Barn style kit homes in Australia are popular because they’re rustic, quaint, and usually located on quite a bit of land. These homes are also desireable by many because they’re simple to build, can go up extremely fast, and they’re relatively affordable.
We’re outlining some of the best barn house manufacturers in Australia in this guide. Many of these manufacturers have options for you to “owner build” the house yourself or have the company build it for you.
Get a Quick Quote on a Barn Kit Home.
Complete the form here, and receive a quote, pricing, or a free initial consult on your new home project.
Barn House Australia Manufacturers
If you’re looking for the best barn style kit homes Australia has to offer, you’re in luck. There are a number of manufacturers across the various states that offer barn style homes in various packages.
Some of these are traditional design options and others are kit homes. In many cases, you can work directly with the manufacturer to design your dream barn home from scratch.
If any of this sounds interesting to you, continue reading to learn about what these manufacturers offer.
1. Tiny Barns
Tiny Barns builds modular barn style tiny homes. They take elements of tiny home design like spiral staircases and lofts and insert them into a barn design for those who prefer this more rural look.
You can choose to purchase the home as a plan or a kit depending on your level of building knowledge and capabilities. If you’re an owner builder, you can build the entire thing yourself or recruit a team around you.
If you’re not, you can use Tiny Barns and they’ll build the entire thing from scratch. They also have a hybrid option where they build the frame and you simply fill in the blanks.
2. Alternate Dwellings
Alternate Dwellings provides a large variety of alternative living homes from small to large. They offer a wide array of modular barn style homes that you can use to turn into the house you’ve always dreamed of.
You can purchase the plans for the house and build the entire thing yourself, buy a barn style kit home, or have the company build it themselves.
The company is certified in Victoria and has over 30 years of experience providing the best of the best in terms of craftsmanship and quality.
3. Wide Span Sheds
Wide Span Sheds does a lot more than provide barn houses in Australia, this is a full-scale kit home company with a ton of different options.
They provide termite resistant and approved class 1a kit homes using recyclable material. Their homes are sustainable, good for the environment, and affordable.
This company is a great option for an Owner Builder who seeks more control over their home building project. It’s also a great option for a Builder who plans to contract out a lot of the work but simply wants to choose who does what.
If you’re a licensed builder, you can purchase the plan or a kit and do the entire thing yourself as well.
4. Green Homes Australia
Green Homes Australia has a lot of options with one of them being “The Barn.” This barndominium is 318 square metres with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and two spaces for vehicles.
There are a number of customizations to choose from and you can switch and move things around however you like.
The house also features a variety of standard eco-friendly inclusions like solar passive design, optimal thermal mass performance, thermally broken timber frame, and upgraded insulation.
The company focuses on green designs and upholds some of the highest standards of any builder in NSW.
5. Shed House Australia
When searching for barn style kit homes in Australia, the search usually points you in the direction of these huge manufacturers that pump out hundreds of these homes each year. Sometimes it pays to read between the lines and find a small solo builder that can really design a home you’ll love.
Shed House Australia is a home design and manufacturing platform. They provide you with the entire design and building consultation and then manufacture and deliver the kit to you.
They do not provide building services but they’re experienced builders who can walk you through the steps.
6. Modular Steel Kit Homes
Modular Steel Kit Homes provides modular home frames for Owner Builders to customise and ultimately build their own house. One of the options they provide is a Country Barn House design that comes in a variety of colours and designs.
It features an engineered metal frame design made with galvanised high tensile steel. It has a 22.5 degree pitch with Bluescope Colorbond roof sheeting.
You can add upgrades such as insulation for roofing and walls, steel floor systems that raise the floor up, and gable end carports.
These frames come as a kit and you’re responsible for everything else. They also do not provide deliveries so you need to coordinate transportation of the kit whether you do it all at once or in pieces.
7. Traditional Timber Frames
Traditional Timber crafts barns, sheds, and farm buildings for people all over the world. They claim that their designs are some of the most beautiful and finely crafted wood structures ever built.
While that might be a lofty claim, we will agree that their building designs are incredible and this may be one of the manufacturers on this list that you allow to build your barn style home in Australia from scratch.
They provide a blog-style sales page describing their timber barns and explain how designs have developed over time and why more and more Aussies are choosing barn design for their homes.
There are a lot of old barns throughout the area and many people are trying to convert them into homes with little success. This company believes you have to build it from the ground up if you want it to work.
Barn House Australia Rentals and Airbnbs
If building your own barn house isn’t in the cards, what about renting one or staying at one for a week? There’s a long list of amazing rentals that give you that rural vibe without breaking the bank.
In the following sections, we’re going to take a look at some of the most stunning barn homes in Australia that you can stay at on your next vacation.
8. The Barn at Rangeview
This barn offers four acres that was once a dairy farm in Glenquarry. The Barn at Rangeview was the brainchild of Wanita and Joe in 2019 when they purchased the farm.
The goal was to build something that not only served as a place for people to come and stay but also somewhere they could go to escape from it all.
The couple had experience in renovation so they used that to build the barn while incorporating what the land had to offer including recycled brick and naturally sourced materials. They wanted the barn to have that updated appeal while also being true to the country.
This is the ideal place for a couple or small family looking to escape from their busy life. You can book the Barn at Rangeview on Airbnb.
9. Noosa Hinterland
While it may not be as eye-catching as the Rangeview Barn, this one has its appeal as well. It’s located along the beautiful Sunshine Coast and serves as an incredible family retreat built using a barn style kit home from Australian providers.
The property was purchased in 2016 by an architect duo who enjoyed coming to this area for years. At the time the barn needed a lot of work so they proceeded to renovate immediately.
What they were left with was a luxurious property that feels homey and comfortable for everyone who stays. In fact, the house even features an outdoor bath with views of the countryside.
You can rent this beautiful home on Airbnb.
10. Lynda Gardener’s Home
Renowned decorator Lynda Gardener actually allows people to rent her home when she’s not staying in it. It’s a barn-style house in Daylesford with exposed beams, large windows, and a schoolhouse design.
The exterior is very basic looking on purpose so it may not catch your eye right away. As soon as you open the barn doors, you’re immediately taken to a different place.
The home features all custom made furniture, fixtures, and cabinets. Everything was designed deliberately to fit the overall look of this home and it provides an incredible aesthetic.
To make it even better, this home is located directly on Daylesford’s main street so it’s only a short walk to quaint shops and cafes. It’s a great place to visit and unwind.
The home is available for singles and couples only and during specific times of the year. You can learn more here: https://www.roomandboard.com.au/
11. Mooloolaba Pool House
Not everyone is looking for a giant property with a ton of space. Sometimes a little pool house is all you need and that’s what you’ll get in Mooloolaba.
This home is the creation of Hannah Williams, a property developer from the Sunshine Coast. Her goal was to bring as much house as possible to a small 30 square metre property. While it might be small, it packs a lot of features into a tight space.
The house offers great opportunities for alfresco dining, plenty of natural light, and a loft made of polished concrete and reclaimed timber.
You can rent The Pool House on Airbnb: https://www.airbnb.com.au/rooms/plus/26397383
12. Highlands Black Barn
This barndominium in Australia is an off-grid getaway that should be on everyone’s bucket list. When the property was purchased, the owner knew they wanted to put some sort of barn on it and what better way to do it than a kit?
The design was influenced by Nordic history and New Zealand barn architecture. Five years after envisioning the design, the owner, Hayley Priest, closed her business and moved to the property full-time.
This is one of the only barn style homes that is 100 percent off grid. The entire property focuses on sustainability with custom-made options, renewable energy, and complete solar power.
The home was for sale for a while but correspondence has gone quiet. Their website is password protected so we don’t think the property is currently for sale or rent.
13. Waterfront Views on Lake Conjola
This modern barn style home offers lake views from each room. It was built in only 10 weeks using a barn kit. The couple who built it were living in Mollymook at the time and decided to put their house on the market in 2017.
It sold quickly and they knew what they wanted to do, just didn’t know how to make it a reality.
This is when they decided that building a barn style home in Australia was the right move for them. They used second-hand timber within the steel frame kit. With a slight knack for design, the owners used dark-coloured interiors to mimic traditional Scandinavian design which served as much of their inspiration throughout the property.
Nothing is more powerful than the view you get from this house. Every room in the house has a lakeview and that’s what makes it all worth it at the end of a long day.
Why a Barn House in Australia?
With all the kit home and modular home options available to you, why choose a barn style? What is it about this design that appeals to people and what are some of the benefits of using this design over other options?
By definition, a barn style house is a home that is framed like a traditional barn with a gabled roof, wood siding, and plenty of open space. They usually have exposed timber beams and more modern designs, and implement a lot of natural light with plenty of windows.
Interior Design
The design of a barn house is rustic and simple with plenty of wood. The wall planks are typically installed vertically which serves two purposes.
It’s important for the overall design but it also helps prevent water from getting into the slats.
Timber barn frames use large flat wood pieces. These posts are a lot larger than other barn designs so it limits the amount of braces and joints needed. This opens up the floorplan a lot and reduces the need to segment the house in any way.
Windows
It’s no secret that most barns don’t come with windows but barn houses are known for having quite a number of windows to let in natural light. The type of windows used varies dramatically from case to case. To maximize your eco friendliness and minimize your utility bills, consider double glazed windows.
Barn windows can be small in bathrooms or bedrooms, and also be incredibly large running from floor to ceiling in some cases.
Roofing
The type of roof you choose is entirely up to you. Most barn style homes are built with gable roofing. This is a two-sided symmetrical design that meets in the middle and rolls down equally on both sides.
A hip roof is another style that is growing in popularity. In this design, the roof meets at the top and rolls down in four directions with a singular point in the middle.
There are many options for barn style kit homes in Australia so choose the design that appeals most to you. If you’re unable to build one yourself or purchase a kit, you could always enjoy the fruits of someone else’s labour by staying in a barn style Airbnb.
Sustainability
Finally, like many other home styles, these kit homes can easily be integrated with sustainable home systems, such as rain water tanks, high efficiency HVAC, solar panels or solar hot water. For extra credit (and savings!) if you will be building a barn home from the ground up, consider hydronic floor heating as a way to dramatically increase your home’s comfort, and decrease your home’s utility bill.
