What timeframe are you looking at? Somewhere in the next 2-5 years or 5-10?

I’m joking, but you’re either going to have to wait for the right builder or choose a builder that has some availability. I’d start sending feelers out shotgun style yesterday.

Wtf is a barndominium? If it is big enough you might get the attention of a larger contractor, w multiple crews.

It’s a pole barn typically on a slab, converted into living space. Big in the south and Midwest, not ideal in our climate.

Be wary of any contractor that has availability in the next two years

2-5 years is pretty accurate. That’s why I’m starting now.

It’s not necessarily a pole barn or on a slab, it can be those things but it can also be a metal building on a basement or crawlspace - it’s just a broad term for an affordable, relatively quick and simple structure, like a big rectangle shell of a building (like a barn) that you create a floor plan within, and it typically has both a house component and a shop component, though it doesn’t have to.

Noted

I’m familiar with the broader scope encompassing pole barns, their nickname is due to most of these being built from pole barn kits.

If this is going to be a full time residence I would suggest you look into a different style of construction. Stick framing a code minimum build is still fairly affordable, easily modified later on and will yield better results in the performance of your home.

Also to discuss your original question where abouts in central VT is the site?

People tell me that permits hold up construction in VT, but builders appear to be slammed.

this is a perfectly accurate snapshot of the VT construction industry right now. if a residential contractor says they can fit you in over the next 6-12 months, they're either bonkers expensive or have horrible references. commercial is a little different, but not much. getting a commercial project from concept to breaking ground is 12-18 months is everything goes perfectly

I wouldn’t be so quick to discount a contractor that has availability unless they say they can start right away. Everyone is booked for two years until they are not. If a job is in the schedule and the plug gets pulled in the 11th hour, then builders have to realign their schedule and may need to keep guys working so they don’t lose them. We are on the cusp of a recession so some schedules will open up. I don’t believe we are going to see 2007-08 again because of the lack of skilled labor but a job is not a job until it starts. Booked for two years could become 6 months if people start backing out of agreements due to economic uncertainty.

Yup. Everyone I knew in the Midwest and South, if they wanted to build, it was either a pole barn house or cabin.