I learn new things every single day. I learned this one when Hansen Pole Buildings’ Designer Rachel shared this with the staff last week:
“Spoke to my customer Marion last night and he couldn’t say enough good things about our building.
He lives in his building until he can build his house. He said they got “direco?” winds which are straight line 90mph winds and the building held up wonderfully! Before he purchased he was going to buy a steel framed building but is very happy he decided on wood framed as it will give a little in the wind.
He also says it’s a sharp looking building. They will be building a concrete house and he said our building will look better than his house.
His insurance company calls it a “barndominium”. Apparently the insurance companies have insurance policies specifically for “barndominiums”.”
Not wanting to appear as ignorant on this subject as I instantly was, I fired up the trusty laptop and hopped on the ‘net. Obviously I have truly missed out on something as barndominium even has a listed on the sum of all human knowledge – Wikipedia!
It turns out the term barndominium has actually been around for 25 years, having originally been coined by developer Karl Nilsen for a project at Silhouette Farm in Colebrook, CT. In his project, every lot owner also had an interest in a joint equestrian center, which included a stall for their horse! In Nilsen’s mind, the concept was akin to those who build homes around a golf course – only horse centered, instead of fairways.
The more current versions seem to be highly centered in Texas, where numerous builders offer pole or steel buildings which either they or the building owner can turn into partial or entire living quarters. In the true sense, these are not barndominiums, as they do not share any type of communal space with neighbors – in essence they are merely pole barn homes.
Having had clients live in their pole buildings for over three decades, after research I am realizing the only part of barndominium I missed out on – was coining the term itself!
