I recently retired and like most people I am thinking of moving out of Illinois. I have been looking at the plans from Menards (Similar to Home Depot and Lowes) for a barndominium. Half garage and half house. Has anyone built one of these and or seen one? Below is the model I Iike the looks of. Of course I would consider making the house side smaller.
Decent sized steel building with an apartment in one corner is the thing I most see as a shopdonimium around here. That has a lot more curb appeal. But if it is out on the woods who needs curb appeal. If a lady is involved that changes that completely.
If I end up single late in life this is my dream home.
I'm building something very similar now.
I've been involved in finishing a few in my area. Can be cost effective, but most have major
"scope creep" and get pretty costly as finished. All are in seriously rural ares.
One looks like an big ag building on Google Earth. Inside it is finished out top dollar.
My brother's on the top of a hill in Eastern TN holds two 40' RVs and 5 cars with room for a 1500 s.f. home.
If you are doing major car building in the work section, be very careful about barriers between it and the home. Otherwise she may not care for living quarters that smell like 90 weight gear oil.
One thing I can say as a builder. I get called in to convert metal building to homes. Been there, done that many times. In all cases it would have been less expensive to build a stick built home from scratch. One builds a metal shed, then they build a house inside it. YMMV
All that said, scheduled to do another one in January. 
SV reX said:I'm building something very similar now.
Do you have a build thread? I'd love to follow along.
I have several customers and friends that built them out. I would like to build one for retirement and have a few more years before I will start the planning.
each person I know would build one again.
I have 10 acres and I'm currently building a house and a shop. I considered a barndominium, whatever, and rejected it for a few reasons.
First, ease of resale later. A conventional home with a separate shop is much more mainstream and has a broader audience for an eventual sale.
Second, cost. As Purple Frog mentions above, the things you'd do with a metal shop building aren't always acceptable for a house, including stuff like roof material, insulation and A/C, doors and windows. If you're single and don't GAF, that may be a moot point. I'm not.
Third, I'm building with an eye toward possibly putting the house on AirBnb part of the time, since we have a condo that we're keeping and we plan on some travel. It'd be nice if the house could generate enough income to offset some of the mortgage, anyway. I am putting a bathroom in the shop to support this, so even if the house is rented I can be in the shop.
One day I got on a kick to look at the garage condos at the Autobahn CC in Joliet, IL. I called the agent and had a great discussion then we hit the price - starting @ $650,000........E36 M3 - not on my budget.
I like your layout - looks nice but I agree you sometimes need to think about the next owner.
In reply to Datsun310Guy :
Interesting drawings. I'm hung up on the fact they show no physical separation between the downstairs garage and living space above. Jay Leno and the building codes might caution against that.
I love the idea of a barndo but I also think a house with an adjacent shop is probably the smarter investment.
OHSCrifle said:In reply to Datsun310Guy :
Interesting drawings. I'm hung up on the fact they show no physical separation between the downstairs garage and living space above. Jay Leno and the building codes might caution against that.
I love the idea of a barndo but I also think a house with an adjacent shop is probably the smarter investment.
Also, they put the lift in the wrong place. clearly drawn by an architect who just had to make everything fit, not function.
I would prefer a separate house and shop, just for noise, smell, and fire considerations. I'm prone to working late if I get into a project, and running an air compressor, grinder, painting, and other noisy/smelly things are incompatible with sharing space with sleeping people. Especially metal space that's very echoey. If separate house and shop isn't an option then sure, but my current setup seems ideal - house up the hill, big shop down the hill a hundred feet away.
OHSCrifle said:SV reX said:I'm building something very similar now.
Do you have a build thread? I'd love to follow along.
I don't. Sorry.
Maybe later...
The reason these are always in remote areas is that they almost never meet the building codes, and need to be built where there is minimal enforcement.
I've built a couple. They are not cheap (though everyone thinks they are).
The major issues have already been covered. Fire separation, fumes, noise, etc.
My house is built in a very strictly enforced building code city. The ground floor is all shop with the house above it.
In the winter I can come down in my bare feet and work comfortably. It's also used as a garage ( if not filled with projects ) so we can come down, press the remote, and back out into a foot or more of snow It makes grocery deliveries a breeze and water heaters furnace etc very simple. 
In reply to frenchyd :
Please stop.
Your house is a terrible example. You have posted pictures of the garage ceiling with exposed wood framing and no fire separation, with sleeping quarters above.
That is absolutely illegal.
You are living in a place with poor code enforcement. Enjoy it.
I'm with the conventional house and pole barn crowd here.
That being said I am adding on 1000sf to my house starting today.
Off the back of the house from the garage west.
Also there is a SheShed where the trucks once sat.
frenchyd said:My house is built in a very strictly enforced building code city. The ground floor is all shop with the house above it.
In the winter I can come down in my bare feet and work comfortably. It's also used as a garage ( if not filled with projects ) so we can come down, press the remote, and back out into a foot or more of snow It makes grocery deliveries a breeze and water heaters furnace etc very simple.
You are not allowed in my shop in bare feet. It is not bare feet friendly. I have an attached garage to make groceries a breeze and parking nice, and I don't have to worry about damaging the everyday drivers when welding, painting, and grinding, and I don't need to pull them out. Still gonna say: I absolutely do not want my shop attached to my house.
On another note my retirement plan would be for my son to buy a house with a big apartment/garage in the back and the wife and I would live there and be the landscapers.
Except I'm not wanting to move and/or move to Peoria, Illinois.
frenchyd said:In the winter I can come down in my bare feet and work comfortably.
Last spring my 86 year old father-in-law drove a straight pin into his toe and for days had no clue it was there.
My wife saw it as it was really red and the ER had to pull it out.
SV reX said:In reply to frenchyd :
Please stop.
Your house is a terrible example. You have posted pictures of the garage ceiling with exposed wood framing and no fire separation, with sleeping quarters above.
That is absolutely illegal.
You are living in a place with poor code enforcement. Enjoy it.
You are right. I do need to finish fire rocking the ceiling. I also have a gang box that's over crowded.
I've had several inspections done and finish fire rocking has never been mentioned. Nor have they asked me to take all my box covers off and counted wires. But they complimented me on the wiring in general.
I doubt however your place is 1/10 as structurally strong as mine.
In reply to frenchyd :
Who cares if it burns down?
In reply to SV reX :
It's less likely to burn down than a stick built house.
In reply to frenchyd :
Perhaps, but the lack of fire separation could still kill someone sleeping.
The discussion was about the code required fire separation between garages and sleeping areas. You had to jump in and show us pictures of your house again (and tell us how thorough your inspections are).
Your house has NO fire separation, and the code enforcement was pathetic.
PLEASE stop.
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