I finally bought a small peice of property!! So I am starting all the way from the ground here...I just got the CAD permit approved. Now I am working with a water company that will be drilling my well and septic system/drainfield. The well and septic design were submitted to the county and are awaiting approval. The barn house that I am building is going to be based off of this model:    https://www.barnpros.com/barn-plans-products.aspx?itemid=3065&pagetitle=Huntington-Barn-Apartment

This is my first house, so I am kind of just learning as I go. I was wondering what your guys' opinions are as far as building something like this? Ways to make it easier and/or cheaper? I am debating hiring someone to come and build the structure, then having family and friends help with all of the finish work. Or should I go ahead and buy this barn pros kit? Or go totally from scratch and do everything myself? I do not have a materials price yet, but I am currently working on that with a local GC. I am trying to keep the house under 100k, but I am a little flexible on that. All opinions or ideas are appreciated  =] Thank you!

Join this FB group. There aremany builders and people with experience either building or living in a barndomnium. Many people throw their floorplans out there and ask for opinions or how to make it better. 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/273430999730827/

This is my dream! We are in the process of saving every penny for a substantial downpayment on some land. Currently we live in a double wide, dont get me wrong, I love our home, we purchased it brand new and its been awesome for us. But we are living on my in laws land and we kinda need to get out of here lol! I'm grateful to them for allowing us to set up here for the last few years but it's time for us to go. We had to move in a huge hurry from New Mexico when my hubby's job relocated him.. traveled with 3 kids. 5 horses, 3 dogs ducks and chickens and 4 cats lol!! We didnt exactly have time to shop around for a place so my in laws offered us to come here. I'm just wanting about 10 acres, even 5, and build a barn home.. or a metal barndominium, stalls attached preferably. Our plan is to purchase raw land and move our trailer out there and then begin the building process. Super exciting. Congratulations on your land! 

SoDak - Thank you for that idea!! I am not on Facebook, so I would not be able to join that group though.

Want2chase3 - Thank you very much! I hope you guys are able to find something soon so that you can be on your way building something also  =]

With 50 years in the construction field I can tell you that thier addvertized price for this package is HIGH. I think you could do far better with a local contractor. 

Yep, getting friends and family to do the work for you when they have jobs could get dicey.  I'd hire a contractor.  Not sure I'd want to live in the building with horses though.  Manure and flies I'd rather have a distance from me.

A big Ditto , and man when the heat sets in the smell of poop and pee sure would not set well, I would want my horses away from the house,

Yept having friends and family doing work would be kinda hard on your relationship after awhile, I would hire a contractor too. 

 i love the plan you picked.  but i dont see a place for a washer/dryer?  might make room for them downstairs in the barn if there is not upstairs.  Also if you can sneak in a small pantry for kitchen items i dont think you would regret it.  crock pots, cereal boxes, a trash can are all in my pantry and i cant imagine life without it.  Since your building from scratch and depending on the lay of the land a small/raised deck off the living area might be a cool spot to hang out also?  Good Luck!

Thank you guys for the input! I can see where the smell/flies could be an issue. Thanks for bringing that to my attention  =]  The stalls will be more of a run-in, open concept. The pasture will be connected to that side of the barn, so they will not be in the stalls often. But I will definitely make sure it stays very very clean! My family (dad) and friends all are in the construction field and do things like this for a living. I will be careful when working with them to not get in a sticky situation. I believe we will just be doing the finish work. There is a GC that is local who did a pole barn shop, the same size as I want (24x36), for 28k total. I know this is not exactly what I want, but at least going through him should be cheaper than buying the actual barn pros lumber kit  =]

Great ideas! I was thinking of putting a wall from the front door and up the staircase in to the living quarters, so that the house part os completely separate from the barn/shop. Also, then the entrance could be a little mudroom with the washer and dryer? Hopefully they can make something like that work! Thank you for the ideas! I love the thought of having a little outdoor porch out the side window upstairs. Maybe have the BBQ and some outdoor furnitire? I will definitely make sure there is storage (pantry, cabinets) in the kitchen! Thanks for bringing these to my attention  =]

Back when I was single I met a dude who had a huge cutting horse operation, I came out to visit a few times, he had no less than 30 horses in the barn, it was attached to his house, just had to walk thru a door in the kitchen and youd be right in the aisle of the barn. I never smelled anything foul while in the house. I was surprised, especially having that many in the enclosed barn, which also had a large indoor arena attached. I know the stalls where kept meticulously cleaned. I saw a set up where the living quarters are set up one one side and across from it are the stalls that have attached runs to go outside the tack room and feed room are on the living side. It was very open, lots of air moving thru the breezeway .. that way if its raining and ugly outside,  you dont have to schlep to the barn to feed, it's right there out your back door. Obviously stalls need to be cleaned out a lot and they installed an auto fly spray system to control the bugs. It's really neat actually. I only have 3- 4 horses at a time so hopefully it wont be an issue! 

I know of a big cutting horse ranch in Carrizo Springs that has this set up and it was awesome, the owner was very pleased with it, the trainer lived in this set up, he like it but said it was around the clock work to keep it that nice, he tolded me when he or if he moved, he didnt think he would like living that way again if he didnt have the extra help on keeping stalls clean. I knew of a couple more and its round the clock work if horses are being stalled, but if not kept in stalls all the time I guess it would be ok, but when you would go into the living room you could tell that stalls were close by, they kinda became nose blind after awhile, lol.. I always wanted a home like that when I was younger but as I got older no way Jose, ha ha ha ha to much added work for me.. But I know it can work for the right people..

Living in a barndominium is AWESOME!! We built ours pretty much completely. The only things we didn't do was the concrete, dry wall, and heat/AC portions. It helped tremendously cost wise. We (and by we, I mean my other half) even drew up the plans. Family helped us with the rest when needed. Ours is approx 1200 square feet and a 3 car oversized garage.. We have a 70 x 120 arena and then a 4 stall barn that could actually be 8 if we wanted but we made one area a tack room and the other is a hay or work area. It has a lean to off of each side. I forgot the dimensions of the barn. We decided to seperate the barn and housebecasue of the possibilities of smells, flies, etc. I don't have any real answers for you but I agree that friends and family are great WHEN they can help but they have lives too, and sometimes it's just not feasible for them to help. So be prepared. We did pay a family member to put up the large portion (arena/house) area. He builds large structures in his families business so it worked out. Maybe general it out yourself and see where you can save money. I would have to agree with seperating the barn from the house, just becasue of the fly/smell issue, but again that's my opinion only. Dust can be a real issue from the arena into the garage, but we work to keep that a dull roar.

All in all, it is a dream that we were blessed with building.

That's what kids are for lol!!! If I get my way... and that's a big IF I definitely wouldn't want mine stalled 24/7 if they lived in the same building. I'd put runs off them and hopefully that would help with some of the odors. Honestly I'd rather smell horses than pretty much anything else Haha! 

Now thats really cool!!!! 

This was my dream too.  When I went to research it I changed my mind.  When they talked about how rodents and flies came in your house and the smells of a barn, I decided against it.  Just my thoughts.

Good luck!  It's so exciting building your home. 

Thank you! We absolutley love it. 

To the OP - If you are ready to build, do a ton of research and decide what YOU want. You will have to live with it....and your horses. :) Good luck!

Foodfor thought. Talk to insurance company's before you build. Many won't insure  these types of homes  :(  

I got flies trying to get in my house now lol! My barn is far from my actual home. I think it comes to keeping it cleaned out and installing proper insect control. As far as rodents... if you keep your feed room cleaned up and have a few good barn cats that should deter any unwelcome guests! I'm super duper OCD when it comes to cleaning... I think I may be worse in the barn ... idk, everyone leaves when I start to clean so I'm guessing that's a good indication I'm a little nuts lol! My in laws dont have any horses near their home or cats... my poor mil gets overrun with mice in her home it seems. I think you can make it work if you're willing to put in the work it takes to maintain having your horses pretty much living under the same roof as yourself lol! 

Thank you all for the replies! That barndominium is absolutely beautiful! I will continue doing some research on these types of homes =] Definitely thinking the living area needs to be completely sectioned off from the barn area. 

Congratulations on your beginning stages! Super cute concept! I hope you will keep up updated.

If I wouldn't look like a total crazy stalker person I'd stop and take pics of this nice little place down the road from me. They built a metal building and have the horse stalls attached thru a breezeway... just like I'm trying to explain lol! Its gorgeous and set up just how I imagine I'd want mine to look. 

We went through this same thing last year, we had raw land that we were adamant about developing- nothing big, just a small barn house with the apartment on the south end being less than 1000sqft, and the north end having room for two treatment stalls and room to park my husband’s vet truck. It ended up being a financial no-go: after spending over $30k to drill our well, we were quoted roughly $10k to run power (those two things we had factored in); however, we couldn’t find any “barn homes/kits” that fit our specific needs, so we went with a local architect and GC. What we had envisioned being built for approximately $120k was now almost $300k due to the high construction demand and subsequent high material costs. The kit you’re looking at is roughly $75k, but that doesn’t include concrete and roofing materials ($$$), the well and possibly power to your land plus plumbing and electrical inside the building ($$$$) and of course the labor costs for putting it all together ($$$). My husband is a pretty good carpenter, but even what we were quoted for the shell of the building with no cabinets, no flooring, etc. was way out of our budget (this was just a starter home, we were planning on building our “house” later and would have this available for guests or in-laws).

I highly recommend meeting with a GC in your area and getting estimates for every aspect of the developing and building process. There are so many variables and facets of the construction process that need to be factored in. Not to burst your bubble, but we ended up finding a beautiful home and land with outbuildings on acreage for roughly the same price as what our “barn house” would have cost. We still have our raw land with a well on it; it’s irrigated hay ground that we will end up using part of as pasture for our expanding herd, but we are much more content having a fully functional place available now, that we can customize to fit our needs as we go. 

We are also in the PNW, just across the mountains from you, so I wouldn’t think our economies are that different. I’m not trying to be negative, just telling you our experience trying to go about the same thing in today’s economy. Even my dad who is a retired contractor was appalled at how expensive things have gotten in recent years. 

This is a preview of what our project is like. It’s 42x200. It has our house 6 stalls and a 42x50 shop. The stalls are 15x15 with a door that lets to a 15x15 open sided lean to. It’s all one roof line. The living area is about 1300 square feet. They should start dry wall tomorrow. It’s been somewhat of a pain with contractors (and we’ve done a lot ourselves) but we are excited to get it done! All of the exposed insulation will be covered by metal so it really should last forever when we get it done, lol.

That's gorgeous! 

Aww Thank you so much. My husband and I have never had our “own” barn or tack room or even stalls, so we are beyond excited. He designed the layout as well (he’s a civil engineering technician) so he’s build lots of metal buildings over the years. 

We splurged (even though we got the stone cheap) on the stone since we didn’t have kids (been together 18 years) and we found out in April (at BBR finals)  we are expecting a baby in November  ????. It’s gonna be a wild 2020- I bred six mare also. Gods timing is pretty interesting to say the least.

You are going to have a BLESSED 2020!   I love your building and your (love) story/baby story.  Two and four legs!!

Aww Congratulations!!! 

Congrats on the barn home and the little one!! Very exciting times =] Thank you all for the pictures and input! This is all very cool to hear! I will definitely keep you guys updated as things progress  =]

THIS. We talked about it years ago when we built our house and could not get insurance on a barn/house unless we wanted to go to Lloyds of London and pay a significantly higher premium. 

It probably depends on your location... but out here Metal Buildings/ Barns or combo are significantly less expensive to insure. But they gotta be made of metal. That's our plan. We have 2 friends that built metal building dwellings and they said it was really inexpensive to insure. 

There are quite a few insurance companies that have changed regarding bardominiums due to so many being built.  Check out the Horseman's Ranch developments in Texas (Morgan Mill and Decatur?) Hasn't seemed to be a problem getting insurance. Most of the ones I have seen have a breezeway or space between house and barn but still connected. Love em

Thank you!!! We are beyond excited and surprised lol. Can’t wait to see what y’all decide!

Thank you!! It’s gonna be a wild year

He does have His own time frame for us!   I have a client, around 51, oldest child in second year of college, next in first year of college, youngest (daughter) is 14.  His wife is around 46 and was having some female issues, so she went to the gyn to make an appointment for a hysterectomy---they informed her they couldn't do that because she was PREGNANT!!  She's due in a few weeks . . . . They are beyond excited. . . (Well, the daughter was "grossed out" because her parents still did "that"!!!!)

Wishing you and your husband only the best, very excited for y'all!

We ended up getting insurance through Farmer's. We had them for the previous house, trailers, cars, etc and it wasn't a huge issue with them. They just wrote it up a little differntly than they do a normal house. Don't ask the specifics becasue I just shook my head when they were going through it. LOL It isn't very much higher AT ALL than the 1800 square foot house and barn we used to have. 

I would def take the advice and check around to make sure you get the specifics you need to get insurance. Our main issue was that the barn was 'ATTACHED' to the house, even though it was 120 foot away. If it would have been detached even 6", it wouldn't have been an issue with most all major insurance companies. The second you said attached, they would ho hum around, and then quote us. A couple of them said it would be so high, we wouldn't want to go with them.

Here's a picture of the backside so you can see the barn. The full wall to the right is where the garage/house is.