John Dzaugis giving us a friendly barn tour at www.StoneRoseFarm.com Sturbridge Massachusetts.

My first major obstacle was finding some barn plans. I scoured the Internet and asked around. Everyone was interested in building a barn for me, but not selling me a set of plans. I sent off countless e-mails and received very few responses. There were plenty of engineers and builders that wanted thousands of dollars to draw up some plans. Finally I met a local timber framer that agreed to draw up my plans and include a timber list for $600. Eric ended up cashing my check before the plans were complete and then the plans turned out to be incorrect.
I wanted a post on each corner of the 10' by 12' stalls. Eric's plans displayed a post for 12' by 12' stalls. I wanted a 12 pitch roof to keep my rafter angles at simple 45 degree cuts. Eric's drawings didn't show the correct angles and the rafters didn't end up being long enough to get a steep enough pitch. The beam list ended up having the wrong sizes and not enough floor joists. The "plans" looked like scribbles on ordinary 8" x 11.5" paper that was nothing more than a rough draft. They certainly weren't drawn to scale. I couldn't believe that I had spent over an hour with Eric drawing and talking about specifics.