Construction techniques and costs

[never_retreat]

So in the near future I will be building a barn/garage. Most likely 30x40 ish feet.
What is the most cost effective technique to build a structure this size. Since this will be visible from my house and the road it needs to be nice looking but not cost a fortune. Ideally it will look like the classic red barn.
So it could be stick built, pole barn, post and beam?

[French G.]

The cheapest is going to be a pole barn, later when you have money and the code man is gone you can go back and put in the concrete floor, electricity, AC, and bar. 

[RoadKingLarry]

30X40 isn't big enough. I have a 30X50 and it is way too small.
Mine is a pole barn construction, painted metal and contrasting trim with a white roof.
If I had it to do over I'd have gone 40x60 but that would still be too small eventually.

[Harold Tuttle]

the engineered truss structures maximize the useful interior spaces

http://www.steelmasterusa.com/workshop-feature-projects

[Brad Johnson]

Have to agree with Harold, the engineered stuff is pretty impressive and darned cost effective.  All you do is pour the slab, making sure the dimensions are correct and the pads are properly placed, and put up the building.  Costs a little more up front but you way more than make that up in labor savings.

Brad

[never_retreat]

The steel masters are nice in theory but to ugly.
Town would never let something like that be built. And like I said before I am IN town. Just happen to have the biggest piece of property in the town (proper).
I do have one advantage of a architect in the family.

[Harold Tuttle]

pre fab can be pretty:

[Brad Johnson]

The steel masters are nice in theory but to ugly.

An un-ugly pole barn?  You realize what "pole barn" generally infers something like this, right?

http://www.steelmasterusa.com/products/pole-barns





Sounds like you're looking for something more traditional.  Scroll down to the 35x40 building size and it will let you load a PDF of the specs, including a full set of scale drawings.

http://metalbuildingdepot.com/specials/default.aspx


Brad

[never_retreat]

The metal building depot has some nice stuff. I'll have to keep that in mind. One of these days I'm going to stop by the morton buildings office and check out what they have.
Oh Harold that modern steel building is nice but it still would not fit in. This town dates back to 1700. Again not going to happen, plus I bet that thing was big coin.

[Tallpine]

A pole barn is going to look like however you finish it.

I've seen lots of them with no walls used just for storing hay.

Or you can completely finish off the outside with either metal or wood.  How it is held up on the inside makes little difference to the outside finish.

I once worked on a huge steel framed building, where we built a bunch of 2x4 walls to fit in between the steel pillars, anchored them with a .22 nail gun, and then sided the outside with board and batt.  I had people tell me later that it was a completely wood framed building   

I don't think pole frame construction is very efficient when you are going to finish the building inside and out, because you end up framing the structure twice: first with the posts in ground and then with all the 2x4s to hold the siding, sheet rock, etc.  Would be faster and cheaper to just frame it with studs to begin with.

The advantage of pole barns is no foundation.  If you're going to put in a slab later then you might as well do it up front and make it easier to build.

We're wanting to build a mostly enclosed hay barn, and will probably go with pole barn construction because it will just be dirt floor.  We'll put pallets in to set the hay on, and one end will be open for the horses to run in for shelter and to be fed, with some steel panels for separation.

[Hawkmoon]

An un-ugly pole barn?  You realize what "pole barn" generally infers something like this, right?

http://www.steelmasterusa.com/products/pole-barns

Since when does a Quonset hut qualify as a pole barn?

Which doesn't change the fact that pole barns are, by default, ugly. Cheapest thing that'll look halfway decent is conventional 2x4 or 2x6 wall construction with trusses for the roof. Nicer, but more expensive, is post-and-beam.

[Tallpine]

Which doesn't change the fact that pole barns are, by default, ugly. Cheapest thing that'll look halfway decent is conventional 2x4 or 2x6 wall construction with trusses for the roof. Nicer, but more expensive, is post-and-beam.

Once you have the outside enclosed/finished, no one would know whether it was a pole barn or framed with lumber. 

[Harold Tuttle]

http://www.midwestmanufacturing.com/MidwestManufacturing/productDetail.do?groupId=7&lineId=82&productTypeId=44&productId=358

[charby]

I've seen some really nice horse barns that are pole barn construction.

Unless you have a source of logs and a way to cant (or hew) them into beams, post and beam is going to cost you a fortune to build.

http://www.barntoolbox.com/post-and-beam-barns.htm

[HankB]

Don't know what part of the country you're in, but you might want to pay attention to things like unsupported spans and snow loads . . .

[geronimotwo]

Once you have the outside enclosed/finished, no one would know whether it was a pole barn or framed with lumber. 

what he said,   you can dress them up as nice as you like.  metal or wood siding,  stone or brick kneewalls,  etc