Anyone have recent experience with how long it takes to build a pole barn 48x48 feet? Either the shell or finishing it out. Mine will have 4 stalls, a wash stall, and a tack room (12x12) as well as an overhang 12x48 when done. (entire building including overhang is 48x48)
We just had a 40’ X 60’ hay barn built with a 24’ X 60’ lean to on it as well, and it took less than a week. All pole construction. We also had the crew add a 40’ X 16’ lean to to our horse barn as well, and that was included in that week.
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My barn builder plans on two months. He has put up lots of barns about that size in my horse community and schedules them on that interval. He builds one at a time, and if there is any time left over he and his crew just do a few add-ons for folks, like run-in sheds, before they start the next barn.
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structure is usually pretty fast however finish out trades are really, really, really slow if at all available (plumbers/electricians/or any other specialty contractor)
My son in Pennsylvania has been building a building that is 36 by 52, the only way he was able to get a plumber was to give the plumber’s sons a motorcycle each, this build out has been ongoing for over a year
Much depends on the builder and possible supply line issues for materials.
Something you could do ahead, recommended by BIL the builder, is put down base sand, gravel and a good driveway before starting ANY construction. Learn your prevailing winds to orient the barn in keeping things cooled in summer or winter. He advised us to buy the base dirt as we could afford it, the year before he could construct the barn. Dirt will settle exposed in the weather, rain, snow, freeze and thaw. The sheep ran and played on the dirt pile which might have helped a bit! He wanted barn uphill from surrounding ground for good drainage off the big roof. We raised the ground at least 4 ft when barn was finished, so dirt pile was 5ft or higher before settling and grading.
We did buy a lot of loads of dirt, had it dumped on the pile as we got some money ahead. He said it had settled perfectly to work on when we finally got the barn built over a year later.
He gave us great advice. Raising the floor level of barn that much has prevented flooding when everything around it had water running off! We bless him pretty often in wet years!! Base is solid, nothing washing away, floors stay level, cement not cracking.
You might want to locate a sawmill to buy rough-cut lumber for stall walls. Without being smooth boards, they are thicker, true 8 inches wide x 12ft lengths. Makes for stronger boards. Usually cheaper than lumber yard boards. If green wood, you might get a bit of shrinkage between edges as they dry. If using Oak, use galvanized nails that won’t rust off the heads from tannic acid in the wood. Green Oak wood of any kind, needs to go up quickly because it gets VERY hard as it dries. You don’t want to drill every nail hole! We use White Oak for horse things, seems to be harder, last longer, than other woods. It is fairly available here in Michigan. We replace our tie stall floors about every 10-12 years as shod horses wear low spots into the boards. Our shoes all have pin studs for road driving grip. Horses are stalled 8 to 12 hours out of 24 hour day, depending on the seasonal weather, our using them, so floors get worn. Boards would probably last much longer with barefoot horses or no traction things on the shoes.
New barn! What fun!! Our only regret is not doing 14ft sidewalls for more hay storage. But we only EVER planned to own 4 horses. That was plenty of room. Then we got into driving horses, husbands said “Multiples is the way to go!” So we needed more room for hay and stalls. It escalated from there!! Ha ha
Well, I’m at 7 months and still waiting on mine…I hope you have better luck!
@HeartsDesireEventing Getting the loan was a 5+ month process! Been a week since closing and the builder hasn’t gotten the first payment yet.
I can hope it won’t take too long to get enough of the barn up to bring the horses home before it’s completely done.
My builder is licensed in plumbing, electrical, and HVAC.
Builder already built my outdoor arena. Based on how he built one corner of that up, I’m feeling pretty good that the barn will be high and dry. Plus, it and the arena are on the peak of the land. He started ground work for the barn while doing the arena.
I asked this question because his contract said the barn would be done in 100 days after permit obtained. But the loan was the problem. Now he says 90 days to complete the barn. 
I sure would’ve thought he had padded the “100 days” so that maybe it would be 30 or 60 days at this point. The shell of my 60x198 building didn’t take more than 2 months iirc.
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is there a Force Majeure clause included in the contract to remove liability for unforeseeable and unavoidable catastrophes that prevent him from fulfilling the contract obligations.?
The shell of our 30 x 48 pole barn/garage took a total of about 8 days, exclusive of site prep at the onset and and pouring concrete after the shell was up. Once the poles were set, it whizzed right along.
