Barndominium Builders in Cleveland, TX

Barndominium builders in Cleveland work in Liberty County, not Harris or Montgomery, and that changes the paperwork. Cleveland is a council-manager city incorporated in 1935, at about 151 feet of elevation, with Interstate 69 and US 59 running southwest to Houston and northeast into East Texas. It had 7,675 residents in 2010 and 7,471 in 2020. The Sam Houston National Forest forms the city's northern boundary, and much of the land around town is timber, pasture and rural tracts.

Liberty County's permit office

Liberty County runs a Permit and Inspection Department with two offices, one in Liberty and one in Cleveland on County Road 3549. The county's guidance is direct: contact the department before starting work, and work that needed a permit but was started or finished without one pays double the permit fees. For a new barndominium on county land, here is what the county's permit page lists:

• Septic first. For a building over 100 square feet outside the floodplain, one requirement is proof of an adequate, operating septic system. The county posts forms for septic verification, site evaluation and an agent authorization affidavit.
• Maintenance contracts. One-year and two-year septic maintenance contract forms are part of the package, which matters if your soil calls for an aerobic system.
• Floodplain lots. Inside a floodplain you also need an Elevation Certificate. In a floodway, a No-Rise Certificate must be attached.
• Culverts and driveways. The county lists culvert permits and has separate culvert and driveway regulations.
• Subdivisions. Splitting land or building a private road goes through the county's subdivision and development regulations, with plat checklists and a private road request form.

Because septic proof is tied to the building permit, we schedule the soil evaluation and septic design early. A barndo shell can't move forward on paper until that part is settled.

Wet weather, real cold snaps

Cleveland is a wet place: it averages 55.53 inches of rain a year. Records run from 112 degrees F in August down to 5 degrees, and the average snowfall is just 0.1 inch. For a metal building that means:

1. Roof drainage and site grading sized for heavy rain, with water carried well past the slab. 2. Insulation and air sealing that stop condensation on steel in humid weather. 3. Plumbing protected for the occasional hard freeze, especially in shop walls.

Soils on the forest side

Much of the land around town is timbered coastal plain. The USDA's Splendora series, with its typical pedon in neighboring Montgomery County, describes that kind of ground: loamy Lissie Formation sediments on interfluves with 0 to 2 percent slopes, moderately well to somewhat poorly drained, with fine sandy loam on top and clay loam or clay deeper down. It is mainly used for timber and wildlife. Ground like that can stay wet after storms, so we raise and crown the pad and keep the septic field on the best-drained part of the tract.

Timber and rail heritage

In 1878 Judge Charles Lander Cleveland donated 63.6 acres to the Houston East and West Texas Railway for a stop and asked that the town carry his name. Timber and lumber have shipped from here since the 1870s, and Cleveland remains a junction for Union Pacific and BNSF lines. State Highway 105 crosses town east to west.

What we build near Cleveland

• Barndos on wooded tracts north of town near the forest
• Shop houses on pasture land with room for equipment and trailers
• Steel shells that owners finish out in stages

Call (832) 850-5283 or

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