Buildings


As the game progresses and you upgrade your farm, there are several buildings that you can buy from Gotz the wood cutter.  You need them to store materials and to house your animals.  You cannot buy animals for your farm until you have sheds to house them in.  So, buildings are a very important part of building your farm up.  You can place an order for a building over the phone like you would to order any other service. Gotz is available from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm and is closed on Saturdays and holidays.  You can only have him constructing one building at a time and it usually takes him two days to construct anything.  So plan your time carefully when you order buildings and expand the farm.

You can build each of the available buildings out of any one of four different materials with a few exceptions.  You can either gather the material for the building yourself, or you can buy it from Gotz or the Yodel farm if you want fodder buildings. You can also use any material besides fodder to make fences to keep your animals in and wild dogs away from them on the farm. Fodder is the cheapest building material but it is also the least sturdy.  You can buy it from yodel farm or grow and harvest grass.   Fodder buildings are relatively cheap to construct, but they can also fall apart in rainy or even sunny weather.  The only benefit is their cheap cost.  Next, you can build structures out of wood.  They are a little more expensive than fodder buildings, but they can hold up in most normal weather situations.  However, they can still sustain damage in a hurricane or blizzard. You can obtain wood by cutting trees and stumps or by purchasing it from Gotz.  Be aware that any animals in a building are killed if a building collapses so choose a good building material.  Here are their purchase prices.  
Building Material Prices
Material Price
fodder 20g
lumber 50g
Stone 200g
Gold Lumber 100,000g

The third and probably most economic option is stone.  Stone is very strong and will only risk sustaining damage in a heavy storm with a small possibility.  It offers stability and is still an affordable option.  You can obtain stone by purchasing it or by breaking stones and boulders with the hammer.  The final choice is to build things out of Gold Lumber.  Gold lumber is indestructible, but at 100000g a piece it really isn't affordable.  You can buy it from Gotz or complete Thomas's winter request to get one piece.  Listed below are all of the buildings I have found to date and their uses and costs.  You can only have one of any specific building unless its and animal or a bird shed.  In that case you can have a combined total of 7 of the two of them, which allows you to have 28 different animals.  Overall, stone is the best building choice if you can afford it.  I have included a table that show the number of pieces and the costs to expand purchasing the materials and providing them yourself. 

House:
You begin the game with a small house and you can expand it twice.  Your house is indestructible and constructed of lumber.  You cannot expand it using other materials.  Once you unlock the second harvest sprite channel, and buy a few items from the TV shopping network.  The option to expand your house becomes available from Gotz.  You can expand your house twice, which is necessary to open new items to buy from the home shopping network. You need to buy the table before you can get the first upgrade and the kitchen before you can buy the second. It is also required to get married later in the game. 
 
House Upgrades
MaterialBuy it from GotzProvide Your Own
1st Upgrade material required 200
Stone 33,000g43,000g
2nd Upgrade material required 700
Stone 115,000g 150,000g

Bird and Animal sheds:
These buildings are required to house your animals on the farm.  They are basically the barns from the previous harvest moon games.  Each of them can hold up to four animals and come with a place to feed them.  Bird sheds hold ducks and chickens while animal sheds hold sheep and cows.  They also each have a place to retrieve feed if you have a silo and an indoor shipping bin.  The Bird sheds also have an incubator where you can place eggs to increase the number of birds you have.  You can have a total of 7 sheds for a total of 28 animals.

Bird and Animal Shed Construction Costs
Bird Shed 420 pieces
Fodder 500g 8,900g
Lumber 5,000g 26,000g
Stone 10,000g 94,000g
Gold Lumber 100,000g 42,100,000g
Animal Shed 700 pieces
Fodder 680g 10,680g
Lumber 6,800g 318,00g
Stone 13,000g 101,300g
Gold Lumber 130,000g 50,130,000g

Silo, Lumber, Stone, and Gold Lumber storage:
These small structures each holds a specific type of material you gather.  The silo holds fodder and the rest of them hold what their name implies.  You can put material in them and remove it when needed.  Basically they just give you a place to store material outside of your ruck sack.  Each of them requires 100 pieces of material to build

Storage Unit Construction Costs
Silo, Lumber, Stone Shed
Fodder 200g 2,200g
Lumber 2,000g 7,000g
Stone 4,000g 24,000g
Gold Lumber 40,000g 10,040,000g
Gold Lumber Storage Shed
Fodder 3,000g 4,000g
Lumber 20,000g 25,000g
Stone 40,000g 60,300g
Gold Lumber 100,000g 10,100,000g


Mushroom Shack:
The mushroom shack is another little building that you can get from Gotz.  The shed allows you to plant and grow mushrooms similar to the wild ones you find in the fall.  The process is pretty simple. Inside the shed, there are several platforms.  You need to place a piece of lumber on each of them and then you need to plant mushroom seeds on them.  Next, you need to water the mushrooms for about two weeks, when they will first start to grow.  The type of mushrooms you get are vary from the toadstools to the truffles.  Once you harvest them, if you continue to water them they will regrow at a much faster rate than their initial growing time. Basically, it's just another way to get a renewable crop to grow.  A thanks to Kayla D for the information provided here from her email. It requires 320 pieces of material to construct

Mushroom Shack Construction Costs
Material Provide Your Own Buy it From Gotz
Fodder 1,000g 7,000g
Lumber 10,000g 25,000g
Stone 35,000g 65,000
Gold Lumber 200,000g 30,200,000

Pond:
The pond allows you to buy and raise ducks on your farm.  It also allows you to store the fish you catch.  Finally, it is a requirement of you want to Mary Leila the Mermaid.  It can only be made from stone and requires 600 pieces and 100,000g  if you provide the material and it costs 220,000g if you buy the stone from Gotz.
Maker Shed:
This shed allows you to store the makers that you can purchase from the black smith.  Each maker costs 2000g and requires adimante from the third mine and three days to make.  They will increase the shipping value of your crops and animals produce or allow you to make seeds out of your crops.  You need the second house upgrade and an animal barn to purchase the maker shed.  Once the shed is built, you can buy makers from Gary.  They cost 20000g and require 5 days each to make. They also require a piece of adimante to construct from the third mine.  The maker's allow you to ship items for higher profits or cooking.  Then important one is the seed maker that allows you to upgrade your seed levels.  It requires 360 pieces of material.

Maker Shed Construction Costs
Material Provide Your Own Buy it From Gotz
Fodder 5,000g 10,200g
Lumber 30,000g 48,000g
Stone 60,000g 132,000g
Gold Lumber 600,000g 36,600,000g

Basement:
The basement allows you to grow crops out of season.  You need the appropriate seasons sun from the third mine to grow crops.  You also need the second house upgrade to purchase it.  I don't recommend building it out of anything but stone, because the losses of your crops will be devastating if it collapse.  The second and third basement will also be destroyed if the first falls. You need the second house upgrade before you can buy it. It requires 400 pieces of material and costs 400000g to build from stone if you buy the material from Gotz.  The second and third upgrades each take 999 pieces of stone to buy and cost 950,000g and 3,200,000g to build respectively.  They are the same as the first basement except they lack a watering hole.  Having more than one basement will allow you to grow more crops or crops from different seasons at the same time.   
There may be another building or two, but I haven't unlocked them yet.  If anyone has the information feel free to email it to me.  Otherwise I will add it at a future update to the guide.