How They Make Steel Buildings

Steel buildings are an ever-more-popular choice for storage buildings, garages, barns, retail establishments and more. Understanding how steel buildings are built can help you understand the choices and responsibilities that sit on you, the customer, when you decide to erect a metal building. This is the basic process for making the components of steel buildings.

The first step in the manufacture of a steel building is your order. Nothing is done in advance because every metal building is custom designed to fit your needs. That includes making sure that it meets all the building codes and standards for your area. Your salesperson will take your order – along with all of your specialized instructions – and forward it to the steel building manufacturer.

All parts of your steel building will be manufactured in house at the factory. There are no pre-made components waiting to be loaded because each piece is custom engineered to specifically meet every one of your requirements and ensure a perfect fit of all the steel building components.

When your order arrives, it’s assigned to a representative in the order entry department. That person verifies that all the design codes and engineering specifications comply with your contract and enters the information into project scheduling software to start the process and make sure that the fabrication of your steel building is managed as quickly and efficiently as possible. This keeps the costs of your building low and gets it to you faster.

Next, an engineer who is certified by the state in which the building will be erected goes over the building drawings and does another accuracy check to make sure that the building design is the same as the purchase order and that it meets all the applicable building code standards for steel buildings in your state. Once that’s done, he’ll generate a set of permit drawings that you’ll need to get permits to erect your building.

Finally, the process of actually fabricating the components of your metal building begins with the input of all the specifications into the computer that controls the machinery that will do the actual work. Each component of your steel building will be built by a different line in the factory, with the components traveling along the line from station to station as the steel is cut, drilled and welded into shape. The process includes drilling the holes for fasteners and engineering all joints to meet precisely and exactly.

Once all of the components of your steel building are finished, they’ll be counted and checked by the staging department, which is responsible for making sure your order is complete and accurate, and loading it onto the truck or trucks to deliver it to your building site. After a final check, your steel buildings are on the road on its way to you.