5 Steps to Starting a Successful Metal Building Project
Congratulations! You have decided to embark upon on a steel building project. These 5 steps will go a long way to helping ensure that your metal building project stays on schedule and comes in on budget.
So, you have decided to embark on a steel building project and are eager to get the ball rolling. But where do you start? Who do you call first? Even though you are not a construction expert, what things can you do to help ensure that your project is successful, comes in on budget and is free from aggravation and stress?
This blog article will offer a few tips that will go a long way to helping make your steel building project a success.
Get your finances in order
Largely speaking, financing is not available in the steel building industry. For smaller residential and small business projects that are not financed by a bank, if you can’t afford to write a check for your project, your project is pretty much dead in the water.
If you have no idea what kind of costs you should be anticipating, reach out to a few steel building companies and ask them for some rough ballpark estimates on a building similar to one you are thinking about in your area.
An experienced estimator should be able to provide you with a rough ballpark estimate for your building and erecting.
Additionally, more experienced estimators might also be able to share some basic concrete engineering, materials and labor costs with you as well.
Visit your building department
A visit to your local building department is a crucial step in the building process. Whether you like it or not, your local building department is going to have a lot of control over your project and will likely be doing the final building inspection, so communicate effectively with them and educate yourself on what they expect. Here are some of the more important things you should discuss with them:
Talk to your HOA
For residential projects, after leaving your local building department, you should be visiting your Homeowner’s Association (HOA) if your project is in a community governed by one.
Your HOA very well might have their OWN restrictions regarding what you can build on your property. Here are some important things you should discuss with them:
Obtain steel building quotes
Start by searching the internet for steel building companies – visit their websites and make a list of the sites that convey a sense of professionalism and provide informative information. A reputable steel building company with meaningful experience is going to be eager to share their experience with their site visitors and prospective customers.
After you have narrowed down a small list of prospective steel building suppliers, perform separate internet searches for the company’s name followed by the words “rip-off”, “complaint”, “lawsuit”, and “attorney general”. While no company will have a 100% perfect customer satisfaction record, you certainly want to avoid any company whose name appears over and over again in the search results for the aforementioned terms!
Contact the companies that remain on your list and share the information you gathered in the previous steps. Ask questions – take notes – and listen to the estimator to determine his level of experience. A good estimator will ask you a lot of questions as well as sharing some of his knowledge with you. If the focus of the conversation repeatedly comes back to placing an order immediately, move on to the next company.
Compare quotes
Making sure you are comparing apples-to-apples is the hardest and most crucial of steps. Comparing quotes from different steel building companies is sometimes difficult for those of us IN the business. If you intend on simply tossing out the most expensive and least expensive quotes and selecting one in the middle – you’ll be making a very big mistake that you’ll have time to regret later.
When comparing quotes from different companies look at the following:
The Buck Steel Advantage
Whether you are considering a 40′ x 60′ metal garage, a 10,000 sq. ft. steel warehouse, a 3,000 sq. ft. steel airplane hangar, a 30,000 sq. ft. open steel riding arena, or a new steel church for your congregation, a steel building project can sometimes be intimidating to navigate alone. Whether for personal or business use, you want to minimize the cost of your steel building project while maximizing the benefit it provides.
Why not give yourself The Buck Steel Advantage and have a reputable metal building supplier, serving the steel building customer for nearly 20 years, with 1,000’s of completed projects, guide you through the metal building process?
Getting started is easy with Buck Steel
Request A Quote Today or Call (866) 574-2825 to speak to a member of our team.
We welcome your comments and questions!