I am about to put up a workshop of aprox. 2000 sq ft ( 40 x 50 ).  My first thought was to simply put in a knee wall ( 4' below grade and 2 ft above) and use standard stick construction.  This will obviously work but the foundation is very expensive (money is tight).  I wanted the 2 ft of solid or protected wall so that the outside is protected from snow shoves and lawn mowers and the inside so I can was down the shop without fear of rotting the walls.  It will also be protected on the inside when I weld as hot metal could not roll under the wall edge.

When I added up the cost of the foundation wall ... ouch!

OK so I just moved from SC where I put up a true pole building of 6400 sq ft for next to nothing in comparison.  Just put the poles in the ground, erected the from, covered and poured a floor.

The problem there, I did not have my 2 ft perimeter wall so the building showed wear in a few months (inside and out) plus I ended up having to build conventional walls and put them up between the posts in order to get more than 2" of insulation in the walls.

I already know that if I put up posts this time, I will put in concrete pillars ( 4 ft down) then join the posts to them, but I am not sure how I can get my 2' wall or my insulation.

Does anyone have any ideas?

I thought of pole barn ( concrete pillars) but use that is referred to in my books as a "cast in place ring beam".  My fear here is that the beam ( sitting just below the grade, but supported by the pillars) will heave in the winter.  

Also found pictures of a floor / beam combination ( beam around perimeter poured as part of the floor) supported by pillar.  Same problem ... I am scared the floor / beam will heave in the frost.

Anyway ... has anyone got any thoughts or suggestions.  Is there a way to build something with a 2' ( concrete, block, ??) above grade, without a full foundation wall under it?

Finally, any thoughts on stick built vs pole building?  I both sides of the wall need finishing and I want a few inches of insulation.  I looked at SIP's ... again, saw ones that de-laminated, saw ones that rotted ..... worried .... I am turning 50 this year and whatever I build will most likely be the place I stay for the rest of my life ... so I want to do it right ( but on a reasonable budget).

Thanks .... Mike

I had a very similar situation. Moved north from below the M/D line to a 4' frost depth! All my bldgs. "down south" were true pole bldgs. I'm not sure where you are now but like you mention, by the time you frame in between the post for decent insulation and interior finished wall on a pole bldg., you may as well just frame a 16" oc wall. I went with radiant in slab heat so my 4' frost wall foundation gave me an opportunity to insulate the (vertical) perimiter for a thermal break. Ya, it added a bunch of $$$ but I am real glad that I did it. I would have liked to have an additional 2' of concrete or masonry above grade but that really would have busted the budget. I built 2x6 walls, 16"oc with wall girts on the outside, per normal PB const., then put 11/2" iso foam between the girts (horizontally) then another 11/2" (iso) foam vertically in each stud bay, inside the wall. This still leaves 3 1/2" for wiring, plumbing, air lines, and fg insul for a real nice (about r-40+) wall.It sounds like your'e going to be there for a while and from my exp. the insulation in the long run is cheap! Oh, and we didn't have much radiant heating down south, and man is that the way to heat a shop. No more nascar pit crew speed needed opening and closing the O.H. doors so you don't loose all your heat! That slab replaces the heat in minutes. Where are you building?

Do a monolithic pour (footer and floor in the same pour, basically a grade beam connected to your slab) and put a course or two of block on top. It doesn't need to be a FPSF for a casually heated garage but you may want to if you heat alot.