From concept to completion: what to expect when building with Pole Buildings Unlimited

Three steps from idea to finished building

A building project can look complicated if you’ve never done one, so we keep it to three steps and walk you through each one. Inside them are the moments you’ll notice: a first conversation, your design, permits and site prep, construction, and a walkthrough at the end. Our office is in Dover, DE, and our crews work across Delaware and Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

Step 1: tell us what you need, and we draw it

It starts with a conversation. Tell us what you want to build, a home, a garage or shop, a farm building, a commercial space or something else, and where it’s going. We’ll listen to your goals and walk through what’s possible, from design ideas to budget. Call 302-399-4420, send us the details, or sketch it first in our 3D designer: pick the width, length, height and roof pitch, place the doors and windows, then send it in.

Next, our designers draw a layout that fits how you’ll use it: the size, doors and windows, features and finishes. Homes are drawn by a house designer who specializes in post-frame buildings; we work with one regularly. It helps to bring a survey or plat, photos of the site, the sizes of the trucks, campers or equipment going inside, and any HOA rules.

Step 1, continued: your quote and contract

With the drawings comes an organized, easy-to-read quote, so you can see what you’re paying for. For a home, we can price the shell alone or the whole house, start to finish. Then we work through the details with you, adjusting options until the building is yours, and the payment schedule goes into the contract. Our pole barn cost guide explains what moves the price.

If you’re financing, now is the time to start. HFS Financial, our financing partner, makes personal home-improvement loans with no home equity required, and seeing your rate takes only a soft credit check. New homes are usually financed through a bank or credit union with a construction loan or mortgage, and we supply the drawings and contract the lender asks for.

Step 2: we manage the permits

Once the contract is signed, we start the permits and manage them for you, unless you’d rather handle them yourself. Permits for homes take longer than for garages or farm buildings: homes usually take 3 to 5 months to permit, depending on the county.

What the county asks for depends on where you build. In Kent County, for example, that means a plot plan, a set of construction plans and the truss maker’s design certification; Sussex County wants one complete, scaled plan set. In Delaware, disturbing 5,000 square feet or more of ground also calls for a sediment and erosion control plan approved in advance, and an off-sewer home needs septic approval, from DNREC in Delaware or the county health department in Maryland. We prepare the drawings and handle the paperwork.

Site prep is planned in this step too, so the ground is ready when the crew arrives: a level pad, water draining away from the building, and a firm way in for the trucks that bring trusses and concrete. We’ll go over which parts of the site work are in our contract and which are yours.

Step 3: our crews build, and you stay in the loop

Once the permit is issued, our crews build the building and our project managers keep you posted along the way. You’ll see the posts set, then the trusses, purlins and girts, the steel, the doors and windows, and the concrete when it’s part of the job, though the order varies by building. Payments follow the schedule in your contract, and each one is due before work continues.

The county inspects at set points. In Sussex County, for example, footings are inspected before concrete is placed, and pole buildings get a header inspection before any wall covering goes on. Weather, inspections and the size of the building set the pace. Jamie, one customer, told us on video that his 60 by 40 building, begun in January, was finished about three months later; that’s his experience, not a schedule we promise.

The finish line: final inspection and final payment

When the building is complete, the county does its final inspection. Your final payment isn’t due until the building is finished and that inspection is done. For a home, the certificate of occupancy is released after that, and you can move in.

Before we call it finished, we walk through the building with you, so you can see the details, ask questions and point out anything that needs attention.

After the build: the 5-year workmanship warranty

Your building is backed by our 5-year workmanship warranty, and the materials also carry their manufacturers’ warranties. Keep the contract, drawings and permit papers together in one place, and if something doesn’t look right, call 302-399-4420.

A little care keeps it in shape: our winter prep guide covers gutters, roof screws, door seals and condensation, and our process page sums up these steps on one page.