Steel Buildings Offer Shorter Construction Schedule

Steel buildings are popular in the consumer market as garages and storage buildings, barns and home offices, but they’re even more popular in commercial construction. One of the biggest reasons that steel buildings are so popular with commercial concerns is also a major benefit to the consumer market: the shorter construction schedule. The fact of the matter is that it takes much less time to put up a metal building than it does to construct wood frame or masonry building, in large part because much of the work is completed offsite. The shortened construction schedule means that the end user spends less time preparing and building onsite and saves a considerable amount of money otherwise paid to contractors who don’t have to spend weeks or months cutting, drilling and fitting pieces together to construct a frame.

The exact length of time it takes for your steel building to be up and ready for occupancy depends on the specific design and size. A look at the standard decision and construction process for steel buildings can show you where the streamlining makes the entire metal building construction process faster, easier and more efficient.

Once you’ve signed the purchase agreement, the manufacturer will begin the engineering of your metal building – or at least, the final phase of the engineering. The company will have done the preliminary engineering work when you asked for a quote. You should have, at this point, a preliminary schedule as to when you can expect delivery of your steel building components so that you can begin scheduling contractors and other things on your end.

After the design phase is completed, the manufacturer will supply you with the calculations you’ll need for the foundation design, which will be completed by an engineer or contractor that you hire. Even if you plan to erect the building yourself, most experts suggest that you hire a professional contractor to engineer and pour the foundation slab because it is essential to the safe construction of your steel building.

In the meantime, while you’re preparing the building site and laying the foundation, the manufacturer will be fabricating the components and packaging them for shipment. If you’ve timed things well, your steel building components will begin to arrive just about the time that your foundation is ready to be built upon.

You’ll need to have your contractor – or your group of friends – on hand for the delivery of your steel building components because you’ll be responsible for offloading the components and checking them for completeness and condition.

Once your components have been delivered, your contractor can begin putting up the framework and wall panels of the building. Because all the pieces are pre-drilled and pre-fitted, the actual assembly of the building will go very quickly. A crew that’s experienced at constructing steel buildings can often complete a single car garage over one or two days, for example. Compare that with the time it would take to erect a wooden garage addition to your home.

Best of all, the amount of time that it takes to put up steel buildings is not at all indicative of the amount of time they’ll last. Quonset buildings – the original portable metal buildings – that were put up in the 1930s are still standing.

Three Key Reasons Steel Buildings Are So Popular

No matter what you’re planning to build, chances are good that someone has suggested that you should consider a steel building for your needs. From churches to casinos, from storage sheds to office buildings, steel buildings are among the most popular choices for just about any use you can imagine. Why is it that steel buildings have become the go-to choice for nearly any kind of construction, including barns, garages, office complexes and even homes? There are three key reasons for takeoff of the steel building craze.

High Quality

The best metal building kits and steel building components are made of high-grade steel, which has just about the best strength to weight ratios of all building materials. The result is a very strong, lightweight structure that puts far less stress on the earth, thus requires far less of a foundation than other conventional buildings.

Steel doesn’t warp, crack, twist or rot. If the building is properly designed and properly erected, the frame won’t bow. Steel beams don’t absorb moisture, or expand and contract with the weather. The components are precision engineered to fit together perfectly, and they’ll stay together through just about any stress or strain placed on them.

Strict Building Codes

Over time, the building codes and local laws about construction have grown more and more restrictive and strict. With every natural disaster – and every building innovation – building codes get even stricter. Steel buildings can be engineered to meet the highest codes and building standards in any region. Metal buildings can withstand high snow loads, hurricane-force winds and even earthquake activity. In addition, steel is the least combustible of building materials, making it one of the safest building materials available.

Affordability

Steel is generally the most affordable building material available, but it’s only one reason that steel buildings are the economical choice for most uses. Because steel is lighter than most other materials, steel buildings generally require far less of a foundation than wood frame or masonry buildings, which substantially reduces the cost of pre-construction. Once your building components are delivered, erecting it is rather like putting together an oversized Erector set. Many owners of smaller projects, such as garages and home workshops, do the actual erection themselves, racking up substantial savings. Even when the owner engages a professional contractor to put the steel building up, owners save money. Many of the components are pre-assembled and ready to simply bolt together, so the work is done more quickly – and at a far lower cost than any other type of construction.

Steel buildings aren’t just the wave of the future. They are the future being built today. Step into the 21^st century with a steel building that could very well last into the next millennium.

Steel Buildings as Garages – What You Need to Know Before You Buy

Steel buildings make great garages and garage replacements. They’re strong, lightweight and generally far more affordable and durable than similar size conventional garages. In most cases, you won’t need to dig a foundation. Unless your local building code requires otherwise, most steel garages can be built on a poured slab foundation, which can save you thousands of dollars. The cost of steel buildings and metal building garage kits vary widely, depending on your preferences and needs. Before you start getting estimates for a steel building garage kit or pre-fab steel building, there are a few things you should be able to answer and a few questions you should ask the steel buildings supplier.

How Will You Be Using Your Garage?

Yes, of course, you’ll be parking your car in it, but a garage meant to hold your everyday vehicle will have different requirements than one you’re building to store a vintage car. Likewise, you’ll need to meet specific requirements for ventilation if you’re planning to do car repairs in your garage, and if your garage will also house your laundry room, you may need to consider additional insulation and venting.

How Will You Be Erecting Your Garage?

Many homeowners choose to erect steel garages themselves, and choose a metal building kit. Others prefer to hire a qualified contractor to put the garage up. Some metal building suppliers can recommend contractors if you’re not comfortable finding and hiring a contractor on your own, and some can even include the cost of the installation in your estimate if you let them know.

Will Your Garage Need Insulation?

Insulation may not be necessary in some temperate areas, especially if you’ll only be parking your car in the garage overnight. If your area has weather extremes, however, or if you’ll be storing cars in the garage long-term, or working in the garage, insulation could be an important part of your plans. A cheap steel building may be more difficult and expensive to insulate than one that’s designed specifically for installing insulation.

Questions to Ask the Steel Building Supplier

There’s a lot of fine print involved in contracts for steel buildings. Before you sign on the dotted line, be sure to get some important answers about your building estimate. These are a few of the most important questions you should ask.

-          Does the quote include delivery and insurance during transportation?

-          Are engineer stamped drawing included in the quote?

-          Will you have to supply anchor bolts or are they included in the building quote?

-          Does the estimate include the doors for your steel building or just the framed openings?

-          What items are not included in the building estimate?

-          What are the payment terms?

-          How soon can you get design information to supply to your foundation contractor?

-          What is the warranty on the building?

Steel buildings are popular as garages for some very good reasons. Make sure you get exactly the building you need by asking the right questions before you sign a contract.

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Discount Steel Buildings

If you’re in the market for a new steel building, you’ve very likely seen the flyers and advertisements offering discount pre-fab steel buildings. They offer fabulous prices on “discount” steel buildings or pre-fab metal buildings. In many cases, if you check around, you’ll find that those fabulous prices aren’t all that far out of line with the regular prices advertised by conventional suppliers. In other cases, the prices actually may be fabulous – but you may not be getting exactly what you expect. Should you consider buying one of these cheap, discount metal buildings?

A quick look at the advantages and disadvantages of discount steel building operations can help you make the best decision for construction needs.

Advantages of Discount Steel Buildings

There are a couple of obvious advantages to buying a discount metal building rather than a high-quality steel building. The first is price, of course. If you’re not particular about the quality of your new metal building, you can often get low prices on steel buildings made with lower quality steel or building components.

The other possible advantage – and it’s not a guarantee – is speed of delivery. When you order from a reputable supplier of steel buildings, your building will be designed precisely to meet your specifications. It will meet all the building codes for your area – and you’ll know that because you’ll supply them. The design phase is often the most time-consuming part of the manufacturing process. Once the building is designed, the component pieces can be fabricated and assembled for delivery in short order.

The discounted steel buildings offered by many manufacturers are simple, pre-designed steel buildings with no customizations at all. The dealer may tell you that they meet “all standard codes” – but there is no such thing as “standard codes.” Every region has its own building standards that are designed to ensure your steel building is safe in relation to the most common weather and climate events in your region. No simple pre-designed metal building will meet all the building codes for tornado-prone Kansas AND blizzard-prone Maine AND earthquake-prone California.

Disadvantages of Cheap Steel Buildings

As you might expect from the above, the biggest disadvantage of buying a cheap metal building from a discount supplier is that you get a basic box building that may not – or probably won’t – meet the building code where you want to erect it. On top of that, it won’t be designed to support any extra loads, such as suspended plumbing pipes, an HVAC unit or anything at all you want to put on or hang from the roof or the walls. Chances are that you’ll have a very limited choice of colors, unless you’re willing to pay a premium price.

You’ll also lose all the benefits that come along with choosing a high-quality steel building – corrosion-resistant coatings, multiple color options, superior-grade steel and the low cost of maintenance.

If you’re in the market for a metal building, do yourself a favor and stick with companies that provide you with high quality steel buildings from the best manufacturers.

Steel Buildings for Storage and So Much More

Has your lawn and garden equipment outgrown the few feet of space you’ve allotted in the garage? Do you wish you had a place to entertain friends with movies and parties? Do you need a place to store the equipment for your spa or pool? Steel buildings just may be the solution for all of those needs. Today’s modern, pre-engineered steel buildings are in use all over the country as  garages, garden sheds, barns, and home workshops – as well as for more exotic uses, such as music studios, home theaters and guest houses. Why should you consider a metal building for your storage or space needs? There are a number of excellent reasons.

Barns

Once upon a time, barn raisings were an occasion for all of the folks from miles around to pool their talents and put together a barn for one of their neighbors. These days, steel barns are rapidly taking the place of old wooden barns that require constant maintenance and upkeep – and thanks to the ease of assembling pre-fabricated steel building kits, it’s not unusual for neighbors to gather to erect a steel barn just as they used to do in the old days. Metal buildings eliminate a lot of the problems to which wooden barns are prone. Steel doesn’t rot, become infested with termites or need to be repainted every few years. Steel roofs don’t cave in – many of them are guaranteed for 50 years or more. And because steel isn’t flammable, they’re much safer for the animals and equipment stored inside them.

Garages

Steel garages cost about 40% less than conventional garages, but cost is only part of the attraction to those who decide to erect a steel building to garage their car. New technologies allow for steel buildings that fit right into your neighborhood’s general style, just as a conventional garage does. Pre-fab metal building kits can also be used to construct one-, two- and three-car garages, often by the homeowner with some help from friends – as long as the city or town where they live allows it. Steel garages are designed to meet all the applicable building codes and standards of the location where they will be erected. They’re precision engineered to handle heavy wind, heavy snow loads and even earth tremors.

Most steel buildings only require a concrete slab foundation, which greatly reduces the cost of building a new garage, barn or other out building on your property. No matter what your needs are, consider the many ways a steel building can meet them far better than just about any other sort of construction.

Steel Buildings Pros and Cons

Are you considering putting up a new storage building, garage, home office or other structure on your property? If so, chances are good that you’ve considered a steel building as an option. Steel buildings are among the most common choices for people building garages, barns, home workshops or offices and storage buildings. There are a lot of reasons that people choose steel buildings over other types of construction for residential, small industrial and small farm uses. Check out the pros and cons of steel buildings.

Pros for Steel Building Construction

Steel is lighter and stronger than wood, concrete or brick. That allows you to build taller or larger without adding more support.

Steel doesn’t warp or expand. It’s not subject to extreme changes due to temperature or weather, which makes it more stable as a building material.

Steel is the most affordable building material year after year, and the methods used to construct steel buildings keep the costs lower than traditional construction materials and methods.

Because steel is non-porous and impermeable to moisture, it doesn’t mold or mildew, and won’t rot or decay like wood does, nor crumble like masonry can.

You never have to worry about termite infestations with steel, avoiding a potentially very expensive problem that afflicts wooden structures.

Steel building components are powder-coated to resist rust and corrosion. The colored powder coating can last for decades, far outlasting the paint jobs on wooden structures, which saves more money, work and time.

Steel is the eco-friendly choice for building. Most steel used in the building trade is recycled, so your new building won’t be taking more resources from the earth. And since steel is recyclable, when your building has outlived its usefulness, it can be recycled to become something new.

Steel is flame retardant, so fire is much less a concern than it is with a wood-framed building. Because of that, insurance companies generally charge considerably lower premiums to owners of steel buildings.

The government recognizes steel buildings as energy-efficient, especially when they’re topped with energy-efficient roofs. Many steel buildings will qualify for tax credits to further reduce the cost of owning a metal building.

Smaller metal buildings can often be erected by homeowners with very little construction experience. Steel building components are delivered ready to assemble, and require very few tools to put together, so as long as a project is small enough, it can often be put together on site by the homeowner.

Cons of Steel Buildings

There are few cons to choosing a metal building for your construction project. The biggest of these is that steel is an excellent conductor of heat, so uninsulated steel buildings can be excessively hot or cold. Insulation systems for steel buildings are not terribly expensive, however, so even that con is easily removed.

Choosing steel buildings for your project nearly always makes sense for your needs. Learn more about your choices for metal buildings and accessories and you’ll find out that they’re the perfect choice for your project.

Five Business Ideas that Start with Steel Buildings

Is it time to get your dream business off the ground? If the only thing holding you back is a lack of space for your business idea, take a look at what steel buildings have to offer. Steel buildings are among the most popular kind of new construction today for all sorts of projects, including industrial, agricultural and residential. Metal buildings are cost-effective and affordable, and because they can be erected quickly without compromising high construction standards, steel buildings can let you get started making money with your business a lot sooner than comparable construction in wood or stone.

Not sure how a steel building could fit into your business plans? Check out these five business ideas that start with or can be housed in steel buildings.

Ice Skating Rink

Back in the 1960s, the round domes of Quonset buildings popped up all around the Northeast. Typically, the buildings had no end caps. Instead, they consisted of a steel hoop frame with a corrugated metal and plastic cover over an ice skating rink surface. The classically styled steel buildings protected the ice surfaces from the weather, allowing the ice skating rinks to be used through wind, snow and rain.

Today, steel buildings are extremely popular as sports arenas and activity centers. They are economical to erect and require very little maintenance to keep looking new.

Riding Arena

Steel buildings offer similar advantages to owners of riding arenas. A simple domed metal building is a cost-effective way for a small stable or riding school to add a protected practice arena to their premises.

Retail Stores

Clear span and domed steel building construction methods provide maximum floor space and flexibility for interior floor plans, making them the ideal choice for retail store needs. A small steel building is a very affordable way to build retail selling space onto your existing home or property.

Home Office

Whether you sell accounting services, real estate or counseling service, a home office can save you the cost of office rent and the expenses related to commuting. In addition to money savings, though, your own home office in a steel building allows you to conduct your business from home without compromising your family’s privacy.

The building that houses your business may not be the most important part of your planning process when imagining a new s tore location, but the reduced cost and other advantages make steel buildings the best choice for expansions

Steel Buildings for What?

Steel buildings are cropping up just about everywhere, for just about every use imaginable. They’re obviously a popular choice for garages and workshops, carports and barns. In commercial real estate, they’re used as factory buildings and warehouses. On farms, you’ll often find steel buildings used as barns and for equipment storage – but those uses barely scratch the surface of the many ways that people put high-quality metal buildings to use. Here are some of the best uses for steel buildings we’ve seen in our years of covering the industry.

Church Buildings

Churches look for a combination of affordability and appearance. Most congregations find that their collection plate money goes much further when they look to steel building manufacturers for their new homes – but no congregation wants to attend services in a steel box. Luckily, that’s not an issue these days. Steel building engineers can design beautiful, soaring churches that meet all local codes for safety and durability at costs that are generally far below those for similarly sized and styled buildings made of masonry or wood.

Sports Arenas

From backyard skating rinks to college football stadiums, steel is rapidly becoming the material of choice for sports arenas. Domed steel buildings based on the Quonset buildings that became popular during the world wars offer some major benefits when used for sports and other spectator events. The domed construction provides completely unobstructed floor space and high ceilings. Even better, there’s no such thing as a bad seat when there are no posts or beams in the way to obscure the view.

Chicken Coops

On the other end of the scale, steel buildings are wonderfully adaptable to unexpected uses. That’s what a college-based organization discovered when they started looking for an inexpensive way to build urban chicken coops. Their requirements were simple: the buildings had to be attractive, easy to clean and safe. The students based their design on one of the standard styles of metal buildings – Quonset buildings – and modified it by replacing the bottom half of the walls with metal screening and building nesting shelves into the interior. The result was an attractive if very novel steel building that fits right into the urban landscape while providing city residents with that most rural of amenities – eggs, fresh from the chicken.

Of course, steel buildings also make great garages, home offices, workshops, garden sheds, storage buildings and building additions. If you’re in need of more space on your property, take a look at what a well-built metal building has to offer.