How Much did this Stupid Barn Cost to Build?

Welcome back to the build. 

This time, not much building and more chatting. I figured to round out this phase of the build, I would go through the costs of what it took to build this barn. 

For those who only want the total number for the cost of the building, that is $170,000. But for those of you who want a more detailed breakdown, let’s get into it. 

As a quick refresher, we decided to build this barn because I was losing my warehouse space. We decided to put up the barn at the end of June, and we wanted it built before winter, so we had a time crunch. And because we had that time crunch, it drove some of the decisions we made. One of the things that led us to do was to put off some things for the future, which both meant we could get the building built in time and also spread out the cost of the building over time. 

For example, we plan to put a lean-to porch over here, which is why the steel is not the full height of the building over here. We also held off on putting an apron at the entrance to the barn, because that can all be done in the future. That saved some money in the short term, because I haven’t had to pay for those things.

Now, let’s start adding up costs for the things that we did do. 

• Permits: $2,000
• Prepping the building site: $14,000 – which included scraping the topsoil, adding a driveway to the building, and the 25 footings
• Framing package: $17,500 – which includes the framing lumber and the brackets that went into the footings
• Trusses: $5,000 – which includes a $500 delivery charge
• Steel: $20,000
• Windows and door: $3,000
• Overhead garage door: $3,000 (also the longest lead time)
• Labor time: $18,000 – which covers Donavan’s, Jack’s and Lori’s time
• Floor insulation: $4,500 – which includes vapor barrier and tape
• PEX tubing: $7,000
• Heating system: $11,500
• Concrete for floor: $24,000 – for 55 yards of concrete
• Spray foam insulation: $30,000
• Electrical: $4,000 (this will increase as they have been working some more and I have not yet been billed for that work)
• Equipment rental: $6,000

Total: $170,000

As far as saving labor by providing labor myself… I’m not entirely sure how much I saved with that. It’s hard for me to calculate, because I don’t know how much I really contributed. I was more just an extra pair of hands, but I am really happy that I had the opportunity to do this. I learned a lot and most days I had fun. But I definitely did save myself some money by having my own telehandler, which saved about $6,000. 

Now, some quick questions and answers. 

1. Would I do this again? Yes, I would go back in time and re-do this, but I also don’t think I want to do this again in the future. It was a lot of work, and I’m happy to have done it, but I don’t think I would build another building. 
2. Do I wish the building was bigger? This is pretty close to as big of a building that I want on my property, sitting up here on this hill. Anything much bigger than this would look super out of place. This was also about as big as we could go in terms of budgeting. 

Feel free to let me know if you have any questions about my decision making process and why I did certain things. Thank you as always for joining. I greatly appreciate it. If you any questions or comments on the barn, please feel free to leave me a comment. As always, I’d be happy to answer any question you have. And until next time, happy woodworking.