Barn / Garage / Shop -How did you select size?

[johnjk]

Getting to the point where I'm starting my research on putting in a barn/garage/shop but I've got questions. When you build a house, you can go to a builder and walk the models. Haven't found that yet with a pole barn company or any other out building company.

I'd really like to see the construction and walk a few different sizes to see what fits my need. My questions to you all are:

How did you determine the size you went with? Cost, location where building, etc?

Did you find a builder that has two or three different styles/sizes set up that you can walk through?

Are name brand builders better than smaller locals? i.e, Morton, vs Midwestern

I'd be willing to drive a few hours to check some out.

Lots of these places websites are pretty vague, i.e. call for a quote. Heck, I don't know what I really need so how is a quote gonna help? One thing I am sure of is a 12' door and 14' ceilings so I don't have to put my ROPS down and if I go bigger, I can get the new tractor in.

I'm thinking I'm gonna need to build a few scale models out of cardboard or something to wrap my head around 20x30 vs 24x36 vs 30/40 or larger.

 

[ehenry]

Build as big footprint wise as you can afford and as tall as you deem fit and of course as the code in your area will allow.

Believe me you'll fill it up in time and want more space.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

ALWAYS too small....
OK, my shop is 40x72, 14' ceilings,built in 1961 with trusses 12' OC,studs 24"OC. STILL straight, true ,plumb...
I ADDED a mezzanine to 1/2 of it.....should have gone 100%,sigh. Though it's other freeloaders stuff so maybe that wasn't a good idea.
Building a model, even just using 1/4 squar paper is crucial ! On paper you can easily move differnet sized shops about, to consider space to house, shed, property lines, tree lines, trenches for hydro,water, cable TV...
If you can get a wall south facing, you'll get light and heat for free.
Plan on building a 'carport' on at least one side..good for wood storage or new tractor( cause shop WILL be full of freeloaders stuff....
Run electrical in conduit outside of the wall cavity ! Insulate, sheath THEN run conduit. It's easier and cheaper in the long run. Makes for a 'tight' building and easy to 'reconfigure' or add more hydro later...

 

[NHSleddog]

Bigger.

Go as big as you can afford and then add another 4'.

I just helped a buddy with a 35x55 barn with 14' ceilings. I had him make up a bunch of cardboard cut-outs of all the gear - lifts, machines etc. Every major component he has. It was a lot of fun. Put 20 objects on the footprint and the options were endless.

Are you a mechanic? Do you do a lot of mechanical work? In his case, he does, so we put all the tools close to the front of the shop to half the amount of walking in/out for tools. A mistake I made in my shop, all the tools are far from the door.

Do you plan to have a lift? The further back in the shop you put it, the more stuff you have to move to get to it, or the more wasted space in front of it. We put his diagonally off to the side right in the front, easy in and easy out.

+10 on the overhang off the eve. Go as far as you can. Most areas tax on the sq ft, not the overhang.

Water electric and internet. If possible put it in a location so you can feed it without costing all day. My buddies barn, 400' from the road was 11K to get power to it, if it was within 100' it would have been free. He figured it added 20K to the job. Doing it over, he would have put it closer to the road.

I could come up with a bunch of other items based on our lists if you provided more information on how you intend to use it.

One of my favorite shop building channels,
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWXEQsK3UiHszjwgGN5HUeQ
They have built a lot of shops.

 

[dochsml]

'I should have built a smaller barn' goes right up there with 'Maybe I should've gotten the smaller tractor' as things that nobody has ever said......

 

[johnjk]

Bigger.

Go as big as you can afford and then add another 4'.

I just helped a buddy with a 35x55 barn with 14' ceilings. I had him make up a bunch of cardboard cut-outs of all the gear - lifts, machines etc. Every major component he has. It was a lot of fun. Put 20 objects on the footprint and the options were endless.

Are you a mechanic? Do you do a lot of mechanical work? In his case, he does, so we put all the tools close to the front of the shop to half the amount of walking in/out for tools. A mistake I made in my shop, all the tools are far from the door.

Do you plan to have a lift? The further back in the shop you put it, the more stuff you have to move to get to it, or the more wasted space in front of it. We put his diagonally off to the side right in the front, easy in and easy out.

+10 on the overhang off the eve. Go as far as you can. Most areas tax on the sq ft, not the overhang.

Water electric and internet. If possible put it in a location so you can feed it without costing all day. My buddies barn, 400' from the road was 11K to get power to it, if it was within 100' it would have been free. He figured it added 20K to the job. Doing it over, he would have put it closer to the road.

I could come up with a bunch of other items based on our lists if you provided more information on how you intend to use it.

One of my favorite shop building channels,
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWXEQsK3UiHszjwgGN5HUeQ
They have built a lot of shops.

The fear of going too small is real. Where I live and since I am a "farm" I do not have to pull any permits which is a good/bad thing. I just have to stay 50' off the property line. Power is within 300' and on my property. I need to call the power co-op and see what they charge to get it to the building. Thought about coming off the house, but that would be longer and more costly. New meter is at a minimum 5.00/mo.

What goes in? B3200, Polaris quad, log splitter, garden tractor, four of those steel shelving units 24x48 each. Three roller carts of tools, work bench, air compressor (upright) a couple storage cabinets. Can't forget the box blade, scraper blade and the brush hog. I want a covered area for firewood and possible vehicle parking. I am looking to pick up a 4' disk this spring for yard/garden work as well.

Future state, I'd like to get a 2 post lift for car maintenance. I'll have the concrete floor poured at 5" min to handle this. I'd like to dabble in wood working as well. Wife is hinting now she wants t build on a chicken coup for layers to my building. Told her only if I get a couple cows to go with it. Did not think at all about plumbing it for water. Did think about solar panels and a few batteries but for the cost, it may be more reliable to just have a panel and meter put in.

I can feel my wallet crying already

 

[SidecarFlip]

I had mine built to house my RV and pickup plus the tractors if I have to work on them. It's heated and air conditioned as well plus it has 220 3 phase power. All concrete floors (have to have that for the machine tools anyway.

It wasn't cheap, actually cost more than I paid for the entire farm. I'd say close to 120 grand in the building alone.

 

[Tarmy]

I got a flat area...parked the boats, tractor, truck in the way that I wanted them...then laid out a shop area next to them...figured out garage door placement...bathroom...

32’x56’...

 

[NHSleddog]

The fear of going too small is real....

... I can feel my wallet crying already

I can tell you my buddy was dead set on 20x40. After a scale cardboard "shop" and all the gear, it ended up 35x55 and it is almost full.

When we cut out all the gear, we added the room needed to use whatever it was, like the tire machines - they need room around them, the milling machine needs room for the full travels etc.

If you have a high ceiling you can "stack" your implements on a rugged shelf on pallets. that will save a lot of space.

 

[NHSleddog]

I got a flat area...parked the boats, tractor, truck in the way that I wanted them...then laid out a shop area next to them...figured out garage door placement...bathroom...

32’x56’...

View attachment 47533

That is a beautiful looking job.

 

[NHSleddog]

Here is a shot of it the day we did the trusses.



I am going over this week to see him, I will get another picture.

He went with a metal roof and vertical "burnt barn board" for the siding. It looks really good.

He had the metal guy spit out the metal for his ceiling at the same time, similar to how RR does it.

 

[johnjk]

I got a flat area...parked the boats, tractor, truck in the way that I wanted them...then laid out a shop area next to them...figured out garage door placement...bathroom...

32’x56’...

View attachment 47533

Damn son, I'd live in there 24x7

 

[johnjk]

Here is a shot of it the day we did the trusses.

View attachment 47534

I am going over this week to see him, I will get another picture.

He went with a metal roof and vertical "burnt barn board" for the siding. It looks really good.

He had the metal guy spit out the metal for his ceiling at the same time, similar to how RR does it.

I really appreciate the feedback here. A lot of nice shops here. I think I'll sit down this week and work up some footprints. Wife will think I'm nuts playing with toys again

 

[NWAZL3560]

The property I purchased has a 36 x 60 steel garage, two 10x10 doors. Two vehicles end to end fill up 1/4, my Grand L3560 with loader and backhoe fill up 1/4, the tractor implements and some building supplies fill up 1/8, a work area fills up 1/8, storage shelves for tools, parts and hardware fill up 1/8, and a future man cave with bathroom will fill up the remaining 1/8. If I were to build one I'd have at least 12 ft doors, and 14 ft doors are needed for some RVs. Very easy to fill it up! These photos are before I filled it up but they'll give you an idea.

 

[Tarmy]

Damn son, I'd live in there 24x7

Sometimes I do!





Has a full bath and all the fixings’...

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Sometimes I do!

View attachment 47548

View attachment 47549

Has a full bath and all the fixings’...

Show off!

 

[skeets]

I built mine 30x40, figuring it should be big enough to do what I wanted, and what I found out it is just about the right size for everybody else's crap, and Im right back to the 20x20 old wooden garage

 

[vic gerbasi]

they are NEVER TOO BIG

 

[johnjk]

All these photo's have raised another question. Pole barn, conventional stick build building or steel building? Pro's Con's, price difference? I'm seeing footers for some pole barns and others with the poles right down in the soil. The preservatives would probably prevent rot in my lifetime but on average, posts in soil last around what, 20-30yrs in the Midwest? Another question is on wind / snow load. Steeper pitch roof can solve the snow issue but is any one construction type better when it comes to standing up to wind?

 

[rokhunter]

I'm going with a 30x40x12 enclosed pole barn because it's what I can afford. My desire was enough length (30') to pull my truck in, close the door, and work on it. I went to 40' wide because I don't want a perfect square, and again budget kept me from going larger. I plan to park the tractor (BX23S, implements, couple ATVs and a small John boat, and have a workbench and couple woodworking tools. I know it's not large enough to hold everything/do everything I want, but it'll do the things I need.

I was quoted around 47k by Morton for that size in the Florida panhandle (building codes make things expensive here) and really wanted that, especially after the local sales guy took me to another one of their buildings in the area - absolutely top-notch construction. I ended up settling on a local truss/barn builder who was very, very highly rated on Facebook/Google/couple others, and they're doing it for 27k.

When you're pricing, remember to include costs for electrical (bigger=more), and insulation if you want it. I plan for spray foam in mine, and am expecting around 5-6k for that alone.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk