Here are the ranges we see, what’s inside them and what moves them up or down. Your building gets priced on its own size, loads and location.
Ranges updated October 2026 · 154 Google reviews, 4.7 stars
The building
The frame and panels, priced per square foot of building.
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Installation
Included in tubular prices. A separate line on the other frames.
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Concrete
The slab and footings, about $10–12 per square foot.
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That range is what buildings this size run. Send it over and an advisor will reach out to go through your openings, your loads, and your county. Once you’ve spoken with an advisor, quotes are usually provided same day.
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A building is three numbers, not one
The building. The installation. The concrete. Most quotes show you one of those and leave you to discover the others.
Everything below is per square foot of building dimension, so you can work from the size you already have in mind. Your concrete pad will run a little past the building footprint, which means the concrete figures are slightly conservative. That is on purpose.
Tubular Steel
$11–$18 per square foot, building and installation together. $10–$12 per square foot for concrete. Roughly $21–$30 all in, and most projects land near $25.
Tubular is quoted as one number because the building and the install come from the same place. What moves it inside that range: leg and truss configuration, clear span, eave height, upgrades like 12 gauge framing or 26 gauge panels, the number of doors and windows, and snow load bracing where the site calls for it.
$17–$25 per square foot for a standard building, depending on width. $28–$30 per square foot for a barndominium shell. $8–$12 per square foot for installation, $14–$16 on a barndominium. $10–$12 per square foot for concrete.
Compare installed to installed. Tubular prices have the install inside them. The steel truss numbers above are building only, so add erection before you set them side by side — on a steel truss barndominium shell that lands you at $42–$46 per square foot, before concrete.
Where steel truss earns its place on a barndominium is not the shell price. It is the framing on two-foot centers, which means there is no second wall to build when you finish the inside. That saving shows up after the shell is standing, not on the quote for it.
One thing to watch when you compare quotes. Secondary framing comes two ways. The cold-formed option arrives complete. The wood option ships with welded clips and a cut list, and you buy the lumber locally — so that building price isn’t comparable to an all-in number from another system unless the lumber is added back in. We’ll price it into your estimate so you’re comparing the same thing.
What moves the building price: span, eave height, roofline complexity, whether you’re using the flush-mount post system, and the number and size of openings. Past eighty feet it stops being cost-efficient and red iron takes over.
$17–$25 per square foot for the building, depending on width. $30–$32 per square foot for a barndominium shell. $8–$12 per square foot for installation. $10–$12 per square foot for concrete. Roughly $35–$49 all in.
Cold-formed is quoted with the building and the erection labor as separate numbers, so you can see what the building costs and what it costs to put up. Concrete requirements are similar to tubular for most residential and light commercial work.
What moves the building price: span, eave height, roofline, the number and size of openings, and the engineering a permitted building requires.
$16–$23 per square foot for the building, clear span. $14–$18 past sixty feet wide with interior columns. $8–$12 per square foot for installation.
The frame prices similarly to cold-formed. The foundation does not. Red iron concentrates load at the column bases, so the foundation is engineered for the specific structure rather than poured to a standard spec. Depending on the building and the soil, that can mean deeper footings, piers, or a slab design that costs well beyond a standard slab.
We don’t coordinate red iron foundation engineering. We can point you toward a firm that does this work, but we don’t make the call, manage the process, or carry pricing for it the way we do on standard slabs. That one belongs to you and your engineer, and you should budget for it as its own line.
Every two feet above twelve adds roughly five percent to the frame. That’s worth knowing before you decide you want the extra headroom — and it’s built into the calculator at the top of this page.
Height is the input people underestimate most. Going from a 12′ eave to 16′ on a 40×60 adds about ten percent to the building, which on a tubular shop is a few thousand dollars. Sometimes it’s worth every penny — a lift, a camper, a hoist. Sometimes it’s headroom nobody ever uses.
What the concrete number includes
The $10–$12 figure is for a standard slab: four inches thick, 12 by 18 inch footings, vapor barrier, rebar in the footings, and welded wire mesh through the pad. That is what most shops, garages, barns, and barndominium shells are built on.
Thicker slabs, deeper footings, difficult access, poor soil, and significant grading all move it. So does distance — a crew driving two hours prices differently than one across town, which is why we work to find local crews wherever we sell.
Barndominium shells are a different number
A steel truss barndominium shell runs $28–$30 per square foot for the building, and cold-formed runs $30–$32. Erecting a barndominium shell adds $14–$16, which puts the shell standing at roughly $42–$48. Add the slab and you are near $52–$60 before anything else happens.
Steel truss is the system we recommend for a barndominium. The framing runs on two-foot centers, so the drywall goes right on it. Tubular, cold-formed, and red iron use bypass girts, which means you build a wood wall inside before you can finish the walls. Compare installed to installed, and count that second wall, before you set one quote beside another.
That is not the same building as a shop with the same dimensions. A shell that will be finished and lived in needs framing the drywall can go on, house wrap behind the panels, better openings, and detailing that a storage building never asks for. Every one of those is a decision worth making, and together they move the number.
The shell is also only the beginning. A finished barndominium still needs interior framing, insulation, windows and doors you source yourself, and all the plumbing, electrical, and finish work of a house. People routinely budget for the shell and are caught off guard by everything after it.
We would rather you hear that number now than partway through. If someone quotes you a barndominium shell at shop prices, they are quoting you a shop.
What none of these numbers include
Site work beyond the slab: grading, excavation, fill, drainage, retaining walls, and utility runs. Permits and inspection fees. Site-specific engineered drawings where a jurisdiction requires them. Interior framing, plumbing, electrical, and finish work on a building that will be occupied.
Residential-quality windows and entry doors are usually sourced separately on a project that will be finished as living space. Your quote will say exactly what is included, and we will tell you what is not before you order rather than after.
On a barndominium in particular, the shell is the smaller half of the project. Anyone quoting you a finished living space from a per-square-foot building number is guessing.
Start with a conversation
Let’s talk about your project.
Tell us what you’re planning and where you’re building. We’ll help you work out the next steps.
Tell us what and whereSend us the size, how you’ll use the building and the address.
We check the siteWe confirm who permits the address and which code and loads apply.
You get a clear recommendationWe recommend the frame that fits and price it against the alternatives.
