The historian Håvard Dahl Bratrein coined the phrase "varangerhuset" (the Varanger house) while studying the multifunctional farm buildings during the 1970s and he found they were the most common type of old buildings in Varanger. There are several versions of this building type, but what they all have in common is the indoor connection between the living quarters of the people and the livestock. Bratrein identified four different models:
Model 1. All functions are gathered under one pitched roof with the house and its gable facing the road or the sea. The livestock were kept at the back.
Model 2. The house has a pitched roof parallel with the road, its extension is on a right angle and both have a pitched roof.
Model 3. The house has a pitched roof, again parallel with the road or the sea, but with the livestock section in a lean-to at the back or the gable end.
Model 4. The house and the livestock building are two distinct volumes linked by a third volume. The two main roofs may be parallel or on a right angle.
(On the drawing the walls with vertical hatching indicate the livestock part of the buildings.)