Barndominium VS. Stick-Built House

Stick-Built House

Barndominiums

Barndominiums have gotten extremely popular in Michigan over the last several years. We get why. They look good, you can get a huge open floor plan, and it's easy to incorporate a large garage or shop into the building.

One of the biggest reasons people lo

ok into building a barndominium is cost. Generally speaking, a post-frame barndominium can be cheaper to build than a traditional stick-built house.

But there are some tradeoffs that don't always get talked about.

At 314Construction, we build both post-frame structures and traditional stick-built construction in Michigan. When someone comes to us interested in a barndominium, one of the first things we explain is where some of those savings actually come from.

Why Are Barndominiums Cheaper to Build?

One of the biggest areas where a barndominium vs. a Stick-Built home can save money is the foundation.

With a traditional stick-built house, we generally prefer a poured-wall foundation. Depending on the house, that could mean a full basement or another conventional foundation system.

Typical post-frame construction is different.

The posts can be set on concrete footings or "cookies" and buried in the ground. Other post-frame systems can use options such as helical piers. A concrete slab is then poured within the structure.

That can eliminate a substantial amount of foundation work compared with building a traditional house on poured concrete walls.

So when someone says that a barndominium is cheaper than a house, they're not necessarily wrong.

The important question is where those savings are coming from.

How Much Does a Barndominium Cost in Michigan?

Barndominiums like traditional stick-built houses are extremely difficult to give an accurate square-foot price without seeing the plans.

Two 2,000-square-foot houses can have completely different costs depending on the finishes, number of bathrooms, roof design, windows, site conditions, mechanical systems, kitchen, and dozens of other choices.

As a very rough starting point based on what we've seen in Michigan, we would figure somewhere around:

Traditional stick-built house: approximately $300 per square foot

Finished post-frame/barndominium: approximately $250 per square foot

These aren't quotes, and they shouldn't be used as exact pricing for a project. They're simply reasonable numbers to start a conversation and establish a rough budget.

A basic home with builder-grade finishes could come in differently than a custom home with large windows, expensive cabinets, tile showers, upgraded flooring, and high-end fixtures.

That's why we prefer looking at the actual project instead of telling someone that every barndominium costs a certain amount per square foot.

The Energy-Efficiency Problem With Barndominiums

This is one of the biggest issues we see overlooked when people compare barndominiums with traditional houses.

Post-frame buildings can be difficult to air seal.

Michigan's residential energy requirements include blower-door testing, which measures how much air leaks through the building envelope.

Getting a post-frame home tight enough to perform well on a blower-door test can be challenging if the insulation and air sealing aren't planned correctly from the beginning.

In our experience, spray foam makes a major difference with post-frame construction.

You can absolutely build an efficient barndominium, but insulation and air sealing shouldn't be an afterthought. If you're saving money on the structure only to end up spending more trying to properly insulate and seal the building later, some of that initial savings starts disappearing.

Don't Forget About the Concrete Floor

The slab is another difference homeowners should think about.

Concrete transfers temperature relatively quickly. In a Michigan winter, that can mean dealing with a very cold floor if the slab and heating system aren't designed appropriately.

The temperature changes can also create issues with certain finished flooring products.

Vinyl flooring, for example, doesn't always respond well to significant or rapid temperature changes.

That doesn't mean you can't put finished flooring over a slab. It means the entire floor system needs to be considered when designing the house instead of treating the slab exactly like a conventional wood-framed floor system.

Why I Personally Prefer Stick-Built Houses

If I were building a house for myself, I would choose a traditional stick-built house on a poured-wall foundation.

There's nothing wrong with barndominiums. They can make a lot of sense for the right customer and property.

But when we're talking specifically about the part of the building my family is going to live in every day, I prefer conventional residential construction.

You get a traditional foundation, a building envelope that's easier to insulate and air seal, more flexibility with flooring and mechanical systems, and a construction method that has been proven in Michigan for a very long time.

That doesn't mean giving up the biggest advantages of a barndominium, though.

The Option We Often Recommend: Stick-Built House + Post-Frame Garage

When customers come to us wanting a barndominium vs traditional stick-built, we often talk to them about another option:

Build the living portion as an open-concept, stick-built house and attach a large post-frame garage or shop to it.

To us, this gives you a lot of the best parts of both construction methods.

You can still have the large shop that attracted you to a barndominium in the first place. You can have tall ceilings, overhead doors, room for trucks, boats, campers, equipment, or whatever else you want to store.

But the portion you're actually living in every day is constructed like a traditional house.

For someone looking at a barndominium because they want a house and a big shop under one roof, we think this option is at least worth considering before making the final decision.

Are Barndominiums Bad?

Not at all.

We're not against barndominiums, and we'll build them when that's what makes sense for the customer.

There are situations where a barndominium is a great option, especially on rural Michigan properties where someone wants a large amount of shop or garage space.

Our point is simply that homeowners should understand what they're getting.

Don't choose a barndominium just because you've heard they're dramatically cheaper than houses.

Look at the whole project.

How will it be insulated? What foundation are you getting? How will you heat it? How will the slab be insulated? What flooring are you installing? How much shop space do you actually need? And what will the building cost completely finished?

Those questions matter a lot more than whether someone calls the building a "barndominium" or a "house."

Barndominium vs. Stick-Built House: Our Take

Barndominium vs. Stick-built, if keeping the initial construction cost down and having a large, attached shop are your biggest priorities, a post-frame barndominium can be a good option.

If your priority is the residential portion of the building and you're planning to live there for decades, we generally prefer a traditional stick-built home on a poured-wall foundation.

And if you want both?

Consider an open-concept stick-built house with an attached post-frame garage or shop.

You still get the big shop feel people love about barndominiums without necessarily having to construct your entire living space using post-frame construction.

Thinking About Building in Michigan?

314Construction builds custom homes, barndominiums, pole barns, garages, additions, and other residential projects throughout Central Michigan.

If you're trying to decide between a traditional home and a barndominium, we'd be happy to look at what you're trying to build and talk through the advantages and disadvantages of both options.

Sometimes the best solution isn't strictly one or the other.

314Construction

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