Barndominium Shells With Prices

What Is A Barndominium Shell?

A barndominium shell is the structure, roof and exterior walls of the building, assembled on your foundation and closed in against the weather, with the interior left unfinished. Shells are sold at a few different stages, and the words get used loosely, so check what a quote actually covers:

What It’s Called	What You Get	Who Puts It Up
Materials package	Materials delivered to your site	You or a crew you hire
Shell, erected	The structure and exterior, assembled	The seller’s crew or an erector
Dried-in shell	An erected shell with roof, siding, windows and doors in, weather-tight	The seller’s crew
Turnkey home	Everything, finished and ready to move in	A general contractor or turnkey builder

The SIP shells above are dried-in shells: you supply the windows and doors, and the crew sets them. If you only want the materials delivered to put up yourself, compare complete barndominium kit packages instead.

How Much Does A Barndominium Shell Cost?

It depends on the structure. An erected steel shell runs about $30 to $50 per square foot, and steel materials alone run about $20 to $35. The SIP shells above start at roughly $55 to $61 per square foot for homes between 1,000 and 3,000 square feet, and come in lower per square foot as they get larger, because they arrive insulated and dried in.

Steel shell costs by size, erected:

Building Size	Steel Shell, Erected	Steel Materials Only
30×40 (1,200 sq ft)	$36,000 – $60,000	$24,000 – $42,000
30×50 (1,500 sq ft)	$45,000 – $75,000	$30,000 – $52,500
40×50 (2,000 sq ft)	$60,000 – $100,000	$40,000 – $70,000
40×60 (2,400 sq ft)	$72,000 – $120,000	$48,000 – $84,000
50×60 (3,000 sq ft)	$90,000 – $150,000	$60,000 – $105,000
60×80 (4,800 sq ft)	$144,000 – $240,000	$96,000 – $168,000

The shell is the smaller part of the budget. A finished barndominium at a standard finish runs about $80 to $120 per square foot in total, so the interior, foundation and site work usually cost more than the shell itself. Our barndominium cost breakdown shows how the rest adds up.

Steel Barndominium Shells

Most barndominium shells sold nationally are steel. A steel shell usually ships as the frame, the wall and roof framing members, the metal siding and roofing, and the trim and fasteners. Erection is sometimes included and often priced separately, so ask.

Two things move a steel shell price more than anything else:

• Red iron or cold-formed steel. Red iron uses heavy structural steel frames that clear-span wide spaces. Cold-formed steel uses lighter, roll-formed members and costs less. When two steel shells from the same company differ sharply in price per square foot, the cheaper one is almost always cold-formed.
• Your site’s loads. The frame has to be engineered for your county’s wind and snow loads. A quote prepared without your address is not a quote for your building.

Unlike a SIP shell, a steel shell is not insulated. Before it can be finished as a home it needs an insulation system, usually closed-cell spray foam, which narrows the price gap with SIP once both are ready for drywall.

Get A Steel Shell Quote →

SIP Or Steel Shell?

	SIP Shell	Steel Shell
Up-front cost	Higher	Lower
Insulation	Built into the walls and roof	Added afterward
Assembly	A few days on site	Varies with size and crew
Best for	Living space, energy efficiency	Large shops, wide clear spans, lowest shell price

Many shop houses combine the two ideas: an insulated living area and an uninsulated or lightly insulated shop. For the full trade-off, see how SIP and steel compare as a home.

What You Still Need After The Shell

A shell gets the building up and closed in. To make it a home, budget for:

• The foundation, usually a slab, poured before the shell goes up
• Site work: clearing, grading, driveway, well and septic or utility connections
• Insulation, if the shell is steel
• Interior framing, plumbing, electrical and HVAC
• Drywall, flooring, cabinets, fixtures and appliances

Most owners hire a general contractor for the interior, or act as their own and hire each trade. Start with a floor plan sized for your shell, so the interior walls, plumbing and windows line up with the structure from the beginning.