I recently bought property just outside Bandera. It is a 5 acre tract of land on the Medina River. I have not cleared the land yet, but will be looking for credible cedar clearing companies soon to do this for me. I will have to drill a water well too and install a septic system. The new development will build roads down to all of the properties. And the developer will also provide electricity and high speed internet access to all land lots. I will have to do propane or butane since no gas will be available though. Anyway, getting to my question. I am interested in hearing from anyone here on the pros and cons on building a barndominium versus building a house versus even building a shell home. I am just starting to do some research on these options. But would like to hear from others who have gone through this process before. And leverage off of your experiences and expertise on what worked better for you. Obviously I would like to spend a more modest amount of money to accomplish this. And I want the property to serve both as a vacation getaway for family and friends. And when we are not using the place, rent it out (i.e. bed and breakfast, Airbnb). I will eagerly await your responses.

I'm not associated with these people but they do some great barndominium designs.


https://ourbarndominiumlife.com/

If you're renting it out, don't do a barndominium. Your tools will walk off one by one unless there's a way to separate the two areas. I'd suggest separate house and workshop if you're renting it out so that you can better secure tools, atvs, and other stuff you don't want the renters messing with.

I think you're thinking of barndominiums from 5 or more years ago. Now the only reason to call it a barndo in most cases is that it's metal clad.

From a price perspective, wouldn't it be cheaper to build a barndominium versus a house? Metal versus wood cost? Also, curious what the electric bill difference would be for a metal versus wood structure? Curious on any input you can provide here.

I think that price spread has tightened up quite a bit. Popularity has driven bardominium costs from the pro column.

Look up Texas Best Construction on YouTube.

They build barndos and post videos including an occasional rundown of what things actually cost.

I looked at the two about a year ago. Metal was the way to go, but you had to accept the prefab. If you customized it, then wood became a much better option.

I went with wood because of wanting different dimensions than what the prefab offered. Once we looked at the costs to do it, it made more sense on a total costs savings (electric, future capabilities) to go with wood. The cost wasn't much more to build.

If you plan to put up a lot of interior walls, then bardo is not the best option. One of the main value-adds of a bardo is that the structure is designed to span the full distance without interior supports. With a lot of interior walls (that could have been used as interior supports in normal construction) the value-add of bardo construction is effectively lost, IMO.