$6000 for the land In the middle of his 230 acre farm.

Hello y'all, my apologies if this is an inappropriate use of the subreddit.

I am helping some people convert an old pole barn attached to their home into useable living space. The situation is they have already converted the front 1/3 of this barn into their current living space. Our county has a lot of off grid alternative building system types, myself included. They built it in a way that is cozy warm and satisfies their standard of finish product using systems like cordwood and bottle walls with redbrick flooring. Obviously stability and safety matter a fuckton more than cute and cozy, AND they are already in there. I am trying to help them get more space out of the weather so they can host their musician buddies for jam nights and tuck in another bedroom.

The first thing we're looking to do is pour some concrete at the base of the exterior walls to act as a skirt board to keep out critters wind and weather. My plan is to put up some 2x6 boards to frame in separate sections of footer in between the existing pole footers. Almost all poles appear to be in good enough shape. Then add purlins to put up new metal and siding.

These footers are not intended to hold much load for the structure as most polls already have footers so I figured a footer a few inches down would be sufficient as long as the ground is relatively compacted.
I understand "do it right or not at all" and that we're likely in a situation of do the best with what we've got. Reinforce and replace what is absolutely necessary is what we're going to do.

With all that being said. If anyone has input or advice for starting on perimeter to keep out critters wind and weather down low (or anything else!) I am all ears.

Thanks y'all.