I’ve got a barn pros barn and I absolutely love it! They are also a very good company to work with. We had a great experience with them and their customer service was excellent. 
I’ve always wanted either a BarnPro’s apartment/barn or a garage with overhead living quarters, with the garage used as barn and art/music studio. (We have small ponies, so garage ceiling height would not be a concern.)
Unfortunately, neither my husband nor I are getting any younger and we do not want to build anything where everything is upstairs – talk about built in obsolescence – with us being the ones becoming obsolete!
Some things I would check into before building:
• Make sure insurance will cover it.
• Consider a separate hay storage as part of the cost.
• Check with a realtor or two as to resale value in your area.
If you decide this will work for you, keep us posted so we can enjoy it vicariously!
Drewsbadboy, is that the barn on your website front page? It’s gorgeous! I especially love the 12 x 12 covered runs attached to the stalls…that is genius!
Susanne, thanks for the very good points you share. I’m not sure the area where I’d like to build even allows living quarters attached to barns…I think some towns consider it a fire hazard. :-/
http://www.dcbuilding.com
These guys build a lot of Barn Pros barns. When we were considering what barn to build we looked at several Barn Pros barns in our area that DC building built and they were gorgeous. We decided on a custom barn and they were great to work with.
Iride - Yes, that’s our barn from Barnpros. Thanks so much! I like each of the horses having the option of 12 x 12 inside or 12 x 12 in the covered area, when I have to keep them up in the barn.
I wonder if many BarnPros barns have been built in the East coast, I know they market nationwide but they are located out West I think
The price seems awfully high. Granted, I’m getting the materials at cost and have free labor, but to get the same size and basic set up, it would be 4x the cost. WITHOUT stalls. Yikes!
I had looked at it for maybe half a second… and just laughed.
They’re beautiful, and if you can afford it and don’t have the lucky connections to get it done “yourself” (you, friends, etc.), they look like great barns. I would not complain about having one! But add in site prep, stalls, adding in the extras I am putting in my barn, and I’d be wayyyy over my budget. Let alone plumbing, electric, fencing, top soil, costs of clearing/grading land…
Nestor, you are correct. Also about their high quality and beauty though.
In my case, I need no grading or clearing. I also have a bit of pro-bono help (a friend) with fencing and some of the stall work.
My problem will be in putting in a ring. If I do it the way I want to, I’d never be able to afford it (I’m a stickler about footing). I may end up using a grass field with dressage markers as I love to ride and jump on grass. Of course, then I’d be at the mercy of the weather/rain, so…haven’t figured that out yet.
STOP, DO NOT USE BARN PRO’S WARNING!!!
Hello,
I just now joined this forum in order to help Iride, I sincerely hope you did not pull the trigger on using BarnPro’s. Please read and prepare to thank me! :yes:
Over a year ago we bought a 10-acre farm in Fillmore, California and we wanted to build a barn. I did an Internet search and quickly fell in love with everything BarnPro’s offered, so I called them.
The salesman continued to call and pester me to the point where I flat-out told him I didn’t appreciate the pressure and that I’d call him when I was ready. There was lots of talk about joining the BarnPro’s family and how amazed I’d be with their fast service, quality product and the whole experience…they sell you a dream. I finally pulled the trigger.
They told me that I was buying their flagship barn, the Denali and that they’d built hundreds of them, many right here in California. It certainly sounded like they had it all down and the salesman told me he just needed to get a California engineered wet-stamp on the plans and we’d be good to go. I signed their contract and sent them money.
It has now been a FULL YEAR and we still don’t have permitted plans for the barn. :no:
It took BarnPro’s over 4 months just to get me plans! So much for being amazed at their fast & professional service. The plans they gave me miserably failed to get through plan-check, they were rejected…so much for a proven set of plans. :mad:
BarnPro’s then hired another draftsman & engineering firm to re-do the plans…that took over 2 months to get to me! Those plans, when submitted, also FAILED!! :eek:
BarnPro’s then took over 3 weeks to address all those corrections/revisions…and the plans failed yet again. To date, we’re still waiting for their engineer to get it done. 
Is it the County’s fault for the delay? NO, the plans provided were deficient and entirely failed to account for foundation details and other standards in California. The County is thorough & detailed but BarnPro’s isn’t getting it done…and part of the reason I FEEL is that they took ALL my money months ago so I’m paid in full and now I’m on the back-burner, all I get is sweet-talk and promises that they’ll get it done. :no:
What’s more, they told me my ‘special pricing’ meant that I had to take delivery of the building materials…but they represented that they had already built these barns in Cali and I had every reason to figure I’d be building soon enough. My building materials have now been sitting on the jobsite for over 6 months, despite being covered and stored level, many of the beams have twisted, warped and gone bad!!! :eek::eek:
Also, when they delivered the materials it was supposed to come on a Monday, but suddenly I get a call and they say it’s coming 3 days early…so I cancel all my plans, arrange a fork-lift and arrive 8am on delivery day to meet the driver. The driver calls at 9 to say he’ll come at 11am…then he calls at 12 to say he’s driven too many hours for a period and has to deliver the next day…but I have a fork-lift & helper today, so the company sends another driver who finally brings the load at 9pm in the pitch black night and we unload it IN THE RAIN. 
Again…A FULL YEAR AFTER SIGNING I have no permitted plans, my lumber is rotting on the site and it’s been a NIGHTMARE, NIGHTMARE, NIGHTMARE!!! And there are other details I could elaborate on that would make your eyes rolls.
DO
NOT
USE
BARNPRO’S
I am also aware of other customers who are experiencing the same issues. If you want to contact me via email (Homeinsulation@aol.com) I’d be happy to direct you to a builder who can definitely help you.
Wow, filmore farmer, that is awful. Are you addressing this legally??
There’s not really much I can do because Barn Pro’s has’t failed to deliver, they’re just taking FOREVER.
My contract with BarnPro’s called for lumber/materials and a set of plans which they promise will ‘clear’ the local County office of building & Safety. I read my contract and there is no clause indicating a time frame…but certainly, a full year later, things aren’t moving at a reasonable pace.
A few months back I called them and told them to come pick-up the lumber and refund my money…they entirely ignored my request; never even acknowledged or addressed it. I’ver sent emails that have also been ignored.
In hindsight, I should have had their contract amended to my not paying the last 25% until I have permitted plans and a time-frame in place: my mistake for trusting them!!! :no::no:
What they represented to me was that they build these barns all over the Nation and they have plans that are pretty much ready to go. Evidently it’s been a while since they built in SoCal and building codes and engineering have been beefed-up so that everything doesn’t collapse in an earthquake.
What it really comes down to is 2 dysfunctional components…BarnPro’s had to learn how to get plans through the County in this region. The second problem is that the County moves slow, each time I submit plans into the County office, it takes the plan-checker a full month to review the plans and then send them back with ‘corrections & revisions’…and when BarnPro’s gets these revisions, they take a long time to respond as well…much because I’ve paid in full and I’m no longer a priority to them. Again, I shouldn’t have agreed to their pay-schedule; they were paid in full back in January and here it is September and they’re still working on the plans.
BarnPro’s basically tries to blame the County, saying that they’re difficult…but that’s just NOT true. We are remodeling the house on the property and my architect had very few issues with our plans. Also, I had the engineer review what the County was asking of BarnPro’s and the engineer said it was all legit and regular stuff…BarnPro’s is simply out of their league and since I’ve paid in full they have my project on the back-back-back-burner for getting done.
Sorry for the long & elabore post but if I can save even one person from being a victim of this company, then it’s worth it.
Again, I’m sorry you’re going through this. But one thing is for sure, you don’t want your horses who will be housed in the barn to be in a barn that is not absolutely safe. If it takes longer to get it built, with the new codes addressed, that is inconvenient and perhaps they are remiss in what they’ve promised but you don’t want a barn that will not hold up in an earthquake, no matter what. In my case, the property I wanted to buy unfortunately went to another bidder so I’m not even sure I will be building one now. :no: If I do build one and if I do consider Barn Pros I will take your experience well into consideration when making a decision and getting all the ducks in a row regardless of who I use. Thanks again for sharing.
It is standard when you order a building kit to know you have to run the plans the company that sells those sent you by a local engineering firm to make them right for your area, that will make any necessary corrections and stamp them, so you can get local permits if any needed.
Depending on the size of your building, that should cost from a bit to considerably under $1000, money well spent when trying to get inspection plans approved.
The foundation is one part you need a local engineering firm to design for those plans anyway.
That is dependent on where you will build, which kinds of soils you have there being different than in other locations, a national building firm’s engineers won’t know that.
You won’t have that problem if you build with a local company, but for kits, many times it is considerably cheaper to order from a big manufacturer, that is what your local builders will do anyway, plus add their handling fee, that may almost double the price!:eek:
You may recoup that with local builders in the erection, that they would bid cheaper than some company from far off that has to send their workers to your area, at a higher cost than if those are locals.
It does seem that this company you are dealing with is not very competent and definitely are not accommodating your needs, never a good idea for a national company, where word of mouth can mean more or less business today as word gets around they are not on the ball.
Good luck getting your barn built.
Wooo! I’ll just get my spare 30 grand and…oh. Dammit. Pretty things, though!
[QUOTE=Bluey;7165160]
It is standard when building a kit to know you have to run the plans the company that sells those sent you by a local engineering firm to make they’re right for your area, that will make any necessary corrections and stamp them, so you can get local permits if any needed.[/QUOTE]
BarnPro’s includes building materials and what they promise will be approved plans, this includes the cost of design AND the cost of having a locally-approved engineering firm stamp the plans. In short, enigneering was included in the price and they used an engineering firm that is California licensed.
As the County engineer explained to me, BarnPro’s is trying to get a pole-style barn to conform to seismic lateral loads and it just doesn’t work without tying-in the foundation with shear wall, they basically had to reinvent the barn design to make it work. BarnPro’s represented to me that they had these barns all dialed-in and they’ve built hundreds of them…guess not and I’m paying the price for their learning curve.
The engineering for the house remodel was about $3,200…I’m sure the barn was upwards of $3,800 or more.
The engineering firm they used is Nationally based but they are licensed in California and as such are responsible to know the local requirements & codes. At the same time, that’s like an attorney who tries to practice ALL forms of law, they can’t be great at everything and as such I agree with you, a local firm would have known and been vastly familiar with all the details. The Nationally based firm, while licensed, lacked the particular knowledge and I’m paying for that in lost time & hassle. In fact, each time I resubmit plans I need my Soils Engineer to re-stamp the plans…$200 each round…not to mention half the day driving to pick them up and resubmitting at the County office. Trust me, you have no idea the HELL I’ve been through. :eek::no:
They sold me a dream…a customer barn with an experienced company that has built hundreds of barns and had the plans all dialed-in, a proven recipe and I’d be amazed at how fast they work to get my barn put together…and I’d be a Happy member of the BarnPro’s family. They took my money, they took forever and they’ve taken me on a hellish ride. I’ve paid in full and I definitely feel like yesterday’s dog.
Ummm…try more like $80k and thats just plans and lumber. By the time this is done it’ll be more like $180k…but it will be nice and each time I look at it I’ll remember the hell I went through to get there.
[QUOTE=Fillmore farmer;7166502]
BarnPro’s includes building materials and what they promise will be approved plans, this includes the cost of design AND the cost of having a locally-approved engineering firm stamp the plans. In short, enigneering was included in the price and they used an engineering firm that is California licensed.
As the County engineer explained to me, BarnPro’s is trying to get a pole-style barn to conform to seismic lateral loads and it just doesn’t work without tying-in the foundation with shear wall, they basically had to reinvent the barn design to make it work. BarnPro’s represented to me that they had these barns all dialed-in and they’ve built hundreds of them…guess not and I’m paying the price for their learning curve.
That did cross my mind, they were using your order to learn how to proceed, you were the first customer in that specific location.
Not a good place to be.:no:
The engineering for the house remodel was about $3,200…I’m sure the barn was upwards of $3,800 or more.
Engineering can run into several thousands of dollars, but should not for just reviewing someone else’s basic plans.:eek:
The engineering firm they used is Nationally based but they are licensed in California and as such are responsible to know the local requirements & codes. At the same time, that’s like an attorney who tries to practice ALL forms of law, they can’t be great at everything and as such I agree with you, a local firm would have known and been vastly familiar with all the details. The Nationally based firm, while licensed, lacked the particular knowledge and I’m paying for that in lost time & hassle. In fact, each time I resubmit plans I need my Soils Engineer to re-stamp the plans…$200 each round…not to mention half the day driving to pick them up and resubmitting at the County office. Trust me, you have no idea the HELL I’ve been through. :eek::no:
They sold me a dream…a customer barn with an experienced company that has built hundreds of barns and had the plans all dialed-in, a proven recipe and I’d be amazed at how fast they work to get my barn put together…and I’d be a Happy member of the BarnPro’s family. They took my money, they took forever and they’ve taken me on a hellish ride. I’ve paid in full and I definitely feel like yesterday’s dog.
We are building a barn and ran the paperwork thru our own attorney, to be sure all is right, before signing.
Standard in the industry for building kits is 10 to 30% at most to start manufacturing.
We paid a small percentage when ordering and the rest when delivered and approved as all being there.
We are doing the building, but if you paid for the building sitting there finished, your contract should reflect that with payments all along, so much down, so much when material delivered, so much at a percentage of completion and the rest when finish and walked thru and approved.
I am surprised anyone would pay 100% up front?
Ummm…try more like $80k and thats just plans and lumber. By the time this is done it’ll be more like $180k…but it will be nice and each time I look at it I’ll remember the hell I went through to get there.[/QUOTE]
Yes, the barn will be nice, if that is the kind you want to have.
Let this be an object lesson to all, NEVER pay 100% up front for something to be done or delivered, especially something of considerable value.
AND … always have due dates and penalties if those are not adhered to or both sides agree to extensions.
Commerce understands that and works with that as standard.
Then, the more shady companies will have contracts that only benefit them.
As our attorney said, if a contract is not fair to both parties, it is much easier to get regress thru court action, as the company will then look as it was trying to take advantage or outright cheat up front.
If a company doesn’t adhere to customary commerce practices, I would be wary of what else that is customary they may not adhere to, to thinking they may be a scam and do bait and switch to something of much less value or not deliver at all.
In your situation, I would have a good real estate/contract attorney look at the situation and see how to proceed.
That company really should make this right with some kind of concession, like a considerable discount and profuse apologies, as all this, their non-performance, is clearly not your fault in any way or form.
Im really sorry to hear about your nightmare situation. That really surprised me to hear that. We were fortunate to have had a great experience with them. Maybe it has something to do with the differences in counties and states, I’m not sure.
Dear Gang…
I want to take this moment to thank you all for listening to me and allowing me to vent about my situation. I really don’t like to dwell on the negative but in this matter I feel horrifically screwed and it really helps to have fellow enthusiast to discuss this with, so thanks for reading and offering me your input/advice/sympathy.
[QUOTE=drewsbadboy;7166788]
Im really sorry to hear about your nightmare situation. That really surprised me to hear that. We were fortunate to have had a great experience with them. Maybe it has something to do with the differences in counties and states, I’m not sure.[/QUOTE]
It has EVERYTHING to do with the difference in County & States. I’m in California where we’re subject to 8.0+ magnatude earthquakes, accordingly building codes are MUCH stricter/detailed and we have to account for all sorts of ‘loads’ and other structural forces…pretty much everything but snow-load and even that comes into play in higher elevations, lol.
Beyond that, I’m in a major County where modern codes have been adopted and are up to speed with new changes…so yes, getting my plans approved involved far more then the typical details that BarnPro’s is used to working with.
They told me that the original plans they gave me roll right through 85% of most County offices (Nationally) without a hitch, the other 15% have a few details here and there, but they admit that my plans have set an all new high-standard for detail, complexity and outright difficulty…so YES, I’ve had to bear the burden and pay the price for their learning curve.
At the same time, it still took them over 4 months to get me those oringal plans from an engineer who clearly didn’t know SoCal building code…and when those plans failed to pass, it took them 2+ months to then hire another draftsman and another Engineering firm from which those plans also failed, and failed and to this day are still being revised: it’s pure INSANITY and they’ve long since relegated me as having gone “over the ledge”. I made the (mistake?) of yelling at them and so I’ve been labeled the difficult customer and having paid in full I’m distant from being a priority…they’ve since moved-on to other project$
The fundamental problem I have is that they clearly represented to me their vast experience in not only building barns but in building the Denali style barn (their ‘flagship’); I was entirely led to believe that this was a proven recipe and that they’d built hundreds of these barns including barns in my area: I accordingly had every reason to believe and rely upon their ability to get me the plans in a reasonable amount of time AND that those plans would be acceptable and swiftly approved through plan-check.
As a perfect example, about 2 years ago I built a 4-car garage at a property across the street. Should I want to build another garage I could take those same engineered plans and run them right through the County office…ie: proven recipe, plans that have been tried & true and ready to go. THIS CONCEPT IS WHAT I WAS SOLD from BarnPro’s and in truth they evidently didn’t have these plans in even near the ready-to-be-approved condition as they represented. Beyond that, their response time in revising the failed plans has also been horrible. I’m telling you, at every turn a nightmare.
BarnPro’s is trying to build the same barn across the Country and they need to hire local engineering firms to get the final details right…instead they hire some National engineering firm and they stumble along. Also, I hate to sound racist but the engineer is some young gal whose name suggest she’s actually being outsourced from India…BarnPro’s is sourcing the least expensive firm they can hire and from what DC Builders tell me they’re probably hammering them hard for a discounted price based on giving them a lot of work…that’s why it’s not getting done, that’s why it’s taking so long, that’s why they can’t close the details and get the plans through my plan-checker!
[QUOTE=Bluey;7166605]Let this be an object lesson to all, NEVER pay 100% up front for something to be done or delivered, especially something of considerable value.
AND … always have due dates and penalties if those are not adhered to or both sides agree to extensions.[/QUOTE]
I’m inclined to ENTIRELY agree with you…and as a successful business owner I’m embarrassed & disgusted with myself for having fallen prey to such a situation.
You know what’s funny, I’ve let my own perception, experience and way in which I do business affect my outlook on things. As example, a guy who knows how to turn-back a car’s odometer is always suspcious of buying a used car. A con-artist is always assuming he’s beeing lied to…and an honest person often assumes their being dealt with honestly. As an insulation contractor (my profession) we have outstanding reviews from our customers and I strive to be excellent in all regards…we show-up on time, we don’t leave until the customer is happy, our pricing is very reasonable…and IF there’s a problem, we fix it so fast that customers are blown-away. I made the gross and horrifically wrong assumption that BarnPro’s was the company they represented themselves to be. BIG MISTAKE
It never occurred to me that it would take this long…they were so eager to take my money and promised how amazed I’d be at how fast their team would work to get my barn built: I swallowed it hook, line & sinker!!! Somebody nominate me for Fool of the Year… :no::no:
The thing is, you can put time constraints on the contract but mitigating and unforseen circumstances always somehow prevail. I’m confident a court of law would find the time-line quite unreasonable…but yeah, I should have pumped the brakes and read the contract really well…I was just too eager, hyped and ready to pull the trigger.
As for the money, I think they took about 10% to get the plans moving and then they took the remaiing 90% as they shipped the load of lumber to me…they had given me plans and were delievering the building materials, that’s their deal. The caveat is that they promise to deliver plans that will be accepted and approved at the County office…in hindsight I should have demanded to hold-back 20% until I had approved plans…but more then anything I trusted these guys to deliver and make good on their word. Again, BIG MISTAKE
I need to be open about one item, after I brought the plans to the County it became evident that my property is located in the Flood Zone and so I had to hire a Civil Engineer to do a Base Flood Elevation survey…this to determine how high off the ground the barn had to be built to sustain a 100-year flood…this process took a bit over a month and so I will fall on the proverbial sword for this portion of the delay…but still, it’s been over a full year since I paid them to get the ball rolling, they can’t account for 10+ months!
The funny thing is…the owners of the company never called me and at no point have they taken responsibility for the delay: to concede such a thing would then lead to discounts and the such. Their rendition of the delay lies more in blaming the “difficult Gov’t” that puts-up all these requirements that are really all about them making money, blah, blah, blah, conspiracy theory. They call it the “Plan check from Hell”…but I’ve spoken with local architects & engineers and they say everything the County is asking/requiring is entirely par for the course: BarnPro’s is clearly out of their league and in unfamilar territory.
The thing is…I’m stuck. I want to build this barn, I already have most the building materials, I’ve already invested huge amounts of time & effort into getting these plans approved and each month it seemed like we’re a hair away from getting that permit. Getting my money back, suing them, etc…doesn’t get me my barn. This is just how life is, some of the best things don’t come easy and it’ll perhaps make having it all that much more special. Should it have taken this long? NO…Could it have been avoided? YES…but ya know what, there are people out there dealing with having lost their jobs, dealing with cancer, dealing with all sorts of horrible stuff…so if I have to deal with some bullcrap to build a barn, I’ll just be happy that it’s the worst thing I have to deal with…
BarnPro’s will probably provide the additional lumber and hardware required by the County without charging me (actually, I think my contract calls for the barn being built so they really shouldn’t charge me)…and they’ll probably throw in a few other things and end-up sending me a bottle or tequila and some flowers…they’ll try to close strong and make me a member of the Happy-Happy BarnPro’s family…so we’ll see how it goes.
I’m still inclined to make sure ANYONE & EVERYONE who does a search on “BarnPro’s review” finds my story…just to prompt BarnPro’s to do better business and encourage anyone else to put time-frames and not pay them in full and know what they’re getting into with them. From what I’m told there’s too many people over there and nobody holds the reigns for accountability…so everything just gets passed along and the only real priority is making new sales and keeping the cash flowing in…but sooner or later doing bad business will come to bite you and I’ve got a mouth jacked-up full of razor-sharp teeth, so we’ll see…
Btw…here’s a video of our place, we shot the video using a quad-copter with a steady-cam video camera attached. The property with the cows is my neighbor, we’re the large square with 8 rows of orange trees and 24 rows of new avocado trees…and that’s my daughter zipping around on her quad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZG5kR4251A&feature=player_embedded
Just wondering about before you signed on with them, and they told you they’d built x number of barns in CA, did you go to see any of them to see what they were like in person or to get referrals from others in your state? I just know that if I were spending that kind of money on what I’d only seen as pictures and I knew there were supposedly the ‘real thing’(s) not too far away I’d probably go see them. Also have you pointed them to this thread yet?
[QUOTE=Iride;7168067]
Just wondering about before you signed on with them, and they told you they’d built x number of barns in CA, did you go to see any of them to see what they were like in person or to get referrals from others in your state? I just know that if I were spending that kind of money on what I’d only seen as pictures and I knew there were supposedly the ‘real thing’(s) not too far away I’d probably go see them. [/QUOTE]
Yes, my wife and I went about 25 miles from our own place and saw the nearly identical barn as we wanted. The barn was very nice but the owner mentioned about some issues with the siding…but he blamed his contractor and not so much BarnPro’s.
The thing that came to light, later…was that the owner of that barn was to be paid $400 if we ended-up purchasing a barn from BarnPro’s, given that incentive it’s hard to imagine hearing anything less then praise and happiness from what essentially amounts to a hired-customer.
The thing about that barn is that, while it’s close, it’s in a different County and it was built long enough ago that it wasn’t subject to the same degree of engineering requirements as my barn. ’
There was a LOT of assurance about how many barns they build, how much experience they have and that the Denali was their flagship…I was repeatedly assured about how fast I’d get plans and how I’d be “amazed at how fast the BarnPro’s team would work to get things done”. Nothing could be further from the truth…they sold me a dream, took my money and put me on the back-burner.
[QUOTE=Iride;7168067]Also have you pointed them to this thread yet?[/QUOTE] I imagine you’re referring to BarnPro’s being aware of my posting this thread. I’ve not made any effort to bring it to their attention, my sole intent is to help other people from making the same mistake I made.
