Our farm shop design blog series, written by Dan Nyberg, the Sales Training Manager at Morton Buildings, focuses on a variety of farm shop design ideas to help you in planning your next agricultural building.
When determining the various dimensions and design of the building itself, be sure to measure the actual equipment (or get equipment specs from the equipment manufacturer) to determine the room needed for various repairs. You will want go higher for combines and wider for planters. Today’s farm shops are typically 80-foot-wide by 165-foot-long and up for building size, with 18-foot door height for more interior clearance to fit bigger equipment. Some farmers tend to go even taller with building height to accommodate an upper level of storage. It’s important to point out that machinery always grows by a few feet, and you should plan to make it large enough for equipment 5-10 years from now. And every wall will wind up with tools and equipment that takes up square footage too.
Always get the width correct for your future needs. If you have some planned trades in mind on specific equipment – plan your building on what is coming – not what you have. Any building is capable of being added on from the end, but it is extremely costly to add width. Do you need to ensure that it’s wide enough to fit a semi and trailer inside? In many of the shops today, the most convenient doors are on the sidewall and then the building width becomes the limiting factor for the size equipment which will fit. Consider having the ability to “pop the hood” to check your engine – that can take up a few more feet than simply the length of the rig.
Remember to figure in work stations for various repair functions; rooms for storage of tools and parts; and rooms for offices, computers, conferences plus the kitchen and bath.
When designing farm shops, don't forget the more conventional options such as pits, hoists, cranes, work benches, compressors, oil dispensers, tool caddies, welders, tire changers and pressure washers.
Browse more completed farm shop projects!
About Dan Nyberg, Sales Training Manager, Morton Buildings
Dan Nyberg has been employed with Morton Buildings for 28 years, where he held a variety of positions such as sales consultant, regional manager, and director of sales. He has also served as a board member of the National Frame Building Association for nine years. Dan has been involved with farming most of his life, from living on a dairy farm as a child, moving back to a mixed livestock and grain farm in high school, to managing a personal farm in Colorado focused on horse-drawn events. He has experience with beef cattle, dairy cattle, bison, pigs, sheep, chickens, ducks, geese, horses and mules. Dan currently farms 72 acres with a herd of 23 Devon/Hereford cattle and owns three Morton buildings.
