Adding a pole barn to your property opens up several amazing opportunities, including housing for horses or other animals and extra storage space. If you’re not careful, however, constructing a pole barn can become expensive. To get the most value for your money, take advantage of these tricks when building your pole barn.

Designing Your Barn

One of the keys to saving money is to have a good pole barn plan. Plans and blueprints give you a clear path to follow during the construction process. The best way to make sure your designs don’t cost you money is to purchase your barn plans from a professional designer. These professional designs will help you avoid many of the money-burning pitfalls.

During the design stage, identify what areas you can use to reduce your expenditures. One of the beauties of pole barn plans is that because of their design, they don't have to have finished floors if you don't want or need them to. That alone can result in significant savings. Consider that sliding doors tend to be less costly than overhead or hydraulic doors. How you intend to use your pole barn may impact how finished you want the interior to be. The less finished the interior, the more you'll save on materials and construction.

Selecting Materials

Selecting your materials is an exercise in balancing upfront costs with long-term expenditures. If you want your barn to withstand the elements and natural wear and tear, selecting quality materials is vital. Better materials are usually more costly, but they can provide you with long-term savings since you won't have to replace or repair them as often. Choose quality, durable lumber. Laminated columns and Perma-Columns are more resistant to rot, which helps protect your pole barn's structural integrity.

Similarly, Galvalume-treated steel is more resistant to corrosion than galvanized steel. Consider using stainless steel screws in place of nails to better hold the building together. Go for lower gauge and higher yield strength steel, as that will be stronger and more durable. For the exterior, consider Kynar 500 paint. This paint holds up better to weathering, fading, and other abuses than the traditional polyester paint.

Strategic Construction

If you don't have much experience with building pole barns, you might think that you need to space the poles closer together than is necessary to ensure that the barn will be stable enough. Having poles closer together does mean you have increased stability, but the closer they are together, the more your barn costs to build. One of the advantages of pole barns is that the poles can be spaced between 6-12 feet apart without compromising the barn's structural integrity. The farther apart your poles are, the fewer you'll need to build the barn. Fewer poles mean less cement required to stabilize the poles. Fewer poles also means fewer trusses. Overall, strategically planning your poles' spacing can mean using a lesser amount of material, thereby saving you money on the construction.

Once again, using quality pole barn plans will help you determine proper pole spacing and avoid both expensive material overuse and dangerous structural instability.

Built-In Protection

Over time, your barn will be exposed to the extremes of the climate you live in. Barns will also experience abuse from any animals it houses, and general wear and tear. It's essential to build some protection into your barn to help ensure that it lasts. Wainscot is a protective barrier that can be applied to your barn to preserve the siding. It's more manageable and less expensive to replace than the siding when damaged. There are multiple options for wainscoting materials, including the more expensive stone or brick upgrades. If you want to protect your pole barn without additional expense, stick with the basic steel wainscot material. It should do the trick just fine.

Condensation is another common problem for pole barns. Since they are often constructed primarily from wood, excessive condensation causes more rapid damage and degradation. Protect your barn from condensation-related damage by properly staining and insulating it. Consider installing a commercial membrane to protect it from water accumulation and drippage.

Build It Yourself

Taking a DIY approach to constructing your pole barn can save you a lot of money on construction labor costs, but only if you know what you're doing. If you're not sure how to build a pole barn but still want to do it yourself, be sure to use DIY pole barn plans. Having the right pole barn building plans and suitable materials and tools will be essential to the successful completion of your project. Don't forget to acquire the requisite building permits and have any necessary inspections done when applicable.

There are several ways you can save money on your pole barn project. You can build savings into your barn design by selecting quality materials that don't break the bank, constructing it strategically, building in protection, and taking a DIY approach when possible. You may find using one or more of these methods helpful when it comes to staying within your building budget.