If you’re planning a barndominium, size is one of the first things you’ll have to consider. Barndominiums come in all sizes. In fact, most building kits can easily extend up to 200 feet wide with no internal supports or columns. That gives you all the freedom to create whatever kind of space you want – whether it’s small and cozy or a large room with an attached garage.
Size also impacts your lot, your building costs, your building permission, and construction time. In most cases, you’ll want to consider how many people you want to fit into the space, how much extra space you need, and how much storage you need. In general, it’s always better to build bigger than too small – which means sizing up is always better if you’re unsure. The following include some of the most popular sizes for barndo kits.
Of course, these standard sizes for barndos aren’t limitations. They’re common or average choices that are frequently available. You can always customize your barndo to any size you want.
1. 30×40 Barndominium
With 1,200 square feet on the ground floor, a 30×40 barndominium kit is ideal for a small home. However, you can also use it to build up, fitting in space for a 2,400 square foot home over multiple levels. These building kits are affordable, require minimal property, and ensure you have plenty of room for bedrooms, an open kitchen and living area, and bathrooms.
1,200 square feet is not enough to add a garage unless you have a second story. However, it is a great size to have a small barn or a large garage and workshop on the ground floor and your home on the second. Of course, that’s a matter of preference and living style.
A 30×40 building kit is cost effective, may ship in as little as two weeks, and is small enough that you can easily turn it into a multilevel structure. However, many people prefer a larger home.
30 x 40 is the most common size for an actual barn on a small farm or on agricultural land. This makes the 1,200 square foot living space an ideal option if you want your home to look and feel like a barn.
2. 40×60 Barndominium
40×60 is one of the most popular barndominium kit sizes for small family homes with few embellishments like workshops or garages. At 2,400 square feet, it’s exactly the size of the average American home. However, if you add a garage into it, it will be smaller than the average home. However, if you have a detached garage or don’t care, it’s the perfect size for a 3 bedroom, two and a half bath home.
It’s also small enough that you still often see these types of kits with multiple levels. This might mean you get a full second story. However, it’s more common to have a half second story with a high ceiling over the living room.
Like with the 1,200 square foot build, the 40×60 is ideal for a multi-story build with a barn or large workshop on the ground floor and a home on the top. It’s also a good fit for small business owners or shops that want to do the same, with a living area above your commercial area.
40×60 barndominiums are a great choice if you still want your barndo to look roughly like a barn but want a bit more space. In addition, this size is great if you want an actual barn underneath your home – because it offers the extra room you’ll need for stairs, mudrooms, and storage for your residential needs.
3. 40×75 Barndominium
At 3,000 square feet per floor, the 40×75 barndominium kit offers plenty of room for a large family home. That’s great for up to four spacious bedrooms with a living area, kitchen, and plenty of storage. Alternatively, you could have a standard 3-bedroom home with a garage incorporated into the building. That gives you space for a standard 2,400 square foot home plus a two-car garage. Or, you could have a single car garage and a small workshop.
40×75 is also a great fit for adding a detached garage if you want an L-shape building to shield your backyard from a street view. However, it’s also roomy enough you won’t have to if you’re happy just having a small garage in the building itself.
40×75 is a very common barndo size. However, you can get similar sizes of buildings with similar but not the exact same measurements depending on which manufacturer you go to. You might find that a slightly different size is a better fit for your home plan or your lot as well, so do feel free to shop around.
What else? You can always add to the exterior with a porch, which is usually about 6-10 feet deep. A wraparound porch on your 40×75 barndo offers you 1,150 square feet of porch space if you wrap the porch around half way.
4. 60 x 60 Barndominium
At 3,600 square feet per floor, the 60 x 60 barndominium is one of the most common barndo choices. It offers an extremely spacious home suitable for even large families. Alternatively, you can turn as much as half of it into a workshop, garage, or barn without sacrificing your living space. For example, it’s easy to fit up to 4 bedrooms with a 1,000 square foot garage worked in.
Of course, if you prefer not to have the workshop space, you can always just have more living area, more space for bedrooms, and more storage.
60×60 is often too large to put a full second story on. However, it’s very common to add a partial second story over part of the building. In addition, this is a great size if you want a traditional looking home.
Why opt for it? It’s a great size for a luxury home, if you want 4-5 bedrooms, or if you just want a lot of free space for your workshop, business, or other needs. And, of course, you can also always add detached garages, storage, and other buildings if you just want all 3,600 square feet for your home.
5. 50 x 80 Barndominium
At 4,000 square feet, the 50×80 barndominium has a lot to offer in terms of space. It’s a great fit if you want five bedrooms with three or more bathrooms. You can also have a spacious layout with plenty of room per bedroom. And, with plenty of space for integrated garages and workshops, you won’t have to worry about where you’re parking your cars, storing your holiday decorations, or putting your workshop. There’s plenty of room right under one roof.
The 50×80 build is a popular choice for a large family home. This means you can add a garage, have spacious bedrooms, enough bathrooms for the whole family, a big kitchen, and living and play areas for everyone. And, if you add a back patio with an integrated pool, you’ll basically be covered whatever happens.
6. 40×100 Barndominium
This 4,000 square foot building is the same size as the previous, but popular for different reasons. The longer building layout makes it more ideal for workshops and garages, because you’ll have an easier time splitting areas of the building. For example, with a workshop on one end, you can keep noise pollution and mess to a minimum in the rest of the home.
The 40 x 100 is also a popular choice for solutions like split living. For example, if you want to install a studio or bachelor apartment on one side of the building. That makes it easier to accommodate long-term guests, a guest house, or even multi-generational living without moving that accommodation to another building. And, you can always connect those spaces with outdoor porches and walkways, so it still feels like it’s part of the same home.
What’s an ideal layout here? A living room, 3 bedrooms, a 2-car garage, and a workshop. If you add a porch around the living area, you’ll have plenty of space to enjoy socializing and guests – even while the workshop is in use.
7. 60×80 Barndominium
At 4,800 square feet, this home size is perfect if you want a 5-bedroom barndominium. In addition, it’s ideal if you want a large workshop, agricultural area, or commercial area on a single floor of the home. Like with the building kit above, it’s also relatively easy to split out to create a separate bachelor area or guest home as part of the building, giving you space to house paying guests, parents, or college age kids who are staying with you over the summer. The layout is also more barn-like, although it’s a lot bigger than most barns are. Still, it gives you options to preserve the look and feel of the original barn model, so you can get the aesthetic feel you want.
Like other big buildings, it’s uncommon to make these multi-story. However, some people do prefer to add a loft or a small secondary story with storage, a private master bedroom, or other amenities.
Here, you’ll typically want to have the garage and workshop integrated into the main building. There’s also plenty of space for luxuries like indoor pools and gyms if you really don’t need the workshop or five bedrooms. It’s just spacious and you can do whatever you want with it.
What Next
Barndominiums are extremely flexible which means you can often customize the size down to the tiniest detail. However, many come in building systems, which means sizes go up by 6 or 10 feet. This means you can likely easily add another 10 feet to one dimension of the home but not so easily add two. However, if you want a custom size of home, you can do that as well, just expect it to cost more.
These options include average size barndominiums. They’re not the only options so you can continue to shop around to look for exactly what you need if you don’t think all of these meet your specific needs.
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