Frequently asked questions
Have a question about Barden Building Products?
Find the answer here.
Does Barden Build Homes?
No.
What Does Barden Do?
Barden provides drafting and engineering services, panelized framing manufacturing, and supplies home building materials and products to independently owned and operated custom home builders.
Our partnership with these builders allows them to provide a single point of contact experience for custom home buyers.
What Kind of Homes Does Barden Build?
Disclaimer: We don’t build homes.
Barden, over 70 years of innovating and refining, has developed a panelized manufacturing process that offers our customers what we see as the best of all worlds. We combine the custom versatility of “stick” building with the shorter construction times, protection from the elements, and single point of contact from modular construction.
In our factory, we assemble all of the walls and roof trusses necessary to build a home, but not the siding and windows to avoid damage during shipping. We use high quality lumber and higher precision assembly methods than even the best stick builder. Our homes are assembled and enclosed quickly, minimizing exposure to the elements. Every home we manufacture is completely unique and customized to the customers specifications.
We supply all of the materials to build the home and offer design services in-house to offer a single contact point process like a modular builder. Unlike modular building, we allow our customers the freedom to purchase and select their own materials if our selections aren’t to their tastes, and design their homes with no limitations.
Our homes are built more precisely and efficiently than any stick builder and offer a range of customization and quality that can’t be found with a modular manufacturer. Our 70 years of experience has refined our process beyond that of our panelized competitors.
What does Barden Building Products Supply?
Working with a Barden independent dealer gets you:
Access to our in house drafting and engineering services
Precision manufactured panelized home framing
Full catalogue of products from national name brand manufacturers
Products include:
Windows
Doors
Siding
Roofing
Vanity cabinets
Kitchen Cabinets
Interior trim
Decking
Exterior trim
Door hardware
Garage doors
Stairs
Why Should I Build with Barden?
Barden offers our services so local builders and construction companies can offer you a fully custom house with a streamlined process and single point of contact.
Logistically, our process is more efficient and our finished product is superior.
As long as your products are all purchased through Barden, they are guaranteed for quality and have been proven and tested in the field by a team with 70 years of experience and a proven track record.
How Much Does it Cost to Get a Custom Home Plan?
A $250 deposit for preliminary plans and revisions, $1750 deposit for final structural plans.
Better yet, this eliminates a $5000-$10,000 up-front cost that can’t be included in financing. Without having to worry about additional costs, you can feel free to create a home that’s perfect for you!
What Kind of Plan Can I Get?
Anything you want! Our plans are just a starting point. Start from ours, show us one you like, or draw a sketch. We’ll do anything!
Why Does Engineering Matter?
All of our manufactured homes are engineered in-house by our expert staff. They carefully design and select materials for your home that are perfectly suited to handle their intended purpose.
This extra step ensures your home is built properly to code for a smooth construction process and that your home will stand strong through the test of time.
How Long Does it Take to Build?
The time it takes to design your home, obtain financing, purchase a lot, and prepare the lot for building is completely dependent on your situation. Construction times for our homes range between 3 and 5 months depending on size and complexity.
The real benefit to Barden is that our homes can be enclosed and weather tight in as little as a week providing protection from weather and theft.
Can I Pick All of the Colors and Materials for my Home?
Yes, absolutely. Barden supplies national name brand products for:
Siding
Roofing
Windows
Doors
Interior trim
Kitchen Cabinetry
Vanities
We have standard products and color selections and carry a plethora of upgrade products with different styles and colors.
Don’t like what we have on offer? We allow our customers to supply their own materials if we don’t carry a selection they like.
Do you Design Kitchens?
Yes. Our in-house kitchen designer will supply a customizable kitchen plan along with the custom home plan supplied by Barden.
We carry quality HomeCrest cabinetry as our standard and top of the line Candlelight custom cabinetry as an option.
What is a Track?
A track or subdivision is a large plot of land purchased by a developer. The developer then connects the land to necessary utilities, builds streets, and separates the land into individual lots for building.
Lots are sold to either builders or customers to choose their own builder.
What is a Scattered Lot?
A scattered or “odd” lot is any privately owned piece of land zoned for residential building.
Where does Barden Build?
Barden does not build, however, our independent dealers specialize in scattered lot building. Our flexible process was designed with unrestricted scattered lot building in mind.
Does Barden Have Land Available?
Barden does not have land available, however, our dealers are all experts in lot selection and development costs. You should contact us before selecting a lot to ensure there are no curve balls in development.
What Kind of Ways Can Homes be Built?
There are two main types of home construction: “stick” framing, or manufactured homes. Manufactured homes can be modular or panelized.
What is “Stick” Framing?
“Stick” refers to the lumber or “sticks” used to build a home. This is the traditional method of home building. Raw lumber is dropped at a job site then measured, cut, and installed all on-site.
What is Modular Building?
A modular home is a home fully built in a factory -- complete with windows, roofing, siding, and interior fixtures.
It is delivered entirely or in segments on a trailer and craned onto a waiting foundation.
Is Barden a Modular Home Builder?
No, we are not. We are a panelized manufacturer.
What is Panel Building?
Panel building is a hybrid of stick and modular building.
Walls and roof trusses and sometimes even floor decks are manufactured in segments. Depending on the manufacturer, components like siding, insulation, and windows are pre-installed in the factory.
What Floor Plans Can I Choose From?
You can choose from any plan you find on our website!
What makes Barden unique is that you can even choose a floor plan you found from another website. You can also change any floor plan you find as much as you’d like or draw one yourself.
AND you can come to us and have a floor plan drawn from scratch by a professional. Basically, you can do anything you want!
I’m Getting Older and Plan to Live in my Home for the Next 30 Years, How Can Barden Help Me?
We would refer you to Accessible Home Solutions to consult during the design phase to build you a home that will work during every stage of your life.
Do Barden Homes Have Garages?
If you want it to! We are not a modular home company, we design fully custom homes.
We don’t consider garages to be an optional extra. We price everything from scratch. We can add and remove features like garages, porches, patios, and decks to fit your budget.
Are Barden Homes Environmentally Friendly?
Our manufacturing process by nature creates less waste in our facility and at the job site than traditional methods, so in a sense all of our homes are environmentally friendly.
As for certifications like energy star or LEED -- our customers can specify designs, materials, and products to make their homes meet those requirements. Our standard designs and materials do not because they are cost prohibitive.
Are Barden Homes Expensive?
Our dealers’ pricing is competitive within the industry while offering several benefits others cannot and a more complete package.
Why Doesn’t Barden Build Homes?
Our goal is to make the local contractors involved in our jobs better at their jobs.
The framer’s hardest job is done for him, better than he can do it. Your siding installer and roofer aren’t responsible for supplying siding and roofing, it will be waiting for them when they get there.
We don’t build, we just make the experience better for everyone involved.
How Can I Get Started?
Step one is to contact us. Depending on where you are in your decision, we’ll answer your questions and set you up with one of our pros when you’re ready.
We’ll never pressure you to take a step you aren’t ready for. Our only goal is to educate you and prepare you for the process.
We’ll help you sort through the intimidating initial process of organizing financing, finding and developing a buildable lot, and designing your floor plan.