Why post-frame beats a stick-built shed at this size
Once a building gets past shed size, the cost difference between post-frame and conventional construction stops being marginal and becomes the whole decision. A stick-built structure needs a continuous footing and foundation around its entire perimeter before any framing starts. A post-frame building carries its load on posts set at intervals, so the expensive part — the concrete in the ground — is a fraction of the volume.
That is also what allows the wide clear spans that make these buildings useful. Because the load runs through the posts and the trusses rather than through the walls, you can have a wide open floor with nothing standing in it. For anything you have to drive into, turn around in, or store on racking, that open floor is the entire point.
We build them open on all sides, closed on two or three, or fully enclosed with doors and windows. Around here they end up as equipment storage, a workshop, hay and implement cover, or a shop with a concrete floor and a roll-up door. The specification is worth thinking about carefully before we build, because adding walls to a structure that was not set out for them is far more work than including them from the start.
- Clear-span trusses. Open floor with no interior posts, ordered to the span the use actually needs.
- Open, partial or enclosed. Wall as much or as little as the job wants, with the framing set out for it from day one.
- Posts to depth in concrete. Set, plumbed, braced and backfilled properly — the part that determines whether it is still square in ten years.
- Metal roof and wall panel. Panel and trim in your color, closed off at eave and ridge so wind-driven rain and birds stay out.
- Doors sized to the machinery. Roll-up, sliding or framed openings sized around what is actually going through them, including a mirror-to-mirror measurement.
- Concrete when it earns it. Gravel for storage, slab for a workshop. We will tell you which one your use actually needs.
How we build a pole barn
Use, then size
The conversation starts with what goes in it, not with a square-foot number. A tractor with a loader on the front needs a very different door height from a mower; a workshop needs a slab and probably power; hay storage wants ventilation. Getting the use down on paper first is what stops a building being nearly right.
Siting and drainage
Where it goes is decided by access, by which way the ground falls, and by how you will actually drive in and out with a trailer. A barn on a low spot collects water off its own roof; a barn with a tight approach becomes a daily irritation. We work this out on site.
Posts and framing
Posts set in concrete to depth, plumbed and braced. Girts and purlins fixed out, then trusses set to the clear span and braced. This is the stage that decides whether the building stays square, so it is not the stage to hurry.
Roof, walls and openings
Metal panel on the roof, wall panel where the building is being closed in, and door openings framed and trimmed. Ridge and eave closures go in so the building is actually sealed rather than nominally covered.
Finish and hand over
Trim, clean-up and a walk round with you. Anything that needs adjusting gets adjusted before we leave.
Why homeowners choose us for this
Sized around the machinery
We ask what is going in and what is going through the door before we talk about square footage. Door height is the single most common thing people get wrong.
Open floor that stays open
Clear-span trusses rather than a post in the middle. If you have to drive in and turn around, that is the whole specification.
Planned for what it becomes
Most of these get walled in, powered or floored eventually. Telling us that now costs nothing and makes the later job simple.
The same crew as the house work
We roof, side and frame all week. A barn is not a different trade for us, which is why the trim and the roof detail get the same attention.
Pole Barn Questions
Almost everyone we build for wishes they had gone one bay bigger, and almost nobody wishes they had gone smaller. The marginal cost of extra span at the design stage is far lower than the cost of a second building later. Work out what you want to store now, then think about what you would store if the space existed — that second list is usually the honest answer.
Only if the use needs one. Equipment storage, hay and general cover work perfectly well on compacted gravel, which drains and costs a great deal less. A slab earns its money when it is a workshop, when you will be working under vehicles, or when you want to keep the space clean. You can also pour later if the posts were set with that in mind.
Yes, and it is worth telling us at the quote even if you have no plans to. Post spacing, girt layout and header heights can all be set now to make a later wall-in straightforward. Retrofitting walls to a frame that was never laid out for them is a much bigger job than doing it in the right order.
Wide enough for the uses people normally have — the limit is set by the trusses, and they are ordered to the span. What matters more in practice is telling us that the clear span is a requirement, because it changes what gets ordered. If you plan to drive in and turn around, say so at the start.
Yes. A shop specification usually means a slab, insulation where it is wanted, framed openings for a roll-up, and provision for power. Where licensed trades are required they are used. What you get from us is one scope and one price rather than four contractors to sequence yourself.
Generally yes at this size, and it varies by jurisdiction — unincorporated Whitfield County, the City of Dalton and the Tennessee side all differ. We will tell you what we understand the requirement to be for your site when we come out and quote it.