Steel Buildings

[jaydee325]

I'm planning on putting up an equipment storage building within the next year. Interestingly, I got an unsolicited e-mail from Southern Steel Buildings.

Initially, I'm seeing red flags since the website only has contact info in the way of a phone number (800) and they cover a significant area. No info concerning their physical location. Their "testimonials" are glowing.

Does anyone have experience with this outfit?

 

[Rebeldad1]

Find someone local!!!

Make sure the building and installers are local!!!

I searched a couple sellers and the best one was fairly local. Easy to call and talk to.

Ordered the building and put my 10% down. They said because they were busy maybe 8 weeks.
It drug out to 12 and then more. The excuise was because we were a couple hours away the installers wanted to wait till someone else in our area wanted a building too.
A little peeved I asked for my deposit so I could get this done. They said no.
After a 7 month wait..... The installers confirmed a date. When they showed up their license plate was from Utah.... We are in western Washington state. They drove out to Washington to do ours and one other.
The building turned out great but... one of the rollup doors was a ***** to open and close. I didnt notice this for a couple days after they were done. I called the local company I ordered it from and they said they didnt install it call Utah.
Utah said they would take a look next time they were around here. 6 months later no show.
They offered $50.00 to have someone local fix it. The door opening was 1 1/2" out of level on one side not allowing the door to roll.
After much bitching and pictures they finally gave in to up the dollar amount to $200.00.

Ironically I have found 2 local installers less than 1 hour from me. Wish they would have advertized better.

GO LOCAL ONLY!!!

 

[Molalla1]

Find someone local!!!

Make sure the building and installers are local!!!

I searched a couple sellers and the best one was fairly local. Easy to call and talk to.

Ordered the building and put my 10% down. They said because they were busy maybe 8 weeks.
It drug out to 12 and then more. The excuise was because we were a couple hours away the installers wanted to wait till someone else in our area wanted a building too.
A little peeved I asked for my deposit so I could get this done. They said no.
After a 7 month wait..... The installers confirmed a date. When they showed up their license plate was from Utah.... We are in western Washington state. They drove out to Washington to do ours and one other.
The building turned out great but... one of the rollup doors was a ***** to open and close. I didnt notice this for a couple days after they were done. I called the local company I ordered it from and they said they didnt install it call Utah.
Utah said they would take a look next time they were around here. 6 months later no show.
They offered $50.00 to have someone local fix it. The door opening was 1 1/2" out of level on one side not allowing the door to roll.
After much bitching and pictures they finally gave in to up the dollar amount to $200.00.

Ironically I have found 2 local installers less than 1 hour from me. Wish they would have advertized better.

GO LOCAL ONLY!!!

I will agree with this for sure . . .

 

[caver]

Try going to google maps and zoom out centered roughly on your area. Say the map screen is 100 miles by 100 miles. In the search box type in "steel buildings" and see what shows up. Sometimes you will get a small button at the top of the map that says "search area" try clicking on that. I've had it bring up business I didn't even know about. You might try "pole barn" also in your search. If the business is in a small community they may not have great internet and rely on word of mouth or more traditional ways of telling about their business. Not all the search hits may be what you are looking for. Also, there's an outfit on ebay called "durobuildings" that sells steel beam buildings and the Quonset hut style buildings. Some of those outfits I've requested quotes which just puts you on a salesman's leads.

 

[fried1765]

I'm planning on putting up an equipment storage building within the next year. Interestingly, I got an unsolicited e-mail from Southern Steel Buildings.

Initially, I'm seeing red flags since the website only has contact info in the way of a phone number (800) and they cover a significant area. No info concerning their physical location. Their "testimonials" are glowing.

Does anyone have experience with this outfit?

I TOTALLY disagree with the comment:...... "make sure the building and installers are local" !

I have a Morton building (Morton, Illinois) that was built for me in the absolute most Eastern part of Massachusetts (1200 miles from Morton, Il).
The building is now 36 years old, is near salt water, and remains in excellent condition.

There was a major warranty issue in the 1st year, and Morton stood 100% behind the repair.
There are thousands of Morton buildings throughout the USA.
There are many Morton buildings in Michigan.

Morton may not be the cheapest, but I am absolutely convinced that they are the BEST!

 

[jaydee325]

I agree with local and that was one of the red flags I perceived.

Morton is on my short list and they have a location/dealer about an hour from me (Three Rivers, Mi).

If anyone in the SW Michigan area has any recommendations for pole barn or steel building contractors, please let me know. A PM will be fine.

Thanks all for the input.

I TOTALLY disagree with the comment:...... "make sure the building and installers are local" !

I have a Morton building (Morton, Illinois) that was built for me in the absolute most Eastern part of Massachusetts (1200 miles from Morton, Il).
The building is now 36 years old, is near salt water, and remains in excellent condition.

There was a major warranty issue in the 1st year, and Morton stood 100% behind the repair.
There are thousands of Morton buildings throughout the USA.
There are many Morton buildings in Michigan.

Morton may not be the cheapest, but I am absolutely convinced that they are the BEST!

 

[cjoffutt]

You were able to get a call back from Morton? That's honestly impressive. I called (3) times this late summer when I wanted to get quoted. Never once did I get a call back from them. Called them last week to see if they would/could sell the 93" wide fiberglass insulation, and what do you know, no call back again (local metal seller is out and won't have any for 3 months they claim). I guess they just don't want my money?

FBI straight up refused to quote me when I told them I wanted to use 6/12 scissor trusses instead of the traditional 4/12 flat bottom trusses. But at least they'll sell me insulation.

Ended up going with a local polebarn builder but pushed the start date back a good month since they're just a small single operation instead of several dedicated crews.

 

[3Ts]

Morton may be the best - maybe, but in my case I can put up 3 buildings for what they are charging compared to a local builder - and the local builder will put up what I want. Morton wants to put up something different but still the same size.

I'd go local!

 

[windy acers]

I'm planning on putting up an equipment storage building within the next year. Interestingly, I got an unsolicited e-mail from Southern Steel Buildings.

Initially, I'm seeing red flags since the website only has contact info in the way of a phone number (800) and they cover a significant area. No info concerning their physical location. Their "testimonials" are glowing.

Does anyone have experience with this outfit?

In 2017 I had southern-steel-buildings.com install a 24x24 with 2-12-foot lean too's 1 on each side. you are responsible for a level spot. This building is installed without a foundation. it was put up by 3. (s.of the boarder) hard working men with out hardly a break in 10 hours. it is fastened to the ground by 3 foot long rebar every 4 feet. Total cost was 7700.00.with two 9x9 doors and a man door and total of 1 foot taller than standard to make the lean-too 8 ft. If you were to purchase the material it would be 1000.00 less, I thought it was well worth it and am very pleased. All I needed was a shelter for my tractors, boat and shelter for horses. They were very knowledgeable and great to work with. They are located in Tennessee. you don't pay until your happy with there work. This is not a typical pole barn. It is the same as you see for sale along the road side.

 

[747driver]

Morton may seem expensive but you have to compare the materials they use and the warranty. Plus trying to find a local builder was not available. I had a 30x50x16 built by Morton last year. Had to wait 5 months to get as they were booked our that far. We live in the mtns of Tenn. so they only have a 1 regional office. Pole barns are a hot item that is in high demand...so expect to wait. They built what I wanted and worked with me on cost There is no wood post in the ground....they only use the 'perma column' system.No worries about rotting post ! The metal roofing and siding is 19 gauge steel. I have a 50 yr. warranty on the building ( i won't live that long though ) and a 5 year wind warranty where if any damage is due to winds it all gets replaced at Morton expense. They built it in 6 days....all Morton employees. Cost was $38,000. I had 4 skylights, bottom interior liner board on lower 3' of walls, vented eaves and ridge, 12"overhangs and gutters installed as extras. Plus 1 14x14 and 1 12x10 overhead doors. Good luck with your project !