Does anyone have links to barn plans with an apartment/living quarters? no more than 2-3 stalls. Also interested in prefab barns :). I’ve been looking around for fun but it’s tricky to find barns with apartments that aren’t 10+ stalls :lol:
https://www.barnpros.com/barn-plans-…Barn+Apartment
Size starts at 36x36, so roughtly a four-stall barn depending on options.
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Try barnpros.com. They are in the PNW. Some gorgeous designs with lots of custom options. Out of my geography and price range but drool worthy.
Having just built a house, and knowing the cost of my 36x36 barn, adding the two together would have been cheaper to build a Denali apartment barn of the same size (and house would have BIGGER too) hahahaha!
We will be building a house in a few years so don’t need anything too crazy, just something to get by for a while :lol:
Just remember, if you are aging or working around horses where you may get injured, living upstairs and confined to managing those stairs may not be as fun as it seems when young and healthy.
If building a house/barn combination, at least have some living quarters at ground level, then extra rooms above is fine, or manage some kind of bank barn system where the upper level has its own entrance.
I expect those companies can design that for you also.
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And don’t forget to check your insurance and your zoning that the structure will pass muster and be affordable where you live.
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That is a lovely barn and guest quarters.
Thanks for the story and pictures.
The OP and everyone else can get more ideas with that.
Has anyone ever built a Morton barn? Or have any experience with similar brands?
I never have. I know two folks who did. Their advice: bring money…LOTS of it!!! 
G.
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There are a ton of Morton’s around here. More functional than “wow” but sturdy and they stand behind their product. Higher end in the pole barn world.
We don’t have tons to spend right now… anyone have any recommendations for decent affordable pole barns? 
Could you build a metal garage/shop type building and add a few portable stalls in there yourself?
Those buildings don’t seem to be priced as high as something intended for horses.
The advantage, if and when you go sell, you can sell portable stalls and as a garage it will appraise higher than a horse barn.
If you later want to build a horse barn, the garage can be storage or hay building or garage, of course.
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Don’t know anything about these people (quality, service reputation, delivery practices, etc.)
For starters you could try the usual suspects down at the Extension Office! 
Our local agent has a 5 drawer filing cabinet full of designs for barns, sheds, and other “out buildings.” They are wood, composite, steel, vinyl, aluminum, block, etc. They are of varying quality in terms of detail. But they are all free (except, sometimes, for costs of copying the plans).
Last time I was at our local Books-A-Million I noted at least a half dozen books on building ag. structures, including barns.
There is a LOT out there, enough to cause “analysis paralysis.” But do some Googling on barn designs and get some idea of what you want. It’s also worthwhile to drive around where you live and see what others have built. If you see a lot of common design elements then you might want to ask “why?” and might find that your micro-climate favors one or more of these common design features.
Based upon what I’ve learned over time you can plan on a base price of about $25/sq.ft. That’s going to buy you something that’s very basic but also serviceable. The more money you have to nicer you can go.
Around Atlanta you really don’t need to worry overly about cold but you DO need to worry about HOT! Sometimes a simple cover with stalls under it will do the job nicely. These are not necessarily cheaper than walled structures but they have lots of air movement and, during the very few days when it can go below freezing, all you really need to do is have a wind break and feed some extra hay. And break the ice in water buckets! But if you put under your roof an enclosed tack room with electricity and a hot water heater (nominally used for your wash rack) you can get by for a couple of days without much difficulty.
Nice barns with nice stalls are nice but in the Atlanta, like around Duluth, GA, they are hardly necessary. On the other hand if you were in Duluth, MN you’d have a rather different set of priorities!!!
Take your time looking around. You really can set up something very serviceable for a reasonable price.
Good luck in your project.
G.
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thank you for the great ideas! Luckily my dad is a handyman so he can pretty much do most of the building… he built the barn we had at our house when I was growing up
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