Snow and drift
Roof snow load is set from the code's ground snow load for your site, then raised where snow drifts: against a taller wall, behind a parapet, or where a lean-to steps down from the main roof.
Steel buildings
Agricultural Steel Buildings for Southern Alberta Farms
Steel buildings for working farms and ranches around Calgary: machine storage, hay sheds, calving and livestock barns, and farm workshops. We supply them as kits, erect them, or deliver them turnkey. The building code treats a true farm building differently from every other building, and the line between the two is about how the building is used.
- Kit
- Kit + erection
- Turnkey
What Alberta's farm-building exemption actually says
The National Building Code – 2023 Alberta Edition does not apply to a building of low human occupancy associated with the operation of the farm on which it is located, where the building is used for housing livestock, storing or maintaining equipment, or storing materials or produce. Every part of that sentence matters. The building has to serve the farm it sits on. It has to be used for one of those purposes. And it has to have low human occupancy.
The code's explanatory note lists the kinds of building it has in mind: produce storage, livestock and poultry housing, milking centres, manure storage, grain bins, silos, feed preparation centres, farm workshops, and horse riding, exercise and training facilities not used by the public. A machine shed, a hay shed, a calving barn or a shop where you fix your own equipment fits comfortably.
Where the exemption stops
The same note gives examples of farm buildings that are not low human occupancy: farm retail centres for feed, horticultural and livestock produce, auction barns, and show areas with bleachers or other public facilities. Farm work centres where the number of workers often exceeds the low-occupancy limit are also outside it. A building can have both kinds of area, provided the part with higher occupancy meets the structural and fire separation requirements for that use.
The practical risk is a change of use. A farm shop that starts repairing neighbours' equipment for pay, a machine shed turned into a farm store, or a barn that starts hosting sales is no longer the building the exemption described. If you can see that coming, tell us before the building is designed so it can be built for the future use.
Why the design still matters when the code doesn't apply
An exempt farm building still has to stand up to a Calgary-area winter. Snow on a machine shed roof doesn't care about the exemption. Building code Article 4.3.4.3 requires steel building systems to come from manufacturers certified to CSA A660, and under that standard the manufacturer certifies each building for a specific location with a certificate of design and manufacturing conformance. We buy from manufacturers who design for your site and provide that documentation, so you have a stamped design for your farm building whether or not anyone asks to see it. It also matters later if the building's use changes or the farm is sold.
The exemption is from the building code. Electrical, gas and plumbing work in a farm building fall under their own codes, so ask your permit issuer which trade permits apply before the electrician starts.
Machine sheds, hay sheds and livestock barns
Each farm use pushes the design a different way. Machine storage wants the widest clear span you can get and an end-wall or sidewall door big enough for the combine header, seeder or sprayer with the booms folded. Hay sheds are often open on one or more sides, which changes how wind acts on the building and needs to be in the design from the start; they also want height for stacking and for a loader to reach the top row. Livestock buildings need ventilation and moisture control, because animals put a lot of water into the air and steel cladding is cold in winter.
If you are weighing a steel building against a post-frame pole barn, our comparison guide goes through clear span, foundations and longevity.
Siting on the yard
Farm yards grow one building at a time, and each new building changes the snow on the ones around it. The building code requires heavier, uneven snow loads where a roof is lower than another building within 5 m of it horizontally. A new machine shed tucked close to a taller barn, or a lean-to added to an existing shop, needs that drift in its design. Tell us what stands nearby and what you may add, and leave room for equipment to turn in front of the doors.
Agricultural Steel Buildings: how the work runs
1
Define the farm use
Machine storage, hay, livestock or a farm workshop. We also ask who will be inside and how often, because the number of people decides whether the building counts as low human occupancy.
2
Check with the municipality
Even where the building code does not apply, your county's land-use bylaw still decides where a building can go on the parcel. Ask whether a development permit is needed for a farm building on your land.
3
Design for the site
The manufacturer designs the frames and cladding for the snow and wind at your location. Drawings are stamped by an Alberta-registered professional engineer (P.Eng.) retained by the building manufacturer, whether or not a building permit is required.
4
Doors, openings and ventilation
Equipment doors sized for the widest machine with room to spare, open sides for hay where wanted, and ventilation for livestock buildings, all set before the frames are designed.
5
Foundation and erection
Footings or a slab to the manufacturer's anchor-bolt plan, then frames, purlins, girts, cladding and doors.
Red iron or light-gauge steel?
Most commercial, agricultural and large acreage buildings use rigid-frame "red iron" primary steel. Light-gauge cold-formed frames suit smaller garages and storage. This is how the two differ.
| Attribute | Rigid-frame red iron | Light-gauge cold-formed |
|---|---|---|
| Primary frame | Hot-rolled or built-up (welded plate) rigid frames, usually tapered, bolted at the haunch and ridge | Cold-formed C-sections, screwed or bolted, used as both frame and secondary members |
| Secondary framing | Cold-formed Z-purlins and girts spanning between frames | The same cold-formed members, at closer spacing |
| Clear span | Wide clear spans with no interior columns; modular columns optional for very wide buildings | Shorter clear spans; wider buildings need interior posts |
| Frame spacing (bays) | Wider bays, set by the manufacturer for the loads at your site | Closer frame spacing |
| Overhead crane | Frames and columns can be designed from the start to carry crane runway beams and brackets | Not a crane structure |
| Doors and openings | Large overhead and sliding doors framed between columns without losing the clear span | Door sizes limited by frame spacing |
| Typical use | Commercial, industrial, agricultural and large acreage shops | Garages, small shops and storage |
| Drawings for the permit | Stamped by an Alberta-registered P.Eng. retained by the manufacturer, for your site loads | Varies by supplier; confirm stamped drawings before you buy |
Built for Chinooks, snow drift and hail
Chinook wind
Wind pressure is set from the code value for your site and its exposure. Large doors, end walls and anchor bolts are designed to it, not to a catalogue default.
Hail
Southern Alberta sees some of Canada's most damaging hail. Ask for wall and roof panels carrying a UL 2218 Class 4 impact rating in the manufacturer's listing, and check the paint system's warranty terms for hail.
Common clear-span sizes
| Size (ft) | Floor area | Typical use | Framing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30x40 | 1,200 sq ft | Two-bay garage shop, hobby shop, small equipment storage | red iron or light gauge |
| 40x60 | 2,400 sq ft | Acreage shop with RV or equipment bays, small contractor shop | red iron or light gauge |
| 60x100 | 6,000 sq ft | Contractor yard building, machine storage, small warehouse | red iron |
| 100x200+ | 20,000 sq ft | Warehouse, crane-served fabrication shop, riding arena | red iron |
Every size is a starting point. Width, length, eave height and frame spacing are set to your use and your site.
Where we build agricultural steel buildings
Agricultural Steel Buildings in Foothills County
On Foothills County farmland, a steel machine shed or barn for a working operation usually needs no development permit, if it clears the road setbacks.
Agricultural Steel Buildings in Rocky View County
Rocky View County still issues a permit for a farm building: a Farm Building Exemption, which holds only while the building serves the farm.
Agricultural Steel Buildings in Strathmore
Around Strathmore, a steel farm building needs a Wheatland County development permit and must sit 75 ft back from a public road allowance.
Every municipality has its own permit route. See all the places we build.
Agricultural Steel Buildings: questions
Do farm buildings need a building permit in Alberta?
The building code does not apply to a low-human-occupancy building that serves the farm it is on and is used for livestock, equipment, or materials and produce. Your municipality may still require a development permit under its land-use bylaw, and electrical, gas and plumbing work have their own codes. Check with your county before you build.
Is a farm shop covered by the exemption?
A farm workshop used to maintain the farm's own equipment is one of the examples the code's note gives. A shop that repairs other people's equipment for pay, or that employs enough workers to exceed low human occupancy, is a different building in the code's eyes. If that might happen later, design for it now.
Can a riding arena be a farm building?
The code's note includes horse riding, exercise and training facilities not used by the public. Once there are bleachers, viewing areas or public use, it is no longer low human occupancy. See our riding arenas page for how that decision changes the building.
Should a hay shed have open sides?
Many do, for loader access and air movement. An open side changes how wind loads act on the frames and roof, so the manufacturer has to design it as an open or partially open building from the start. Converting an enclosed design to open sides later is not a simple panel removal.
Keep reading
The pages that answer the next question this one raises.
Riding arenas
How the farm-building exemption applies to an arena and what public use changes.
Read itSteel buildings in Foothills County
Farm and ranch country south of Calgary, and how the county handles permits.
Read itPole barn vs steel building
Clear span, foundations and lifespan compared for farm storage.
Read itQuote your building
Give us the size, the use and the site, and we'll reply with framing options, the permit route for your municipality and a quote.
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