Hello Homestead farm and garden subforum! I have been away for a while busy with life and I feel as I have not been able to check as frequently as I once was.

I am posting a question here over the DIY subforum because I feel as a post frame would relate more to the homestead and farm members.

This spring I am planning on building a garage/shop on my property has anyone here built their own pole barn?

I am planing on building a 30x40x14 built on top of a monolithic concrete slab that should be enough for all my lawn and garden equipment, our vehicles. and most important my tools!!!!!!!!!

so if anyone here has built their own shed what are some tips or tricks to maybe help me along he way ? I have already checked out garage journal but I feel like its blasphemy when you say your building post frame over stick built. I hope to post updates with my progress but right now I am still in the planning stage and hoping to start once some debt is paid off.

Depending on what part of Iowa you live in, you may want to check with the Amish pole builders.  You buy the materials and they provide the labor quite reasonably.  The best part is, its finished in a few days!

 You can get the supplies from the Amish for a good price up in Southwest Wisconsin. Near Eastman, IIRC. Building one isn't the hardest thing to do. As kids we helped Dad rebuild his after a fire. I will suggest you put up stub walls about 3 feet high of concrete.

I am in NE Iowa, I already contacted some of the local Mennonites and they gave me quote for complete building, maybe once I get the ball rolling I may call them and have them build my kit, otherwise I wanted to do as much as I could on my own to save some money which could be used for interior finishing, or heat. I will have to hire the concrete work as 1 I dont know enough about it to do myself. and 2 i dont have enough friends that would be willing to help.

I would do stub walls if I was stick building, I have contacted a few local lumber yards to get quotes and designs for my building. yet I have not had one get back to me.... well one wanted details of what I wanted then that was last I heard from them. all the post frame places have gotten back to me. I was planning on a menards kit as it was right around 10k for what I wanted, I was hoping that buying from local lumberyard would have saved me some money.

I assume you plan to insulate and heat it?

Metal sided?

I have a 30x40. It's great although I wish I had 40x60. I can do everything I want to inside it though.

Insulate under the slab even if you don't put hot water coils in the concrete. I didn't and, while it works fine without it, it tends to stay right at or a little below the soil temps for this area (55* or so in the winter).  If I had insulated beneath the slab I think the shop building would stay a little warmer with the heat I put into it. I have an 80k btu vented propane heater and it easily heats the shop to whatever I want it to be though. Your climate is colder though and I'm sure your soil temp is lower.

Before you put the metal on, cover the exterior purlins with 1 inch rigid foam and then screw the metal over it. That gives you some r value before you even start framing and insulating it. Totally worth the extra expense ESPECIALLY for your climate. Most places will try to sell you that double bubble foil. Don't bother. Just use the foam sheets. You can get foam sheets that are specifically for this purpose. They come in 18 ft lengths for quick installation.

Yes metal siding 36" wainscoting 1- 16x8 garage door 1 12x12 garage door. one 36" service door

Yes I plan to insulate and heat it at some point- if the budget allows I will do it right away if not it may have to wait a year or so.
the plan was when the wife and I moved into the house put up a 40x60x16 so I could at least pull a full size 4x4 tractor into.... but life had other plans and the house needed a roof and we had our first child so that went that dream right now. our house has no garage what so ever so our vehicles sit outside and between a 8x12 shed and our storage unit located about 15 miles away thats where most of our stuff is. her parents have been kind enough to let me keep my 3 bay matco toolbox and welder and other tools I use frequently at their house. last winter we made due with our vehicles parking outside but this year we decided we have had enough esp with the baby trying to clean windows on vehicles with snow its just more difficult.

as far as insulation I do know some people that do spray foam and it may work out for me to do my walls with spray foam and then hang tin or something then do blow in insulation

I have been reading the builders guide to frost protected shallow foundations and I plan on doing some kind of rigid foam under the cement to prevent heat loss threw the cement pad not planning in floor heat because I am planning on installing 2 post lift in one of the bays

Go to Garage Journal and check the Garage Gallery.
Thousands of threads covering all types of builds.

Pretty much was going to echo this. I have a 30x40 that came with the house. A 40x60 would make life a lot easier. Between two racecars, a parts car, zero turn, tractor, storage, ATV etc, its tight. Id be a lot more comfortable with something bigger.

That said, I tore all the bag insulation out of mine and had it spray foamed. I paid a mint for it, but when it hit -1 in my AO this week (a rarity for NC), it never dipped below 45* with nothing more than an intermittent space heater running. Whatever cost it adds, DO IT.

Don't mess around. Put in the insulation now. When you heat it, the cold siding will be covered in condensation. The roof will rain on you and the walls will be soaked. All of your stuff will either be rusty or moldy. Sometimes both. The double bubble is a joke. Total waste of time. My experience is with a 70x140 arena and a 70x70  barn. Amish built post and beam w/metal siding.

How ever big you think you want, add 10 or 20 ft in every directionand. also expand the concrete to include a pad in front of the building. And think about where the snow is going to pile up as it slides off the roof. You may need structures over the door ways so you dont get caught in an avalanche. Id give you more advice but I'm getting sick thinking of how much money and work this is, has been, and will be.

Built a 80x45 with 15' walls and dirt floor when I was a young man with my dad and brother.  Took us all summer working after work.  A godsend was my 3rd cousin let us borrow this custom built trailer that held scaffolding. I have rebuilt 24x20 on an existing slab and have built a movable 10x16 at different homes.
My 10x16 is movable so I figured I would overkill it insulation wise. Right now it has foamboard all around 3/4 floor, 1/2" wall and 1" roof. Caulked, taped and foamed all cracks and joints. Adding fiberglass to roof and walls as soon as I find another sale. Built passive solar into it hoping I need zero heating with the insulation so I don't have to worry about stuff freezing.

You can do the work yourself but having another person or two sure makes it easier.  We have Mennonites in my area and everyone uses them for their good work.

If up north like you say, I would look at foamboard under your slab or radiant floor heating or both. A warm floor to work on is nice.

Best of luck.

I have contacted another lumber yard to get me a quote for building materials list.

the only issue i am having right now is trying to figure out how to lift the trusses up 14' high without using a crane.  I dont know if the bucket on the backhoe or 4020 will be able to get me high enough as to rent a LULL or other lifting machine would cost around $800 week plus delivery fees I really hope that this project doesnt take me all summer to build but I guess you never know

Could make a boom to go on in place of the bucket on the 4020.

We have one here at work for pulling cabs off tractors.

I have gotten my first reply from someone on concrete work and HOLY guy must have thought I was asking for something filled with gold.

I was quoted $10,800 for 30x40x5 with outside being 24x24 deep 1/2" rebar @24OC no fill was included

I knew concrete was going to be expensive but I was figuring around a 6k price

Hey little update on this. I have priced out stick building this garage and the stick build cost was bushing 15k when the post frame is 11k.
I have contacted a few more concrete contractors with no call backs.

I plan when the weather warms up and ground thaws a bit I need to dig my septic tank up and locate where my tank lines run to maybe help me along with placement of the building, I would like to try and build this closer to my house but was told I have septic lines that run under my gravel driveway. but no one knows for sure so start digging when the ground thaws a bit. I just wanted to post a few updates but still nothing real cool yet as I have no pictures or any real work other than planning stuff has started.

You might be better off going with stick framing if you plan to insulate. If you insulate and then cover with drywall or OSB you'll have to frame out the interior anyway which will bring you close to the same price.

For an equipment storage shed, pole construction is fine. For an insulated shop building, I'd recommend stick framing.

Not sure how they do it in Iowa but in a lot of places, the county health department will have a diagram of your septic on file and might even have pics....depending of course on when it was installed.

septic was installed in 76 when the home was built. My wifes grandparents built the house. it was a modular home built set up on a block basement. our local county does not have a building permit process now stuff still gets brought up to a "code" when work is done by a company. but I was told depending on when it was installed it could have a few different options one being tied into a field tile they said it would have to be a lower fairly flat surface when I talked to the local septic company. my current driveway is a few feet higher than than the tank so I hope it is not under that, but only way to find out is start digging I am told.

I'm having the Amish build mine for the cost of labor it's well worth it.

If you're going to insulate it go with commercial girts instead of just throwing a 2x across the face of the poles to screw the metal to.

Best picture I had available of what I mean by "commercial girts", notice the 2x6's and 2x8's laid flat in the walls. Plywood is attached to this and metal over the top of that or you can skip the plywood but loose a little strength if wind is a consideration.

What Kitties said.

Digging sounds like a lot of work... ever heard of a tile probe? You can make one yourself if you can weld... or they are $20-50 online. I doubt you'll find one locally, they aren't a common item.

As long as your soil isn't super rocky it will make locating the septic lines/tile/etc pretty easy.

Haha where I am located you can buy tile probes multiple places in town I used a probe to find the tank but I may just use one to find the lines

I plan on possibly spray foam the walls. blown in insulation in the ceiling if and when this project starts. with laying the girts like that it is almost about like adding the cost of stick framing inside your pole barn except they are ran from post to post to keep length down

30x48x14 checking in...Would recommend going 36x52x14 in hindsight if the cost is close.

I'd recommend DIYPoleBarns.com based on my experience.

I checked them out in the start of the search they were a bit more expensive esp when adding doors and windows I had a bare building for the same price as my menards kit with insulated doors

Did you email with them after using the auto quoting system?

Verify that you are comparing the same gauge metal between kits, rated snow loads and that the menard kit uses the same size lumber for the posts.  I'd also recommend you negotiate on the price with DIYPolebarns, I got them down by about 10% and then got them to upgrade to a heavier gauge metal all around.

It's been 5 years since I built mine but I was pretty darn happy with what I got after doing some detailed comparisons on pricing before buying.

Little update on this for those interested at all


I am talking with bank tomorrow (Monday) to see if I can get any financing on the building project I have since decided that I have way too much crap going on to attempt to build this by myself as much as I want to construct the whole thing myself and have that proud moment I just dont feel it is in my best interest.

I have called a local builder that has a Mennonite crew and they quoted me around 17k for a 30x40x14 plus 3k for garage doors this is a Lester building and another 9800 for the cement work with a complete frost footer and 5" slab

so today I decided to use the backhoe to start digging my septic tank because well we have been told the septic lines run under the current driveway and of course thats where I want the garage so I need to make sure 1 where are the lines located and 2 where to move if they are in the way.

I found the tank. need to add some risers and get the tank sucked out. it has never been done since 76sh when it was installed
and I think I am just going to build the garage and then run new lines from the tank off to the back of where I want the proposed garage I am hoping I can do most of this myself to save some $$

here is a pic of the digging

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I even had my son come help me for a bit

I used the backhoe to clear the top of the tank then I shoveled to the surface. I still need to go about 2 feet in one direction to get to the other edge of the tank but my back couldnt take anymore today between loading logs and digging holes.

That's amazing black dirt. We just grow rocks

Yes and if he doesn't get his way man he throws a fit ! Lol

Well it is like that due to the septic being placed there. We dug in the field just to the south of where I took the picture to see where field tile was because the gutters from the house run into a tile that we believe is plugged from roots and the septic has a overflow that runs into one of the field tiles so we are trying to locate everything so we can repair and replace for placement of the garage

Exactly my first thought!

Sent the builder a email last night saying that we have decided to go with his company for the construction. emailed him at 830 or so and he promptly sent me a email and then called me first thing this morning to discuss when he would be in the area to pick colors and some design changes I want on the SHARAGE as it as been named by a friend.
Bulider said he was thinking it would be around june/july but that gives us time for septic issue and for the cement guys to get working.

Specs are
30x40x14
1- 16x8 garage door
1- 12x12 garage door
2 service doors


This damn septic issue is really bugging me. I have contacted one company that is located just down the road from me and he seemed to have little interest in doing the work since it is becoming field work time.