Pole Barn house building

[KB9UDE]

Anyone know approx material cost to labor cost ratio?

Example: I read somewhere if a building material cost was $10,000 then labor would be around $4,000... Does this sound correct? If it is it should be around 40%?????

 

[jusalooking]

I do know when we build are KC building it was more than that, but that was 7 or 8 yrs ago when everything was booming and eveyone was busy, We had them set the red iron then me and my wife did the rest, 2 yrs ago we had a new barn build and the labor was around 50% or maybe a little higher

 

[Redneck in training]

I have known a older couple who has lived in a Morton- House for yrs, the one thing to remember is to heat the floor, at least i would, We was going to build one are selfs but we got another place with a log home, The other thing as far as i think is the tin roof, I have a 40x60x14 KC building with a 24x20 office build on and when it is really raining you can,t hear yourself, I even have it insulated on the ceiling but it still gets loud,

We live in Morton and while heavy rain or heil is noticeable it is not loud. In fact, my wife is missing sound of rain when she sleeps. We used to live in a house with shingles and the roof was louder.

 

[cotter]

You have to consider deflection in long floor trusses. I think 1/300 is the accepted standard, 1" deflection for 300" spanned. Can you put up with over 1" deflection in the middle of your floor if left unsupported?

As mentioned before financing will be an issue, aside from the zoning nazis. Even finding someone willing to finance it, let alone get a good rate. I used Farm Credit Services for mine. The house only looks like a bank barn but it is full block foundation, stick built, has a gambrel roof, but the 'basement' is actually the garage. Their heads spun for days trying to come up with comps. My house value according to the bank is lower than the county tax value.

Look in to a 'cold roof' to cut down on condensation on the bottom side of the metal. The rain, as long as it is not a total down pour, is wonderful, puts you right to sleep.

Insulation: You can not beat either spray foam (expensive) or poly-styrene. Both have high R values per inch compared to fiberglass.

Chad

 

[Redneck in training]

The walls on our building are about 10 1/2 " thick so there is lot of room for insulation. Morton guarantees R value 19 but adding two air gaps and drywall the R value is most likely somewhat higher.

 

[ssnvme]

We are just getting started on our pole barn house. It would be fun to exchange comments. We are having the shell built at $18 per sq ft, then add concrete foundation with radiant heating in the concrete. That's the expensive part. But from all the reasearch we've done, the pole barn is the most economical and structurally sound way to go. We would like to have had a Morton Building, but they are too expensive and we are doing all of the interior ourselves, including walls 11" inside the exterior walls for heavy insulation for the far north. Good luck to you on yours.
:newhere

 

[Bigkrank]

I have 3 large Morton buildings and almost used them for a house I built last year. My oldest Morton was put up in 1981 and most recent 2005. They ended up being cheaper in the long run than the bargain pole barns. You can rub your hand up and down any of my buildings and have it show no paint, do that to any other cheaper competitors building near me even less than two years old and your hand will be the color of the building. Many other differences if you know where to look.

 

[Redneck in training]

We are just getting started on our pole barn house. It would be fun to exchange comments. We are having the shell built at $18 per sq ft, then add concrete foundation with radiant heating in the concrete. That's the expensive part. But from all the reasearch we've done, the pole barn is the most economical and structurally sound way to go. We would like to have had a Morton Building, but they are too expensive and we are doing all of the interior ourselves, including walls 11" inside the exterior walls for heavy insulation for the far north. Good luck to you on yours.
:newhere

18.sqft is not much cheaper than Morton. Floor insulation is about 1/sqft and concrete is about 3.50-4.00/sqft. That is about 22.50/sqft. We have Morton Buildings shop under construction with insulated floor, ceiling and walls, fully finished inside, for about 26/sqft. The price includes site preparation and 50 tons of crushed limestone under the concrete.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

We are just getting started on our pole barn house. It would be fun to exchange comments. We are having the shell built at $18 per sq ft, then add concrete foundation with radiant heating in the concrete. That's the expensive part. But from all the reasearch we've done, the pole barn is the most economical and structurally sound way to go. We would like to have had a Morton Building, but they are too expensive and we are doing all of the interior ourselves, including walls 11" inside the exterior walls for heavy insulation for the far north. Good luck to you on yours.
:newhere

You haven't even scratched the surface of expensive. By the time you install doors, windows, interior partitions, wall and ceiling finish, floor finish, wiring, plumbing and HVAC, you will find that building a pole house didn't save you much money, and cost you resale value.

 

[Redneck in training]

You haven't even scratched the surface of expensive. By the time you install doors, windows, interior partitions, wall and ceiling finish, floor finish, wiring, plumbing and HVAC, you will find that building a pole house didn't save you much money, and cost you resale value.

It is true that the building "shell" is way less than 50% of the total cost.

In the area we live cost per sqft of standard house was about $110/sqft and up in 2004. We built our house for about 85-95 sqft. We splurged on silestone counter tops, marble tiled bathrooms, maple or ceramic tile floors, upper end appliances, geothermal floor heating and 5 car garage. The cost includes about $5000 for quarter mile long driveway, 11500 for pond and $12000 septic. Our previous house was stick built nevertheless it was different than houses around. We were also warned about low resell value. When we decided to built on our land we put our house on the market and it sold for asking price two weeks later forcing us to live all summer, while finishing our current house, in the garage. Just to get some perspective we looked at houses for sale in the trendy posh area of the city (150 to 180 per sqft I am guessing). They were "loaded with features" such as breakfast room, formal dining, den etc. (Those are code names for "useless" IMHO). Our experience teaches us that life and our parties happen in the kitchen. Therefore none of houses we built was loaded by "features" but the focal point of the house was big kitchen opened to a big living room. Before we built our first house we were invited to many parties with friends and it always happened in the kitchen. Based on the observation our houses had "live and party in kitchen".

My conclusion is that there is a buyer for every house. People buy house for different reasons. Some like "features" and some want practical livable house.
It doesn't matter if the house looks like a barn or McMansion.

Another note: When we were building our house the "shell" with all perimeter windows and doors fully insulated, reinforced concrete slab was $35/sqft.
We are building another Morton building with similar parameters but the cost is $25/sqft.

The advantage of pole barn is that you can do a lot of work by yourself. At least in the area we live. We saved estimated 60 to 80K by our own work. My wife pulled all the wires, I did plumbing, we installed HVAC, laid floors, installed all internal insulation etc together.