# Site prep for new building



## jd332

Well the building of my dreams is starting to come true. I had the site excavated in preparation of delivery of a 45x36 Morton building. The materials will be delivered in 2 weeks but the construction won't start for at least 4 weeks after that because thew crews are all backed up (darn slow economy  ) Anyway, the building site is at the high point on my property so the excavator had to basically flatten the top of a hill with 4' peak. About half of it had mix of persimmon and sassafras trees that the Cat handled with no problem. I took him about 6 hrs to clear the site and I think he did a very good job.

BTW, the building is embarassingly expensive so please don't ask how much. It's still less than a new 4wd pickup though so I don't fell too bad.

I'll post more pictures when the materials are delivered and contruction starts.

This is a picture at the beginning of the dig.


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## jd332

If I'm doing this right, this should be picture of the cleared sight.


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## jd332

If I'm doing this right, this should be picture of the cleared site.


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## jd332

I'm screwing up this thread royally. Hopefully this will be the pic of the first dig.


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## jodyand

Thats going to be a big building so i know it wont be cheap. Congrats looks like they did good with the grading. Keep us posted on how the shop coming along.


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## Argee

He did a fantastic job with the grading...What are you going to use the building for?


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## jd332

The Cat driver came highly recommended by the Morton rep. He was a real nice guy to boot. He used a laser level so it's dead flat in the middle and slightly sloped at the edges. Said he really enjoyed doing jobs like this as opposed to digging basements in the city.

The building is located at some remote property that I own that I use mainly for hunting and recreation. I plan on fixing up a small corner for sleeping quarters and the rest to store a tractor, ATVs, some lawn equipment and a bunch of junk cluttering up my garage at home. I hope to build a house up there when I retire so it may also be used store a truck and a car. 

My original plans were to build something half that size but everyone told me to build it twice the size you think you need. My neighbor just finished a 40x50 and it looks pretty full already with two tractors, a truck, a wagon and some other equipment.


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## MowHoward2210

jd332,

I have a 30' x 45' pole barn with a concrete floor. They fill up fast. You are getting a top quality building with Morton.


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## guest

looks nice 322
what type of foundation or footing do you plan to put down??


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## Ingersoll444

I am planing a 30x40 myself. Been pricing things out, so KNOW how steep the $$$$$ can be.  


I would LOVE to go bigger then that, but a 30x40 fits perfect in the spot I want to put it. I know it will be full in a day . Looking foward to more pictures!!!


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## jd332

I will pour concrete floor after building is erected. I also opted for 20' of porch on the side. Morton porches are expensive... oh well, only live once. Funny at one point I decide on a 30x45 with 45' porch, then I decided "heck with the porch", and deleted it and made the building 6' wider for near same price. Then I wanted the porch again so I added 20' of porch. If they don't build it soon, I'll probably extend the porch the full length again, then delete and make the building wider and start the process over again.


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## Argee

May be the reason they keep delaying it...so they get all your money:lmao: :lmao:


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## jd332

The building arrived yesterday. Will be 4-6 weeks before construction starts. Had one scary moment when the tractor unloaded the palette with the steel siding/roof. He didn't have the load centered on the forks and almost tipped over. One of the back wheels was several feet off the ground. Yikes! Couldn't get the digital camera to power up quick enough to get a pitcure. Everything turned out OK though.


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## guest

looks nice JD322.. you must be psyched....!


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## jd332

Well I only had to wait 2 weeks as they brought out a crew from ~200 miles away to put up the building. Only problem is we have had about 4" rain the past two days with more predicted. Ugh. We hadn't had any significant rain in about 3 weeks and it poured down within an hour of their arrival. The access road to my property is pretty poor after it rains so they're having to basically tow the F450 truck in with the tractor. After the next bout of rain I don't know if they'll be able to even get the tractor in. And the building site ground is so soft now that they don't know if they'll be able to move the trusses. The pics show all the progress after a day and a half. This was supposed to be an enjoyable week for me but I feel like I'm getting an ulcer.


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## Argee

Well jd332, you can't control the weather so there is no sense in fretting over it...they'll get the building done, it'll just take them a little longer.


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## guest

That sucks about the rain JD... does that cost you more for their time due to the delays??


dont worry man it WILL get built... eventually


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## jd332

Doesn't cost me anything as long as they take their tiime and do a quality job. They might be under some pressure to finish by Friday as they are scheduled to go home by the weekend. The company pays for thier lodging and meal money so it starts eating into their profits if they don't finish on time. The building has a warantee so if I find anything wrong they'll be back to make it right. Still, it would have been fun to see the building sprout up out of the ground in 3 days like it was supposed to. On the bright side, the same line of storms spawned a possible small tornado about 30 miles south so things could be worse. I talked to the foreman tonight and he said the site drained well after the afternoon rain and they could raise the trusses in the morning and start hanging metal if the don't get the over night rain that they are predicting.


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## Stewart

That is cool!

Where are you located with that much rain?? 
So much for August and drying out!!


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## jd332

Located just North of St. Louis... no rain last night or today (so far), so I expect the boys are making good progress. I decided to stay today to see if I was bringing bad luck.


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## Stewart

There was a 20% chance of rain here in Oklahoma, but that was this morning and we all know how the weather guessers do around here!!! I hope they get a lot done, they only have untill Friday!! Don't forget the pictures!


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## jd332

I meant to say "stay away" from the building site today. No rain until about 5pm so they got a full day in. We had some pretty gusty winds here (about 50 miles SE of the site) so I hope they didn't leave any partially completed sections. The storm total on he NWS radar it looks like they got around 1" rain from this last storm. (That doesn't seem like very much anymore!) The wx guessers here say no rain tomorrow so I'm going up there to see the progress, and take some pics.


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## Stewart

It is hard to stay away, I want to see how things are going in and how much things have progressed!!! I ask a lot of questions so sometimes it is just best for me to stay away!! Thanks for sharing and keep the pictures coming!


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## jd332

The pic was taken at the end of Day 4. I thought they would be further along but the heat/humidity was brutal today (108 heat index) and I guess quality takes time... makes me feel like I'm getting my money's worth. Framing all those windows takes time too. They're coming back to finish the North wall then it's back home for the weekend. Next week is the roof and porch. Weather should be dry and much cooler then. As you can see in the picture, another storm was rolling in but it only rained for about 20 minutes. More rain is predicted for Fri night and Saturday but it should be dry by Monday. The ground dries quickly up there as you can see in the foreground - that was after 5" rain since Monday.


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## jodyand

Looks good they are making good time on it.


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## Argee

Just curious jd332...why the OSB for the first 4 feet? That's a nice looking building, but what makes a Morton building better than any other pole barn?


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## guest

building looks real nice jd322 good progress...


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## jd332

The OSB is supposed to protect the wainscot from impacts from the inside. Probably not necessary but it's a standard feature. What makes them better? Probably a lot of little things like premium coatings, premium fasteners, premium lumber.  If you go to their website they have a whole list of reasons. But the reason I went with Morton was because they looked the best, they have an excellent warantee, they've been in business a long time and back up their warantee. When the Morton salesman did my site survey he noticed my neighbor's 30 year old Morton building's paint was fading so he went up and knocked on his door and offered to pay half of the cost for new paint if he chose to repaint. (Paint only, not labor). I liked that. He is going to take them up on their offer. Throughout this whole rain fiasco I was a Nervous Nelly but they were very reassuring that the building would be built to their high standards and I'm not sure I would get that from Joe Farmer who puts up pole barns when he's not in the field. So I guess to me what makes them better is just knowing that I'm going to be 100% satisfied when the job is done.


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## Argee

Sounds reasonable...can you do a closeup on on of the poles?


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## Stewart

I have heard that Mortons are top of the line! Is there a reason you went with the sliding doors instead of a garage type rolling door?? I haven't checked into Mortons at and was just wondering???? 

I think it would be very cool to have a little garage door on my shed for my LT and I could pick up and old garage door opener and have the clicker on my tractor!!!! Then I woke up from my dream, and yes I am easily amused!


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## jd332

I had no particular reason the sliding doors other than I think there more durable. Here's a pic of the poles. I think I know why you want to see them.


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## chrpmaster

That is one fine looking building!! Any estimate of completion date given the weather problems? Maybe I missed it in the earlier postings but what size is it? Does Morton have its own employees build these things or do they use subs?

Andy


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## Stewart

My neighbor has a morton and it has sliding doors as well I was just thought maybe that is all they will do. Does insulation come with the package?:cheers:


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## bontai Joe

Nice looking building and nice view out the window. There is a Morton dealer near where I work as well as a Butler dealer. Consequently there are lot of each built around the area, in addition to other brands. The Mortons always seem to look better. I don't know if it is the coatings/paint they use on the steel panels, or what.

As to what is available in insulation or interior finishes, I've seen them with just the outside metal skin, all the way to being completely finished inside like a house interior. It's all based on what you pay for.


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## aegt5000

jd332...Great looking building.

I looked at Morton's site, I had no idea they built that broad a 
range of buildings. Looks like they make a very nice product.
Good luck with it, and keep posting pic's.


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## jd332

The size is 36x45 with a 6' wide porch down the length of the side. I started out at 30x36, then 30x45, then the current configuration. The porch was added then deleted then added again add finally extended the full lenth of the building. The build date got postponed several times and each time my checking account balanced increased so I kept adding features and making it bigger. They are currently estimating that they will be finished by next Wednesday. There is no rain in the forecast from Sunday thru the week so I think their estimate is good.

Insulation is not standard but available. I went with the insulated roof to prevent condenstation. There were various opinions on the necessity (the salesman recommended it of course) but I decided to go with it because it's much easier and cheaper to install at build time. The final price is still less than a typical full size SUV. That's how I justify the cost to myself 

Morton does not subcontract any of the construction work. The owner is responsible for site prep and any concrete work. However the salesman had an excavator who he works with on many projects so all I had to do was mark the corners of the building he pretty much did the rest. He also is friends with a retired concrete contractor so I made a cash deal with him.

The construction crew consist of a foreman and 3 worker bees. They generally stay together as a team for long periods. Three of my crew had been together for 5 years and there was one new guy who has been with them for a year and a half. 

There is a recently built Cleary building that went up not to far from me and I they they look about as good as the Mortons. I think they're of similar quality and price also. 

Here's a picture from the rear. I plan on building a loft so that's the reason for window at the top. The last truss is open so I have about 15x16 of useable space up there.


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## jd332

aegt5000, the Morton rep said in his region, most of his business in now either "suburban buildings" like mine or commercial buildings like strip malls, car washes, gymnasiums, churches, etc. and even homes. The large farm machine sheds that they started out with is now a small percentage of their total business.


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## jd332

All done. Just need the concrete now. Can't wait to fill it up with new toys.


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## Stewart

Wow, that is a great looking building!!! It is only money right???

Thanks for sharing!:cheers:


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## bontai Joe

I can easily imagine sitting under that porch at the end of the day with a pipe of premium tobacco, and an ice cold drink. Building looks great! May good fortune allow you to fill it with toys.


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## guest

congrats JD332 your building came out fantastic..


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## guest

hey can you post some pics of the inside of the building... 

Truss structure... inside room ect..

really man.. good job.. it looks great...


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## memmurphy

Very nice JD332! :thumbsup: 

I like the idea of an attached porch. It would come in handy for an outside work area or covered storage.

Mark


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## aegt5000

JD332…

Holy Cow, that’s frigg’in BEAUTIFUL. 
You made a great decision, the building looks terrific and like
it will last a lifetime. Congrat’s and Enjoy.


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## Argee

It turned out nice...nice choice of colors:thumbsup:


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## Archdean

Very nice to say the least, you could put 2 or 3 of my little bldg in there!

Dean


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## jd332

Thanks for all the complements.

Bontai_Joe, I envision many beers being consumed on that porch. I'm looking forward to a rainy day now!


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## jd332

Here's an inside pic. No concrete yet.


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## guest

looks good...
i wonder why they do the concrete after?


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## Argee

> _Originally posted by simple_john _
> *looks good...
> i wonder why they do the concrete after? *


Because they can us the bottom girts (rat wall) as the forms. And because they don't build off the floor like a garage...it's easier to bring the floor up to grade rather than try to erect a building around a floor.


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