A barndominium whose shop half has two tall roll-up doors and a concrete apron, joined to the living half under one continuous roof.

Barndominium with Shop Floor Plans in Colorado

The shop is why most people build a barndominium instead of a house, and on Colorado acreage it is usually the biggest room on the property. A shop-house plan puts the living quarters and a heated, clear-span work bay under one roof. The Colorado questions are practical: whether the well on your parcel can supply water to the shop at all, how to keep a large shop slab from heaving on swelling clay, and how wide a clear span you can carry under your county's snow load.

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What actually changes with this feature

The look is the easy part. These are the decisions that follow from it.

What a household-use well allows in a shop

If the shop is part of the house, a restroom and utility sink used by the household are part of ordinary household use. Washing trucks and equipment is an outdoor use DWR does not allow on a household-use well, and customers or employees at an on-site business are excluded outright. A floor drain and wash bay only make sense where the water supply allows them.

A shop slab on swelling clay

The Colorado Geological Survey lists heaved garage slabs among the most common signs of expansive soil. A shop slab is large, thin relative to its area and lightly loaded between the columns, so on active clay it needs the soils engineer's attention: moisture conditioning or replacement of the swelling layer, reinforcement, and joints that let it move independently of the building's columns and the house foundation.

Clear span under your snow load

A 40- to 60-foot clear span is the shop's whole point, and the roof over it carries your jurisdiction's snow load. Unincorporated Larimer County's design table, for example, climbs from 55 psf of ground snow at 5,000 feet to 110 psf at 8,000 feet. Wider spans at higher elevations mean heavier frames or closer spacing, so give the supplier your parcel's elevation before you fix the span.

Power, heat and the licensed trades

Welders, compressors, lifts and radiant floor heat drive the shop's electrical and mechanical design. Electrical and plumbing work in Colorado is done by state-licensed electricians and plumbers, and where your county has no local electrical or plumbing inspection program, the state's inspectors carry out those inspections. Plan the panel size and the circuits for the heaviest equipment you expect to own, not just what you own today.

A barndominium whose shop half has two tall roll-up doors and a concrete apron, joined to the living half under one continuous roof.
The reason for the building

Check the well permit before you plumb the shop

On many rural Colorado parcels the limiting factor for a shop is water, not space. The Division of Water Resources' Guideline 2023-1 says exempt well permits on parcels under 35 acres, outside cluster developments, are limited to ordinary household purposes inside one single-family dwelling, with no allowed outdoor uses. The same guideline lists washing vehicles, growing plants outside the dwelling, and water used by employees or customers of an on-site commercial business as uses an exempt household well cannot serve. On a parcel of 35 acres or more, the statute's exempt uses can include watering livestock and irrigating up to one acre of home garden and lawn, depending on how the permit was issued. So a shop that shares a roof with the house may still be limited in what its water can be used for, and a shop that becomes a business may need a different water supply. Read the permit on the specific parcel before you buy the land, and design the shop plumbing around what it says.

Common ways to build this

Common configurations. Yours does not have to match one exactly — this is a starting point for the conversation, not a catalog.

Classic shouse: living on one end, shop on the other

1,800 sq ft living / 1,800 sq ft shop

A 40x90 or similar clear-span building split by an insulated, fire-separated wall. The shop end gets tall overhead doors on the gable or sidewall, the living end gets the windows and porch. Where the two halves sit on different foundation designs on active clay, the dividing wall is also a movement joint.

House with an RV and equipment bay

2,000 sq ft living / 1,400 sq ft shop with 14-ft door

A tall bay for an RV, tractor or trailer beside a standard two-car shop area. The taller door raises the eave height on that part of the building, which increases wind load on the wall — design it to your jurisdiction's wind speed for the site.

Living quarters over the shop

1,200 sq ft upper living / 2,400 sq ft shop

The shop takes the whole ground floor and the living quarters sit above it, reached by an interior stair. It saves footprint on a tight building envelope and keeps the shop slab separate from any living-space floor design. Every upstairs bedroom still needs an escape opening, and the floor between shop and living space needs the fire separation your jurisdiction's code requires.

Ways to build this

This can go together several ways. These are the service lines most relevant to it.

Shouses

Shouses in Colorado: a working shop and a finished home in one building, laid out around your land's water, septic and snow load.

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Steel Construction

Steel frame barndominiums in Colorado: red iron frames for wide, column-free spans, sized to the snow load and wind speed your county sets for your site.

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Pole Barn Homes

Pole barn homes in Colorado, built post-frame, with posts, footings and trusses drawn to your county's frost depth, snow load and soils.

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Barndominium with a Shop: common questions

6 common questions about this layout in Colorado. If yours is not on the list, ask it directly.

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How big should the shop be?
Size it for the largest thing you will park inside plus working room around it. Common shop halves run from 1,200 to 2,400 square feet with at least one 12- to 14-foot overhead door for trucks, trailers or an RV. Many owners say the shop is the part they wish they had built bigger.
Can I use my well water in the shop?
It depends on the permit. The Division of Water Resources limits most exempt wells on parcels under 35 acres to household use inside one single-family dwelling, with no outdoor use — so no washing vehicles, and no water for employees or customers of an on-site business. Parcels of 35 acres or more, and wells in designated ground water basins, work under different terms. Read the actual permit on the parcel.
Can I run a business out of my barndominium shop?
Zoning decides whether the business is allowed; water decides whether the well can serve it. DWR's guideline excludes water used by employees or customers of an on-site commercial business from ordinary household use. A one-person workshop with no customers on site is a different case from a repair shop open to the public, so check with both the county planning office and DWR.
Why do shop floors crack and heave in Colorado?
On the Front Range, swelling clay is a common cause. The Colorado Geological Survey says clay can expand 10 percent or more when wetted and lists heaved garage slabs among the most common indicators. The fixes are design ones: a soils report, over-excavation or moisture treatment where needed, reinforcement, isolation joints around columns, and drainage that keeps water away from the slab edge.
Does an agricultural shop need a permit?
Colorado counties may except purely agricultural buildings from their building codes, but a shop that is part of a house — or has living space in it — is not an agricultural building. Some counties also publish their own standards for farm buildings; unincorporated Larimer County, for example, allows loafing sheds and pole barns to follow county prescriptive standards. Ask your county which rules apply to your plan.
Is a shop-house good for a 35-acre parcel?
It is one of the best uses of one. Colorado law exempts divisions of land into parcels of 35 acres or more from the county subdivision definition, which is one reason so much rural land is sold at that size, and an exempt well on 35 acres or more can, depending on the permit, serve livestock and up to an acre of garden and lawn. A shop-house fits that land well.

Want this drawn for your program and your parcel? That is where a build actually starts.

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Tell us what you want to build and we will draw this for your program, then confirm what it looks like on your parcel and the frost depth, snow and wind loads your city or county publishes. That conversation costs nothing.

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