Do You Need a Contractor to Put Up Steel Buildings?

One of the big selling points of residential steel buildings – small steel buildings meant to be used as storage sheds, garden houses or small garages or carports – is that you can buy a steel building kit and do the actual construction yourself. Erecting your own metal building can save you money – and there’s no denying the pride of ownership that comes with having built it yourself. But is it really that easy to erect steel buildings or should you hire a contractor to do the work for you?

The answer to that question depends on your own abilities and the complexity of the building you’ll be putting up. Here are a few things to consider before you decide that your metal building project is a DIY one.

Getting the Foundation Right is Essential

While smaller steel buildings don’t need a full foundation, they do need a poured cement slab foundation or, at the very least for the smallest projects, pier foundations. Getting these foundations precisely right is vital to the stability of your new metal building. Unless you’re an experienced foundation contractor, you absolutely, positively should hire a contractor to handle this part of the job for you even if you opt to do the rest of the job yourself.

Steel Is Heavy

While steel is considered a lightweight building material – it’s light in comparison to its strength and size – large steel components of your metal building can still weigh a lot. Depending on the size of your building and its component walls and beams, you may need more help than you can gather among your friends to move walls and supports into place.

You’ve Never Done It Before

If you’ve never done this kind of construction before, it can be confusing. While the steel building components will be pre-drilled and clearly labeled, mistakes can add to your construction time and to your frustration level. An experienced contractor – especially one that’s experienced in erecting the type and style of metal building you’ve chosen – can significantly reduce the amount of time it takes to get your building up and ready for occupancy.

If you have reasonable do-it-yourself skills, have a few burly friends and the steel building is small enough, you should be able to do the erecting yourself. If any of those factors don’t apply, though, you may do better to hire a contractor with experience erecting steel buildings.