What Is a Barndominium? A Guide for Alberta, Saskatchewan and BC
A barndominium, or barndo, is a house built in the form of a barn: a simple, wide building, usually with a steel-clad exterior, an open interior and often a shop or garage under the same roof. The name describes a style and a way of building, not a separate kind of legal building. In Canada a barndominium you live in is a house, and it is built to the same code as every other house in its province.
Figures on this page are cited third-party or government data, not a quote from Chinook Barndo Co..
Bottom Line Up Front
- A barndominium is a home in a barn-style building, usually steel-clad, often with a shop under the same roof. The word joins 'barn' and 'condominium'.
- There are three common ways to build one in Western Canada: a post-frame (pole barn) structure, a steel frame, or a ready-to-move (RTM) home built off-site and moved to the foundation.
- However it is built, a barndominium you live in is a house under the building code in Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia, not a farm building.
What Is a Barndominium?
The short definition, and what it does and does not mean.
The definition
Wikipedia defines a barndominium as a metal pole barn, post-frame or barn-like structure with sheet metal siding that has been partly or fully converted into a furnished home. In current use the word covers new homes built in that form from the start, not only converted barns.
Where the word comes from
Barndominium joins 'barn' and 'condominium'. It was coined in the late 1980s by a real estate developer for a planned community built around living near horses, and it was taken up again in the mid-2000s for metal buildings used as a primary residence.
What makes a building a barndominium
There is no legal test. People call a home a barndominium when it has a simple barn-like form, a wide open-span interior, usually steel roofing and siding, and often a shop, garage or equipment bay under the same roof as the living space.
Barndominium, barndo, shouse
Barndo is the short form. A shouse, or shop house, is a close cousin: a workshop and a house in one building. On this site the shouses page covers shops with living quarters.
Steel vs Post-Frame vs RTM
Three ways to build a barndominium in Western Canada. The finished house can look the same; the structure and the process differ.
Post-frame (pole barn)
Large posts or laminated columns set at wide spacing carry the roof, with girts and purlins between them and steel cladding outside. It suits a wide, open building. Alberta's code assumes light wood framing at no more than 600 mm spacing, so a post-frame structure is normally designed under Part 4, engineering design. See post-frame homes.
Steel frame
A steel frame clad in steel panels. It spans the widest openings without interior posts, which suits large shops and great rooms. In Alberta, loadbearing steel studs and framing outside Part 9's light-frame limits must be designed under Part 4. See steel construction.
RTM (ready-to-move)
An RTM home is built at one location, such as a builder's yard, and moved to a foundation on the owner's land. Chinook Barndo Co. builds RTM barndominiums in our yard and moves them to site. Factory-built and ready-to-move homes must meet the same National Building Code as site-built homes. See RTM homes.
What CSA A277 is, and is not
CSA A277 is the CSA Group standard titled 'Procedure for certification of prefabricated buildings, modules, and panels'. The Canadian Home Builders' Association describes it as an administrative standard that does not provide technical requirements; it certifies a factory's process against the local building code. The code itself applies the same requirements to site-built and factory-built homes.
Barndominiums in Canada
The style is the same everywhere; the rules that apply here are entirely Canadian.
Built where the land is
Most barndominiums go up on rural land, which in Western Canada is governed by rural municipalities: counties and municipal districts in Alberta, rural municipalities in Saskatchewan, and regional districts in British Columbia, where the Agricultural Land Reserve also applies. Each sets its own land use rules.
Living in the shop
Many rural municipalities do not allow a shop or other accessory building to be your only home. Red Deer County's land use bylaw, for example, says an accessory building 'shall not be used as a dwelling unit'. Check the zoning bylaw before you plan living space inside a shop.
Designed for snow and cold
Design snow, wind and temperature values for Alberta locations are listed in Appendix C of the National Building Code – 2023 Alberta Edition, and your designer uses the values for your site. In Saskatchewan, Saskatoon's 1-in-50 ground snow load is 1.7 kPa and Regina's is 1.4 kPa. A barndominium roof is designed to the same loads as any other house.
Energy rules apply in full
Alberta requires Energy Performance Tier 1 for houses under Part 9, Saskatchewan's minimum is Tier One with climate zone 7A applied province-wide, and new Part 9 homes across B.C. must meet at least Step 3 of the BC Energy Step Code. A steel-clad barndominium has to meet them like any other house.
Is a Barndominium Right for You?
A few honest questions before you go further.
Do you need the open space?
The barndominium form pays off when you want a big open room, a shop, a garage bay or equipment storage under one roof. If you want a conventionally partitioned house with no shop, the shell matters less.
Is it cheaper?
Not automatically. The shell is one part of the budget; finishes, mechanical systems, insulation, foundation and site work cost the same on any house. The cost guide and the barndominium vs house cost guide set out the published numbers.
Is it legal where you want to build?
In all three provinces a barndominium is a house, so the question is whether a house is allowed on your parcel and what the local rules require. The legal guide covers permits, warranty and land rules province by province.
Reading this because you are weighing a build? The next step is a plan drawn for your program.
How Alberta, Saskatchewan and BC treat a barndominium
Alberta
Alberta builds to the National Building Code – 2023 Alberta Edition, in force since May 1, 2024. Farm buildings of low human occupancy are exempt from the Alberta building code; a building you live in is not. A barndominium is also a new home under the New Home Buyer Protection Act, which requires warranty coverage of at least 1 year on materials and labour, 2 years on delivery and distribution systems, 5 years on the building envelope and 10 years on structural defects.
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan builds to the 2020 National Building Code of Canada, adopted province-wide and in force since January 1, 2024. Farm buildings with no living space are exempt from the construction codes unless the municipality opts in, but a building that contains a home is not a farm building. Saskatchewan has no provincial new-home builder licensing law and no mandatory new-home warranty law; warranty coverage is through voluntary programs.
British Columbia
New homes in British Columbia are built to the BC Building Code 2024, which is based mostly on the National Building Code of Canada 2020. The City of Vancouver is the exception: it has its own building bylaw. Every new home built by a licensed builder in B.C. must be covered by 2-5-10 home warranty insurance.
What is a barndominium?
What does barndo mean?
Are barndominiums legal in Canada?
What is the difference between a barndominium and a pole barn home?
What is an RTM barndominium?
Is a barndominium a farm building?
Can I live in my shop in Alberta?
Where did the word barndominium come from?
Questions answered? Tell us what you want to build and we will put real numbers against it.
Sources
- Wikipedia — Barndominium (revision 1330363023)
- CSA Group — A277-16 (R2025), Procedure for certification of prefabricated buildings, modules, and panels
- Canadian Home Builders' Association — Code Compliance for Modular Construction
- National Research Council Canada — National Building Code of Canada 2020
- Government of Alberta — Building codes and standards
- Government of Saskatchewan — National Building and Fire Code information
- Province of British Columbia — 2024 BC Codes
Keep reading
The pages that answer the next question this one raises.
Can you build a barndominium in Canada?
Permits, codes, warranty and land rules in Alberta, Saskatchewan and B.C.
Read itHow much does it cost to build a barndominium in Alberta?
Published 2026 cost figures, with Saskatchewan and B.C. sections.
Read itRTM homes
Ready-to-move barndominiums built in our yard and moved to your land.
Read itBarndominium floor plans
Thirteen plans, from small homes to houses with shops.
Read itBarndominium pros and cons
The trade-offs, honestly, before you commit.
Read itWant a real number instead of a range?
Start the survey and tell us about your land and what you want to build. Include the rural municipality or county and the legal land description if you have them, because the local land use bylaw, the septic system and the water supply change the budget more than the building does. The survey costs nothing.