Morton or Mueller for a farm hone in North Texas

[TxMN]

Exploring either Morton or Mueller for our home on the farm. Farm is not in incorporated area, so none of the code requirements we experience some years back. I know their designs are not the same, and I believe Morton痴 metal is much thicker gauge. Home will likely be around 3000 sq ft, single story, as simple roof design as possible, and likely to do a detached garage. Property has nice shop with 3 double roll up doors, equipment open covered area on back side, 3 stall nice horse barn, and medium size hay barn, all metal buildings, finished out with water, electric.

Seems metal prices are outrageous, as are most building materials. Do like Morton has their own crews for basic building construction, I imagine they use local subs for other trades if you use them for turn key project. In our area residential, apartments, and commercial building is crazy, pushing many like us farther north to attempt to escape population explosion. We are in northern Denton County, TX
Planning to talk with Mueller in Sherman and Morton in McKinnet if anyone has experience with either. Thanks for input and ideas.

 

[Peter 315]

I have a Morton built barn no problems with it. sales and install crew was also great ........

 

[ovrszd]

Following this thread to see your progress!!!

Friend of mine is wanting to build an all weather shop 40x60. He said the material costs for a wooden building versus all steel is 40% higher. Lumber prices have gone crazy this year.

Good luck with your search. Hopefully you'll keep this thread updated.

 

[EddieWalker]

I've been working with Mueller with excellent results for the last dozen years or so. I have no first hand experience with Morton. From what I understand, Morton is a barn type building that has their own crews and design team. You go to them, tell them what you want, and they make it happen. They use wood posts, wood framing and wood trusses, then cover it all in metal. Mueller is a metal manufacturer that supplies everything you need to build an all metal building, or you can buy what you need from them for a wood building. They have sales guys that will walk you through with what you need after looking at your plans, but I do not believe they will draw up a set of plans for you. They also sell kits that have been engineered for certain windloads that include plans that can be submitted in areas where there is Code and you need a Permit. While similar, they are night and day different.

Metal panels are sold by the type of panel you want, and the gauge that you want. I can't say that one has a thicker metal then the other since I believe Morton has access to any gauge metal available, and Mueller makes there own panels in all gauges available. Something that Mueller is sort of thought highly of is their in house coatings. They manufacture everything that they sell, which allows them to make it to the very best standards. I'm not sure where Mueller gets their metal from, or if they manufacture it themselves too?

With either company, you tell them what gauge metal you want, and then pay the higher price for the thicker metal.

Withe Mueller, you also tell them how long to cut each piece. They will cut each piece to the inch, so if you need a dozen R panels that are 15 ft 8 inches, and two dozen that are 13 ft 4 inches, and just one that is 18 ft 2 inches, that's what you will get. The price their panels by the foot, so you just pay for what you need.

Are you building this or are you looking for a crew?

Since this is a farm house, and you will be finishing off the inside of the building with sheetrock, or something else, I would look more closely at stick framing it and then covering it in metal if that's the look you want. If you go with a Morton pole barn building, you will still have to buy all the lumber to finish off the walls. If you go with a Mueller metal building, you will still have to buy all the lumber to finish off the walls. Since the building has not been built yet, it is far cheaper to pour the slab, stick frame the walls, and cover it in metal to get the same look as a pole or metal building. If a pole or metal building already exists, it's easy to convert it into a living structure, but never cost effective to build it first, and then convert it into a living structure.

 

[TxMN]

I have reached out to Mueller, their Sherman office is about an hour away. Have not gotten a response to my inquiry. I put together one of their greenhouses a few years ago, hail storm that did extensive damage to our home, insurance adjuster said he had never seen ant greenhouse survive a storm that bad, but theirs totally was unharmed. I talked to Morton also a few years ago, until we determined the local regulations, living in the city limits of a small town, would not allow the style building I was wanting. Now 4 years later we are set to close on 30 acres with barns in places fenced, and a prepared home site ready, not in an incorporated area, so no restrictions on what we can build, as far as I know so far.
I wanted a turn key quote for a 3000 sq ft home, with foundation, exterior, and everything dried in, with my GC to complete interior, mechanicals, and remainder. At this time I have a couple of builders I am considering, neither of which know our general plan and I do not have drawings yet for any floor plans. So, yet to be seen what we wind up doing, we currently live about 25 minutes from place, so I can go out as often as I need/want, their is a nice insulated shop with 3 double roll ups and back side is covered shed area for implements, and whatever. Anxious to get going, have been retired 4 years, about to go crazy , anxious to get back on some acerage and get busy making out last stop project and dream home, we hope.

 

[Macinnis]

I had a 60x60 Morton barn put up this year. Everything was great, from the sales guy to the crew. I was super impressed with the materials and their attention to detail, not to mention the warranty.

 

[fried1765]

I have a Morton that is now 36 years old.
Building is relatively close to salt water, but still in excellent condition.
Best contractor experience I have ever had was with Morton!

 

[ovrszd]

When Morton unloads the building materials they are cut to specifications. Lumber and metal. Simplifies the process.

 

[jaxs]

Morton and Mueller are both good outfits. Mueller has more resources and expertise when it come's to residental,retail,church type buildings. Two best companies in your area is Jason Garner and Rafter P. Rafter P is putting the finishing touches on a showroom in Decatur for the type project you are planning.

 

[WM75Guy]

We had Morton build our stables and I highly recommend them. The Morton salesperson recommended I sub out the plumbing, electrical, septic, and HVAC myself to save money. Otherwise they would have used the companies I recommended and tacked on 20% to the cost. I appreciated his honesty. The crew foreman was great and worked with my subs on scheduling so there was no delays.

The Morton crew out of Waco was the most professional I have ever seen and I saw a lot as a fire marshal/building inspector for 22 years. They cleaned up the site every day, even using a roller magnet to pick up loose nails or bits of metal in the dirt that could have found its way into a horse hoof. No excessively loud music or bad language. They added 2"X8" supports for the lights so the electrician didn't have to do it. They used chains and boomers strung across side to side and top to bottom so the building was absolutely square before they put on the insulation and metal. We were building the house at the same time so there was already a porto-potty on site but they supplied their own so as to not inconvenience the other crews.

Ten years later we had Morton come back to change out 2 windows to full Dutch doors. The foreman was the same one that built it. While they were there they adjusted all the sliding doors and checked for anything that needed to be fixed, such as loose metal, without even asking.

We have never had a horse injured as a result the building construction. We have never had to do any repairs to the building other than normal maintenance such as light bulbs or HVAC work that we had subbed out to a local contractor.