Five Things to Consider When Looking at Steel Buildings

It’s clear that steel buildings offer many benefits for both homeowners and small business owners, but choosing the right metal building for your needs can be tricky. If you’re shopping on the Internet for a steel building, you should be considering these Five factors to help you narrow down your choices to the best steel buildings for your new structure.

What Building Restrictions Will You Face?

Before getting your heart set on a steel building, check to be sure that you’ll be allowed to build it. Your local building codes and zoning offices can tell you what restrictions and standards you’ll have to meet when erecting metal garages, barns, storage buildings and home additions. You’ll also need a copy of the local building codes for the steel buildings manufacturer you choose so that the engineers can ensure that your new building will meet all the applicable codes.

What Style of Steel Building Is Best for Your Needs?

There are a number of different basic metal building styles, especially when you’re looking for a building for your residential property. The biggest differences among the styles are in the shape of the roof and the walls, and each building style is best suited for particular uses. A-frame steel buildings, for example, are the most similar to traditional residential buildings. If you’re looking for a building that will coordinate best with the existing house and garage on your property, an A-frame building might be your best choice. Quonset buildings, on the other hand, have the semi-dome shape of old military steel huts. They’re exceptionally strong and durable, and are an excellent choice for regions that have high winds and weather extremes.

How Much Building Space Do You Have?

Before you measure your property to figure out the largest size steel building you can erect, check the zoning regulations for your area. You’ll need to take easements and clearances into considerations when choosing the right size for your metal building.

What Will You Need for Finishing?

That great picture of a steel building on the website probably includes a lot of components and accessories that don’t come standard with your order. Among the components you’ll probably have to order separately are doors, windows and insulation. Those will all add to the cost of your building.

Will You Erect the Building Yourself?

Many homeowners choose to erect their smaller steel buildings with the help of friends. It’s very possible to erect your own metal building. Most of them require no special tools and can be managed with just basic power tools. There are, however, many contractors who specialize in erecting residential steel buildings, storage buildings, steel garages and sheds. If you’re not an experienced builder or dedicated DIYer, you might find it easier to choose a qualified erector to do the heavy lifting for you.

Whether you choose to build them yourself, have them built, deck them out with all the accessories or build a bare-bones structure strictly for storage, steel buildings are flexible enough to suit all of your needs.

Steel Buildings Are the Green Choice

When you think of environmentally friendly buildings, chances are that your first thought is not of steel buildings. In fact, though, metal buildings, and in particular steel buildings, are more environmentally friendly than most other types of construction. Here’s why a steel building is your best option if you want to build earth friendly garages, barns, storage buildings or building additions.

 Steel Is Recyclable

Not only is steel recyclable, but most of today’s small steel buildings are made with recycled steel. That means that when you choose a metal building, you’re re-using something that’s already been used, keeping it out of the waste stream and reducing the strain on the planet. At the same time, by NOT choosing wood, you’re reducing the demand for earth resources that only renew themselves slowly and reducing the number of trees removed from the important job of cleaning the atmosphere of carbon.

Transporting Your Materials Uses Fewer Resources

When you build a traditional building, the materials you need will be delivered to many different points (the store, the lumber yard, your building site, etc.) requiring lots of gas and energy use. Steel buildings, on the other hand, are delivered all at once on one or two trucks, using far less energy and gas in transportation.

Steel Buildings Are Energy Efficient

Today’s steel buildings are built to be energy efficient. They use the latest technologies to reduce heat transfer and energy use. Since you use less energy to heat your new building, you use less non-renewable resources. In addition, steel buildings are the ideal shell for energy-efficient building and modifications. You can reduce energy use even further by choosing such systems as high-efficiency roofs, high quality insulation and solar roofing or skylights for natural light use.

Metal Buildings Require Very Little Maintenance

One additional way that metal buildings are earth-friendly is in their maintenance needs. Steel buildings generally are powder-coated with a protective, colored coating that will last for decades. That reduces the need for scraping off old paint and repainting, reducing more hazardous chemicals into the air.

Not the Scrap Heap!

When you no longer need your steel building, you don’t have to demolish it. In fact, many owners of small metal buildings, such as garages, storage sheds and home workshops, simply dismantle the structure and sell it to another user who can erect it on his own property. When the building reaches the end of its useful life, most of the components can be recycled and reused. The typical steel building takes up about one-tenth the square footage in a landfill as the typical wood-frame building of the same size.

If saving the environment is important to you, then steel buildings are a natural choice for your storage needs.

The Versatility of Steel Buildings

Steel is one of the most commonly used building materials in the world today, and with excellent reason. Steel buildings are among the most versatile of structures, and are as small building projects as they are for huge skyscrapers. Steel first became popular as a building material during the world wars, when the military found that steel construction offered advantages for a mobile army that wood structures couldn’t provide. The original Quonset buildings were used in the field as everything from equipment storage to military barracks, mess halls and hospitals.

After the wars ended, with the steel industry booming and steel widely available, steel continued to grow in popularity as a construction material. The relatively light weight of steel, at least in comparison to traditional wood and concrete structures, made steel buildings a very desirable option for skyscrapers and multi-story office buildings, as well as for warehouses, factories and retail stores. And as the Quonset buildings that had been used in the war theater began to hit the military surplus market, veterans who were familiar with them began to choose steel buildings for agricultural uses in large numbers. For decades, the semi-domed shape of the steel Quonset buildings was ubiquitous across the Midwest and agricultural South.

Today, new technologies in computer generated steel engineering have brought the cost of erecting a metal building within the reach of many homeowners and have made the use of steel buildings as garages, storage sheds, house additions, home offices and home workshops more and more popular. Steel offers the same advantages as a building material for small buildings as it does for large-scale commercial projects. Pre-engineered and prefabricated steel buildings is more durable than wood, requires less maintenance and is not prone to rotting or susceptible to termites and insect infestation.

In addition to those advantages, steel construction methods are efficient. When you choose a steel building for your project, you’ll benefit from having most of the work done for you in advance. You won’t have to cut or measure, or risk making costly errors. Your metal building components will arrive all at once, ready to be constructed on your prepared slab foundation.

Whether you need a new garage or a greenhouse, an office or an all-season storage unit on your property, steel buildings offer you all the options you need or want. Whatever it is you need, steel buildings are versatile enough to supply it.

Basic Benefits of Steel Buildings

There are a lot of benefits and advantages to buying prefabricated steel buildings instead of choosing other traditional construction methods and materials. These are just a few of the basic benefits that make steel buildings such a popular choice for garages, barns, storage sheds and other residential additions.

Selection

There’s an enormous selection of metal building kits available on the market in dimensions, sizes and styles to suit nearly any use. While the basic designs are “standard,” every steel building is custom-engineered to meet the needs and requirements of the region in which the building will be placed.

Affordability

Pre-engineered steel buildings are extremely affordable, even in contrast to other types of steel structures. The total cost of a metal building kit is often about half the cost you’d typically pay for a wood-frame or post-frame building. You’ll save in other ways as well, including in reduced labor, preparation and construction costs.

Time Considerations

Because the steel building components arrive on site ready to construct, the actual construction time is far less than other methods of construction. Depending on the size, you can get a metal building up and in use in just a few days to a few weeks. In contrast, traditional construction methods can take months of work, which adds to the overall cost of your building project.

Ease of Construction

The walls and supports for your metal building are pre-cut, pre-fitted and even pre-drilled so all you have to do is bolt the whole thing together. Not only does that cut down on the time needed for construction, it also reduces the likelihood of construction errors, which can lead to cost overruns on both materials and labor. You’ll never have to worry about drilling a hole in the wrong place or cutting a support beam too short because it’s all done for you at the factory.

Lower Maintenance Costs

Once your steel building is standing, you’ll benefit from lower maintenance costs throughout the life of your new structure. Most steel buildings are delivered with a powder-coated paint job that may be guaranteed for as many as 20 years. The paint is fade-resistant and weather resistant, reducing the need for scraping, repainting and re-applying protective sealants. In addition, steel doesn’t attract termites and other pests that can damage your building and lead to higher maintenance and repair costs. Maintenance and upkeep consists of periodic examination and a good scrub with a pressure washer once or twice a year.

Durability

Steel is both weather resistant and durable, and steel buildings are engineered to exacting standards to meet all the requirements of your region. They’ll stand up to high winds, hard rainfall and heavy snow loads, and have even survived earthquakes because of their construction and design.

Best of all, many steel buildings are made of 100 percent recycled steel and are recyclable, making them environmentally friendly. With all of those advantages, how could you possibly go wrong with a steel building?

The Planning Process for Steel Buildings

Steel buildings are an affordable, earth-friendly choice for garages, barns, workshops and other small structures you may want to add to your property. Larger steel buildings make great factories, office buildings, warehouses and commercial buildings. No matter the size of your steel building project, however, the planning process is similar.

Budget

Your first consideration is your budget. Figure out how much money you have available for your project before you start shopping. Because steel buildings are easy to expand, it may make sense to start with a smaller metal building and expand when you can afford to do it.

When planning your budget, keep in mind that accessories, such as insulation, doors and windows, are seldom included in the basic price of your steel building. In addition, you may have to pay a contractor to lay a proper foundation and a landscaping company to prepare the land for you before you can build. Finally, count in the costs of any licenses, inspections or permits your city may require you to pay.

Local Building Codes and Ordinances

Before you even start shopping, check with your local code and zoning offices to find out what standards your steel building will need to meet. You may find that local ordinances limit your choices in size, style or placement of your building project. Despite the old saying that it’s easier to get forgiveness than permission, when it comes to erecting steel buildings, it’s always better to be safe than sorry.

Size

Deciding on the size of your new steel building has two parts – figuring out how much space you have on which to build and deciding how much interior space your plans require. Obviously, the first is the more important one to get right – and it may be partially determined by your local building codes, which may require easements and specific amounts of clearance around your building and between your building and abutting properties.

Once you know how much room you have to build, you can determine the interior footage you require. If possible, most experts recommend that you add about 20 percent to your size estimate to allow for unexpected needs.

Site Preparation

Before your steel building arrives, you’ll need to have the site prepared. Site preparation includes clearing the site and a pathway from the road to the building site, as well as leveling the building site. This is typically done by a landscaping business. In addition, most experts recommend that you have the concrete slab foundation be poured professionally. If the slab is properly poured, the rest of the building construction will be easy to do. If it is uneven, however, it will be difficult to get your building erected properly.

Steel buildings are an excellent choice for most of your storage and expansion needs. If you plan properly, you’ll find that they’re among the easiest types of structures to erect.

Steel Buildings Offer Great Benefits for Any Use

Whether you’re looking at steel buildings for use as garages or barns, for a home workshop or a sports arena, you’ll find that the typical metal building offers many benefits for the builder and prospective owner. From economic benefits to environmental advantages, these are some of the advantages and benefits you’ll get when you choose a steel building for your next project.

Appearance

Surprise! Ugly duckling steel buildings have grown into the unexpected swans of architecture. Engineering and design innovations have produced new styles of steel buildings that are appealing and attractive. When you add in the many options for frontage and coverings for metal buildings, you’ve got a wide range of attractive and highly functional buildings that can fit into nearly any setting.

Economics

One of the biggest benefits of steel buildings is monetary. Steel is generally less expensive than other conventional building materials like stone, brick and wood. Pre-engineered and prefabricated steel buildings also save you on construction costs because they arrive on site ready to assemble. There’s no need for cutting, drilling or welding. It’s like assembling a giant erector set. That saves you time, and when you’re paying a construction crew, time is money.

Environmental Benefits

Steel buildings are environmentally friendly. Most metal buildings sold today are made of 100 percent recycled steel, and are almost completely recyclable. If you find you no longer have a use for your steel building, you can even disassemble it and sell it to someone else who’ll get more use from it. Overall, a the waste from a steel building takes up less than one-tenth the room in a landfill than the waste from a conventional building.

Safety Benefits

Every steel building is custom engineered to meet the safety standards of the region in which it will be erected. A properly constructed metal building will withstand the worst weather and environmental hazards in the region, including high winds, heavy snow loads and even earthquakes.

Durability

Steel buildings are built to last. Quonset buildings erected in the post-War era are still standing and in use, and you can expect the same longevity from a steel building erected today. Steel doesn’t rot, shrink, warp or rust. It also isn’t the least bit attractive to insect pests, such as termites.

Expansion

Finally, steel buildings are designed to be easily expandable. When you find you need more room, you can generally easily add on to your existing building without making any major modification to the structure. In many cases, all you need to do is remove the rear wall and add more length to the building.

Whatever your need, you’ll find that steel buildings probably provide all the most important benefits. Before you make a final decision, contact a dealer of quality steel buildings to find out how a metal building can meet your needs.

Steel Buildings: The Perfect Housing for Your Car, Your Horses and Your Mother-in-Law

Whatever you need to house, steel buildings can be the ideal solution to your need for more space. All over the country, homeowners are finding that well-made, high-quality metal buildings meet their needs for garages, barns, storage buildings and even additional living space. If you’ve been considering building an addition to your house or property, consider the way that steel buildings can fill these various needs.

Garages

Many houses built in the latter century lack garages. If you need a place to park your car out of the weather, a steel building could be the ideal solution. While there is no such thing as a “standard steel building there are a number of standard sizes for metal buildings, including those that are perfectly proportioned for use as 1- and 2-car garages. Because steel buildings don’t require interior posts and supports, they provide additional square footage and easy maneuvering space for parking one or more cars. Since every steel building is custom-engineered, you can easily build in additional storage space or room for a workshop, if that’s your desire.

Barns and Kennels

Farmers have been choosing steel buildings as replacement barns for decades. The weather-tight construction and ease of construction make them both easy to construct and cost-effective to maintain. The unobstructed interior footage allows metal buildings to be configured to meet many different needs, from equipment storage to medical facilities for animals. Domed steel buildings, such as Quonset buildings, are ideal for grain storage because they allow full maneuverability for tractors and other equipment, while straight-sided steel buildings can easily be subdivided for use as stables, equipment storage, feed area and tack storage.

In-Law Apartments

The typical solution to needing extra space for returning children, in-laws or an income-earning apartment is to build on an addition to your home. Steel buildings offer a different solution at a more affordable cost and with additional benefits. Attractive and serviceable metal buildings are being used more and more often as homes, and are the perfect alternative to building on to your home. An apartment in a separate building provides privacy and autonomy for both you and your tenant. A steel building can be outfitted with its own kitchen, plumbing and electricity, and can be finished in the same color and style as the main house on your property, increasing the value of your home while adding valuable living space.

Steel buildings have many uses in addition to those listed here. If you’re looking for a way to add space to your property, be sure to consider all the benefits and advantages of a metal building for your needs.

Steel Buildings Bring a Lot to the Table for Animal Shelters

For decades, farmers, vets and others who work with animals have chosen steel buildings when they’re ready to build, expand or replace animal shelters. From barns and kennels to riding rings, steel buildings offer many advantages for sheltering and housing animals. Consider these factors if you’re in the market for a new barn, kennel or other type of structure for animal housing.

Affordability

Farmers have long known how to make their budgets stretch to increase yields and profits, so it’s no surprise that they choose steel buildings as barns more often than they choose any other type of building material. Steel is generally the most affordable building material available, but the cost of steel is only one factor in the affordability of a metal building. Because metal buildings are engineered for structural integrity, they require far less of a foundation than traditional brick and mortar or wood buildings, saving money on the cost of laying a foundation. In addition, because steel buildings are delivered ready to assemble, they can be erected more quickly and require far less labor than constructing traditional barns. Finally, the savings continue over the lifetime of the building because a metal building requires far less ongoing maintenance than other structures.

Durability

Considering the cost of erecting a new barn, kennel or riding arena, it makes sense to purchase a structure that will last for a lifetime. Steel buildingss are engineered to exacting standards and designed to meet or exceed all local building standards. When properly erected, your new metal building will withstand the most extreme weather incidents typical for your region. Steel barns will stand for decades with very little maintenance, and remain looking fresh and new throughout their lives.

Versatility

Steel buildingss come in two basic types – clear span and arch construction. Neither type of metal building requires interior structural supports, which provides completely unobstructed interior floor space. That allows the builder to determine the precise configuration that works best for his structure, and provides plenty of maneuvering room for vehicles, tools and animals.

Sanitary

Steel is completely non-porous, making it one of the easiest materials to keep clean and sanitary. When you’re housing animals, you want a building that will be easy to hose down and keep clean to promote their health and reduce the chances of infections.

Steel buildingss are among the most commonly chosen types of structures for barns, veterinarian’s kennels and animal shelters and with good reason. If you’re looking to replace or build a new barn or kennel on your property, take a look at the advantages provided by a high quality metal building.

Things to Consider When Erecting Steel Buildings

After all you’ve done to find the perfect steel building for your needs, you want to see the finished product go up without a hitch. In order to ensure a smooth building process, there are a few things you need to consider. These are the most important considerations for erecting steel buildings before construction.

Before Construction of Steel Buildings

Make sure that all of the drawings are complete and ready. Check to make sure you have all necessary building permits and that your metal building design meets all the applicable code and building standards for your area. This is vital. Most areas of the country have local building codes that apply to all structures erected within the city, county or town limits. If the metal building you’re considering barely meets the building codes or doesn’t meet them at all, you could find yourself with a white elephant – a very desirable steel building that you can’t erect on your site. It is your responsibility to make sure that the building meets all applicable building codes, and the best way to ensure that is to bring your purchase contract to the local code office before you make the actual purchase to ensure that your building will be approved by the building code department.

While it is your responsibility as the property owner to make sure that you have all the necessary permits and permissions, if you’ve hired a steel building erection contractor, the contractor may take care of all those details. Don’t just assume, though. Make sure that you discuss it with the steel buildings manufacture and the contractor.

On Delivery

Make sure you know all the details of delivery for your metal building. In most cases, companies that manufacture steel buildings will hire a third-party carrier to deliver the building components to your work site. Make sure that the manufacturer knows about any special accommodations you may need, and that you won’t have to change the shipping details after you’ve signed the contract. Any changes that you make will end up adding to the cost of the steel building.

You or the building contractor you hire will need to be on site to receive the metal building and all the other materials on the designated date of delivery, and will be expected to verify that everyone on the paperwork is correct and that delivery was made without a problem.

When it comes to the actual erection of your steel building, details matter. The closer attention you pay to the details, the more likely it will be that your construction process will go off without any snags. For more information about what you should expect, talk to the company that sells steel buildings.

Tips for Building Garages from Steel Buildings

Garages are among the most popular residential uses for steel buildings and metal buildings kits. There are a number of companies that sell metal buildings garage kits, as well as many manufacturers and brokers that sell steel buildings suitable for use as garages. Choosing the right one for your needs can be a little overwhelming. These tips can help you decide which steel building company is the best one to provide your metal buildings kit.

Start With Your Local Code Office

Steel buildings are not allowed in some areas because of the building codes or zoning requirements. Some counties restrict the use of steel buildings, and some states have strict codes to ensure that steel buildings are sturdy enough to withstand the most severe weather events. Before you start looking at steel garages and metal buildings kits, make sure that you’ll be allowed to erect it where you want to put it.

Write down all the codes and zoning requirements so you’ll have them handy when talking to different manufacturers of steel buildings. You’ll need to provide the building codes when you ask for a quote from a building company because they’ll need to incorporate all the relevant codes into the cost they quote you.

Plan Ahead

Garage kits come in standard sizes to fit one car, two cars or more, but you don’t have to confine yourself to the standard sizes when you choose custom-engineered steel buildings for your garage plans. Start with the basic measurements for one-car and two-car garages, then decide what other amenities you might want to add. Do you want extra storage space for seasonal yard equipment? An enclosed workshop built onto the end of your garage? Room for a motorcycle beside your automobile? Since each metal buildings is designed to spec, you can let your dreams run wild – at least until they run out of budget.

However, keep in mind that you may want to expand in the future. Many steel buildings can be expanded easily while others will require you to buy an entire new building if you want to add another ten feet to the end. If possible, leave yourself room to grow in the future.

Think about your building site before you place your order. The local zoning laws may have some effect on your choice, since many counties and municipalities require that steel buildings be a certain number of feet away from the road and from neighboring boundaries. In addition, you’ll want to choose a building site that’s easily accessible by a large truck to facilitate delivery of your steel building components.

The actual erection of garages using steel building kits is a fairly straightforward and simple process. Most relatively handy homeowners can put up small steel buildings with the help of one or two friends, and no special tools at all.

The Stages of Buying Steel Buildings

Steel buildings are becoming more and more popular with private homeowners for use as storage buildings, garages, barns, home offices and more. Many of them think that ordering a metal building is an easy process – just pick out the model you want, pay for it and wait for it to be delivered. Unfortunately, ordering steel buildings isn’t as easy as a lot of suppliers’ websites make it sound. There are a number of steps involved in ordering, designing and erecting a custom steel building – and most steel buildings are custom designed and engineered. These are the basics you need to know about the stages of buying and construction steel buildings.

Engineering Considerations

Every steel building must be engineered to meet the standards required by the location where it will be erected. In order to build safely, the engineers who design your building will need information about your building site and the building codes and standards that your city or region requires. Engineering to meet those standards is vitally important. They dictate the amount of wind, snow, rain and other events and factors your building must be able to withstand. You should have those things on hand before you place your order so that you can get an accurate quote on your metal building.

Design

Every steel building is custom engineered to suit your needs – but you have to know what your needs are. If you’re working with an experienced supplier of steel buildings, your sales rep should be able to walk you through the design process and help you make the decisions you have to make. In some cases, you should have precise measurements. In other cases, you can count on the expertise of the supplier. If you’re building a garage, for example, you can expect the supplier/designer to know the standard recommended measurements for garages.

Choosing an Erector

Unless you’re buying a do-it-yourself metal building kit – and you have the skills to do the work – you’ll need a qualified contractor to erect your steel building Many suppliers of steel buildings maintain a list of contractors around the country who have experience working with their building systems. Engage an erector well before the expected delivery date of your steel building components because you’ll need them there to help unload and check all of the delivered items.

Site Preparation

You’ll need to get your site ready to build before your building is delivered. In most cases, that means clearing ground, making sure that trucks have access to a staging area to unload the building components and putting in the building foundation.

Delivery

When you’re building arrives, you’ll be responsible for unloading the building components, inspecting them and accepting them. It’s vital that you or your agent – that’s where your qualified erector comes in – inspects each piece as it comes off the truck, or you’ll be out of luck if you find that you’re missing pieces or that pieces were damaged in transit.

How to Recognize a Steel Buildings Scam Site

The popularity of steel buildings as garages, storage buildings, barns and other residential and agricultural uses has brought a lot of bad actors out of the woodwork. While most suppliers of steel buildings are legitimate, there’s a significant proportion of metal building sellers who are little better than scam artists. The scams range for passing off shoddy steel buildings as top quality to fake suppliers who exist long enough to take your deposit and disappear. Learning how to recognize a scam steel buildings site can help you protect yourself from the bad actors and purchase a high quality metal building for your property.

If It Sounds Too Good to Be True…

It’s been said before and it still bears repeating. If a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Shop around before you decide to make a deal so you have a good feel for the average prices being asked for the type of steel building you want to buy. If someone is offering a metal building at prices far lower than is typical, chances are good that the deal isn’t as good as it looks.

Flashy Website with Big CLEARANCE SALE Signs

Most reputable dealers of steel buildings don’t put their buildings on sale at low, bargain basement prices. If a website is plastered with big, flashing LOW, LOW PRICES banners, be suspicious. Chances are there are strings attached – or that the prices just aren’t that low.

No Information About Steel Specs

High quality metal buildings are made from 26 gauge steel or lower. A reputable dealer or manufacturer will always list the quality of steel for their buildings. If you can’t find that information on the website, or if the steel gauge listed is higher than that, they’re probably trying to pass off shoddy steel buildings as top quality construction.

High Pressure Sales Tactics

If a salesman tries to pressure you to buy by telling you that a deal is “good for today only” or another high pressure sales tactic, walk away. There are plenty of legitimate metal building suppliers who will wait for your answer – and be happy to answer all of your questions.

Not Answering Your Questions

And speaking of answering questions, be suspicious if the salesman you’re talking to can’t answer your questions about the process of buying or erecting your steel building. A legitimate supplier or manufacturer will employ sales people who can answer all your questions because they want to be sure you get what you need.

There are plenty of legitimate suppliers of steel buildings online. Take your time shopping around so you’re sure the deal you’re getting is really as good as it looks.

Eight Commercial Uses for Steel Buildings

Steel buildings are growing in popularity for residential uses – private garages, home workshops and storage buildings, to name a few – but their use is also spreading into commercial arenas in areas that aren’t typically acknowledged. Most people know about steel skyscrapers and office buildings, but here are eight commercial uses for steel buildings that you might not have considered.

Sports Facilities

Sure, metal is common in building huge sports arenas, but steel buildings are also the ideal choice for many smaller sports facilities. Quonset buildings are the perfect choice for buildings that need high center ceilings and unobstructed interior space. The domed steel buildings are perfect for use as indoor volleyball courts, tennis courts and indoor tracks. They’re also ideal for use as roller skating and ice skating rinks and as covers for indoor pools.

Individual Garages

Yes, there are enormous steel parking garages that are meant for retail and office parking, but some residential planners are using mini-storage steel buildings for a rather novel use – to provide individual garages for residents in duplex and townhouse developments. Unlike large parking lots and open parking garages, the mini-storage buildings provide each tenant with his or her own private space and storage area.

Boat Storage

As crew and sculling become more popular sports at the high school level, school departments and municipalities are faced with finding storage space for boats and other crew equipment. Steel buildings are affordable, weather-safe, meet all local building standards and provide unobstructed interior storage space for boat cradles and other boat storage.

Airplane Hangars

The arch-domed construction of most steel buildings provides plenty of interior space for garaging large vehicles like airplanes. With no need for interior support posts, metal buildings allow for easy maneuvering of airplanes and equipment.

Animal Shelters

Animal shelters, veterinarians’ offices and other animal-centered businesses turn to steel buildings for housing animals for many reasons. Steel is affordable and easy to build, but more importantly, it’s easy to disinfect and clean, a vital factor when you’re housing dogs, cats and other animals in large numbers.

Dance Studios

Metal buildings provide a number of important advantages when used as dance studios. The biggest of these, of course, is the completely open interior, which can easily be reconfigured for various uses. A steel building provides plenty of interior space for practice halls, dressing rooms and exhibition space.

Houses of Worship

It may be stretching the definition of commercial to apply it to churches, but they are public buildings meant to be used by a community. More and more church communities are choosing the convenience and affordability of steel when building a new home for their congregations.

Craft and Art Studios

Many crafters who choose to turn their hobbies into businesses find that a steel building is the ideal home for their workshop/studio. Steel buildings are attractive, affordable and easy to maintain, and can be built in far less time than conventional structures.

If you’re considering a small commercial business that needs a home, consider the many benefits and advantages of steel buildings for your particular application. You can build far more affordably and easily than you think.

Five Things You Shouldn’t Believe About Steel Buildings

Many people decide against steel garages, workshops, barns and other steel buildings because they’ve fallen for one of the many mistaken beliefs that exist about these affordable, convenient and very functional structures. These are just a few of the things people believe about metal buildings – and the reasons that none of them are true.

Metal Buildings Get Struck By Lightning More Often

Metal is a good conductor of electricity, so it’s easy to understand how this particular myth about steel buildings got started – and seems reasonable. In fact, industry research shows that a metal building is no more likely to be hit by lightning than a wood or masonry structure of the same size and shape. Steel buildings can be struck by lightning, just like any other type of building, but they don’t attract lightning. And if it really concerns you, you can always install a lightning protection system.

Steel Buildings Are All Ugly Little Boxes

Steel is one of the most versatile building materials available, and there are creative architects and engineers building and designing exciting visions and shapes with steel. There are octagonal churches, arch-framed buildings, Quonset buildings and many other styles of residential, agricultural and industrial steel buildings. The most popular small steel buildings – storage buildings, home workshops and garages – most often are designed to look like their stick-built counterparts, but offer many more benefits.

Steel Buildings Only Come in Certain Standard Sizes

Once upon a time, manufacturers ran off steel buildings in standard, stock sizes. Computer engineering and fabrication has changed all that. These days, most manufacturers design, modify and fabricate a steel building after a custom order is completed and received. There are far too many different building standards and codes to meet for a reputable company to run stock sizes only. Chances are good that skilled architects and engineers can create nearly any steel building you can envision.

Metal Wall Panels and Roof Panels Only Come in Standard Lengths

See above. While most supply centers do carry wall panels and roof panels in an array of standard lengths, it’s really no different than a store only stocking the most popular sizes of anything. Most steel building suppliers will happily order custom size panels in exactly the length you need for your metal building project.

Cold-Formed Steel Is Too Light to Be Strong

Light-gauge steel buildings – the most common residential and small metal buildings – are generally made of cold-formed steel. While the steel components might be lightweight, they’re custom-engineered for incredible strength. Between the strength of the materials and the inherent strength of the structural design, lightweight steel buildings can easily withstand heavy snow loads and hurricane force winds.

Don’t let the common misapprehensions about steel buildings stop you from investing in the best solution to your storage and or extra room needs.

Debunking Myths About Steel Buildings Specials

When you’re shopping around for steel buildings, you’ll run into a lot of websites offering specials on metal buildings Many of the “specials” are blatantly untrue, and the websites are using deceptive sales practices. If you run into a business using one of these tactics to sell you steel buildings, be very skeptical. Better yet, look for a legitimate supplier of high quality metal buildings.

Free Freight

One of the most common dodgy tactics used by high-pressure steel building sellers is a promise of free shipping if you buy in the next 24 to 48 hours. The purpose of this tactic is to pressure you into making a quick decision and stop you from shopping around for a better price. Reputable dealers will cost out every expense associated with your order, including the shipping. You can be certain that the company is not absorbing the freight cost. Instead, they’ve simply added the cost of shipping to the upfront cost of the building and marked a $0.00 on the shipping line. If you shop around, you’ll find the same deal or better on steel garages, storage sheds and other metal buildings – even when you include the shipping costs.

All Steel Buildings 50% Off

This is just another sales gimmick, especially when you run into it online. Chances are good that if you shop around to other sites selling metal buildings you’ll find that the supposed 50% off price is no different than the standard selling price at a reputable dealer. Typically, the dealer has inflated the listed price for the buildings on sale, and will offer you a great “discount” if you’re willing to commit to a decision now. That’s not saying there’s anything wrong with the buildings they’re selling – it’s just a dodgy selling tactic to make you think you got a great deal when you might do better elsewhere.

Unclaimed Steel Buildings for Sale

This may be the most common cheesy selling tactic used in the metal building industry. When you cal to inquire, the sales person will tell you that he just happens to have a building in exactly – or close to it – the size you’re looking for, and it will meet your local building codes, and you can have it for an amazingly low price because another customer ordered it and walked away from the deal. The premise is completely untrue 99% of the time. Steel buildings are generally only fabricated after the order is placed, and each one is precision engineered to meet the standards of a specific area or municipality. The chance that there is a building sitting on the lot that will exactly meet the specs you need – and for which someone else has already paid 25 percent of the price – are just about nil.

There are plenty of reputable dealers of steel buildings that will not play pricing games with you. Shop around for the best price from a legitimate supplier so that you can be comfortable you’re honestly getting the best deal possible.

Tips for Buying Snow-Resistant Steel Buildings

Over the last few years, historic blizzards have whacked the East Coast and the Midwest, and nearly every major blizzard is accompanied by at least one story about a steel building roof collapse. If you’re purchasing a steel building for any purpose, it’s important for you to take the changing weather patterns into account, and shop for steel buildings that are designed to withstand the weather extremes in your area. These tips can help you choose a metal building that will withstand heavy snow loads and extreme cold.

Bulk Up Your Foundation

While most steel buildings don’t need much in the way of foundations, a building is only as strong as the foundation it sits upon. Check with your local zoning office and code office to get a list of the safety standards your steel building has to meet. Most metal building suppliers will custom engineer your building to meet your local standards, but it’s up to you to make sure that your foundation meets the standards as well. If you have the option, choose to exceed the standards for a better safety rating.

Request Additional Structural Support

Your steel building supplier will be working with design engineers whose job it is to make sure your steel building meets or exceeds your local building standards. In most northern areas, those will include the minimum load bearing standards for buildings of various sizes. Those standards are bare minimums, based on historical data. With the weather in flux and each year’s snow loads seeming to get heavier, it makes sense to request additional structural support for vertical loads to be on the safe side. It’s always better to be safe than sorry.

Choose a Pitched Roof Design

The steeper the pitch of the roof, the more easily your steel building will shed snow and rain. Most collapses are due to snow collecting on a flat or low-pitched roof. In most cases, you’ll pay a little more for a more steeply pitched roof, but you’ll reap a number of benefits for the added cost:

-          Your roof will be easier to clear because gravity does most of the work.

-          You’ll have more usable space inside the building.

-          Pitched roofs are less likely to develop leaks.

-          Pitched roofs are safer in heavy snow areas.

Choose a Dark Roof

While lighter roofs are more efficient in warm regions, dark roofs are the better choice in areas where you spend more on heating than cooling costs and where there is a high likelihood of heavy snow. Dark roof coatings absorb heat and help melt the snow more quickly and efficiently. If you’re building in zone 4 or above, choose a darker roof coating.

As the weather changes, many areas will tighten their building codes to reflect the changing needs. Stay a step ahead when you’re ordering your metal building. Steel buildings can easily be engineered to exceed your local standards for snow loads. It only makes sense to spend a little extra for safety’s sake.

Six Things to Look for When Pricing Steel Buildings

So you’ve decided that a steel building makes the most sense for your construction project. Now it’s just a matter of deciding who you should buy your metal building kit from and how much you should pay for it. Pricing out steel buildings may seem straightforward, but it can be a tricky process. Here are six important things to look for when comparison shopping for steel buildings.

Broker or Manufacturer?

It will nearly always be cheaper to buy a metal building from the manufacturer, but there can be disadvantages, too. If you’re going to cut out the middle man, be sure that you know the right questions to ask the manufacturer’s rep, who may not be used to dealing with end users. A manufacturer may simply assume that you understand certain things about the business, which could put you at a disadvantage when your steel building arrives – with no doors or windows.

What Components Are Included?

As noted above, the basic prices for steel buildings seldom include little niceties like doors, windows and hardware for them, though the walls and ends will have the openings cut for them. It’s often cheaper to order your doors and windows at the same time, but be aware that you’ll pay extra for them.

What Are the Payment Terms?

Generally, contracts for steel buildings require several payments. The first is a non-refundable deposit to secure your building and get engineers started working on the design. Some manufacturers then require a second payment before any of the actual fabrication for your metal building is begun. The final payment is usually due upon delivery of your building components. Check your contract carefully so that you know exactly how much is due and by when.

Is the Building Standards-Compliant?

Before you place your order for a metal building, check with your local zoning board and code board to get the most up-to-date building standards for your area. The steel building you buy must meet the building codes for your area, so it’s vital that the engineers have those codes in order to ensure that the building they design for you will be in compliance with local building standards. Have the codes in hand before placing your order so that the first quote you receive will reflect any customization required to meet local building codes.

What Are the Terms of Delivery?

The cost of your steel building will seldom include delivery, even if the manufacturer makes the arrangements to deliver the building to your work site. Make sure you get the full price, including delivery charges – which, by the way, seldom include unloading the building at your end of the delivery – when you get your quote.

What Kind of Foundation Does the Building Need?

Most small steel buildings, including garages and storage sheds, don’t need a dug foundation. They’re just fine with a poured concrete foundation. Some small buildings may even be perfectly safe with pier footings or a pier foundation. The cost of the foundation will add to the overall cost of your building, though, so be sure to price it in when doing comparison pricing for steel buildings.

Frequently Asked Questions About Residential Steel Buildings

Steel buildings are more and more popular with homeowners who want to add storage space, garages, barns and other outbuildings to their property. If you’re considering a sturdy metal building to alleviate your storage needs, you may have some questions about the use, costs and other factors related to steel buildings. This list of frequently asked questions about steel buildings may have the answers you need.

How Much Does a Steel Building Cost?

The prices for steel buildings vary considerably, depending on size, style, finishing touches and other factors. In general, though, you can expect to pay anywhere from 50 to 75 percent the cost per square foot for metal buildings as you would for wood-frame or concrete construction.

Can I Really Put Up a Steel Building Myself?

Smaller steel buildings are ideal do-it-yourself projects for experienced home handymen, but they’re not great for everyone. If you have reasonable DIY skills and some handy friends with muscles, though, you can assemble a metal building kit without a contractor – or any heavy machinery. In fact, all you really need are basic power tools for tightening connectors.

What Kind of Foundation Do Metal Buildings Need?

In most cases, smaller metal buildings, including storage sheds and garages, only require a cement slab foundation. However, the foundation is vital to safe construction of your steel building so most experts recommend that you hire a professional contractor to do the actual digging and pouring of the slab even if you intend to do the rest of the construction yourself.

How Long Will a Steel Building Last?

Most well-made steel storage sheds and garages can be expected to stand for 25 years or longer. Many steel buildings that were erected as “temporary” storage buildings in the 1950s are still standing 60 years later.

Will a Metal Building Rust Away?

Modern steel buildings nearly all ship with powder-coating that is resistant to rust and corrosion, including corrosion from salt air and pollution. As long as the finish isn’t damaged or scratched through, it should protect the metal from rust, acid and other types of corrosion for decades.

What Kind of Maintenance Do Steel Buildings Need?

One of the beauties of steel buildings is that they require very little time and attention. Steel is impervious to rot and damage from insects and rodents. It doesn’t shrink and swell with moisture and doesn’t get waterlogged and frozen in winter. The only routine maintenance your steel building will require is regular washing and cleaning to remove debris and dirt.

Steel buildings are the ideal choice for small residential buildings, such as garages and storage sheds. You’ll find a wide variety of steel buildings for various purposes at brokers and manufacturers’ websites online.

Choose Steel Buildings for Affordable Guest Houses

Is your empty nest filling back up with adult children and their families moving back home? The tight job market has made it difficult for many young adults to make it on their own and the obvious choice is to move back home with mom and dad. That can be awkward and uncomfortable for both kids and parents who are used to their privacy. A guest house offers an excellent solution for everyone involved, but building guest house can be incredibly expensive. Steel buildings, which are often used as garages and barns, also make excellent guest houses with just a few modifications.

Affordable and Easy to Build

Most people are more familiar with steel buildings used as storage buildings and garden houses, but the same structures can serve quite well as small guest houses, complete with plumbing for bathrooms and kitchens, and wiring for electricity, Internet and cable. Today’s steel buildings are very affordable, and if you’re reasonably handy, you can save on the cost of construction by doing the basic construction yourself. Metal building kits provide everything you need to put up the exterior of your building to customize as you desire.

Eminently Customizable

The many styles of steel buildings on the market make it easy to choose a structure that’s distinctive and attractive and that looks right at home next to the main house. You can choose from modified Quonset buildings, A-frames and arch frame construction, and pick out your choice of exterior color and trim. The interior is even more customizable. Steel buildings have no interior support columns, so you can adapt the interior to suit any floor plan you want.

Attractive and Easy to Maintain

The many choices of exterior color and trim makes it easy to match your guest house to your main house, making it an attractive addition to your property. You can choose from a number of trim packages, windows, doors and even skylights to make them comfortable and attractive inside and out. Even better, metal buildings require very little in the way of upkeep and maintenance. A new steel building won’t require repainting for decades. You’ll just need to hose it down once or twice a year to keep it clean and fresh.

Privacy and Comfort

Steel buildings are the ideal solution when you need to add living space to your property. With the right modifications and additions, a metal building is a comfortable and cost-effective way to provide a place for your adult children without sacrificing your privacy or theirs.

Consider All Your Options When Choosing Steel Buildings

Are you considering a new building to expand your business or provide more storage for your home? Steel buildings offer many advantages for nearly any type of structure. Versatile and customizable, they’re suited for many domestic uses, from guest houses to garages. You can use steel buildings as barns and riding arenas, sports arenas, office space or retail stores. Larger metal buildings are even more versatile, housing anything from an airplane to a new factory building.

Steel Building Advantages

Steel buildings are easy to erect. Since the building components are fabricated offsite, metal buildings go up fast and are usually ready to occupy much more quickly than masonry or stick-built structures. Whether you choose to put up a metal building yourself or hire a construction company to do it, you’ll save time and money on the construction costs. You can make design decisions to customize steel buildings yourself and watch your vision come to life right before your eyes. Before you place an order for a steel building, though, take some time to read a few buying tips about the many options available for steel building design.

Check Local Building Codes

Be sure you know the rules and regulations about steel buildings in your municipality or state. Some cities confine steel buildings to commercial districts only while others have specific rules about easement and building codes for steel buildings. You’ll also need a copy of all local building codes and regulations for a building of the size you’re planning so that the engineers designing your metal building know which standards they need to meet.

Make Sure the Price Quoted Is for Your Specific Building Codes

Don’t let a fly-by-night steel buildings manufacturer try to tell you that there’s such a thing as “standard building codes” when quoting you a price. While many areas have very similar building codes, every city, town and county has requirements in their codes that may add or subtract from the cost of your metal building. A reputable steel building broker will quote you a price based on the actual applicable building codes for your area.

Research the Steel Buildings Supplier

Before you place your order for a metal building, do some research on the company you’re planning to buy from. At the very least, check the Better Business Bureau in their home city or area to see if the company is listed with them and what grade the BBB has given them and how well they handle any complaints.

Ask the Experts

Any supplier of steel buildings has built up an expertise in the area that basic research on the Internet can’t match. Take full advantage of that knowledge when placing your order. Describe your needs and the use for your metal building in depth. Chances are that the distributor has supplied steel buildings for the same use and can offer you some valuable insights.

Advantages of Recreational Steel Buildings

Building a recreational facility can be extremely expensive, but there are ways to bring the cost down. Whether you’re putting together a gymnasium for your personal use, an indoor tennis court or community center, steel buildings are among the best options for your design needs. An expert steel building manufacturer can work with you on a custom design for a gymnasium, indoor soccer field, ice skating rink or even an indoor beach volleyball kit at a fraction of the cost you’d pay for a concrete or wooden structure.

The Many Benefits of Steel Buildings for Recreation

The basic benefits of steel buildings are well-known: they’re durable, affordable and quick to erect, among other things. But a metal building also offers specific benefits when it’s used for recreational purposes. They include:

Open Floor Plans

Because steel buildings don’t require any type of interior posts or load-bearing walls for support, they offer a completely unobstructed interior space. That gives you plenty of space for playing courts, fields and even practice rings for equestrian use, as well as the perfect setup for audience seats. When you choose a metal building as your entertainment structure, no one will end up sitting in a seat behind a beam.

Ceiling Height

There are steel buildings available with ceiling heights that can accommodate almost any type of sport or activity. Domed buildings are ideal for sports that require height – volleyball games, for example.

Attractive Designs

Steel buildings are both functional and attractive, and offer a wide array of panel, trim and exterior options. There are standard colors available for most trim and side panels, but most steel building manufacturers will also work with you to create custom colors, finishes and combinations.

Low Maintenance

Steel buildings require far less maintenance than nearly any other kind of construction. They come with rust-resistant and corrosion-resistant finishes, so you don’t have to worry about repainting every two to three years. It’s enough to give it a good hose down with a pressure washer to remove exterior dirt a few times a year.

Short Construction Time

The longer your recreation center takes to build, the more time you don’t have the use of it. When you choose a metal building, the construction time is dramatically cut. You can prepare the ground and foundation while the building components are being fabricated and begin construction of the outer shell as soon as it arrives. Depending on the size of the building and the experience of your work crew, your building can be up and ready for occupancy before you’d have the framework built for a masonry or wooden structure.

Recreational steel buildings are attractive, functional and cost effective. Whether you’re planning to build a small home gymnasium or a full-size stadium, check out the many advantages of metal buildings.