Stoddard County is flat, farmed hard, and the ground holds water in a way that catches people out. If you are putting a building in around Dexter, the pad is more than half the job.
Flat ground is not the same as drained ground
On a slope, water leaves whether you plan for it or not. On Bootheel flat ground, water sits exactly where it lands. A building set at grade on that ground will have standing water against the skids after every serious rain, and standing water is what ends buildings early.
Build the pad up. Level gravel, extending about a foot past the building on every side, standing several inches above the surrounding grade, with the ground around it sloped away. If there is a natural low spot anywhere near the site, put the building somewhere else. Concrete is the ultimate base and the most expensive; a well built, elevated gravel pad is what we recommend for most customers and it handles this ground fine.
Farm equipment sizing
Most of what needs cover around here is dimensional. A compact tractor with a loader runs 11 to 13 feet with the bucket down. Add a mower, a sprayer, a trailer and a bench and 12×24 is the floor, 14×32 is comfortable. Order a 9 or 10 foot door if anything is driving in. We build up to 16×60, so a combined equipment bay and shop under one roof is on the table.
If it is chemicals and inputs rather than machinery, keep them in their own ventilated building away from tools and away from anything you care about, and store feed and seed in sealed metal or hard plastic bins so you are not running a mouse buffet.
Delivery in farm country
Long lanes, soft shoulders, drainage ditches and field entrances are the things that stop a delivery here. Check the turn off the road, the culvert, and whether the lane will carry a loaded trailer after rain. We need about two feet of clearance past the building width along the whole route and roughly 13 feet of overhead. Somebody from our team calls roughly 7 to 14 business days before delivery to verify details, and deliveries run Monday through Friday. Checklist on our prep page.
Wind
Open flat country means wind with nothing to slow it down. Anchoring a building at the corners with ground anchors and cable is cheap and worth doing, particularly on a lightly loaded building. If weather does get it, our 10 year guarantee covers acts of nature such as storm damage and settling as well as our craftsmanship, and we repair or replace what is covered.
Materials
LP SmartSide siding with a 50 year warranty and AdvanTech flooring with a lifetime warranty, and we handle any warranty claim ourselves rather than sending you to argue with a manufacturer. On humid Bootheel ground the floor is the part that pays that back first.
Numbers
Sizes 6×8 to 16×60, starting at $1,900 for a C+ Utility 6×8 and $2,762 for a Cardinal Utility 8×8. Cash custom orders take 20% down. Financing with no money down is available with approved credit. Rent-to-own has no credit check, runs 24 to 60 months, starts at $75.44 a month, takes the first two months as a deposit and has no early payoff fee.
Get Started on Your Dexter Building
You do not have to drive to a lot to get moving. Use our 3D Shed Builder to pick your size, siding, colors, doors, windows and add-ons and see the building take shape on screen. When it looks right, send it to us and we will confirm pricing and a delivery date for Dexter.
Prefer to talk it through? Call our main office at 618-518-5578. We will walk you through building styles, custom options and rent-to-own and financing, and answer anything on our FAQ page. You can also see what we serve nearby on our location page.
