I’ve been looking at places with living quarters off to the side (I think I’d prefer that for smell reasons) and ones with them in the area where you’d normally have a hay mow. So, what is the cost on the low end, for those who have built one? (Of course the ads I see are all for uber high end ones. 
But I’m trying to find out reality at the low end of things.) I’m not including land, or having to hook up water, electric, etc. Let’s not get hung up on that. I just want to talk about the structure and having it finished off inside without going to the high end.
[QUOTE=Velvet;8824068]
I’ve been looking at places with living quarters off to the side (I think I’d prefer that for smell reasons) and ones with them in the area where you’d normally have a hay mow. So, what is the cost on the low end, for those who have built one? (Of course the ads I see are all for uber high end ones. But I’m trying to find out reality at the low end of things.) I’m not including land, or having to hook up water, electric, etc. Let’s not get hung up on that. I just want to talk about the structure and having it finished off inside without going to the high end.[/QUOTE]
I’m guessing you’re going to look at $75-$100/sq. ft. in most places.
A single wide mobile home will run $30,000 to $70,000 dollars. Not sure of what the sizes might be so can’t do a cost per sq. ft.
I just saw a piece on “tiny houses” and looked those. Here is a link to one builder that has some cost info. For an average 8 x 16 house you’re looking at $37,000 or $292/ft. sq. I guess the old saying “less is more” really IS true!!! http://rockymountaintinyhouses.com/pricing/
There’s also a lot of issues in some areas with humans and animals living in the same structure. If the local “alphabet soup” decides this is something that needs to be “regulated” it can mean anything from “no” to huge “safety” costs. Local rules would have to be carefully reviewed.
G.
I’m scratching my head on the mobile home. That is not at all what I’m talking about. I’m talking about a real barn with a real house attached. Or one with a real house upstairs.
Well, afraid to tell you much, may not be what you want to hear, but here it goes.
First, consider that if you build above, other than a bank barn where you can enter the second story from it’s own higher driveway, having human dwellings above means there are times, when sick or injured, where that is very hard to manage.
So, I would start with a house with a barn attached, or a barn with a house attached.
That is where Guilherme’s post comes in, first we need to determine if that is even possible where you are, because many municipalities don’t accept those arrangements, consider them unsafe.
If you decide to try, see how to comply, if building a firewall between structures passes, or a walkway and what dimensions are acceptable to the inspectors, etc.
In reality, you want two quotes in prices, one for the barn, one for the house and those in themselves depend on what all you want, what dimensions house and barn, etc.
When I was considering all this over a decade ago, as you seem to now, everyone nixed for many good reasons to have a house and barn as one single structure, so added to our old quonset barn for a horse barn and built a house 140’ away, a good compromise from the fire department request they be at least 100’ apart.
When talking to the builder, they told me they would not come all the way out here to build unless the house was a certain basic size, or it was not worth their time to come this far for anything smaller.
Their minimum was 3br/2b, 1 1/2b house, so that is what I have.
The builders also said, the more house around those smaller sizes, the less the cost per square foot, so not to be shy to have somewhat larger rooms, efficiency of size would give more house for the money.
I think my house ended up around $75 a foot, would have been maybe $90 a foot if just 2br/1, 1.2b, because of the travel time divided by that many less feet and so more time paid not working, for travel to and from the work site and waiting every time something from town was needed.
You can get one quote that includes all and it may be less, since building a barn is considerably cheaper per square feet than houses, but in the end, without knowing what each cost, you don’t really would know what you paid.
I think this question is too open ended to be able to give any kind of reasonable estimate.
I think Guilherme was just using a mobile home for comparison purposes.
From what I understand, both Fire Departments and Insurance companies frown on the horse barn/home combination.
If I had the $$ and wanted to do something like that, I’d put the barn on one end, the house on the other, and a arena in the middle. You could always cover it later, and the structures would block the wind and snow from the arena.
As much as I love my horses, the smells, flies, and noise would drive me crazy. Seeing horses in camera range is much more satisfying than having flies in your kitchen.
In NC many people have ‘hunt boxes’ with the house above the barn. Some of these are incredibly luxurious, some are one room and a bathroom.
Also popular are the attached houses. Often the attachment is made though the mud room in the house which goes into the tack room in the barn, thus providing a ‘barrier’ between people and horses for smells and flies.
Horse barns are usually quoted “by the stall”. This number includes accessory square footage like wash racks, bathroom, tackroom, on the theory that the more stalls you have, the more accessory area you will need, so it all evens out.
A bare bones barn can be built for $6000/stall. This is a base figure. For a nice barn, $10,000- $12,000/stall is a reasonable budget. A 5 stall barn (including wash rack and tack room) will cost about $50,000 - $60,000 using this rule of thumb) The WOW barns cost over $15,000/stall and the sky is the limit.
Houses are quoted by the square foot. A basic house is $100/sq foot. Most people will feel more comfortable in a house which is in the $150/square foot range and a nice but not extravagant home can be in the $200/square foot. WOW houses can be $400/sq foot and up.
If the property does not already have barn/house - if you are building on land - remember the cost of the septic or sewer hook up. I was thinking of septic as more likely in a rural area, but either way that can be more expensive than the electric/water hook ups.
I think Lord Helpus figures are pretty good estimates.
we have a house attached to the barn. We bought it turn-key last year, so I can’t speak to the building costs, but I will say how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE that setup!
I can do night check in PJs, and don’t have to trek through dark/rain/snow/sleet to feed or check. It’s so convenient, and having the tackroom attached to the house means the room is on the house HVAC, keeping my tack/feed/sprays unfrozen all winter and not moldy all summer.
In my neck of the woods there are a LOT of houses attached to their barns – either huntboxes (house above barn) or as a single level like mine. I haven’t found a single ‘con’ yet, and the set up has lots of ‘pros’. Good luck finding a good estimate and floor plan.
If your builder can’t think outside the box, you could always have a house and barn built separately but close together, and then later attach them via covered walkway or larger storage area.
I understand what you are asking. An “under-roof” structure, finished walls, electric, plumbing stubbed out, etc. Meaning nothing painted, no kitchen cabinets, toilets, sinks. etc.
The cost of new housing is usually priced by the square foot and I think the square foot price that was given by G was in the ball park. But pricing is VERY area specific.
There are a number of construction pricing websites. You put in your zip code, square ft, and some other basic information and it will give you a rough estimate of what it will cost in your area.
Another cost effective way of going about it is buying a complete house package that is delivered to the site. Pretty much everything is cut to size and can be assembled quickly.
Some very cool “Craftsman” style houses were offered by Sears in the 20s-30s? Ordered out of their catalog. I have been in several and they are sought out by buyers in suburban neighborhoods around the country.
ElementFarm: you are living my dream :love-struck:
OP:
My barnbuilder did a CAD for me years ago of pretty much what you want.
I gave him a link to the Katrina Cottage plans Lowe’s had at the time & cost to build a 500sf house (2BR, 1+BA) attached - by a laundry/mudroom - to a 3-stall barn with room for hay storage & parking for truck, trailer & tractor, rough finished (drywall up, mudded & sanded, no painting) including basic electric, septic & well ran around $200K.
Of course this was ~ 10yrs ago, so costs for materials & labor have certainly gone up.
Don’t be so quick to poohpooh the trailer idea.
Modern doublewides are almost indistinguishable from stick-built & might be a lot easier to permit & put closer to a barn.
OR:
A builder of modular homes might be able to do an attached barn for you as well.
Again:
Permitting & dotting the Zoning I’s varies regionally.
Some great info and ideas! Thanks all!
I would talk to Morton Barns. They also build residential homes and I am sure that they have experience in building what you want to do. They will be expensive. My Morton barn was built almost 20 years ago and I have had absolutely no issues with it.
