Davenport ND Pole Barn Builders | Farm Buildings, Shops & Repairs
Farm buildings, shops and repairs around Davenport in southern Cass County, where township ordinances govern and most of the work is agricultural. Half of what we do here is work on buildings that went up fifty or sixty years ago and are now at the point of needing attention. Fargo ND Pole Barn Builders also builds across the rest of Cass County, North Dakota and Clay County, Minnesota.
Get a quote on your building
Tell us the size, the use and where the site is. We will come back with a scope and a price, not a brochure.
Davenport ND Pole Barn Builders
Small town, township rules, working farms
Davenport is a small city in southern Cass County with around 256 residents. Like most communities of this size in the county, the practical regulatory picture is that township zoning ordinances govern outside the city boundary, with Cass County Planning providing support and handling floodplain administration.
The work here is almost entirely agricultural: machine storage, shops, and an increasing amount of repair and reinforcement on buildings that went up fifty or sixty years ago.
A significant share of the buildings around Davenport were put up in the sixties and seventies, when design loads, treatment standards and connection hardware were all different. Those buildings are frequently still sound, and they frequently need three things: column base repair, new steel, and a look at whether the roof structure meets current snow load expectations.
The honest arithmetic is usually favourable. If the frame is good, repairing and re-roofing costs far less than replacing, and the result is a building with decades left in it.
What we do around Davenport
Roughly half new buildings, half work on old ones.
- Machine storage
Open and enclosed bays sized around current equipment, which is considerably larger than what the old sheds were built for.
- Column base repair
The classic failure on buildings of this age, fixed with precast bases or engineered brackets rather than a post bolted alongside.
- Re-roofing
Old steel and failed fastener washers, with the purlins inspected and repaired before new panel goes on.
- Snow load reinforcement
Buildings designed to older standards, or extended without a drift calculation, brought up to current loads.
Before we look at a Davenport building
Half of what we do here is work on buildings that already exist.
- Tell us roughly when it was built
Buildings from the sixties and seventies were designed to different loads with different hardware. Knowing the era tells us what to expect before we get there.
- Clear access around the perimeter
Column bases cannot be assessed through twenty years of stacked material, and that assessment is where the useful information is.
- Probe a column base yourself
A screwdriver at ground level will tell you in thirty seconds whether the timber has lost section. If it sinks in, that is worth a phone call.
- Decide how long you want the building to last
Repairing to get another five years and restoring for another thirty are different jobs with different budgets, and we would rather quote the one you actually want.
Enforcement varies, loads do not
Some townships in this part of the county have adopted zoning ordinances and some have not, and building code enforcement varies accordingly. That is a fact about administration rather than about physics. Snow arrives at 40 psf whether or not a drawing was reviewed, the State Electrical Board's jurisdiction applies regardless, and a building with no engineering behind it is harder to insure and harder to sell with the farm.
Local conditions and figures
Southern Cass County is flat farmland on the same Lake Agassiz clay as the rest of the county. Pads get raised, drainage routes get established and bearing gets checked in every bore. None of that changes with the location.
What does change in the smaller townships is enforcement. Some townships have adopted zoning ordinances and some have not, and the level of building code enforcement varies. That is not a licence to build badly. The state electrical requirements apply regardless, and the loads do not care whether anyone inspects them.
The other thing worth knowing about buildings of this vintage is that they were often extended once already, usually in the eighties, and that earlier addition is frequently where the current problem lives. Before we quote any further work we want to understand what was original and what was added, because the two halves of the building may have quite different footing depths and quite different capacities.
How we build in Davenport
- Township ordinance identified
Outside the city, the township sets setbacks and land use, and it is not the same across the county.
- Agricultural exemption assessed correctly
NDCC 54-21.3-03 covers buildings used exclusively for agriculture on a farm. It does not cover zoning or electrical work.
- Older buildings assessed before adding to them
Additions to fifty-year-old structures need the existing checked, particularly for drift loading.
- Cass County loads applied
40 psf ground snow, Exposure C on open ground, 60-inch footings.
How a Davenport job runs
- Step 01Assess or measure
For new work, the equipment and the site. For repairs, the structure, probed and measured rather than eyeballed.
- Step 02Establish the rules
Township ordinance, setbacks and whether the agricultural exemption genuinely applies.
- Step 03Design or specify
New structure designed to current loads, or reinforcement designed to the calculated deficit.
- Step 04Build or repair
With temporary support where structural work is involved, and the cause addressed as well as the symptom.
Questions we get asked in Davenport
Do I need a permit for a farm building near Davenport?
It depends on the township. Outside the city, township zoning ordinances govern setbacks and land use, and some townships enforce more than others. The agricultural exemption under NDCC 54-21.3-03 may apply to the building code, but it does not exempt you from zoning or from state electrical requirements.
Is an old Davenport farm building worth repairing?
Frequently yes. If the frame is sound and the problems are column bases, cladding and fasteners, repair costs far less than replacement and leaves you with a building that has decades in it. We will tell you honestly if the arithmetic goes the other way.
How can I check the posts myself?
Probe the timber at ground level with a screwdriver. If it sinks in easily, the column has lost section where it matters. Doors that have started to bind and a wall that is no longer plumb are the other common signs.
Can you reinforce a roof that is sagging under snow?
Yes, and it is common on buildings of this era. We measure the deflection, establish the existing capacity, calculate what the roof actually needs to carry including drift, and design reinforcement for the difference.
What snow load should a new building be designed for?
40 psf ground snow load under the North Dakota county table for Cass County, with roof snow, drift and unbalanced cases calculated from it.
Do you charge to come and look?
No. Assessment and quotation are free, including telling you if a building is not worth spending money on.
Should I repair the old shed or build new and take it down?
It usually comes down to the frame. If the trusses and purlins are sound and the problems are column bases, cladding and fasteners, repairing is substantially cheaper and leaves you with decades of building. Once multiple structural members are damaged or decayed, the arithmetic moves towards new build fast, and we will tell you which side of that line you are on.
Does the township or the county issue my permit around Davenport?
The township, in unincorporated areas, and not every township has adopted a zoning ordinance. Cass County Planning maintains the township resources and can tell you which applies to your section. Where a township has no ordinance, the practical result is less paperwork rather than lower loads, and we build to current requirements regardless.
Everything we build in Davenport
All of it is available around Davenport, new work and repair alike. A good share of what we do locally is bringing older buildings back rather than replacing them.
- Agricultural Pole Barns
- Horse Barns & Equestrian Buildings
- Machine Sheds & Equipment Storage
- Livestock Barns
- Hay Storage Buildings
- Pole Barn Garages
- RV & Boat Storage Pole Barns
- Pole Barn Workshops
- Commercial Pole Barns
- Hobby Shops & Man Cave Pole Barns
- Pole Barn Construction
- Pole Barn Design & Planning
- Pole Barn Foundation & Concrete Work
- Pole Barn Framing
- Pole Barn Roofing Installation
- Pole Barn Siding Installation
- Pole Barn Electrical Rough-In
- Pole Barn Insulation Installation
- Pole Barn Repair
- Pole Barn Renovation & Additions
- Post-Frame Building Construction
- Insulated Pole Barns
- Pole Barns with Living Quarters (Barndominiums)
- Custom Pole Barn Doors & Windows
- Pole Barn Loft & Second-Story Additions
- Metal Roof Pole Barns
- Wood-Sided Pole Barns
- Pole Barn Ventilation Systems
- Pole Barn Site Prep & Grading
- Pole Barn Snow Load Reinforcement
New buildings and repairs around Davenport
Whether it is a new shed or an old one that needs work, tell us what you have and we will come and look.