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A Steel Building Buyers Guide: What to Look For

Truss Building Sketch | Metal Building Components

If you are reading our steel building buyers guide, you have at least started considering erecting a steel building on your property. Perhaps you have a small business and you need storage for materials. Maybe you need a private hangar for your airplane. You could even need paddocks for your horses or hobby area such as a new garage for working on vehicles.

Fortunately, steel building options are unlimited and can help with any project you’re planning!

Benefits of Steel Buildings

Until recently, steel buildings have been used mostly for commercial and industrial areas. Today, steel buildings offer versatile and economical solutions for storage and work requirements, especially when compared with other building materials. Purchasing a steel building is an investment for contractors, brokers, builders, and individuals alike. However, steel buildings can sometimes be difficult to purchase because of the many steps that can be involved.

Steel Truss Frame Agricultural

With unlimited choices available to meet your design criteria, here is a condensed, step by step process to help you in preparing to buy your steel building kit.

Choosing Your Steel Building

Decide on a size: Think about what you will be using your steel building for. What size building is necessary for your project? Is a small garage ok? Or do you need a bigger storage area for RV’s or large equipment? Steel buildings can be as small or big as you need them to be.

Plan your door and window openings: Where will you need door openings to be located? What kind of door openings? How big do these openings need to be to accommodate your needs? Do you need any window openings? Take a look at some pictures of other buildings if you need inspiration.

Check in with your permit authority: Now that you know the size of the building you would like to have and you have a general idea of where you’d like your openings to be, you’ll need to check in with your local permit authority. There is a lot that you’ll need to talk with them about, but the following information will be needed for purchasing your steel building kit:

  • Is there a building size limit for your area?Steel Truss Design | Metal Truss Building Kits
  • Do they require engineered stamped drawings?
  • Do they require engineered design calculations?
  • Do they require engineered foundation plans?
  • What is the ground snow load requirement for your area?
  • If roof snow load is provided, is it reducible?
  • What is the wind load requirement for your area?

This information is crucial as it plays a huge role in the engineering and overall cost of the building. Be sure to have these answers before requesting any quotes to make sure your pricing is as accurate as possible from the beginning.

Consider any options that you would like to have: Do you need insulation to help with hot or cold weather conditions? Would you like roof overhangs on the gable ends or eave sides? Would you like to have a colored roof or a wainscot on the walls? How about gutters and downspouts? Give this some thought. A lot of options can be more for aesthetic purposes such as a wainscot. Others can be more functional such as insulation.

Request a quote: Now that you have considered and gathered all this information, you are ready to start searching for who you’d like to buy your steel building kit from! Each steel building supplier will have differences in what they offer, which is why taking the time to request various quotes is an important step in the process.

While there will be other sub-steps involved in your project outside of the steel building kit itself, these 5 steps should help you be the most prepared when you are requesting quotes and deciding who to buy from. Keeping this steel building buyers guide in mind ahead of time should help reduce any surprises that come up as you move through the purchasing process!

When choosing which company to buy from, be sure to take in to account the strength and durability of the item you will be buying. A quick recap of the differences between the main types of buildings:

  • Steel lasts longer than wood pole barns
  • Steel truss buildings are much stronger and more durable than tubular steel buildings
  • The strength of a steel truss building comes from the engineering design while rigid frame buildings strength comes from the thickness and bulkiness of steel
  • Steel truss buildings are one of the best values in the steel building industry, not only due to their sturdiness but also because of their economical pricing

Contact the Experts

Buying a steel building does not have to be a scary process! Have fun with it and remember to never hesitate to ask any questions of your suppliers as you check items off your list. For more information about our steel building buyers guide, contact the team at Simpson Steel Building Company today.

1117 Solitude Drive Van Buren, AR 72956