The Brazos - Barndominium House Plan
Three bedrooms that share no wall, a shop and a home office off the garage.
Front elevation (South): the 40 foot front porch, two cupolas and two overhead doors into the 2-car garage.
Exterior renders show the steel version of this plan; the wood-framed set's windows and doors are as drawn on its own elevations.
The last bedroom door closes and the house goes quiet. The Brazos is a single-story 3-bedroom, 2-bath barndominium, about 1,650 square feet on a 40×70 footprint: a kitchen open to a vaulted living and dining room, a walk-in pantry, porches front and back, and a shop and a home office off the two-car garage. Not one bedroom shares a wall with another. By ten the hall is dark, three doors closed, and the evening is hers.
The Floor Plan
Key Features
- A kitchen open to the vaulted living and dining room, with a 5′ × 8′ walk-in pantry behind a barn door (a door that slides on a track outside the wall), and the laundry through a door of its own
- Vaulted ceilings over the kitchen, living and dining, and again in the master bedroom; 9 foot ceilings in the rest of the living space
- Three bedrooms along the back that share no wall with one another, each with a closet of its own
- A master suite with its own bath, a 6′ × 6′ walk-in closet and a sliding door onto the rear porch
- A mud room entry from the garage under a tubular skylight, so the day does not come through the kitchen
- A 20′ × 16′ shop open to the garage across a dashed line, not a wall, with a walk door and two high windows on the back wall
- A 10′ × 16′ home office in the north-east corner, windows on two walls, behind its own door from the garage
- Tubular skylights pulling daylight into the hall bath, hallway and mud room
- Porches front and back, 40 feet each, 640 square feet in all
- Two cupolas on a 6:12 gable roof
- A two-car garage behind two 10 foot wide overhead doors
Is This Plan Right for You?
A great fit if you want
- one open room where cooking, eating and living happen together, under a vaulted ceiling
- three bedrooms along the back that share no wall with one another, each with a closet of its own
- a master suite with its own bath, a walk-in closet and a sliding door onto the rear porch
- a 20′ × 16′ shop open to the garage, and a 10′ × 16′ office with a door of its own
- porches front and back, and the whole house on one level
View our other plans if you need
- an office you reach from inside the house: the office here opens off the garage; see the plans with an office The Fieldstone
- a wider second bedroom: Bedroom 2 is 8′ × 16′; see the 3 bedroom plans 3 Bedroom Barndominium Floor Plans
- a bigger walk-in closet: the master's is 6′ × 6′; see plans with a walk-in closet The Meadow
- a shorter footprint: the building runs 70 feet long, and the porches make the house end 56 feet deep Barndominium Plans
Tour The Brazos
The Heart of the Home
Step in through the French doors and the 16′ × 20′ living and dining room opens under a vaulted ceiling, an 8 foot sliding door on the end wall. The kitchen opens beside it, vaulted, windows on the front wall and a 5′ × 8′ walk-in pantry behind a barn door. Whoever cooks hears every word from the table.
The Master Suite
Down the hall, the 11′ × 16′ master takes the north-west corner, vaulted, a window on the end wall and a sliding door onto the rear porch. Its own bath opens off it, and beside the bath, with its own door from the bedroom, a 6′ × 6′ walk-in closet. Closet, bath, bed: she never leaves the suite.
The Other Bedrooms
Follow the hallway east to Bedroom 2, 8′ × 16′ with its own 5′ × 6′ closet, and Bedroom 3, 10′ × 16′ with a sliding-door closet. The hall bath sits between them under a tubular skylight. No bedroom shares a wall with another. One kid reads late by the back window; the other is already asleep.
Work & Service
Step in from the garage through the 8′ × 8′ mud room into the hallway, not the kitchen. The 20′ × 16′ shop opens off the garage across a dashed line, not a wall; the 10′ × 16′ office takes the north-east corner behind its own door. Whoever takes a call in the office has no bedroom through the wall.
Outdoor Living
An 8′ × 40′ covered porch runs across the front of the house and another 8′ × 40′ across the back, 640 square feet under cover. Both stop at the garage, both 8 feet deep, room for a table, not just a bench. The family carries supper through the French doors to the front porch on a warm evening.
Plan Specifications
Square footage
| Conditioned living area | 1,640 sq ft (heated and cooled space; the garage, shop and porches are counted separately) |
|---|---|
| Garage | 676 sq ft |
| Shop | 303 sq ft |
| Covered porches (front 320 sq ft + rear 320 sq ft) | 640 sq ft |
| Total under roof | 3,259 sq ft |
Building
| Span × length | 40′ × 70′ (40 ft clear span, 70 ft long) |
|---|---|
| Eave height | 12′ over the house (where the roof meets the wall), stepping up to 14′ over the garage, shop and office |
| Ridge height | 24′ over the garage end, 22′ over the house |
| Roof | Gable, 6:12 (6 inches of rise per foot) |
| Stories | 1 |
| Ceiling height (flat areas) | 9′-0″ |
| Vaulted ceilings | Master Bedroom, Kitchen, Living / Dining |
Construction
| System | Designed for standard pre-engineered metal building (PEMB) construction |
|---|---|
| Interior walls | 4-1/2 in thick (2x4 framed) |
| Foundation | Not included; designed by your local structural engineer for your site, using the anchor bolt plan and loads from your building supplier |
Openings
| Doors | 21 (two 10′ × 8′ overhead, French doors at the entry, two exterior walk doors, two patio sliding doors, two fire-rated, self-closing doors from the garage, and twelve interior doors, one a barn door to the pantry) |
|---|---|
| Windows | 16 (each bedroom has an egress window, big enough to climb out of in an emergency) |
| Skylights | 3 tubular (a small roof dome that pipes daylight down a reflective tube), in the hall bath, hallway and mud room |
Rooms
| Master bedroom | 11′ × 16′ |
|---|---|
| Bedroom 2 | 8′ × 16′ |
| Bedroom 3 | 10′ × 16′ |
| Living / dining | 16′ × 20′ |
| Kitchen | 16′ × 20′ |
| Master bath | 6′ × 10′ |
| Hall bath | 5′ × 10′ |
| Walk-in closet | 6′ × 6′ |
| Pantry | 5′ × 8′ |
| Office | 10′ × 16′ |
| Hallway | 4′ wide (3′-7½″ clear) |
Room sizes here are before the outside wall is taken off. The floor plans print finished sizes, a little smaller along an outside wall, and the presentation floor plan notes any corner a room gives up to a closet or a notch.
Service & extras
| Mud room | 8′ × 8′ |
|---|---|
| Laundry (off the kitchen) | 8′ × 7′ |
| Mechanical (off the garage) | 8′ × 5′ |
| Shop | 20′ × 16′, open to the garage |
| 2-car garage | 30′ × 24′, two 10′ × 8′ overhead doors |
| Cupolas | 2 |
| Front porch | 8′ × 40′ |
| Rear porch | 8′ × 40′ |
Square footage
| Conditioned living area | 1,676 sq ft (heated and cooled space; the garage, shop and porches are counted separately) |
|---|---|
| Garage | 689 sq ft |
| Shop | 308 sq ft |
| Covered porches (front 320 sq ft + rear 320 sq ft) | 640 sq ft |
| Total under roof | 3,313 sq ft |
Building
| Span × length | 40′ × 70′ (40 ft clear span, 70 ft long) |
|---|---|
| Eave height | 12′ (where the roof meets the wall) |
| Ridge height | 22′ |
| Roof | Gable, 6:12 (6 inches of rise per foot) |
| Stories | 1 |
| Ceiling height (flat areas) | 9′-0″ |
| Vaulted ceilings | Master Bedroom, Kitchen, Living / Dining |
Construction
| System | Designed for standard wood-frame construction |
|---|---|
| Exterior walls | 2×6 studs with continuous sheathing and braced wall panels, shown on the detail floor plan |
| Interior walls | 4-1/2 in thick (2x4 framed) |
| Foundation | Not included; designed by your local structural engineer for your site |
Openings
| Doors | 21 (two 10′ × 8′ overhead, French doors at the entry, two exterior walk doors, two patio sliding doors, two fire-rated, self-closing doors from the garage, and twelve interior doors, one a barn door to the pantry) |
|---|---|
| Windows | 16 (each bedroom has an egress window, big enough to climb out of in an emergency) |
| Skylights | 3 tubular (a small roof dome that pipes daylight down a reflective tube), in the hall bath, hallway and mud room |
Rooms
| Master bedroom | 11′ × 16′ |
|---|---|
| Bedroom 2 | 8′ × 16′ |
| Bedroom 3 | 10′ × 16′ |
| Living / dining | 16′ × 20′ |
| Kitchen | 16′ × 20′ |
| Master bath | 6′ × 10′ |
| Hall bath | 5′ × 10′ |
| Walk-in closet | 6′ × 6′ |
| Pantry | 5′ × 8′ |
| Office | 10′ × 16′ |
| Hallway | 4′ wide (3′-7½″ clear) |
Room sizes here are before the outside wall is taken off. The floor plans print finished sizes, a little smaller along an outside wall, and the presentation floor plan notes any corner a room gives up to a closet or a notch.
Service & extras
| Mud room | 8′ × 8′ |
|---|---|
| Laundry (off the kitchen) | 8′ × 7′ |
| Mechanical (off the garage) | 8′ × 5′ |
| Shop | 20′ × 16′, open to the garage |
| 2-car garage | 30′ × 24′, two 10′ × 8′ overhead doors |
| Cupolas | 2 |
| Front porch | 8′ × 40′ |
| Rear porch | 8′ × 40′ |
Included in This Plan Set
The Design Plan Set is eight pages in one PDF, sized to print at 24 × 36 inches (ARCH D). It is the set you send out for quotes and estimates; each page is listed below. One home, one license.
Included Pages
- A-001Cover sheet and legend
- A-100Presentation floor plan
- A-101Detail floor plan
- A-102Schedules
- A-111Roof plan
- A-201Exterior elevations
- A-202Exterior elevations
- L-001License and terms
Not included, handled by local professionals
- Foundation design: by your local structural engineer for your site, using the anchor bolt plan and loads from your building supplier
- Engineering drawings for the structure (provided by your chosen supplier)
- Plumbing, electrical and HVAC layouts, by your local trades to local code
The Design Plan Set is eight pages, delivered as a single PDF sized to print at ARCH D (24 × 36 in). It carries the detail a framing contractor and a truss manufacturer need to quote this exact home, enough for local contractors to price the slab foundation and the interior fit-out, and enough to take a real number to your lender.
Included Pages
- A-001Cover sheet and legend
- A-100Presentation floor plan
- A-101Detail floor plan
- A-102Schedules
- A-111Roof plan
- A-201Exterior elevations
- A-202Exterior elevations
- L-001License and terms
Not included, handled by local professionals
- Foundation design: by your local structural engineer for your site
- Roof truss engineering: the sealed truss drawings and layout from your truss manufacturer
- Plumbing, electrical and HVAC layouts, by your local trades to local code
Can I Build This?
Yes: every page is designed for standard pre-engineered metal building (PEMB) construction. Stamped structural drawings come from your building supplier's engineer, and permit review is with your local building department.
Why a pre-engineered metal building?
A PEMB encloses more home for the money than a wood-framed building and goes up in weeks. Its steel frames carry the roof, so no inside wall has to hold it up: the kitchen, living room and master bedroom can be vaulted. Here the eave steps up from 12 feet over the house to 14 feet over the garage, shop and office. Both overhead doors are on the front wall; the garage's walk door is on the end wall. The frame layout on these pages follows standard metal building practice, so a supplier can quote it as drawn.
Who does what
We design the home: the rooms, where the doors and windows go, the elevations and the roof. Your building supplier engineers the steel frame for your site and confirms the vaulted ceilings against it. That is the usual split on a metal building project, and our pages are drawn to it.
Yes: every page is designed for standard wood-frame construction. The sealed truss drawings come from your truss manufacturer's engineer, the foundation design from your local structural engineer, and permit review is with your local building department.
Why wood framing?
A 2×6 wood frame is the construction framing crews work in and lumber yards stock, with a deeper wall cavity for insulation than a 2×4 wall. The roof is carried on trusses, engineered by your truss manufacturer for the spans these pages draw, and the kitchen, living room and master bedroom are designed with vaulted ceilings that follow the roof trusses. The braced wall panels on these pages follow the US building code's standard method; the header framing comes with the construction plan set, and any beam too large for the code's tables is marked there for an engineer to size.
Who does what
We design the home: the rooms, where the doors and windows go, the elevations and the roof, and the braced wall panels the US building code asks for. Your chosen truss manufacturer's engineer designs the trusses: the sealed truss drawings and layout for your exact roof, and they confirm the vaulted ceilings against the trusses they supply. Your local structural engineer designs the foundation, including any thickened footings under interior bearing walls. That is the usual split on a wood-framed project, and our pages are drawn to it.
What Will It Cost to Build?
$345,000 to $395,000
A home like The Brazos is estimated to complete for $345,000 to $395,000 with you as your own general contractor, hiring the trades yourself. That covers the steel building and putting it up, the foundation, the inside finish, and an allowance for site work, utilities, driveway and septic.
It leaves out land, financing, sales tax, payroll taxes and insurance on labor, appliances beyond a standard allowance, landscaping and window coverings. Hiring a general contractor adds about 15 percent.
This is a rough estimate, not a quote. Costs vary by region by 15 to 25 percent, and your building supplier and local contractors will price it for your area. Our barndominium buying guide walks through what moves the number.
$415,000 to $465,000
A home like The Brazos is estimated to complete for $415,000 to $465,000 with the owner acting as general contractor, including framing materials and labor, roof trusses, metal roofing and wall panels, the foundation, interior finish, and an allowance for site work, utilities, driveway and septic.
It excludes land, financing, sales tax, labor burden, appliances beyond a standard allowance, landscaping and window coverings, and hiring a general contractor typically adds about 15 percent.
This is a rough estimate, not a quote: costs vary by region by 15 to 25 percent, and your framing contractor and local trades will price for your chosen building location. Our barndominium buying guide walks through what moves the number.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will the living room feel like a hall?
No. It is 16′ × 20′, closer to square than long, under a vaulted ceiling. French doors open to the front porch on the front wall, and an 8 foot sliding door opens on the end wall. The kitchen opens beside it, vaulted too, so the two read as one room with light from two sides.
Why is the office off the garage?
So the house stays a house. The 10′ × 16′ office takes the north-east corner behind its own door, a window on the back wall and two on the end wall. It shares walls only with the garage and the shop, so no bedroom wall carries sound into a call. The trade is the walk through the garage.
Is Bedroom 2 big enough at 8 feet wide?
It is 8′ × 16′ before the outside wall is taken off, a full 8′-0″ wide inside the walls on the detail floor plan. It has a window and its own 5′ × 6′ closet. It is the narrowest, the cost of a bath or closet between each pair on a 40 foot span. Bedroom 3 is 10′ × 16′.
Can I build The Brazos with any metal building supplier?
Yes. Every page is designed for standard pre-engineered metal building (PEMB) construction, so any steel building supplier can quote this home as drawn. Their engineer then provides the stamped engineering drawings for the steel building, along with an anchor bolt plan and the loads for your site, and your local structural engineer designs the foundation from them.
Is the plan stamped, engineered, or permit-ready?
No. No plan set is a permit. This design set is for quotes, budgeting, and financing; permit review comes later, on a construction plan set (ours is launching soon) with the engineering your building department requires. The Brazos is designed and informed by the IRC (USA) and NBC Part 9 (Canada). Local permit review is between you, your builder and your building department.
Is a steel barndominium a good choice in a wildfire zone?
Yes, with the rest done right. The steel frame and the metal wall and roof panels do not burn, the kind of construction wildfire rules favor. A metal roof also carries the top fire rating, Class A. Ember-resistant vents, boxed eaves, tempered windows and cleared ground around the house decide the rest. No home is fireproof.
Will the living room feel like a hall?
No. It is 16′ × 20′, closer to square than long, under a vaulted ceiling. French doors open to the front porch on the front wall, and an 8 foot sliding door opens on the end wall. The kitchen opens beside it, vaulted too, so the two read as one room with light from two sides.
Why is the office off the garage?
So the house stays a house. The 10′ × 16′ office takes the north-east corner behind its own door, a window on the back wall and two on the end wall. It shares walls only with the garage and the shop, so no bedroom wall carries sound into a call. The trade is the walk through the garage.
Is Bedroom 2 big enough at 8 feet wide?
It is 8′ × 16′ before the outside wall is taken off, a full 8′-0″ wide inside the walls on the detail floor plan. It has a window and its own 5′ × 6′ closet. It is the narrowest, the cost of a bath or closet between each pair on a 40 foot span. Bedroom 3 is 10′ × 16′.
Can I build The Brazos with any framing contractor?
Yes. Every page is designed for standard wood-frame construction: 2×6 exterior walls with continuous sheathing, braced wall panels drawn to the US building code's standard method, and roof trusses. A framing contractor and a truss manufacturer can quote the home from this set; the sealed truss drawings and layout come from the truss manufacturer's engineer when you order with the construction plan set, and your local structural engineer designs the foundation for your site from that set and the loads from your truss manufacturer.
Is the plan stamped, engineered, or permit-ready?
No. No plan set is a permit. This design set is for quotes, budgeting, and financing; permit review comes later, on a construction plan set (ours is launching soon) with the engineering your building department requires. The Brazos is designed and informed by the IRC (USA) and NBC Part 9 (Canada). The sealed truss drawings come from your truss manufacturer's engineer, the foundation design from your local structural engineer, and local permit review is between you, your builder and your building department.
Is a wood-framed barndominium a good choice in a wildfire zone?
It can be. The metal roof and metal wall panels help with the exterior rules wildfire codes set, and the wood framing behind them stays protected only while that skin holds. Ember-resistant vents, boxed eaves, tempered windows and cleared ground around the house decide the rest; ask your insurer how they rate a wood frame under metal.
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The Slate, Barndominium Plan Set, 2 Bed 2 Bath, 1,469 Sq Ft, 40x40 Single-Story, Front Porch, 8-Page PDFUS$ 149.00A bedroom and a bath at each end, 40 feet of porch across the front.
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- With Shop
- With Office
- 2-Car Garage
- Under 2,000 sq ft
- Front Porch
- Rear Porch
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