Why pole buildings are a smart choice for Delaware and Maryland homeowners

Posts on footings instead of a full foundation

A pole building stands on posts set in holes, each on its own concrete footing, with no continuous foundation wall to dig, form and pour. That makes post-frame easy to fit to different kinds of ground: each post is set on its own, so a gentle slope changes post lengths rather than the whole foundation, and the floor, gravel or a concrete slab, goes in between the posts afterward. Our guide to what a pole barn is explains the frame piece by piece.

It isn’t shallow, though. Counties set the footing rules: Kent County requires post-frame footings at least 40 inches below grade, 18 inches across and 12 inches thick, with a cleat or another method on each post to resist uplift. Sussex County sets a minimum of 36 inches to the bottom of the footing for poles up to 12 feet tall, where no Delaware architect or engineer has designed the footings.

Wide open space for Delmarva farms

Farms need big rooms with tall doors, and post-frame gives them: trusses span the full width, so no interior columns stand in the way of a combine, a hay wagon or a row of stalls. Kent County alone counted 770 farms averaging 243 acres in the 2022 Census of Agriculture, and Sussex counted 1,053. One farm building we put up holds tractors and combines, a shop for winter repairs and an office for the farm’s paperwork, all under one roof.

Farm buildings often have a simpler permit path. Delaware law keeps county zoning rules off land and buildings devoted to agriculture; Kent County exempts qualifying farm buildings from its building code (a plot plan and an agricultural building use permit are still required); and a Sussex farm building still needs a county permit, but its only inspection is a final zoning check. In Maryland, Talbot County uses an Agricultural Structure Permit, a zoning certificate rather than a building permit, for barns and equipment sheds. Permits for garages and farm buildings generally move faster than for homes. See our pages on agricultural buildings and horse barns.

Designed for the wind and snow your county sets

Each county writes the wind and snow loads a building must be designed for into its code. Kent County, Delaware, designs for 25 psf of ground snow and 115 mph winds, Queen Anne’s County uses the same values, and Worcester County, which includes Ocean City, uses 125 mph with exposure C. Our buildings are rated for the snow load their region typically requires.

Wind pushes on the walls and tries to lift the roof, so the design has to tie the roof to the posts and the posts to the ground. Kent County’s post-frame sections make plans list the uplift reactions, show permanent truss bracing and give a fastener schedule with the panel gauge and screw pattern, and Somerset County requires uplift connectors on all wood trusses and rafters.

Near the water, flood maps matter too. Kent County requires a permit for any work in a flood plain, even a shed. Sussex County requires the lowest floor in a flood zone to sit at or above the base flood elevation, and space below it can be used only for parking, storage and access, with flood openings. We look up what applies to your parcel before anything is drawn.

Room you’ll actually use

The plainest reason to build one is that you need the room. A pole building can be a garage and shop, RV and boat storage, a horse barn, a pool house or pavilion, or a guest barn, and because no interior walls hold up the roof, you can change how it’s used later. Keeping trucks, tractors, boats and tools under a roof protects them from sun, salt air and weather, and a heated shop lets you work through the winter.

Whether a building adds to your property’s value depends on the property, the market and how it’s finished, so we don’t promise a number. What we can tell you is what it will hold, and what it will take to build.

It fits a house lot as well as a farm

On a residential lot, county rules decide how big and where. Kent County won’t allow an accessory building larger than the house, limits its average roof height to 20 feet, and lists 5 feet from side and rear lines as a common minimum setback. In Sussex County, a pole building under 600 square feet can sit 5 feet from side and rear lines, while one of 600 square feet or more must meet the house setbacks. New Castle County keeps freestanding accessory buildings in the rear yard, at least 3 feet from side and rear lines.

In Maryland, waterfront lots add the Critical Area: within 1,000 feet of tidal waters and wetlands, lot coverage is generally capped at 15 percent in Limited Development and Resource Conservation Areas, and new structures stay out of the 100-foot buffer. Some subdivisions also have covenants about metal siding or outbuildings, so check yours before you design.

A build that comes together quickly

Post-frame goes up with fewer, larger pieces than a stick-built building and no foundation walls to form and pour, so the frame and shell come together quickly once the permit is issued. Weather, site work and inspections set the pace from there.

Permits are part of the schedule too. Permits for homes usually take 3 to 5 months, depending on the county, while garages and farm buildings generally move faster. One customer, Jamie, started his 60 by 40 building in January, “in the dead of winter,” and it was done about three months later. That’s one customer’s experience, not a promise, but it shows how quickly a post-frame building can come together.

Finished to match your home

A pole building doesn’t have to look like a farm shed. Siding, roofing and trim come in a range of colors, and wainscot, overhangs, porches, cupolas and windows let a garage or shop sit comfortably beside the house. When we added onto a restaurant in Millville, the owner chose exterior colors to suit its theme; on a home lot, matching the house’s roof and trim colors does the same job.

To see it before you commit, try our 3D designer: adjust the size and roof pitch, move the doors and windows around, and ask for a quote from there. If your subdivision has rules about outbuildings, send them along and we’ll design to them. Browse the pole barns we build, or ask for a free quote.