7 Tips For Choosing The Right Location For Your New Barndominium

7 Tips for Choosing the Right Location for Your New Barndominium

Choosing the right location to build your barndominium is an essential step in the process. It’s the one thing in this process that there is no turning back from and that you are committed to it once you’ve made this decision. Therefore, you want to ensure it’s done right!

1. Accessibility

Barndominiums are often constructed on rural or farmlands that have been zoned as commercial, industrial or mixed land use zones. Although these properties can be agricultural, commercial, and industrial, they can also include several factors that affect their use for a barndominium project.

When beginning your location search, access is one of the very first things you should consider. A good starting point is always to map out possible areas with appropriate zoning for your intended purpose and aim to minimize all types of traffic through your site entry points, including cutting across large tracks of property.

If you intend a secondary residence on a separate piece of property from where you live now, it should be a certain distance from any other type of residence.

It would be best if you also kept in mind that you’ll want to access the site quickly and safely with construction equipment as your building is constructed. This means an additional type of access will need to be planned for during your development stage.

If you are considering purchasing land that lacks proper road access, a few possibilities may help.

First, a private gravel road leading onto a paved, county-maintained road can often provide quick and safe entry onto the main roadway where heavy vehicle traffic wouldn’t pose much risk to motorists passing through.

Second, if the property borders an existing country roadway, sometimes it’s possible to install your entrance by shifting the location slightly so that it enters closer to the side of the main road.

Third, determining what’s possible to do with sizeable agricultural equipment could be a viable option. Sometimes, it may not require a long driveway to access the land from a side entrance or through a field.

2. Water

As your building comes closer to being finalized, you will need to place your well and have the water tested within one year of completing your purchase. By doing so at this time, you can also see which areas would be best suited based on the slope or where you should avoid placing your well to maximize production levels.

Suppose you are on flat ground without any inclination whatsoever on the property; there is no reason you shouldn’t draw water all year round, especially with modern well equipment.

If you are on land with very gentle slopes, the water table may never be closer than around 10 ft (3 m) from the surface under natural conditions. In this case, your pump may have issues drawing an adequate supply of water when the pressure in your pipes is low such as during periods of high demand or stagnation.

Another factor can adversely affect your site, which sometimes isn’t even recognized for what it is by many people who are not familiar with rural property characteristics. Sometimes there’s an underground feature beneath a potential building site, which can negatively impact water flow over time.

This aspect usually occurs underneath sloped land, where the topography inclines to one side more than the other. Although rarely observed, it doesn’t mean it can’t affect your site whatsoever. If you feel that this is an issue that may be present, then consider hiring a professional hydrologist to do some testing on the property.

3. Drainage

Upon first inquiry about purchased land, most rural property owners would describe its general drainage characteristics as “poor” or “good.”

The reason for this description has everything to do with your intended purpose for your new future barndominium structure, thanks to its foundation design and how well it’s able to shed water away from itself.

Most people who live in rural areas are aware of their local climate, including periods of high rainfall during certain times of the year. So knowing whether there are times where you could expect standing water on the property now or soon is valuable information.

4. Land Size and Shape

The shape of your land can significantly impact how easy it may be to access certain areas if necessary when heavy equipment is being used for construction or even accessing your home later.

For example, if you have a rectangular-shaped lot with roads at least 40 ft (12 m) wide, two large vehicles would pass each other without issue if needed during any part of the building process.

However, if one road was only 30 ft (9 m) wide and another 20 ft (6 m), attempting to use both at once might become problematic because not enough room for two large vehicles to pass safely.

5. Electricity

In rural areas, you will likely have a utility pole located somewhere near your property, even if it’s at the very back of the site, where it may be difficult to see from a distance or road access point.

Although you won’t know exactly who provides the electricity in that location just yet, there are specific guidelines that you can follow to determine whether an electric service upgrade would be necessary once finalized on your choice of a building site.

First, a single meter is typically installed for any given home. Overhead power lines feed it unless it’s located within 750 ft (230 m) of the closest distribution line transformer on three sides or closer.

Secondly, if there are more than three existing utility poles on your property or that of an adjoining one, then the distance to the transformer could be closer than 750 ft (230 m).

Thirdly, if there are more than two distribution line transformers located within 750 ft (230 m) of your site on three sides or closer, but none on the fourth side, then this would likely require an upgrade on that pole or a new one.

6. Tariff

When you inquire about purchasing land in rural areas, always ask about tariffs, including property taxes and other local rates and levies. Whether they’re based upon the market value of your future barndominium or its size and type (i.e., septic tank installation), these costs should be discussed in addition to the purchase price.

7. Zoning

Many rural area communities have a zoning bylaw that regulates what types of structures are permitted within their jurisdiction. Whether a single-family home or a commercial facility, you will need to receive written permission from your local governing council before building anything permanent onsite.

If these regulations aren’t followed for whatever reason, then enforcement action can include a court-issued fine or injunction if necessary to delay or halt progress on site until this formality has been corrected.

Conclusion

The most important thing to remember while planning to construct your new barndominium is that building one takes time and money. You do not want either of these two resources going wasted due to bad planning on your part!

While this post does not cover every detail involved with choosing the perfect location for your very own barndominium, it does cover some of the more important points that will surely help you in your search.

As long as you’re aware of all the best practices and don’t throw away money unnecessarily on mistakes, then you should be well on your way to owning a business that is both profitable and fun.