Barndominium Builders in Buford, GA

Barndominium builders in Buford need to know which of three governments has a lot before they can say much else. Most of Buford is in Gwinnett County, a small northern sliver is in Hall County, and the City of Buford runs its own Planning and Zoning department and Inspection Department for property inside city limits. A Buford mailing address can mean any of those, so the parcel record is the first document we look at.

Inside the city

The City of Buford publishes its own planning and zoning applications, forms and regulations, a 2045 comprehensive plan and its own code of ordinances. Its Inspection Department schedules inspections by phone or email, with requests received by 4 p.m. for next-business-day service. City lots are generally smaller and served by city utilities. Before designing a metal-sided home for an in-town lot, we read the zoning district and any design standards in the city code, because suburban districts can have more to say about exterior materials than rural ones.

Outside the city

Parcels beyond the city limits fall under Gwinnett County or, in the north, Hall County. Hall County's adopted codes for permits issued on or after January 1, 2026 are the 2024 International Residential Code, Georgia-amended, with the 2015 IECC and Georgia amendments for energy. Statewide, the Department of Community Affairs lists the same 2024 IRC with Georgia Amendments as the mandatory residential code, so a barndo is reviewed as a house wherever it lands.

Living next to Buford Dam

Buford's primary water supply is Lake Lanier, the reservoir on the Chattahoochee River formed behind Buford Dam. Ground was broken for the dam on March 1, 1950, and the gates closed on February 1, 1956. The Corps of Engineers runs the lake mainly for flood control and water supply, with a full pool of 1,071 feet. About 4 percent of the lake is in Gwinnett County and about 60 percent in Hall. Lake-country land north of town brings coves, slopes and Corps-managed shoreline into the planning, and it is worth understanding before you fall in love with a waterfront parcel.

The divide next door

Buford's city limits sit about 4.5 miles west of the Eastern Continental Divide. That ridge line is part of why the land around Buford rolls rather than lies flat. Expect a sloped lot and plan for a cut-and-fill pad, with surface water directed away from the shop doors and the slab edge.

Temperatures a steel home has to handle

Buford's climate is humid subtropical. July highs average about 87 F and January highs about 50 F. The record high is 107 F, set in 1952, and the record low is -8 F, set in 1985. That spread matters for a metal building. Steel expands and contracts, so fastener patterns and trim details need to allow movement, and the insulation must keep interior surfaces above the dew point in both summer humidity and a hard freeze. Exposed water lines in an unheated shop bay should be protected or routed through conditioned space.

Population and land pressure

Buford grew from 12,225 residents in 2010 to 17,144 in 2020. It is home to the Mall of Georgia and has interchanges on both I-85 (Exit 115) and I-985 (Exit 4), plus State Route 20 and U.S. 23. Hartsfield-Jackson airport is about 48 miles away. All of that access makes large tracts scarce near town, and acreage with room for a barndo and shop is more likely to be found to the north in Hall County. The city also runs its own school district, while residents outside the limits are served by Gwinnett or Hall County schools, so which side of the line a parcel sits on affects more than permits.

A town that made saddles

Buford earned the name The Leather City. R.H. Allen opened a harness shop and tannery in 1868, three years before the railway and the town were established, his brother Bona Allen founded the Bona Allen Company in 1873, and a fire at the tannery in 1981 led the Tandy Corporation to close it, ending the town's leather industry. A downtown statue shows Roy Rogers and a Bona Allen saddle-maker saddling Trigger. A barndo with a tack room or a real working shop fits that heritage.

Planning the barndo itself

Because in-town lots are tighter, a Buford barndo can go taller instead of wider: a two-story living area beside a single tall shop bay, or a loft over the garage. On larger county parcels, a classic wide gable with a full-length porch becomes possible. Either way, we design the shell around the insulation and moisture plan, then the floor plan around how you use the shop.

Have a lot in Buford or the lake country north of it? Call (678) 501-7569 or

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