extra $8K could buy a lot of toys.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

The 30x40 we just built for a customer had 12' ceilings and 1' overhangs all around and two 10'x10' overhead doors and one 6'x6' overhead door for the upstairs room and one entrance door for around $16k We used attic trusses that put a 14'Wx40'Lx7'H room upstairs that can be used for storage or a nice den for him to get away to. The barn also had 5- 3'x4' windows. We didn't pour any floor yet or add electric or water as he wanted to wait till later this year. I would discourage against attic trusses as for the extra cost of them and the size of the room you can add an extra 20 feet on to the building and not have any stairs to worry about for about the same and probally less when you consider labor as it is more difficult working with attic trusses and they cost a ton more than a standard truss. You also have to space attic trusses every 2' where as a standard truss is spaced 4' so you use less trusses and they cost less as well.

 

[NJJohn]

The $44k was just for the building. No site work, No stone, No electric, No plumbing, just a building insulated and finished on the interior with steel panels. I'll be over 50 grand, easy, before I'm done. I would like to see your pictures cowboydoc, what did you finish your exterior with? Did you start with a kit?

I don't want to go with a steel building because its going to be at the front of the property near the house, and want to have a lean-to and just have it look "suburban". The steel buildings I've seen look like steel buildings.

I don't mind spending the money and having a quality building, but I just feel it's a little overpriced. I don't want to save 10 or 20 thou, just to have an inferior building or problems down the road. I'm looking at it as an investment for many years of use. I hope to be using it 20 to 30 years down the road.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

What material are they using for the building? Are you going with a painted steel exterior or what material?

 

[NJJohn]

Yes, its just their standard painted steel. If I delete the insulation and steel interior finishing, it'll save me ten grand. The insulation is something I don't want to cut.
I got another quote from a Pa builder, 28 and change, same specs, no insulation or interior finishing.

 

[PaulinSD]

Try <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.clearybuilding.com>Cleary</A> for a less expensive Morton type building. My quote was about a third less for the same quality.

Paul

 

[StoneHeartFarm]

Paul

My 30x40 w/10' sidewalls, Slab, 2-9x10 wayne dalton commercial grade doors, T-1-11 siding, shingled roof is going to end up being about 14k. I had the site work, rough framing, trusses and roofing put on. The siding and doors I will install myself. By the time I add electric and some kind of simple heat, I'll probably add another 1k.

So, good news, your guess wasn't that far off, unless you want to do the basic framing yourself, then you can save a couple of k. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

SHF

 

[s1120]

Ok, I am happy now./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif Nice to know its not a pipe dream.

 

[StoneHeartFarm]

Naw, it's not a pipe dream, but for over 40k you get a barn and a TRACTOR to lift the trusses in place with /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif.

SHF

 

[BobinCols]

Your statement about the "local builders" not getting the quote and details correct brought back memories. I got quotes from 5-6 companies (all given the same specs) and only two correctly quoted what I asked for. The others quotes were a lot cheaper but they were not what I wanted.
Need less to say I went with one of the two that quoted what I wanted and got a fine 30x44 building. Morton makes a fine building but they were not in my price range. Good luck.