Why I Chose to Build a Barndominium Over Buying a Tiny Home.
Originally a barndominium was out of my scope of not only what I could afford but more than I needed, or so I thought. I Live in the southeast and I had plans for a simple tiny home, I even traveled to Arizona to look at them and boy am I glad that I did. That trip helped me realize That I needed more space than I had thought and you can’t get much for your money in the Tiny House arena. What you can get for your money is honestly and I hate saying this because I do love tiny homes but they are simply inferior in every way to even a timber frame Tiny Home. After much deliberation, I decided to build a typical Barndominium just on the smaller side.
The Buildmax BM960 Floor Plans From Buildmax
at first glance looked pretty perfect for what I was trying to achieve maybe even bigger than I had in mind so I’ll have some breathing room, as well as plenty of storage space that was non-existent in the tiny home models that I Looked through. The BM960 has a very open floor plan design as you can see below, the living room and kitchen are wide open, I never would have thought I could afford a home with a large garage for my first home but that’s just what the BM960 provides and it’s enough storage space than I could ever dream of using.
My overall experience with the build
My overall experience was very eye-opening and a complete learning experience for me, I had a slight knowledge of building and floor plans going into the build but everything I would learn through every step of building my home would be a new learning experience and boy did I learn. Everything from pouring and smoothing over the foundation to installing thermal heating in my kitchen floors up through the framing process and drywall to the painting and finishing, I learned what exactly it takes to build a house from scratch. and let me tell ya there’s a lot that goes into it that I was oblivious to.
If I didn’t have help It would have taken me twice as long to build my barndominium, luckily Buildmax provides excellent consultations and they will answer any question they can for you, their building expertise was a tremendous help in navigating all the contractors and steps, and what thing needed to be done and in what order. Having a solid builder to orchestrate all of the crews coming in and out is vital, if you plan on organizing all of that yourself self just know what you getting yourself into beforehand because keeping a build site organized and clean is a full-time job.
Would I build another Barndominium?
I’m extremely happy with how my barndominium turned out & I plan to stay here for a very long time, I’ve added a 10×20 ft front porch onto my BM960 and added retaining walls around the back and side of my home to help with any erosion from the hillside next to my barndo. Hopefully, my project can give motivation to someone else who is on the fence about building their first barndominium. I would highly recommend looking into Buildmax’s floor plans they have plans of all sizes. Would I build again? I would, knowing what I know now I feel like If I were to build another Barndominium I have enough knowledge to maybe even get it done faster and more efficiently than the first time.
Below are a few more reasons to build a barndo that I didn’t get into great detail on.
- Resale Value – Traditional built homes like barndominiums retain resale value better long-term than tiny houses, which depreciate faster.
- Zoning Issues – Some areas restrict inhabiting tiny houses full-time but embrace barndominium dwelling conversions as primary homes meeting codes.
- Customization – Building from scratch allows you to customize it fully to your needs and style vs picking from a catalog of preset tiny home options.
- Permanence – As an actual home built on a foundation, it becomes a more fixed part of the property versus tiny homes on trailers that maintain more impermanence.
