Welcome to Ask the Pole Barn Guru – where you can ask questions about building topics, with answers posted on Mondays. With many questions to answer, please be patient to watch for yours to come up on a future Monday segment. If you want a quick answer, please be sure to answer with a “reply-able” email address.
Email all questions to: PoleBarnGuru@HansenPoleBuildings.com
DEAR POLE BARN GURU: I am considering building a pole barn house and wont have much time do to my job to do any of the work myself. We have looked in to buying a modular home but prices are rather high and my property taxes would be high as well im afraid. With this in mind what would my benefits be to going with a pole barn house? And how would I go about finding a reputable contractor to do the job right and in a timely manner? I already own the Land and the Electric / Septic is completed just has to be ran to the house. Thanks PERPLEXED IN PITTSFIELD
DEAR PERPLEXED: There are numerous benefits of post frame construction for residential purposes. Cost is going to be one – the savings in foundation costs alone will be huge. This blog article may prove helpful: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/blog/2011/10/buildings-why-not-stick-frame-construction/
As to finding a reputable contractor who will do the job right and in a timely fashion – there are three factors involved in a contractor – price, service and quality. You are going to get only two of these, at the most, so (in my mind) you have picked the best two: service and quality. My blog articles cover many aspects of hiring a contractor, this one may be especially appropriate:
https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/blog/2013/07/contractor-6/
DEAR POLE BARN GURU: I am placing my poles for a pole barn and want to know what would be the best spacing on center for my poles. I am going to purchase horse stall kits through you and need to know what spacing to place my poles at to accommodate your horse stall and paddock kits. I would like flexability to have 12 by 12 stalls or 12 by 24 stalls. CORRALLED IN CALIFORNIA
DEAR CORRALLED: Overall dimensions should be a multiple of 12′ from outside of column, to outside of column. You have chosen the ideal size for stalls. Anything smaller means you’d be cleaning those stalls twice a day, instead of once a day.
Along the length and width, columns should measure 12′ from building line to center of first column, then 12′ on center for subsequent columns.
My husband and I have been building Pole Barns for the last 27 years. The last five years we have been building Pole Barn Houses. They look like a Pole Barn on the Outside, but the inside looks like a regular house but better. The heating and cooling is great, the cost of the homes are great, and the owners of these homes love them.
Thank you for checking in from the great state of Missouri! I agree totally with you – pole barn homes are great.
Thanks for explaining that we should prioritize service and quality when choosing a contractor to build our pole barn. My husband and I just bought a plot of land and really like the idea of having a pole barn constructed. I’m glad I read your article because I feel a lot more prepared to find a contractor now that I know what qualities to look for.
As you are post frame contractors, I am surprised you would not just assemble it yourself.
It really helped when you talked about pole barn houses and how they could save us a lot of money. The other day, my wife and I toyed with the idea of building our own house, so we’d like to create a budget for it. We’d like to explore our home design options and make a choice this week, so we’ll keep in mind pole barn homes. Thanks for the information on how a pole barn home’s foundation costs less than a traditional house.