Most people start a pole barn garage with the same three questions. How many vehicles do you need to park, how big do the doors have to be, and is a workshop area needed? That’s a great place to start. From there we take your vision, and plan your dream garage.
Our garage and storage page will give you a feel for garage and workshop projects we build in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Your own plan still starts with the vehicles you own and the work you want room to do.
Where the vehicles will park
Write down everything that needs a home in the building, including a boat, tractor, or RV that sits somewhere else most of the year. If two vehicles need to leave without moving another one first, plan on two usable bays, even when the garage is a single open room. A trailer takes a separate pass, because you need room for it when it is hitched and a place for it when it is parked on its own.
Leave a walking path you can use with the vehicles parked. You will open doors, step around a mower or a set of bins, and stand at a workbench if that bench is part of why you are building. Count the bench area as taken when you decide how many bays fit.
Let’s talk about doors
Size each door for the tallest and widest thing you expect to drive through it, and decide whether you will back in or pull straight through. A single bay may need only one opening, and separate openings help when one stall should stay shut while another vehicle comes and goes. Include a man door so you can walk in for a tool or a quick check without opening a vehicle door.
Where the doors go depends on the driveway, the shape of the lot, and the side you want for a workshop. The 3D builder is a simple way to try a few arrangements, including doors, windows, porches, and lean-tos, and then send the design along with your quote. Photos in our pole barn gallery show how doors and rooflines look on finished buildings, which helps when you are picturing your own.
Whether part of the building is a workshop
Some owners want the whole floor left open so the parking can change later. Others want part of the building set up as a workshop, with a bench, tool storage, and enough room to move around a project while a vehicle is parked nearby. If you want that split, we need it in the drawing we quote, along with whether the work area stays open to the bays or is closed off from them.
A workshop also moves the walk-in door and the windows toward the bench, where you want light and a straight path from outside. If the workshop is a later phase, say so during the quote and keep that floor area in the plan. Attic trusses belong in the same conversation when you want storage overhead and your vehicles still have to fit beneath it.
Talk it through with us
When you request a quote, include what will park inside, the doors those vehicles need, and whether any of the floor is a workshop. If your zoning or building department has already told you what you can build on the lot, add that as well. We can meet you on site or at our East Canton office and adjust the design until the quote matches the building you want.
Call 1-877-712-2767 if you would rather talk before you fill out the form. We will stay with the design until the quote fits the garage you described.
