Steel Buildings - Too Many to Decide

   / Steel Buildings - Too Many to Decide #1  

Zinno87

Bronze Member
Joined
Nov 11, 2006
Messages
88
Location
Westwood, MA
Tractor
JD 4320
I'm thinking about putting up a steel building to store my equipment, set up a shop, etc. I've looked at General Steel, Butler, Olympia, and Heritage. I haven't gotten a price back from Butler yet, but I feel that is going to put them out of the running. Here's what I'm asking them for:

1 - 30'x60'x12' Building
2 - 10'x10' Overhead Doors
2 - 30"x72" Entry Doors
4 - 3'x5' Windows
4/12 Pitch
6" of Insulation in the Ceiling

I'm probably going to put the building on piers, as opposed to pouring a slab.

Heritage came in at around $17,000 just for the building, no foundation, no construction.

Have any of you ever put one of these up? How much did you pay? How do you like it?

Thanks
 
   / Steel Buildings - Too Many to Decide #2  
I put up a bolt up 30x40. 4/12 pitch, 1 10x10 roll up door, 1 walk thru door, 3 windows, insulated, 2' overhang all around, gutters. Building kit price was about $9500. Slab (with extra steel and concrete due to soil conditions here) was about $6500. That made my price $16,000 plus my labor. But I work cheap. Got mine from Mueller, but they are no where near you.
 
   / Steel Buildings - Too Many to Decide
  • Thread Starter
#3  
I think that's where the problem in comparing these lies. I have to purchase a building that can withstand the 2 and 3 foot snow storms that we get. Why'd you have to go with a slab......clay, expansive soils?
 
   / Steel Buildings - Too Many to Decide #4  
30x60 is on the large size for bolt together kits. There is a point when it's cheaper to weld up a metal frame. Before buying a metal kit, I'd also talk to some local builders who specialize in metal buildings. You could go wood too, but since you said metal, that's what I figure you want.

As for attaching the building to piers. Why? It's not like you can just drill a hole in the ground and expect the concrete to stay there when the building is attached. I'd imagine that something like that would take some serious calculations and engineering. Or are you thinking of a long pier the full length of the building? Even that would have to be engineers to determing how much, how deep and how thick it would have to be, not to mention how to tie it all together. Not a simple task at all.

The full slab is ideal for metal buildings because it holds the entire building together, it supporst the metal posts and as an added bonus, it gives you a smooth solid surface.

If you don't want concrete, then wood poles work well. There strength is based on how far in the ground the posts set. 4 feet down in compacte earth has a tremendous amount of strength without the need for any concrete. It's the cheapest way to build a barn that I know of.

Good luck,
Eddie
 
   / Steel Buildings - Too Many to Decide #5  
I think that's where the problem in comparing these lies. I have to purchase a building that can withstand the 2 and 3 foot snow storms that we get.

Since you have to meet building codes for snow load, check out these guys. They meet the hurricane wind loads for this area. Steel buildings| surplus, discount metal buildings, storage, carports, steel workshops USBuildings
I ordered one back in Sep 06. The model A in a 30'W x 60'L x 14' 3.5"H for a total price including shipping to my door for 7392.00 I'm sure the price has gone up since then because of the steel market but it may be worth a look.
 
   / Steel Buildings - Too Many to Decide #6  
I built a Heritage 40x40x10, 3" insulation, 12' roll-up, skylights and gutters. 4.5 years ago the kit was a little over 9k delivered, now it's around 15k. It went up nice. Insulation under the panels is the trickiest part. I did everything myself with help from friends and a rented forklift. About 15k with slab and electricity. I'm pretty happy with it. A garage type door would have been better and cheaper than the roll-up.

I recently helped a friend with his 30 x 50 arch building. Work was different and I think more time consuming than for my building, especially with no insulation. It takes a good size crew to raise the arches.






I've heard of some very nice quotes in different areas for pole buildings - installed for $10 - $13sqft with slab. Very hard to beat. Lots of pole buildings in Wisconsin - My parent's is doing very well after about 30 years.
 
   / Steel Buildings - Too Many to Decide #7  
Zinno87 said:
I think that's where the problem in comparing these lies. I have to purchase a building that can withstand the 2 and 3 foot snow storms that we get. Why'd you have to go with a slab......clay, expansive soils?
I put in slab because that is what I wanted. And yes, the soil expands and contracts significantly, opening cracks 2"-3" wide and more than a foot deep in the dry summer and then closing with heavy rains.
The building is on land I own but have not built on yet. So I built it to keep my tractor and other stuff in and to live in temporarily when we decide to build. I put in a bathroom with shower and a kitchen area with sink and cabinets. We go up for a weekend occasionally. But those features will also be nice when I can turn it into my shop.
 
   / Steel Buildings - Too Many to Decide #8  
THe snow load is not big deal, as all pre-engineered steel buildings can be designed for any snow load/wind load needed. But why go with 4:12 pitch? Most steel buildings are base priced at either 0.5:12 or 1:12 pitch, and anything steeper adds to the cost. Personally, I think that for a stitch down roof you need at least 1:12 for good drainage, and I used 2:12 on mine which looks and works great.

As for piers, it can be done, but you will need very large concrete piers of about a 1 to 1-1/2 yards of concrete for each of the main rafter columns. On a 60' building you will probably have two rafters at 20' on center, so that equals 4 piers. Generally these piers are poured as part of the foundation and have two rebars each that come out of the side of the pier into the floor slab, and are connected to the two rebars from the opposite side within the concrete floor itself. This ties the piers together from one side to the other. Since you can't do that without a floor, you will need larger and deeper piers to provide more stability and support.

The end wall columns are much smaller and don't need nearly as large of a support structure.

Also, stay away from General Steel. They are just a jobber/retailer and don't build any buildings themselves. I know they advertise a lot on the radio and in local newspapers, but BBB doesn't give them a good rating at all. Also, their sales people are on commission, as are most of the others as well, but their's seem to be pushier.

For that matter, almost all of the steel building dealers on the Internet are nothing but jobbers that sell buildings mfg at one of about 8 contract mfgs scattered around the country. Each dealer will claim that the address it is being shipped from, which is always different than the company's own address, is a mfg facility they own. But once you start checking you realize that a lot of the different companies are all shipping from the same locations, i.e. a contract mfg facility.

Several exceptions to the above are Nucor Steel Buildings, Varco Pruden and Butler I think has their own also.

In fact, there is nothing that would prevent you yourself from going into business, setting up an agreement with the contract mfgs and becoming a completely new building supplier. In fact, I really think that a lot of the companies are nothing more than an office with a few phones and a few sales people taking orders for another company to mfg and ship. All that's needed is a phone, a computer and the design software that allows the saleperson to plug in sizes, design specs, etc, and it will automatically calculate the materials needed and the costs.
 

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