Barndominium Kits in Texas

Barndominium kits draw a lot of interest because a kit can be the fastest way to get a large, clear-span shell standing. But a kit is a building package, not a home. It usually includes the frame, wall and roof panels, trim and fasteners. It does not include site work, the slab, utilities, insulation, interior walls or finishes.

The numbers behind kits

HomeGuide lists kit materials at about $20 to $35 per square foot, and a kit with on-site assembly at $30 to $50 per square foot as a shell only, with no site prep, foundation, utilities or finishes. Assembly labor alone runs about $10 to $15 per square foot. By HomeGuide's estimates the shell or kit is roughly 20 percent of total project cost and assembly about 10 percent. In other words, most of the money is still ahead of you when the kit arrives.

Kits we work with

We erect kits you have already purchased, after reviewing the drawings and anchor bolt plan, or we help you spec a kit sized to your floor plan. Before anything ships, we check that the kit's design loads match your location. A kit for a Coastal Bend lot in the TDI designated catastrophe area needs the paperwork and inspections for a WPI-8 windstorm review; a Panhandle kit should account for wind and snow at roughly 3,700 feet of elevation around Amarillo.

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The slab has to match the kit

Steel kits bring precise anchor bolt layouts. The slab, piers and bolt placement have to match the engineered drawings exactly, and on Central Texas clay the foundation also has to handle soil movement. We pour to the kit drawings and check bolt layout before concrete is placed.

From shell to house

After erection, the kit becomes a home through dry-in, insulation, framing interior walls, plumbing, electrical, HVAC and finishes. We can stop at dry-in if you plan to finish it yourself, or carry it all the way through.

Delivery and staging on rural land

Kit packages arrive on flatbed trucks, often with long bundles of panels and heavy frame members. The drive into your property has to handle those trucks, and the site needs a dry, level spot to stage materials near the slab. On East Texas clay after a wet week or on a steep Hill Country drive, that can mean adding rock to the entrance before delivery day. We plan delivery access during the land visit.

Owner-builder or full service

Some owners want only the slab and erection, and plan to handle finish work themselves. Others want a kit price as a starting point and then a full build. Either way, the written estimate breaks out each stage so you can decide what to keep and what to hand off.