Metal building with living quarters

Anyone built one and what size? thinking 40×60 and 1or 2 bedrooms and 1 bath with kitchen. and garage space for a 22 ft. boat. Any thoughts and any thoughts on price? and just the building and finished inside not well or sewer or land. Up at LOTW. thanks in advance

Google shouse (shop + house= shouse)and you will find tons of information.

There was another thread on this forum about this exact topic.

I thought I wanted to go this route for my hunting property and had 2 contractors tell me the same thing–don’t do it in MN! At least not if you’re thinking true “pole building” construction.

Both contractors told me that no matter how you do it, in MN the frost will heave the poles slightly resulting in all kind of cracked drywall, split celings, gaps, cracks, doors that won’t work, etc on the finished side. Basically, after 5 years your finished side looks like busted buttski because the little 1 or 3 inch heaves that you’d never notice in a pole shed are totally noticable once you have finished everything with drywalll, square doors, etc.

Now if by “metal building” you mean a stick framed building on a slab clad in metal siding/roofing, that’s a different matter. That will work and that’s the direction I’m going.

Grouse

I’m talking stick framed on slab, what size you going

grizzly wrote:

I’m talking stick framed on slab, what size you going

I decided on 2 separate buildings. 28×32 cabin and separate garage.

Would be interested in your plans as well and if you have any ideas for cutting the cost down.

Grouse

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>grizzly wrote:</div>
I’m talking stick framed on slab, what size you going

I decided on 2 separate buildings. 28×32 cabin and separate garage.

Would be interested in your plans as well and if you have any ideas for cutting the cost down

Grouse

wouldn’t it be cheaper to build it all in 1 rather than 2 buildings or am I wrong? we are going to look at 1 up at LOTW when we go back up there in a few weeks. a guy has 1 that looks great from out side and said he would walk us threw it so I cant wait. I will have more ideas then and maybe more on cost of it,i heard his is very nice and fancy inside

Grouse , What’s a 40’x 60’ metal clad, stick built shed, on a concrete slab run ? I’m thinking about doing this too. I’m not finishing any part of it right away but would like the ability to do in the future.

Im in the final stages of a 40 x 60 x 16 tall shop/ small home in South Dakota. Ive got 550 sq feet of living quarters finished. 1 bedroom, 1 full bath, and a living room. I also house my 35 foot Bunkhouse 5th wheel camper on one side, so with that there, I have 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, 2 kitchens, and 2 living rooms. This will serve as living quarters till we get a new house built on an acreage we bought with an old house on it. Afer I get the new house built, Ill build the new shop at the acreage and sell the 40×60. My shop has hydronic infloor heat in the whole thing. 2 zones, one for the living quarters, and one for the shop. Ive also got a mini split in the living quarters to handle the AC aspect. Ive got 7foot 1 inch ceiling in the loft, which is going to be used to store our stuff until we get the new house built, but thats plenty of height for a couple more bedrooms and a bath if needed.

The shell cost me $26k to have erected. This did not include overhead doors. 10×10 and a 12 x 14) I did all of the site prep, plumbing, electrical and carpentry on the living quarters my self, along with installing all of the interior steel liner panels. To date, Ive got just over 76K in it, without paying myself anything for my labor

disclaimer. I installed year old Pella windows from a demo, and a 6 foot Anderson Sliding door from a demo in the build, so I do not have any costs involved with them. Everything else was new..

Almost every building I looked at had the living quarters in the front of the building which creates an odd area behind, unless you build all the way to the back. I put my living quarters to the rear, so I can use the front as a parking garage.

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I know several people who have thought about building a shouse. Most all of them ran into issues obtaining financing for them. I guess a lot of Banks and Mortgage companies totally avoid them. May want to make sure that will not be a issue if you are plan on financing it.

My granddaughter loves helping out. heres a picture with the loft railing installed.

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Just got a quote from Morton …. $30/sq ft…… so $75,600 for the shell. No insulation & I forgot to ask if it included concrete but I’m guessing not. This was a basic 42’x 60’ shed. That’s insane so I’ll keep looking.

Northland built my building and when I asked about living quarters they said don’t do it with traditional “pole” set-up. So, I now have a 48X96 shop and house is separate.

Deleted wrote:

Just got a quote from Morton …. $30/sq ft…… so $75,600 for the shell. No insulation & I forgot to ask if it included concrete but I’m guessing not. This was a basic 42’x 60’ shed. That’s insane so I’ll keep looking.

Mine was just under 11 p sq ft , but doesnt have the big M on the end of it. They build a awesome building, but it comes at a cost.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

There was another thread on this forum about this exact topic.

I thought I wanted to go this route for my hunting property and had 2 contractors tell me the same thing–don’t do it in MN! At least not if you’re thinking true “pole building” construction.

Both contractors told me that no matter how you do it, in MN the frost will heave the poles slightly resulting in all kind of cracked drywall, split celings, gaps, cracks, doors that won’t work, etc on the finished side. Basically, after 5 years your finished side looks like busted buttski because the little 1 or 3 inch heaves that you’d never notice in a pole shed are totally noticable once you have finished everything with drywalll, square doors, etc.

Now if by “metal building” you mean a stick framed building on a slab clad in metal siding/roofing, that’s a different matter. That will work and that’s the direction I’m going.

Grouse

Not saying I dont trust you or those contractors, but my neighbor has a pole shed and in-floor radiant heat and has everything finished. Its been crack free for over 15 years. Granted, it doesnt have a living quarters in it, but its at least 50 degrees year around so I dont know if its because of the radiant floor heat aspect, he is just lucky, our soil (very sandy) or what, but his looks just like the day he built it.

What company did you use or any other information about where you bought the kit and material. I am looking to build one or have it built in the next few months. Thanks!

I just quoted a 32′ x 52′ with 17′ ceiling height,( basically height to build an entire second floor so 3,328 s.f.) insulated, no garage doors and open floor plan, 6″ concrete slab with rebar @ 18″ o.c. for right around 62,000 that included erection and all materials. Built off of the slab as others have said.

There are alot of these up and down the reservoirs in South Dakota, most are drive through garages below for the truck and boat or toys.

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I don’t know where people get the idea that banks won’t finance these. My wife is the VP of a savings and loan and in charge of mortgages. She does them all the time.

Friend of mine just built a 30×40 shop. Its a Cleary building. He had 5 foot frost walls and slab poured. Cost was 16k. Cleary erected the building for 17k. That was for materials and erecting it. No garage doors included. Also has a porch on it that is about 6×12.
He said a material only quote from Menards was only $1500 less than Cleary’s erected price. He is doing his own electrical and inside finishing. He says total with walls spray foamed, metal ceiling, and blown attic insulation his total will be about 50k.

I had a 30 x40 building put up this last summer by a local contractor who I trust. It was a stick built building with a frost protected shallow foundation (thicken edge slab wrapped in 2″ foam and 4′ of 2″ foam wings extending out from the foam wrapped slab) and a 14′ x 40′ room in the attic. The foam wings force the frost out beyond the edge of the slab. This technique is very similar to the process used on the Alaskan pipeline. With all the lot prep and electrical service it cost about $65K to erect on my lot.

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My building is currently housing 3 pontoon boats, my 16′ Lund and Weer 11′ paddle boat.

djshannon wrote:

I had a 30 x40 building put up this last summer by a local contractor who I trust. It was a stick built building with a frost protected shallow foundation (thicken edge slab wrapped in 2″ foam and 4′ of 2″ foam wings extending out from the foam wrapped slab) and a 14′ x 40′ room in the attic. The foam wings force the frost out beyond the edge of the slab. This technique is very similar to the process used on the Alaskan pipeline. With all the lot prep and electrical service it cost about $65K to erect on my lot.

This is a design very similar to what I want. I would be able to eliminate both of my smaller sheds with the additional storage on top. I was looking to have a leanto on the side which the dog kennel would reside under. It’s crazy how expensive things have gotten. I dont know when I will be able to afford something like that. I wouldnt need to finish the inside, just get the shell up so I can put boat, atv, snowmobile, tractor, etc in there and the wife can park inside again. LOL

My 16′ x 32′ lean-to is fully sheetrocked and after 5 years everything looks like new with no settling or cracks. I wouldn’t be scared to have a finished pole building myself. Bury the poles 5′ and set them top of 24″ dia 6″ thick poured cookies and all should be fine.

As for the cracks, settling, twisting, blah, blah,blah…. you get what you pay for, if you hire the cheapest or anywhere in the bottom spectrum of price, there is a reason or means to get the price low. I’ve built so dang many pole buildings over the last 20 years and see 2 things. Low ballers cutting quality to be cheap, and those of us that do them well.

I have yet to spend a single dollar in warranty work on any office/shop I’ve built for cracks. Build them right up front and issue free later

I haven’t seen any mention of a true pre-engineered metal building with bents and purlins.

This is exactly what I want to do. What size is your door to pull in your camper? I’m wanting to do pole barn half garage and half camper / living space. Maybe a living room and a bedroom and use the camper to cook/sleep/bathroom. I figure they couldn’t tax me much since it’s not a home. Simple way of living and use camper on trips.

Just liked djshannon I put up a 32×40 garage with a 16×40 attic in 2019. Because of my soil conditions it was recommended to do a 4’ block wall with footings instead of a floating slab. A local contractor build kits so all the walls, headers, sill plates were precut. Went up without a hitch and I only had to make two cuts in a sill plate. Kit cost was about $20K and that was entry door, windows, shingles but not the garage doors or siding. The garage doors are 18×10 and 10×10. I like the 18’ wide door for getting two vehicles/boats in side by side. Fully insulated and heated with a gas modine heater. Final cost was about $55K. If I had to do it again I would go 42L to give added room for the steps going to the attic which are off to the side by the entry door. Like the 32W since I have 2’ shelves on the back wall and I can still get my 18’ Competitor boat with the motor lowered and tongue folded over in and still get around both ends of the boat.

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