Barndominium Kits in Oregon

Our barndominium kits in Oregon are the structural shell: the frame, secondary framing, roof and wall panels, fasteners, trim and the drawing set, delivered to your land. Sellers also call it a shell kit or a metal building kit. What decides whether a kit fits is not the catalogue, it is the site. Oregon's residential code applies uniformly statewide, and the state's own Design Criteria Hub gives the ground snow load, design wind speed and seismic category for your parcel, so the kit is sized to those numbers before it is quoted.

Frame drawings stamped by the manufacturer's registered professional engineer

Sized to your site's snow, wind and seismic values

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Barndominium Kits for Sale in Oregon

If you searched for a barndominium kit for sale, a prefab barndominium or a modular barndominium, you are usually looking at one of three different products, and Oregon regulates them differently. A kit or shell kit is the frame and cladding, cut and fabricated off site, then assembled on a permanent foundation on your land and inspected there under the Oregon Residential Specialty Code like any other house.

A modular home is built in a factory in finished sections. Oregon calls these prefabricated buildings, and the Building Codes Division runs a statewide program that plan-reviews and inspects them and fixes an Oregon insignia of compliance to each approved unit. A manufactured home is a third product again, built to federal HUD standards. What we supply is the kit or shell, with the drawings. We do not sell modular or manufactured homes, and we will say so plainly if one of those is the better fit for your land.

Two Oregon specifics change the arithmetic on a kit. Oregon has no general sales tax, so kit materials bought in Oregon carry no sales tax, though some building permits include a construction excise tax. And the land question comes before the kit question: on land zoned for exclusive farm use a house is allowed only under specific tests in state law, so we check that the parcel can take a dwelling before anything is ordered.

Barndominium Kits: how the work runs

Four stages, in this order. The sequence matters more than it looks: settling the land-use question, the septic site evaluation and the building permit before anything is fabricated is what keeps an Oregon build from stalling.

Size, layout and the shop split

We start from footprint, eave height, door and window openings, and how much of the building is living space versus shop. That split drives the frame more than square footage does: a wide shop door in a gable wall, a tall eave for a tractor or an RV, and a lofted living wing each change the members. Settling it first means the kit is quoted once, not three times.

Your site's design values

The Oregon Design Criteria Hub gives the ground snow load, basic design wind speed, Seismic Design Category and frost line depth for your exact address. A lot in the Willamette Valley and a lot at elevation in Central Oregon can need very different roofs, so the kit is sized to the Hub's numbers for your parcel, confirmed with your building department, before it is priced.

Fabrication and delivery

The frame is fabricated and delivered on a date you confirm. Delivery is timed for when the foundation is ready and the site can take a loaded truck. West of the Cascades that usually means a rocked drive and a firm staging pad in before the wet season, because saturated ground will not carry a loaded trailer and a kit unloaded in the wrong place costs days.

Erection and inspection

You get erection drawings and the anchor bolt layout. Whoever stands the frame, you or an erection crew you hire, works from the same drawings, and your city or county building department inspects the work under the residential code, so framing and connections are checked before insulation and liner panels cover them.

Wet side, dry side

The same kit behaves differently on either side of the Cascades

NOAA describes frequent precipitation west of the Cascade Mountains from October to May, while the east side, cut off from that moisture by the mountains, is much drier and colder. On the wet side the details that matter are condensation under the steel roof, venting and keeping water out of the slab edge. On the dry side, snow load and cold drive the roof and the insulation. We spec the kit for the side of the mountains your land is on.

Where we deliver barndominium kits

In Oregon the line that matters is usually an urban growth boundary. Inside one, land is planned for urban development and a city usually handles zoning and permits. Outside one, the land is rural, the county decides what can be built on it, and the county building department serves most unincorporated areas. The residential code is the same on both sides of every line. What changes is the zoning, who evaluates and permits the septic system (the Department of Environmental Quality or the county agency it contracts with), and the snow, wind and seismic values the state's Design Criteria Hub gives for the exact site.

Barndominium builders across Oregon.

Every city and county in Oregon has its own answer on zoning, permits and septic. The service area pages set out what each one publishes.

View our full service area →

Before you commit

What actually decides the price

Square footage is the number everyone leads with, and it is rarely the one that moves a barndominium budget. These four do.

Ground snow load and elevation

Snow load sizes the roof purlins, rafters or trusses and the frame. The state's design hub gives the value for your address, and a parcel at elevation east of the Cascades can need a much heavier roof than one on the valley floor, so the same kit can price differently a county apart.
Seismic design category

Oregon's residential code assigns a Seismic Design Category by location, and the Hub reports it for your site. A higher category changes bracing and connections, especially on long walls with large door openings, and that shows up in the kit price.
Clear span and eave height

A column-free shop floor wide enough for equipment, a trailer or a boat needs deeper rafters than a narrow building with interior posts. Taller eaves add wall area, girts and bracing. Both are worth paying for when the shop is the point of the building.
Openings and door count

Every large overhead door or wide window opening in a steel or pole barn wall needs framing around it, and a big shop door in a gable end changes the end-wall design. Door count and size move a kit price more than most people expect.

Barndominium Kits in Oregon: common questions

8 questions we get asked most often about building in Oregon. If yours is not on the list, ask it directly.

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What is included in a barndominium kit?

The structural shell: primary frame (steel columns and rafters, or posts and trusses), secondary framing, roof and wall panels, fasteners, trim and the drawing set. Foundation, most doors and windows, insulation, interior framing, plumbing, electrical and HVAC are separate. Licensed trade contractors handle plumbing, electrical and HVAC.

Is a barndominium kit the same as a modular home?

No. A kit is fabricated off site but assembled on your foundation and inspected on site under the Oregon Residential Specialty Code. A modular home is built in finished sections in a factory; Oregon regulates those as prefabricated buildings through a Building Codes Division program that issues an Oregon insignia of compliance. A manufactured home is built to federal HUD standards. We sell kits and shells, not modular or manufactured homes.

What snow load and wind speed is a kit in Oregon designed to?

The values for your exact site. Oregon's Building Codes Division publishes a Design Criteria Hub, a mapping tool that gives the ground snow load, basic design wind speed, Seismic Design Category and frost line depth for an address under the residential code. We size the kit to those values and confirm them with your building department.

Do I pay sales tax on a barndominium kit in Oregon?

Oregon has no general sales tax, which the Oregon Department of Revenue states on its own site, so kit materials bought in Oregon carry no sales tax. Some building permits do include a construction excise tax, and permit fees are set by the city or county that issues the permit.

Do I need a building permit for a kit barndominium in Oregon?

Yes. A home built from a kit is a dwelling under the Oregon Residential Specialty Code. The city building department issues the permit inside city limits and, in most unincorporated areas, the county does; the state's Local Building Department Directory shows which office serves your address. The land-use approval and, off sewer, the septic site evaluation usually come first.

Can I put up the kit myself?

Many owners do, especially with pole barn kits, and Oregon lets owners build on their own property without a contractor licence. You get erection drawings and the anchor bolt layout. Steel frames usually need a lift and a crew used to bolted connections; plumbing, electrical and HVAC go to licensed trade contractors either way.

Can I put a kit barndominium on farmland?

It depends on the zone. Land zoned for exclusive farm use is to be used for farm use except as state law allows, and a house there has to qualify under specific tests, such as a dwelling in conjunction with farm use or an approved non-farm dwelling. The county decides that before any building permit, so we check the zoning before a kit is ordered.

Is a kit cheaper than a builder-delivered barndominium?

The shell is only part of the finished cost. Foundation, site work, septic or sewer, interior finish and the mechanical systems cost the same whether you buy a kit or a turnkey build. Our cost guide sets out the finished-cost picture with sourced figures.

Sources

Keep reading

The pages that answer the next question this one raises.

Pole Barn Homes

Pole barn home kits: the other common kit route, and how it compares with a steel frame.

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Cost to Build a Barndominium

What the shell is as a share of finished cost, so a kit price is read correctly.

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Custom Plans

What needs drawing before a kit can be quoted properly.

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Ready to put barndominium kits against a real plan? Start there and the rest follows.

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Tell us about the land

Tell us where the parcel is and what you want on it, and we will come back with who has jurisdiction, what the land needs before it can be built on, and a realistic budget range. Starting the survey costs nothing.

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