Building a pole barn is an exciting project. The possibilities are endless, the improvement to your life is immeasurable. Think of the space for projects! For storage! For your own private cave, or for hosting friends!
However, the prudent builder will cover all their bases and make sure they avoid common mistakes when building a pole barn. If you’re a planner, and you probably are since you’re reading this article, you’re about to see the common theme to pole barn mistakes: not planning for the future.
Don’t just build the pole barn you need today. Make sure it will serve your needs for years to come, and even provide value to the future property owners.
1. Not Getting Professionally Engineered Pole Barn Plans
When you talk to a professional pole barn engineer, they can walk you through your options and help you narrow down the choices that will make your pole barn the perfect design for you. Not only that, they can help you right-size your pole spacing and other material options to help you save money on the overall building cost.
A design professional will help you ensure that you avoid many common mistakes that can cause problems like settling, cracking or warping. Whether you plan to do the construction yourself or hire a contractor, it’s worth getting professionally engineered pole barn plans.
RELATED: Why Hire a Professional Engineer to Stamp My Pole Building Plans in Michigan?
2. Building Too Small
When people put a pole barn on their property, one of the most common complaints is that it’s just not enough space. It’s amazing how quickly that space fills up!
In addition, you also want to make sure your pole barn has the height that suits your current and future needs. Just imagine the sting of paying for RV storage when you have a perfectly good pole barn on your property.
Avoid this mistake by going just a little bit bigger. If that doesn’t fit your finances right now, you can try budget-friendly solutions like building a lean-to for extra outdoor storage for small implements, or telling your pole barn engineer that you plan to expand the building in the future. They can build these options into your building plans!
3. Undersizing Your Foundation
There are a few critical mistakes you can make with your post-frame foundation, but one of the biggest is to undersize your footings. Think of it this way: if you oversize your footings, the only risk is that you spend a little extra money. If you undersize them, you risk damage to the whole building in the form of cracking, settlement, warping, and sagging.
A structural engineer will perform load calculations when designing your building, and ensure that the footings are appropriately sized for your pole barn.
RELATED: Reliable Pole Barn Foundation Options
4. Using the Wrong Truss Style
There are a lot of factors that go into truss choices. The height of your pole barn, how you plan to use the building, and how much storage space you want. You need to consider the following options carefully, because truss type is very difficult to change after the pole building is built:
- Standard trusses are the cheapest option, but they don’t maximize your space.
- Scissor trusses add marginal cost, but give you more height. This is an advantage if you want to fit a boat or RV in a shorter building, or if you might ever add an automotive lift.
- Attic trusses add a more significant cost, but you gain a lot of storage. This is a great advantage in a smaller pole building, since the additional cost is also reduced.
If you do go with attic trusses, in order to maintain code compliance you’ll need a set of stairs as well. For 16’ or taller buildings, this can mean a significant amount of stairs.
5. Skipping Slab Insulation
If you EVER plan to heat your pole building – and in Michigan, it’s going to happen – add insulation underneath the slab and the slab perimeter. The cost is minimal, and once the slab is in place you can’t add this insulation later. In fact, we’re seeing many clients also put in the tubing for in-floor heating, even if they have no current plans to connect it.
Even if you all you do is heat your building enough to keep it above freezing, insulating the slab will pay for itself within a few years.
6. Installing the Wrong Doors
The main reason doors are on the list of mistakes when building a pole barn: you can’t change overhead door location or height later. First, look at door placement. Plan around yard obstacles and other buildings – will you be able to back a trailer into your pole building through your planned door?
Second, make sure you get the right door height and width. A wider and taller door will make maneuvering easier, and will give you more options for fitting larger vehicles in your pole building. We’d recommend going 16’ wide by 14’ high if you think you’ll ever need to fit an RV or boat in your pole building. You’ll also need a minimum clear height 1 foot higher than your door height, ideally 2’ higher.
Third, consider insulated doors. While you can certainly buy insulated doors later if you choose to insulate your pole barn, it’s cheaper to do it right from the start.
7. Waiting Until You’re Ready to Break Ground to Get Building Permits
If you don’t look at the building permit requirements until you’re ready to break ground, you’re just asking for a headache. Talk to the building inspector early to find out what your locality requires for pole barn plans, and talk to a professional engineer about structurally engineered pole barn plans.
Related to this mistake, we’re also adding a bonus mistake to avoid: get pole barn plans before you buy material. It seems pretty obvious right? Well that’s what we thought too, but there’s a reason we are adding it to our article….
8. Trying to Add a Mezzanine After the Pole Barn is Built
We’ve heard clients casually say things like “Oh, I might add a mezzanine later” like it’s not a big deal. Unfortunately, this changes the structural load on your building. You definitely want to plan it into the framework from the beginning, even if you don’t plan to build it right away.
In order to support the mezzanine, you need footings in your slab, and sometimes you need larger footings in the post frame foundation. You either need to plan for this from the start and design it as a cohesive unit, or cut through the slab. If you simply set the posts on the slab you risk cracking the concrete.
We can design your mezzanine now and mark it as “future”, so you already have the structural plan when you’re ready to add an upper level.
9. Not Getting Started Today
Tariffs have made material prices more unstable, and while the pole barn of your dreams may not be affordable right now, that doesn’t mean you have to wait to get started.
One great features of post frame structures is that they can be built incrementally. Once you set the foundation and get the shell built, you can finish the rest out on your own timeline. The concrete slab and interior features can be put on hold until you’re financially ready to move forward. Since we don’t expect prices to go down anytime soon, delaying the start of your project can even cost you money.
If you have a professional engineer design your pole barn plans, your building design can include any features that you want to put in, now or in the future. We can specify that these are “future” plans, which means you’ll already have the plans you need for future permitting purposes.
RELATED: 9 Things to Know Before Building a Pole Barn in Michigan
Get It Right From the Start with Pole Barn Plans from Michigan Building Design
At Michigan Building Design, we talk to clients like you every day. Tell us what you want out of your pole barn, and we’ll help you understand all the options that could add minimal cost and maximum value to your perfect pole building.
With professional engineer sealed plans, obtaining building permits will be a breeze. Plus, we stand by our building plans: if you or the building inspector have questions during the building process, we’ll be available to work through these issues with you.
To get started, get in contact with us here and we can begin designing the pole building of your dreams – and help you avoid making any of these common mistakes when building a pole barn.