Completed custom stick-framed home with blue siding and red metal roof near Billings, Montana

Custom Homes

Custom Homes & Barndominiums Built for Your Family

Stick-framed homes and shop homes, designed around your land and built by one small Billings crew.

What we build

  • Custom Home

    A home designed around your land and the way you live, stick-framed on a proper foundation.

  • Barndominium / Shop Home

    Comfortable living space and serious shop space under one roof.

  • Shell Build

    A weather-tight shell you finish on your own schedule, or anything up to turnkey.

  • Home with Attached Shop

    Shop or garage space planned in from the first footing, not bolted on later.

Build your home. Not someone else's.

A custom home should fit the way you actually live: your land, your family, your budget, and the things you care about most. Hammer Down Construction builds custom homes and shop homes for families throughout Billings and the surrounding Montana communities.

We stay small by design. The builder you meet at the first conversation is the builder on your job until you move in.

Start Your Build
Finished interior of a Hammer Down custom home with wood stove and plank flooring
Roof framing on a custom home overlooking the Montana landscape

Custom Homes

Homes built around your property and your plans

Whether you're bringing a finished set of plans or starting with an idea and a piece of ground, we'll help you understand the process and figure out the next step. Because we frame, side, roof, and trim the house ourselves, there are fewer hand-offs and fewer places for details to slip.

  • Stick-framed on a full foundation, crawlspace, or slab
  • Built from your plans or developed with you from an idea
  • Rural properties, acreage, and in-town lots
  • Shell, turnkey, or anywhere in between
  • Attached shops and garages built in from the start

Barndominiums & Shop Homes

Build the house you want, and the shop you actually need

For a lot of Montana families, a traditional house with a two-car garage isn't enough room. A shop home combines comfortable living space with room for:

  • Equipment and vehicles
  • RVs and boats
  • Tools and a workshop
  • Hobbies
  • A home business
  • Livestock and ranch gear

We build barndominiums stick-framed on a concrete foundation, so the living side is a real custom home that insulates, finishes, and finances like one. Post-frame can be a good, economical choice for agricultural or storage buildings, and we'll tell you if that's the better fit. Need a shop without living space? See Shops & Garages.

Discuss a Shop Home
Gray stick-framed shop home with a full-height overhead door on a rural Montana property

Where are you starting from?

Already own land?

That's a great place to start. We can walk the property with you and talk through:

  • Site conditions and access
  • House plans
  • Foundation options
  • Utilities, septic, and water
  • Shops and garages
  • Construction budget
  • Project sequencing
  • Preliminary timeline

Don't have plans yet?

You don't need a finished set of blueprints before you call. Getting the builder involved early helps you avoid designing a house that doesn't match your construction budget.

A straight answer on budget

There's no honest price per square foot that fits every custom home. Size, design, site conditions, foundation type, utilities, and finishes all move the number. During preconstruction we work through those decisions with you so the budget is built on your actual project.

See all of our work

Custom Home Questions

How early should I contact a builder?

Ideally before your plans are completely finalized. Getting a builder involved early helps align the design of the home with your construction budget and the realities of your site, which avoids expensive redesigns later.

Do I need to own land before contacting you?

No. If you are considering a piece of property, we are happy to talk through the construction considerations you should look into before moving forward, such as access, utilities, septic and water, and site conditions.

Can you build from plans I already have?

Yes. Send them over and we can talk through the project and figure out what information is needed to start estimating.

How much does a custom home cost?

There is no accurate price per square foot that applies to every custom home. Size, design complexity, site conditions, foundation type, utilities, finishes, windows, mechanical systems, and dozens of other choices all move the number. We would rather sit down and talk through your actual project than hand you a generic figure that turns out to be wrong.

Do you build shops with living quarters?

Yes. Shop homes and barndominiums are one of our favorite kinds of projects to build.

What is the difference between a barndominium and a shop home?

People use the terms interchangeably. Both describe a building that combines living space with a large shop or garage under one roof. We build them stick-framed on a concrete foundation, so the living side is a real house, not a finished corner of a barn.

Do you build post-frame (pole) buildings?

Our work is stick-framed on concrete. Post-frame can be a good, economical fit for certain agricultural and storage buildings, and we will tell you if that is the better choice for what you are building. For a building you plan to live in, stick framing is usually the better long-term investment.

Can you build the shell and let me finish the inside?

Yes. Many clients start with a weather-tight shell and finish the living space on their own schedule. We can also deliver a fully finished turnkey home or anything in between.

Have another question? Read our full FAQ or get in touch.

Ready to Build?

Tell us about your property and what you're thinking about building. Bryan will get back to you personally.

Start Your Build 406-320-0521