I have a daughter about to move to Huntsville to go to Sam. Thinking about buying a spot for her instead of renting. There are plenty of cheap lots out there on the far side of Huntsville an easy drive into the campus.

Having never even been in a Barndo, about how much is it to have one "move in ready". Say 1200ish SF, simple layout, nothing fancy?

Are you planning to build? I don't see many for sale.

We finance barndo construction and it seems any cost savings is really labor on the framing since it takes a week rather than a month or whatever it might take if it were traditional construction.

In the B-CS area, it was very difficult to find a property that would allow the construction of a barndo. Be sure and check for any deed restrictions that require a minimum square footage or a higher percentage of masonry siding.

That surprises me. We have a couple of >$1MM barndominiums going in restricted acreage subdivisions.

I know there are some subdivisions. like Millican Reserve, which actually encourage the Barndo/Farm House look. But for a person looking to build something in the 1250-2000 SqFt range, they are probably not working with a $1MM budget.

I'm sure he's looking at unrestricted.

I think a lot of people are surprised to find out you can't build a barndo for $100/SF.

jja79 said:

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I'm sure he's looking at unrestricted.

I think a lot of people are surprised to find out you can't build a barndo for $100/SF.

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This is what I'm looking for, Clearly all the bait ads out there are advertising that you can build a "barndo" for 50-60 a sqft, but what you are getting is a metal building with no slab and no insulation or plumbing for that cost. lol


I'm more curious (because it's not clearly advertised anywhere) is what it cost per sqft for a move-in ready structure.



If it's not an advantage on a smaller place I might as well go traditional stick built for a 1000-1200 sgft builder quality home. This would have some advantages in that It would be easier to rent or sell after she's out of school.

Bill Robbins said:

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In the B-CS area, it was very difficult to find a property that would allow the construction of a barndo. Be sure and check for any deed restrictions that require a minimum square footage or a higher percentage of masonry siding.

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Looking in Huntsville. Probably on the East side. Property gets cheap out there and it can still be under 20 minutes to campus.

My daughter is a senior at Sam. If I had to do it over again, we would have bought a place on Lake Livingston and have her drive the 20 minutes to campus.

I've got multiple friends in the process of building barndos. For the prices I'm hearing them discuss they're pretty close to what I had bid for a traditional frame house per square foot.

It sounds to me like the days of beating the system and building it cheap and getting appraisal districts to valve them cheaply are over

When we first started financing barndominium construction several years ago most people I talked to were doing something like this.

4,000 SF metal building on slab with a 1,000 SF efficiency living area, overhead doors for storing an RV, boat, etc and maybe 220 to use a welder.

Now most I talk to are building 6,000 SF metal building with 4,000 SF with 2,000 SF covered outdoor areas with full kitchen, pizza oven, fireplace and a separate building for cars.

The way people were doing it definitely could save money but most barndos are big, custom, luxury, expensive homes now.

That does seem to be the trend.

I'd like to see a 1500sqft building with an 800 sqft 2/2 so she could have a room mate, and they could use the 700 sqft open shop as an art studio since she's an art major.

From what I've seen online, $125-150 a sq ft for living area. And $50 a sq foot for shop/porches.

If anyone has been guidance…please share!

I started with the Barndo method, but due to the need for customized sizes, I wasn't going to save anything. The savings (this was last year) was in getting the pre-cut standard lengths.

Do you have plans for it?