Morton Building worth the $?

BB_TX · Jan 29, 2002

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 · Jan 29, 2002

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 · Jan 29, 2002

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 · Jan 29, 2002

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

NJJohn · Jan 29, 2002

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 · Jan 29, 2002

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 · Jan 29, 2002

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 · Jan 29, 2002

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

StoneHeartFarm · Jan 29, 2002

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 · Jan 29, 2002

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.