Sand Creek Post & Beam

Thank you for the review! Attached are a couple photos of this amazing barn home!

We want to thank this customer for his comments. Over the years we have gotten some wonderful testimonials from customers who love their barns and barn homes. We don’t often receive honest negative feedback, and we appreciate the opportunity to address it.

Sand Creek Post & Beam is the leading manufacturer of custom designed traditional wood barn kits. Over the last ten years we have had the pleasure of providing stunning barns and barn homes to nearly 1,000 satisfied customers across the United States and Canada. Because all our barns are custom designed for each customer, you will find no two alike.

Once a customer purchases a Sand Creek Post & Beam barn kit, a project manager is assigned to guide the customer through the design, engineering, production and delivery process. Our sales people are not part of that process; and while they often form warm relationships with our customers, we have experts in the area of project management to facilitate each customer’s project after the sale is made.

Our design team uses specialized state-of-the-art timber framing software, Cadwork, to design each barn or barn home (it does not have a “cut and paste” feature). Beginning with a simple sketch of boxes on a sheet of paper, we can design even the most elaborate barn or barn home. We do multiple revisions for each customer, if necessary, the cost of which is included in the cost of the kit. Additional design fees are never charged unless the number of design hours has been extensive and then the customer decides to completely change the design requiring the entire structure to be redrawn.

Sand Creek Post & Beam’s plans are building plans for the custom designed barn and barn home structures purchased from Sand Creek; we usually draw the specific foundation the customer will be using and their interior floor plans simply as a courtesy to them. Each draft of plans clearly states the following: 1. Floor layout drawings are not designed by an architect. Additional professional services may be required to comply with local codes and regulations. 2. Sand Creek Post & Beam is not responsible for designing electrical, plumbing, and HVAC plans. 3. Interior partition walls, windows, doors, and fixtures are provided by customer or general contractor. 4. Daylight opening, vent opening, and egress requirements are the responsibility of the customer/general contractor. 5. Door and window locations are approximate only. Exact location to be determined by the customer and general contractor. Only after the customer is satisfied with their final plans are they sent to our structural engineer for review, and only if the customer indicates they want an engineer’s stamp. (In some agricultural areas one is not required.) This protects the customer from incurring unnecessary or multiple engineering fees after each revision. The plans are engineered for each customer’s exact county and local building codes, and any required changes are incorporated into the customer’s plans.

After plans are completed, materials for the customer’s project are ordered. In our production facility, all millwork is hand-crafted; the frame is cut and assembled to ensure a tight fit, then disassembled, labeled and packaged. Millwork, the disassembled frame, additional materials for siding and roof sheathing and insulation are all then delivered to the barn site for erection. The delivery of the barn kit is the final step in the Sand Creek Post & Beam process. We are available any time during and after the erection of the barn/barn home kit to answer questions and address any issues the customer or their builder may have. It is important the customer use a contractor or builder familiar with timber frame/post and beam construction, and we are happy to recommend some who have erected our barn kits in the past. It is also important the contractor or builder read the construction guide provided with each kit. Because of the flexibility of post and beam construction, some changes to the structure can be made on site by the builder that may require more materials. We do require authorization from the customer for any materials their builder may order.

Sand Creek Post & Beam is focused on continually improving our products and customer experience, and customer feedback is extremely important to us. Based on this customer’s experience, it is obvious we did not do a good job making sure he understood who we were, what we did, what he had purchased and how our process worked. We are truly sorry the design and purchase of his barn home kit was confusing and unpleasant. However, we really need to thank him for this post which serves as great feedback as we strive to make sure our web site, catalogs, sales staff and project managers all do a better job for each and every customer.

We also appreciate the feedback regarding the insulation package which was shipped directly from our insulation vendor. Because of feedback like his as well as other customers, we no longer use that vendor and we believe we now offer a superior insulation product.

Finally, all companies make mistakes. Sand Creek Post & Beam initially shipped this customer T&G boards instead of the shiplap he ordered as part of an automatic upgrade we made to our roofing material (at no extra charge). When the customer informed us he preferred the ship lap it did take an additional three weeks to get the appropriate materials to him since all materials are custom ordered for each project. In our efforts to improve our products, we were replacing one type of board to another for our barn homes, and we assumed our customer would want the upgrade. No one likes to make a mistake but we were wrong in assuming what we did, and we sincerely apologize for that.

We also apologize for the length of this post; however, we felt each of our customer’s issues were important and deserved to be addressed. We are hopeful that this customer is now enjoying his Sand Creek Post & Beam barn home and we would love to see a photo or two of his end result.