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.