How Much Would It Cost To Turn a Pole Barn Into a House?

How much would it cost to turn a pole barn into a house? This was what we were wondering when we found ourselves moving to PA MUCH SOONER than we expected or were ready for!

We were moving to PA to take over the family farm. We listed our home in CT, expecting it to take a few months to sell, and during that time our family in PA was going to build a new home for themselves to move in, allowing us to move into the house already on the property. It was going to be a clean, easy transition. Then something crazy happened…

Our house was only on the market 10 days and already we had an offer to buy it! It was great news, but there was no room for us to live in on our PA Farm yet, the second house had not even been started.

We started scrambling for ideas. There was a pole barn on the property, that had electricity and was insulated. The best part… The upstairs space was 1000 square feet, and it was wide open for whatever we would want to use it for. We decided to turn the upstairs 1000 SF into a temporary home for our family of 6.

Turning an unfinished pole barn into a home takes a LOT of materials!

The upstairs space was wide open. The floors were plywood, and the walls and ceilings metal. There was big LED lights on the ceiling and electric already run, but the rest of what we needed to put into the house we needed to buy or scrounge.

We purchased lumber, sheetrock, flooring, paint, and all the hardware and supplies needed to build the interior.

In addition to those supplies we needed to buy a toilett, 2 sinks, and bathtub. We put in a washer, dryer, and dishwasher. Also we added an electric hot water heater and 2 heat/AC units.

The kitchen cabinets were a steal for us, as we had a family member who was turning a home into a salon and was getting rid of an entire kitchen, cabinets, stove and fridge. That we got for FREE and it was a big savings to us! The only added expense to the kitchen was the counter tops that needed to be made to match the new layout.

We couldn’t DIY the entire project, we would need to hire some contractors

We wanted to finish the space all ourself, but unfortunately we still had a farm in CT to run (until move out day) and so we could only dedicate 1 week to working on turning the pole barn upstairs into a living space. We would need to hire a carpenter to finish what we could not finish in a week.

In addition to a carpenter, we also needed to hire a plumber to hookup all the bathroom and kitchen appliances, and an electrician to add some electrical outlets, lights, fans, and hookup the stove and heat/ac units.

In just 1 week we got about 60 percent of the living space finished.

We spent the first week on the project, myself, my dad, a friend and our hired carpenters working nonstop. In 1 weeks time the place was about 60 percent done. The walls were up, painted, electric and plumbing was running, all that was left was flooring and kitchen.

We spent about $30,000 turning this unfinished space into a beautiful little living space for our large family. 

When the dust settled, about 12,000 was spent on supplies and materials for the space, and between the carpenters, electricians, and plumbers we spent about 18,000 on labor.

If we had been able to spend more time working on the space ourselves we could have saved some money that was spent paying the carpenters, but we had animals to care for back in CT and could not spend more than a week away from them.

All and all it was worth it. Our family had a great space to live in for the last year while the second house on the family farm was being built, and now that we are out of the pole barn, we have a great guest space for visitors, and I have a awesome office to run my business out of.