Barndominium Builders in Abilene, TX

Barndominium builders serving Abilene start with one question: which side of town is the land on? Abilene is the county seat of Taylor County, which it has been since 1883, and the city spreads from northeastern Taylor County north into Jones County. It sits at about 1,729 feet, roughly 150 miles west of Fort Worth on I-20 and 148 miles east of Midland. Taylor County covers about 919 square miles and grew 8.9 percent between 2010 and 2020, to 143,208 people. That is steady growth rather than a boom, and it leaves room for rural tracts within a short drive of town.

Heading north: Jones County and Fort Phantom Hill

Northern Abilene, including Lake Fort Phantom Hill, sits in Jones County, not Taylor. Anson, the road north on US 83, is about 24 miles out. If your land is north of the lake, the county line matters for who you call about septic, roads and floodplain, so we confirm the county on the deed before anything else. Land near the lake can also run into setback and flood questions that open farmland does not.

Heading west: Dyess, Tye and Merkel

Dyess Air Force Base sits on the west side of the city. It opened in 1956 on 3,400 acres that Abilene residents raised money to buy, and it is the city's largest employer, with 8,864 people in the city's FY2024 report. West along I-20 toward Tye, Merkel and Sweetwater (about 40 miles), the land opens into farm fields and ranch country. Flat tracts like these suit a simple, long barndo footprint with a large shop bay for equipment or a camper.

Heading south: Buffalo Gap and the hills

Buffalo Gap was the original Taylor County seat when the county organized in 1878. South of Abilene the ground rises toward Abilene State Park and Buffalo Gap, with more slope and more trees than the farmland north and west. A sloped tract can work well for a barndominium with a walk-out shop or a split-level pad, but it adds dirt work, retaining and drainage planning. Ballinger is about 55 miles south on US 83, and Coleman about 52 miles southeast on US 84.

The soil that shares the town's name

The Abilene soil series, established in 1915, is a deep, well-drained clay loam found on terrace treads of dissected plains, with slopes mostly under 1 percent. Its type location is in Haskell County, north of here, and it belongs to the Central Rolling Red Plains region. Permeability is moderately slow, secondary carbonates start 10 to 28 inches down and a calcic horizon begins 28 to 60 inches down. In practice, it is good, level farm ground for a slab, but footing and plumbing trenches can hit lime-rich layers, and slow drainage has to be considered when sizing a septic field. We base the slab and septic design on testing at your site, not on the map name alone.

Weather Abilene actually gets

Abilene sits on the edge of the humid subtropical climate, with semiarid country to the west. The 1991 to 2020 normals show about 25.24 inches of precipitation a year and 3.7 inches of snow. The record high is 113 degrees F and the record low is minus 9. That range means a barndo here needs good insulation in both directions: closed-cell spray foam to stop condensation on the steel in cold snaps, and a well-sized cooling system for long August afternoons. Abilene also averages about 3,150 hours of sunshine a year, so roof color and overhangs on the west side make a real difference to comfort.

Wind farms on the horizon

Taylor County is home to the Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center. If you are buying land near turbines or transmission lines, check the easements on the title work before you place a house or shop.

Rules for the build

Inside Abilene or another city, local permits apply, and a city's code also governs its extraterritorial jurisdiction. Out in unincorporated Taylor or Jones County, Texas Local Government Code Section 233.153 sets the International Residential Code as the standard for new homes, without requiring county approval before construction or giving counties zoning power. Septic permits come from the authorized agent listed for the county in TCEQ's OSSF program.

Tell us which road out of Abilene leads to your land. Call (254) 401-5175 or

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