Why a barndo needs two kinds of design in one tool
A barndominium is a shell with a house inside it. The shell follows post frame or steel building rules. The inside follows residential framing rules. Those are different rulebooks, which is why most configurators pick one and stop.
The trouble is that the customer doesn't buy half a building. They buy a home with a shop attached, or a shop with a home inside, and the decisions on one side change the other. A second floor changes what the shell needs to carry. Windows in the living space have to work with the wall framing. The ceiling height depends on the truss. When the two halves are designed in separate tools, those conflicts show up late, usually after the shell is ordered.
We go deep on the interior side in interior framing software for barndominiums and shops. This post is about what to look for in the software as a whole.
The shell: pick the framing system that fits the job
Barndos get built on more than one kind of shell, and the right one depends on the customer, the span and what your crew builds. Good barndominium design software should let you design the shell in whichever system fits. Redline covers five:
- Post frame. The most common barndo shell, and usually the most economical.
- Red iron. Steel shells, both bolt-up and weld-up, for wider clear spans or a customer who wants steel.
- Stick frame. Conventional framing for the whole building or the living section.
- Hybrid post frame. Post frame with steel trusses.
- Tube frame. Light steel, for carports and attached covers.
Being able to switch matters during the sale. A customer comparing post frame against red iron for the same barndo can see both, priced from your numbers, without you rebuilding the design in a second tool.
The interior: framing, not an empty box
The inside of a barndo is where the customer's attention actually is. They are deciding where the kitchen goes and where the stairs land, not worrying about purlin spacing. So the software has to design the interior, not just leave room for one.
In Redline, interior framing is modeled inside the shell: partitions, bearing walls, floor systems, stairs and interior openings, using residential framing logic. It works on top of post frame, red iron and stick frame shells, and if the design includes a lower level, walkout basement design is handled in the same model.
The details of why interior framing is hard, from bearing walls to stair headroom, are in our barndominium interior framing deep dive.
One model, one material list
The point of designing shell and interior together is that everything comes out of one model. The interior members land in the same material takeoff as the structure. The plans show both. The quote covers the building the customer actually wants, not a shell price plus a guess.
That is also what keeps budgets honest. The most common way a barndo budget goes wrong is treating the shell quote as the building quote. When the interior framing is designed and counted, that part of the job is on the list instead of in an allowance. For the full picture of where barndominium money goes, read what does a barndominium cost?
Plans for permitting
Living space usually gets reviewed against residential requirements, even when the shell alone might not be. That means the plans have to show the inside as well as the outside. Redline produces permit-ready plans, dimensioned elevations and sheet layouts from the same model as the takeoff, with the interior framing included. See permit-ready building plans and structural drawings for what a building department typically wants.
What to check in any barndominium design software
- Can it design the interior, or just the shell? Ask to see partitions, a second floor and stairs inside the building.
- Does the interior land on the material list? If the takeoff stops at the shell, the hardest part of the quote is still on you.
- Does it cover the shells you build? Post frame only is a limit if you also sell steel or stick frame barndos.
- Can you price it with your own numbers? In Redline, pricing comes from your supplier price sheet once it's loaded, plus your own numbers.
- Can you use it on site, and can customers use it on your website? Redline's dealer configurator runs in a phone's browser, and the Website 3D Designer works on phones, tablets and desktop.
Showing the customer the whole building
Barndo customers are buying a home, so they want to see it. A 3D model of the whole building, shell and inside, answers questions a floor plan sketch can't. You can send a branded quote with live 3D rendering and line-item pricing, and when the customer wants to move a wall or add a loft, you change the model and the list and price follow.
Barndo customers also tend to show up with plans. Some bring a floor plan they found online, others bring a full set from a designer. In Redline, the Structural Design Assistant handles that: snap a photo or upload the blueprint, and Redline reads the drawing and renders the building to match. You refine it in the configurator from there, instead of starting from a blank screen.
Customers can also start on their own. With the Website 3D Designer on your site, a visitor can lay out their building and send it to you with the full design attached, so the first call starts from their building instead of a list of questions.
What it costs
Redline is $250/mo flat with 2 seats included and $0 setup, covering all five framing systems plus interior framing. Add the Website 3D Designer on your site for $290/mo total. The 10-day free trial needs no credit card, which is enough time to design a barndo you've already sold, inside and out, and compare the material list to what you ordered.