Pole barn, metal building or stick-built garage?

The short answer

For big open space, tall walls and wide doors on open ground, a pole barn is usually the efficient choice. For very wide clear spans, or a frame that won’t burn or rot, steel earns its keep. For a garage that has to match the house, attach to it or satisfy a neighborhood’s design rules, stick-built is the natural fit.

We build post-frame buildings from our office in Dover, DE, so weigh our view with that in mind. Each of these methods is the right answer for someone, and the table shows where each tends to fit. If post-frame is new to you, start with what a pole barn is.

Structure and foundations

The frame decides the foundation. A pole barn’s posts carry the roof straight down to individual footings, so there’s no continuous foundation to dig and pour, and the floor slab can go in after the shell is up. A stick-built garage carries its roof on stud walls that need support all the way around: a footing below the frost line and a foundation wall, or a slab with thickened edges. Kent and Sussex counties both set the frost line at 24 inches.

A steel building’s frames bolt to anchor bolts cast into concrete. Each frame pushes outward and pulls up at its base, so the piers or slab are engineered for that building, and the bolts have to land exactly where the frames do. In return, steel gives you very wide clear spans and a frame that won’t rot or feed termites. That counts for something here: Kent County’s code marks the county as subject to termite damage, which is why post-frame builders use treated posts and keep wood off the soil.

What drives the cost of each

No honest guide can put one price on each method, because the same footprint can cost very different amounts depending on how it’s built and finished. For a large, plain building, post-frame usually needs less concrete and fewer framing members, which is a big reason farms use it. A small garage that has to match the house, carry drywall inside and pass a design review can come out closer than people expect.

To compare fairly, price the same building, with the same height, doors and finish, from each kind of builder. Our guide to what drives a pole barn’s price goes deeper, and a free quote prices your building. These are the things that move the price of all three, in different proportions:

• Foundation: post footings, engineered piers and slab, or a continuous foundation
• Framing material, plus the labor and equipment to stand it up
• Wall height and the number and size of doors
• Insulation, condensation control and interior finish
• Exterior finish needed to satisfy a town or an HOA
• Site work: clearing, grading, stone, drainage and the driveway
• Engineering and permit drawings

Insulation and condensation

All three can be insulated well, and any building with a metal roof needs a plan for condensation. The difference is where the insulation goes.

Steel panels cool off fast on a clear night, and when warm, humid air touches them, water condenses and drips. Delmarva summers make that a real issue in any metal-skinned building. The usual fixes are a condensation-control membrane on the underside of the roof panels, insulation with a vapor retarder behind the panels, and ventilation at the eaves and ridge. A vapor barrier under the slab keeps ground moisture out from below.

Post-frame walls have deep cavities between the posts, so there’s room for thick insulation, and the ceiling can be insulated above a liner fastened under the trusses. In a steel building the frame itself conducts heat, and blanket insulation squeezed between the panels and the framing loses some of its value, so spray foam or insulated panels are common upgrades. A stick-built garage insulates like a house, with batts between the studs and drywall over them.

If you’ll heat or cool the building, ask about the energy code. Delaware law lets counties exclude agricultural buildings from it, and Sussex County’s move to the 2024 energy code, effective April 11, 2027, covers heated or cooled residential accessory structures as well as new homes.

Permits: all three need one

On a residential lot in Delaware, every one of these needs a building permit. What changes is the paperwork behind it.

In Kent County, a detached garage, carport or pole building of any size needs a permit from the Kent County Levy Court, Department of Planning Services, Inspections & Enforcement Division, (302) 744-2451, unless you’re in a town that issues its own, such as Dover, Smyrna or Milford. A pole building’s plans show every post, the headers and the truss maker’s certification. Drawings for a structure built of anything other than wood, metal kit buildings included, must carry a Delaware-licensed engineer’s or architect’s seal, and a post-frame building used for vehicles is treated as a garage under the code.

In Sussex County, all construction needs a county permit, in towns and out, from the Sussex County Building Permit Office, (302) 855-7720. In unincorporated New Castle County, permits come from the New Castle County Department of Land Use, (302) 395-5400. Across Maryland, every county builds to the same statewide code editions, and the county or town issues the permit. Our Delaware permit guide goes county by county.

Appearance, HOAs and town design rules

A pole barn doesn’t have to look like a farm building, but on some lots the town or the HOA decides what any outbuilding can look like, whatever holds it up.

Post-frame buildings take wainscot, overhangs, porches, cupolas and contrasting trim, and the walls can be sheathed and sided to match a house. Steel buildings can be dressed with wainscot or masonry. Stick-built garages match the house without extra work, which is why they’re common where the rules are tight.

Check the rules before you choose a frame. Odessa’s design standards require outbuildings to use the same materials as the main building. Georgetown’s standards for new residential construction list brick, stone, stucco, fiber-cement, wood or vinyl walls, with other materials needing Planning Commission approval. Seaford requires commercial and industrial buildings, accessory buildings included, to finish at least 30 percent of any street-facing wall in masonry. HOA covenants are a separate layer: Sussex County says it doesn’t enforce private deed restrictions or covenants, so get the HOA’s approval in writing first, and Milford asks for it with an accessory building permit.

Resale and property taxes

Any permanent building generally adds to your property’s value and to its assessment, whichever way it’s framed. What helps at resale is a building that’s permitted, inspected, useful and in keeping with the house.

A pole barn on posts is a permanent building and is assessed as one. As with any building, its size, finish and use shape the value the assessor puts on it, so ask your county’s assessment office how a specific plan would be treated. At resale, buyers and appraisers look for the same things in all three: a permit and final inspection on record, a concrete floor, power, sensible doors and a look that fits the property. An unpermitted building can turn into a problem when the house sells.

Which suits a garage, a shop, a horse barn or a barndominium

Garage. On a neighborhood lot with design rules, stick-built, or a post-frame building sided to match, is the safe choice. On open ground, a pole barn garage makes it easy to get extra floor space, tall walls and wide doors.

Shop. Post-frame or steel. Post-frame insulates easily and takes a loft; steel suits very wide spans and heavy commercial use.

Horse barn. Post-frame is the traditional choice, with stall walls, tack rooms and lean-tos fastened right to the frame. See our horse barns page for layouts.

Barndominium. Post-frame and steel shells both work, and either way the house is held to the residential code: Sussex County requires a pole building with approved living space to meet single-family dwelling requirements. We build post-frame barndominiums.