Somebeach (Forum Supporter)
Somebeach (Forum Supporter) HalfDork
8/12/22 11:36 a.m.

I am years off from building a pole barn, but would be interested to hear any guesses of what this might cost to build now. 
 

The kit from menards is just under 50k. I would want concrete and electric as well. 
 

A guess on concrete might be $8 a square foot? So that would be about 22k. 

Is there a general rule of if the materials kit is $X then the labor to put it up would be $Y? 
 

 


 

 

stuart in mn
stuart in mn MegaDork
8/12/22 11:41 a.m.

As you probably know, material costs are pretty volatile these days.  Along with that, labor costs vary greatly depending on where you live.  What this means is it's difficult to come up with a rule of thumb for what a building will cost.  The building in the picture you included is pretty elaborate too, so it will be quite a bit more expensive than a basic pole barn

84FSP
84FSP UberDork
8/12/22 12:20 p.m.

Typically I use a 2X materials to estimate labor costs.  The rest of it looks reasonable.  Electrical is a bogie as that requires a lot of detail on what service level you have to work with, how much you want to have, and all the various length of runs.

pheller
pheller UltimaDork
8/12/22 12:36 p.m.

I just talked with a former coworker who is up to $60k for 1500sq metal building with $17k in interior framing and a $10k slab. He's hoping by the time it's livable he's at $120k total for water, electric, heat, and 2 acres of property in Taylor, AZ.

nocones
nocones GRM+ Memberand PowerDork
8/12/22 12:38 p.m.

I have had 4 construction things contracted.  A 1000sq-ft garage, a 800 sq-ft addition, a roof, and siding.  They all worked out to where labor costs where within 5% = to material costs.  So the finished cost was 2X Materials.  

I don't believe this is a rule of thumb because as an example the concrete work was only ~50% of the material cost for the concrete labor.  But in the end the overall JOB worked out to Labor = Materials.  

This was in the Midwest with licensed, insured contractors.  This work was 5-9 years ago.  Your results may vary.  A LOT.

STM317
STM317 PowerDork
8/12/22 12:53 p.m.

Trying to estimate the exact price years in advance, over the internet is a fool's errand because there are too many variables. But my experience mirrors nocones'. I built a 32 x 48 x 10 in 2017 in the Midwest. Labor was essentially equal to material cost, so total price was basically double the material price.

That included the shell, 4" slab, electrical panel (with the minimum single switched light fixture), and a couple of tri axle loads of gravel for the drive.

I probably spent another $10-12k to do lights/outlets, framing/insulating/sheathing/painting the walls, and DIY polyurea coating for the floor all myself.

Somebeach (Forum Supporter)
Somebeach (Forum Supporter) HalfDork
8/12/22 1:48 p.m.

Thanks for all the input. Sounds like 2xmaterials is a decent wild guess. Which is what I was looking for. 

03Panther
03Panther UberDork
8/12/22 2:50 p.m.

Mathematically I guess 2 X materials is the same as labor = materials, but the first time I read it my mind heard " labor is twice the materials  " 

and I was thinking, man, that's high! But yea, used to be a good guesstimate 

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