Prefab steel buildings
A good first question for the buyer of a prefab steel building is this: "Can you compromise?" Purchasers who can meet their needs with a pre-existing design can save thousands of dollars, according to the Metal Building Manufacturers Association.
Of course, vendors are prepared to incorporate virtually any and all design requests for a prefab steel building. Many will advertise custom designs first, in their quests for larger contracts. Standard designs can often meet your needs, however, especially for such basic steel buildings such as warehouses or product distribution centers.
If you do have specific customization needs, try to keep them to a minimum. The more design work you have to do, the more you push up the price of your building before a single piece of steel is delivered.
Prefab steel building buyer's tips
- Explore pre-designed or cookie-cutter choices first.
- Beware of sales representatives who offer "the last one on the lot" or other suspicious discounts.
- No matter how restricted your budget, insist on warranties of 50 years for the structure and 20 years for the paint, along with I-beam construction.
- Estimate the needed number of doors, windows and other openings. The fewer, the cheaper.
- If posts would not interfere with the building's function, leave them be and save money. But if the building is for a purpose such as a skating rink, well, posts are out of the question.
- Give special consideration to the separate contractor who will lay the concrete foundation. Flaws in foundation work can create a mess of the entire project, leading to huge cost overruns.
Regardless of cost, many buyers of prefab steel buildings these days consider the "green" factor of impact on the environment. The Metal Building Manufacturers Association advertises that waste emissions from steel construction are down 90 percent during the past decade and that steel is the "most recycled material" in the world. According to the association, the recycling of one ton of steel saves the equivalent of 2,500 pounds of iron ore, 1,400 pounds of bituminous coal and 120 pounds of limestone.
In some cases, competitive bids for a steel structure don't include costs for such needs as doors, windows, gutters, vents and insulation. Make sure every price quote you get in includes all the same components and services so you can do an accurate comparison.
To start collecting bids, submit a free prefab steel building price quote request and we'll connect you to multiple, qualified steel building suppliers who will follow up to find out what your exact needs are.
