Should I modify a Standard Barn Plan or work on a Custom Design?

Barns are where timber frame architecture first showed its usefulness. Whether you need to divide your barn into many stalls for livestock, or leave it open to store heavy equipment, antique cars, or an in-law apartment or rental apartment, a timber frame barn can deliver — beautifully!

Standard Plan Modification:

We would be happy to modify any of our Standard Plans to your specifications. We can change the interior layout and floor plan, we can move windows and exterior doors, and we can configure the foundation plan to suit your needs. We consider any plan changes that do not require structural changes to the timber frame, to be a Standard Plan “modification”. We will be happy to discuss your ideas and work with you to make the plan “your own”. The added cost to make these types of modifications is usually a fraction of the cost of starting from scratch with a custom design, and we can usually apply the basic design fee towards the purchase price of the timber frame.

“Semi-Custom” Plan Modifications:

This is a sort of middle ground between simpler modifications to a Standard Plan, and a full Custom Plan. This involves more significant changes to a Standard Plan, such as adding length, width, or height; changing a gable frame to provide for a centered door; or adding dormers. While this type of work is a type of Custom Design, it is usually a shorter path to the finish line because we are not starting completely from scratch.

Custom Plan Design:

We are certainly willing and able to put pencil to paper and work with you on a Custom Design. However, while we can start “from scratch” on your custom plan, it is often not necessary. We have been designing and building custom timber frame barns for over 40 years, and we have dozens of plans in our files, for barns of all sizes. It is not unusual for the customer to describe to us what they want, and then we can pull out a very similar plan to use as a starting point, or as the “seed” of a new design.