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Steel Building Cost per Square Foot

Without fail, the most common question with respect to the affordability of steel buildings is, ‘How much does a steel building cost per square foot.’

While this is not an exact calculation – the cost varies with the complexity of the design, structural loads, finishing options, and of course size – you’re going to find that the price is relatively constant and not particularly difficult to calculate but you need a professional to help you because a seemingly small miscalculation of a few bucks in the beginning can quickly escalate by the time you’re done. This is where a Steel Building Expert helps.

The first thing you should know is that the price of raw steel fluctuates – but, like gas, those fluctuations are almost always increases. Steel is priced according to market variables such as supply, demand, shipping, and grade (or quality) of the steel. Because of this, you absolutely must lock in the price of your steel building right away, even if you’re a year away from wanting to build. Your Armstrong Steel building is high grade yet Minimal Yield Strength. This doesn’t mean you are purchasing inferior materials. Minimal Yield Strength is the standard when purchasing structural steel – it is just means you aren’t going to have to pay high dollar for the high density steel used in the construction of railroad ties, for instance.

The size of your building is also one of the most important cost variables for a steel buildings cost per square foot. For the most part, the larger the building, the lower the cost per square foot of the steel building. Because of the large clear span widths possible with steel buildings the components necessary to assemble a 40 foot wide building are the same as the components you would need for a 100 foot wide building. In other words, you’re going to need purlin clips on both sizes and because spans can be extended easily by using steel, those clips will function the same, regardless. When choosing a 40×60 or a 40×300, the rigid frames on both size steel buildings are pretty much identical, so all you’re paying for is extending the length – which doesn’t typically affect the steel building cost per square foot.

Also – consider your location! Are you going to need a foundation? Are you planning on insulating your steel building? Do you plan to have drywall and an exterior finish? Those options require that the structure be engineered to support the additional weight – or loads – as it’s called in the industry.

Windows, doors, and other components will also play a part in steel building cost per square foot. You can save money by purchasing components at direct pricing or buying them locally if you have the right connections and providing the specs to your Armstrong Steel project manager.

When we mention location we’re also talking about geography. Are you in an area which has high snow accumulation or will need to withstand high winds or seismic activity? Perhaps you have dense rocky soil which requires less support (and less concrete and rebar in the foundation) than sandy ground.

Armstrong Steel is not your ‘cheapest’ option. That’s just honest. But there are reasons we aren’t the ‘cheapest.’ Some steel building companies design buildings with the least possible and allowable standards. Manufacturing these mass-produced and ‘cheap’ or ‘light’ steel buildings often leads to costly on-site delays or misaligned holes and incorrectly sized component pieces. By the time these ‘cheap’ buildings are corrected, they end up costing you more money and time than had the steel building just been crafted correctly the first time.

Additionally, Armstrong Steel uses higher quality paint – which explains our generous warranty – it’s a business decision. Armstrong Steel buildings are pre-galvanized so they last longer. And you should know, Armstrong Steel’s clips are pre-welded at the factory which prevents you from having to do additional field work.

The good news is that because Armstrong Steel delivers a considerable number of buildings every week, our volume, coupled with our extensive shipping network, allows us to deliver a higher quality building for less than you think. Often times we’re more affordable than other suppliers with lower quality components.

Erection of your steel building also comes with a cost. Contractors and finishers will cost money, no one works for free – except you. With some rudimentary construction knowledge and a desire to learn, you are going to shave additional dollars off your total cost by doing the majority of the work on your own. In the paragraph above, we were honest when we said we weren’t the ‘cheapest,’ so consider the next statement equally as honest – it is likely you CAN erect your steel building on your own – or at least the majority of it.

But if you run into snags, have questions or issues, the project manager and detailer who worked with you in the beginning of this process are still at your disposal. We expect – in fact, we encourage – our new customers to call us from the field during the steel building erection process. The Armstrong team is prepared to offer tips and help you with questions.

But you want numbers – and as we mentioned from the beginning, there are many variables to consider but all things being equal, if you’re looking at a ballpark figure consider what an Armstrong Steel Building will likely cost: (prices are approximate)

Base Building

$7-10/ sq ft (for a basic 4 wall gable style building)
Accessories

20%+ (depends on whether or not you are purchasing accessories at direct pricing and the types of accessories you choose)
Foundation

$8+/sq ft (varies depending on soil types, geography, and square footage – also if specialized foundation additions are needed like a stem wall for a shop)
Construction

$10/ sq ft (which you can save if you opt to do it yourself)

A stand-alone, simple garage – 40 x 60 – 2400 sq. feet with no drywall but an exterior finish of faux brick might cost you:

Base Building

$22,000
Accessories

$10,000
Foundation

$19,200
Construction

$8,000

Do it yourself construction – you’re looking at a brand new garage for less than $25-$30 per square feet – requiring little long term maintenance – which can be purchased and delivered in a couple months – and erected in several days.

Compare that to a traditional build with an Architect and a contractor crew which is going to cost you in the neighborhood of $120-$250 per square foot.

But in the spirit of true transparency, we want you to know there are other costs which you have to consider, costs which Armstrong does not control, but costs which you will have whether you choose steel or wood frame/brick and mortar buildings. Utilities, power, permits, and taxes will need to be factored in to your budget as well.

So the question Armstrong asks is why wouldn’t you choose steel? It’s versatile, it’s convenient to erect, it maintains its ‘shine’ well into the future, it requires little maintenance, it can be assembled in days or weeks rather than months – and it’s less than half the cost of traditionally built buildings.

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Customer Profiles

‘I was ready to go the distance for this customer’

Jumping Through the Hoops of State Regulations

On November 7, 2000, 54% of Colorado voters approved Amendment 20, which amended the State Constitution to allow the use of cannabis in the state for approved patients with written medical consent. For a decade and a half, Colorado led the nation in efforts to legalize marijuana and in 2014, Colorado became the first state in the union to allow marijuana for recreational use by way of Amendment 64.

This gave rise to an industry of heavily regulated marijuana growers and sellers. One company which saw the profit potential in this new legalization was Green Solutions.

Green Solutions was started in 2010 by Kyle S. and his middle class family. The family became intimately aware of the strict regulations that govern everything from distribution to the facilities which grow marijuana. The state has mandated such things as how many cameras are required in the buildings, what kind of security, where the safes need to be located as well as regulations with respect to snow and wind loads for buildings, which are different from traditional buildings.

This did not deter Kyle, “We knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but we also knew this was a business which could grow and sustain our family,” says Kyle.

Kyle’s family built a 60,000 square foot grow facility according to state regulations and soon discovered that, in order to maximize profits, the entire 60,000 square feet would be needed for plants; none of it should be wasted on storage of the chemicals and tools required for year-long cultivation.

Some of Armstrong’s customers are found through referrals, some find us because competitors love talking about us, but most find us online. Armstrong employs some of the most forward thinking sales representatives, web developers and marketing minds in the state. Kyle says, “I just googled you guys. I didn’t have to shop around and I was impressed with your site.”

Kyle’s building was fairly simple. “I worked on a basic 40 x 100 supplemental building, we went through a really easy process, I got preliminary plans which I could present to the state, everyone [at Armstrong] followed up with me all the time, it was a pretty good experience,” he mentions, almost casually.

“It was really nice to work with them through most of the process, I didn’t feel like their job was just to sell me a building. It was to make sure I got what I wanted. As someone who sells as well, I feel like this was a nice way to demonstrate you guys took my project seriously,” says Kyle.

Towards the final stages of the steel building project, Bennett Hietbrink, an Armstrong Steel Project Manager got involved. “At the end, I worked with Bennett. He went through all the specs and made sure the building department for the City and County of Denver was good. We discovered that the snow loads met state requirements but did not meet the higher standards of the city, so we did a simple redesign and avoided a problem before there ever was one,” says Kyle, relieved.

Green Solutions ordered the building early, before the construction on the foundation had even begun. “Our business model is to keep reinvesting into the company, so rather than wait, we went ahead and got the building before we even started construction,” Kyle mentions.

This meant the building would need to be delivered and stored before erection. “I worked with Kitty, she explained how to prepare the job site for delivery, and how to store the components until we were ready to put it up,” he mentions.

“I knew a lot of the state regulations for buildings already, but your designers also researched this and made sure the building met the zoning codes for the City of Denver, the County of Denver, and the State of Colorado marijuana regulators with no problem.”

How satisfied was Kyle with Armstrong Steel?

“Well, let’s just say, I’m already buying my second building from you guys,”

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Customer Profiles

“We needed an open structure to use as a food pavilion and it had to be delivered in time for our Grand Opening,” says Adam J, Hawaiian Falls Project Manager.

Adam: "The Quality...Blew Us Away"

Ask anyone where their favorite place to be during the Texas summer is, and you’ll probably hear, ‘the shade!’ It’s hot! The summer of 2012, the Hawaiian Falls Waterpark decided it was time to cool off the residents of Waco with the fifth addition to the chain. “Timing was extremely important to us,” says Adam J., the Hawaiian Falls Project Manager from Waco. “We needed an open structure to use as a food pavilion and it had to be delivered in time for our Grand Opening.”

A recreational facility which would shelter families and friends escaping the heat of the Texas summer was a project which would have special significance to Armstrong Steel. “Hawaiian Falls was a fun project because our in-house engineers work really hard to get into the minds of the people who will be using our buildings, so they got to think like summer swimmers for a while, which was a blast,” said Ethan Chumley, Armstrong CEO.

Hawaiian Falls had some requirements. Adam J. made it clear the steel building had to withstand the elements - heat which would reach triple digits; high winds in the fall and spring; and require little maintenance. No one wants a maintenance crew disrupting the summer cool-down with a bunch of equipment.

Additionally, Waco, Texas is known for termites. A wooden structure would quickly become a tasty meal and breeding ground for pests. Because Hawaiian Falls is a water park, wood would absorb water, rot quicker. Perhaps the biggest issue – fungus! Fungus lives, breathes and multiplies on organic materials like wood. Remember, this is a pavilion where families would go to eat! No one wants to go to a water park and come home with bacteria which was either ingested or attached itself to the feet of young swimmers.

Time Was Of The Essence

And it had to be delivered, erected, and decorated in time for the highly publicized and heavily anticipated Grand Opening Celebration, so time was of the essence – and the heat was on.

“This is one of the biggest reasons many customers come to Armstrong Steel – the in-house engineering and detailing center means that costly time delays are all but eliminated,” offered Chumley. “We have much greater control over details and can meet deadlines much easier.”

A few weeks later, trucks rolled into the soon-to-be-opened water park and unloaded what would become the refreshment pavilion where Waco families and friends would gather when they came to cool off. “The quality of the building blew us away,” says Adam. “They told us it would be easy to erect, but, WOW, it was a breeze!”

Armstrong Steel buildings come complete with erection manuals, detailed assembly instructions, and wet stamped engineer blueprints. All the parts are numbered and correspond to the drawings and, in a matter of days or weeks, a small crew is very capable of erecting what would take a large crew months to erect using traditional wood framing or brick and mortar.

“They came through in a pinch,” says Adam.

That summer, 145,000 people escaped the unforgiving Texas sun. Those people swam in the wave pools, they tumbled down slides, they tanned themselves on the deck. Children laughed, teenagers flirted, adults got to spend time with the family. And those people ate hot dogs and drank sodas in a giant Pavilion, free from termites, no chance of fungus, delivered on time, and on budget.

Thanks in large part to the imaginative minds of Armstrong’s in-house engineers, who got another chance to escape the office and anticipate the complete experiences of one of our customers.

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Customer Profiles

“We were able to use the existing plans, add a few small changes, and we doubled the maintenance capacity of the building without significantly increasing the cost”

Tough & Attractive Armstrong Steel Building in the Gritty American Oil Fields

One of the most exciting places to live in the country, at the moment, has got to be North Dakota. Sure it lacks the pop culture appeal of Los Angeles; it isn’t the melting pot of consumerism and foreignism that is New York. It lacks the ethnic flavor of Miami and the techy swank of the Northwest, but it has something else that none of these places can boast – it has oil. Lots and lots of oil. And what’s happening in the state of North Dakota is nothing short of an economic explosion.

Back in 2001, North Dakota ranked near the national bottom in per capita gross domestic product. Since the discovery of the Parshall Oil Field in 2006 and despite the 2008-2012 global financial crisis; ignoring the lack of extensive infrastructure or a single metro area that was considered ‘on par’ with the financial centers of the east - North Dakota has catapulted to an astonishing per capita gross domestic product that is 30% above the national average. Add in a billion dollar state budget surplus, and you have the ingredients for developing a state of excitement, a state of growth, a state of change and advancement, a state of North Dakota.

Because the oil boom was almost a surprise to North Dakota, the pipelines necessary to transport the oil to the rest of the country could not be built fast enough to keep pace with production. The oil needed to be and still needs to be trucked.

Reaching the 217 oil rigs in the state to maintain machinery requires trucks. Getting supplies to the men and women working at these remote sites requires trucks. Trucks need maintenance, and Reliable Oilfield Resources needed a maintenance facility.

Cost was an issue, but so was safety

When Reliable Oilfield Resources (ROR) first approached Armstrong Steel about a pre-engineered steel building system, Jeremy Bjork was assigned as the project manager. “We were challenged because cost was an issue but safety was also a huge consideration,” he said.

Three months into the project Reliable Oilfield Resources notified Armstrong Steel that the steel building project would be delayed or scrapped because of zoning issues. “The property wasn’t zoned for this type of business so our client had to request that the county re-zone their lot or purchase new property. We did everything in our power to help them navigate the rezoning process and provided Reliable Oilfield Resources with all the information needed by their county to approve their request for re-zoning,” said Bennett Hietbrink.

Unfortunately, Reliable Oilfield Resources was unable to rezone the lot and the project was shelved, indefinitely.

Seasons passed, time elapsed, oil continued to flow from the ground in North Dakota and trucks continued to need maintenance. Reliable Oilfield Resources was committed to living up to its name and determined to find a location for its maintenance facility. “The economy was growing and people were moving in to the area, an equipment maintenance facility was needed,” offered Jeremy.

“When people think of the North Dakota Oil Boom their thoughts immediately go to things like housing and storage and equipment. But supporting structures, like churches, restaurants, stores, maintenance facilities, schools for the families of riggers – all of these things need to be built and need to be built quickly because communities are emerging very rapidly. The buildings also need to withstand the cold weather in North Dakota,” said Ethan Chumley, Armstrong Steel Building Systems CEO. “This is where a pre-engineered steel building is incomparable – they’re affordable, easy to erect, and can be finished to look like traditional construction, so the people using them don’t feel like they’re existing in a community of warehouses – their lives begin to look like the lives they left behind when they moved to the booming area.”

New land, same plans, a better steel building

Several months passed and Reliable Oilfield Resources eventually found and secured new land which was zoned appropriately for their equipment maintenance facility. “We were able to use the existing plans, add a few small changes, and we doubled the maintenance capacity of the building without significantly increasing the cost,” adds Jeremy Bjork.

After the building was designed and the engineered drawings were approved and midway through the manufacturing process, the customer again approached Jeremy and said they wanted to add an addition to the building. “This would have stopped the manufacturing process and could have been costly,” said Bjork. “I had to help them find a solution which could provide the additional small office space, keep their costs low, and make it aesthetically pleasing.”

“When people purchase a pre-engineered steel building system from Armstrong Steel, they want it to look good and to perform,” says Eric Beavers, COO & VP of Armstrong Steel Building Systems. “We’re successful because we believe our steel building systems should look great and we refuse to put our name on an eye-sore.”

The Armstrong Steel Solution

Jeremy came up with a very inexpensive solution. Because the addition was so small, it could be built affordably with local contractors in a more traditional construction method and attached to the Armstrong structure. Armstrong Steel provided additional exterior panels as well as matching roof panels so no one would ever know that the addition was an afterthought. “We worked with their contractor, their budget and determined how much additional material the small add-on would require and we made that happen.”

Two years later, in North Dakota, oil is still a booming business. Trucks are still the backbone of the industry. The fleet that Reliable Oilfield Resources maintains has a comfortable new maintenance facility and what a pleasure it is for Armstrong Steel to have provided it to them.

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Customer Profiles

RME's Building In Progress

Armstrong Steel Works to Find Solutions to a Contractor's Headaches

Sometimes it’s an internet search, often times it’s a referral, and more frequently than you might imagine, it’s our competitors who help customers discover the true value in working with Armstrong Steel.

This is the case with Rocky Mountain Excavating (RME). RME owner, Chris and RME Project Manager, Jeff, contacted steel building broker, General Steel, to start work on the office/workshop build-out for RME’s growing foundation company. The picture General Steel painted of Armstrong Steel was hardly complimentary.

“We would specifically ask every customer if they had spoken with anyone at Armstrong Steel and, if so, we would say that they were just a ‘sham operation’ or ‘operated out of a garage,’ ” says a former General Steel sales manager.

Chris and Jeff work in the construction industry and figured that if General Steel was mentioning another company by name – especially in a disparaging way – Armstrong obviously represented a serious competitive threat. RME wanted to know why General Steel even mentioned Armstrong Steel.

So RME did what every customer should do, they contacted Armstrong Steel directly.

“We invited Jeff to our corporate offices in the Denver Tech Center – hardly a ‘garage’ operation. We knew that our company and our reputation would sell itself,” says Eric Beavers, VP and COO of Armstrong Steel.

When Jeff arrived at Armstrong’s offices, he knew he was working with an industry powerhouse. “We showed [Jeff] around our offices; our bustling sales department, our project management team, he was introduced to our shipping department, and he got to explore some of our current projects with our in-house engineering department – the benchmark of Armstrong’s ability to deliver quality products to our clients,” continues Beavers.

As a construction professional, Jeff was accustomed to the process of detailing and engineering structures. He was given carte blanche to ask and discover, on his own, the capabilities of Armstrong Steel – from one professional organization to another. After several hours with the Armstrong team, he was sold. “We didn’t have to pressure Jeff; he made the decision to come to Armstrong because he liked what he saw. All of our building partners have a standing invitation to visit our corporate offices,” says Ethan Chumley, CEO and founder of Armstrong Steel.

An office/workshop combo is pretty standard for Armstrong Steel. “We design and deliver medium sized business build-outs as part of our routine, we know what these projects entail and we’ve streamlined our processes to help business owners receive their building on a timeline which doesn’t inhibit their ability to operate,” says Ethan Chumley.

Bureaucracy Sometimes Leads to Headaches

But the City of Castle Rock, Colorado, where the building was erected, would provide obstacles which required project management and navigation from the highest level of Armstrong’s team. “I took on the project management, personally, because this was an important job. It was critical that we painted a new picture for this customer that dispelled the concerns raised about us by General Steel. Mid-stream through RME’s permitting process, the permitting department for the City of Castle Rock was replaced by an ad hoc private company which basically threw out the previous engineering requirements the City provided,” says Eric Beavers.

The problematic issue was energy efficiency. “The new permitting agency was now requiring a new level of insulation in the workshop. Colorado winters can be cold and there's an effort state-wide to conserve energy but, traditionally, unheated workshops haven’t always required insulation,” says Beavers. “This meant that our insulation system needed to be redesigned to meet the new standards.”

This would cost RME time and money. “For any company, delays in a project can really tax budgets and impact timelines. I know this. Armstrong is a quickly growing business too, and I know that time costs money,” says Ethan Chumley. “But this is one of the biggest advantages to an in-house engineering department - we can make changes and modifications which save businesses time – and ultimately save them money.”

Chumley continues, “In my opinion, our in-house engineering department isn’t an indulgence. It’s a distinct advantage we provide our customers.”

Big Problems Come In Small Packages

Few construction projects, steel or otherwise, are ever completely without issues and one big issue, disguised as a small miscalculation, was discovered on-site. The big issue measured exactly six inches.

“RME needed an architect to work on the project because of extensive interior design,” says Beavers. “The architect was also the foundation engineer, and RME poured its own foundation, so we didn’t see it ahead of time. Somewhere along the way, the foundation was redesigned so the rigid frame would sit below the floor level by six inches; for whatever reason we did not redesign the rigid frame to be six inches longer – so it was too short. This is done for aesthetics, but six tiny inches can become an epic issue if the frame doesn’t fit on the foundation,” says Beavers.

Soon after RME took delivery of the building and began the erection process, the problem was discovered. Beavers was notified and within minutes, he raced to the job site. “When we promise that we’re going to be part of the building process from the initial sales call to the moment the final bolt is tightened in the erection process, we mean it,” remarked Beavers.

“To be honest, at first the customer was furious. I’m not going to sugar coat it. He’s a business owner, he works construction, and he had expectations. I didn’t show up on-site to offer apologies or excuses, we needed to be on-site to contribute to the solution.”

“Initially, the mood was tense. The customer was frustrated, the contractor was frustrated, and I was frustrated, but quickly, we decided that a solution needed to be found, there was no alternative. Instantly, the mood changed to one of cooperation and determination,” recalls Beavers.

Working in collaboration with the contractor, the customer, and Armstrong’s in-house design team, Beavers and the contractor arrived at an easy fix. “We’d be able to assemble a quick and sturdy extension into the foundation using extension bolts. The foundation wouldn’t need to be poured again, it wouldn’t require additional curing time to fill the holes, and the rigid frames wouldn’t need a major rework at the factory or on-site. The whole thing took less than a day.”

Solutions Not Excuses

“What this whole process shows is that our reputation speaks for itself,” says Ethan Chumley. “RME came to our office, just as every customer is invited to visit, he got to see first-hand what we’re capable of delivering. RME was able to navigate the murky waters of government bureaucracy quickly because our team was responsive, and when an issue arose on-site, we didn’t offer excuses or wash our hands of the situation – we dispatched our VP to arrive at a solution in person. I don’t need to gush over what our team did because it’s just pretty common for us to make that kind of effort.”

Whether the issue is one within our control – like design or delivery; or if the issue is one, which most steel companies consider the customer's problem – like permits and architects – the Armstrong team is ready to help find solutions.

If Armstrong was a ‘sham operation’ that ‘operated out of a garage,’ we wouldn’t be able to achieve this level of service. It happens because Armstrong’s a substantial business with robust purchasing power; we’ve built-up a name, we’ve built-up a reputation, and we’ve built-up a cohesive team – sometimes six tiny inches at a time.

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Customer Profiles

“From the beginning, they were bad-mouthing Armstrong, I almost couldn’t believe it, but no one at Armstrong even mentioned General Steel,” he says, “I didn’t really like that kind of business.”

Bad Mouthing Armstrong Steel: "I Didn’t Even Bother To Get The Quote From General Steel For That Reason."

One of the great things about a steel building is, for the most part, it can be erected in a short amount of time. Sometimes, because of other reasons, it might take a customer a little longer to complete the erection process. Consider the case of Jeromy J. of Benton City, Washington.

“I needed a shop to work on cars, do household projects, extra storage space, and a place for parking,” says Jeromy. “I chose a monitor style building because I really like that style, I think it’s an attractive looking building,” he says.

When Jeromy decided to take the plunge and buy his dream shop he did what we encourage every customer to do, he researched options.

“I looked at several companies, I can’t even remember all of them except for General Steel,” he says. When asked why General Steel stood out to him, he quickly had an answer, “From the beginning, they were bad-mouthing Armstrong, I almost couldn’t believe it, but no one at Armstrong even mentioned General Steel,” he says, “I didn’t really like that kind of business.” When it came time to get the final quotes he adds, “I didn’t even bother to get the quote from General Steel for that reason plus Armstrong’s price seemed to be very reasonable.”

Once Jeromy paid his engineering and blueprints payment and work started, he was immediately part of the efficient process which is the hallmark of Armstrong Steel. “I worked a lot with Tiffany, my sales person, who helped me come up with a fairly simple design; then I started working with Jeremy Bjork, my project manager.”

“I didn’t have a whole lot of problems in this part of the process. Jeremy Bjork made some suggestions about doors and windows from Armstrong’s vendor,” says Jeromy J. “I told him that I wanted to buy locally. I feel more comfortable with buying from a local company and Jeremy didn’t pressure me to buy from Armstrong Steel. I thought that was pretty refreshing,” he adds.

"Armstrong Steel didn't put a deadline on their help"

On March 13, 2013, Jeromy took delivery of his building and did a full inventory of the parts. “I noticed there were a few pieces missing, but I let Kitty Uhle, Armstrong’s shipping coordinator, know and she was able to get these to me real quick,” he notes.

Fast forward to June of 2014, over a full year from the time Jeromy took delivery of the building. “I had some issues with the foundation, so that put me behind like 6 or 7 months.” The building sat on the ground for that period of time. “I didn’t notice until June of 2014 that I was missing some screws. I never bothered to count all the screws, I just saw them all and made a decision that they were all there.” Although common practice throughout the industry requires that a customer report any shortage of goods within 30 days of the date of delivery, a quick email to Kitty corrected the problem of the missing screws...over a year later!

Besides the issues with the foundation, there also was a learning curve. “I’ve never erected a building before so the process has taken me a little longer than usual.”

“Even though it’s been a slow process on my end, Armstrong hasn’t forgotten about me, they said they were going to help me through the erection process, they didn’t put a deadline on that help, and they haven’t – a year later, I can still email and call my team at Armstrong Steel and I get a call or an email back, usually within the hour, and always within a day,” he says.

Jeromy is a first time builder and like most of our customers he needs to be diligent with spending. “I asked, upfront, about all the costs associated with getting my building delivered,” he says. Somewhere along the line, he began to see a modest additional shipping fee cropping up on my paperwork. “I became alarmed,” says Jeromy. “It wasn’t much, but I was a little taken aback because I had asked for all the fees to be detailed out for me ahead of time.”

“While we are able to be forthcoming about all our costs and charges, we deal with trucking companies and third party shippers, and their fees we can’t control,” says Eric Beavers, COO of Armstrong Steel.

“I was relieved and kind of shocked when Eric stepped in and helped me avoid that additional cost, I don’t think it’s common that a VP of a company steps in and helps a small customer like me, I was very impressed by this,” Jeromy says without hesitation.

"It's looking more and more like a building now"

Today, Jeromy says his building is about 85% complete. “I have to add the doors and windows, but it’s coming along nicely, I am finishing up the sheeting, so it’s looking more and more like a building now.”

Once those component pieces are in place, it’s just a matter of some finishing and landscaping and then Jeromy’s dream workshop is complete.

“When Armstrong said they would be my partner through this whole process, I believed them, but it’s taken a year to get as far as I am, and Armstrong hasn’t forgotten that commitment,” says Jeromy.

And soon, we anticipate Jeromy J. will be stepping into his completed steel building, his workshop, his dream. He’ll be tinkering with cars, he’ll be storing memories; he’ll be doing household projects to improve his life. It hasn’t been a quick solution or a weekend project, but that doesn’t matter to Armstrong Steel. It’s not our job to rush the process, it’s our job to make sure the process is done right, every time.

That’s the Armstrong commitment and we mean it.

To learn more about Jeromy's building and other Armstrong Steel Buildings, please visit maps.armstrongsteel.com

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Customer Profiles

“When a customer comes to us this prepared, it drastically reduces our design and delivery time, it also reduces the cost”

Armstrong Steel delivers a Home Sweet Barn

There is nothing we enjoy more at Armstrong Steel than providing customized solutions for each of our customers. Sometimes it is a backyard shed, other times it is a gigantic commercial building, and sometimes, it’s a barndominium.

If you aren’t from a place like Plainview, Texas, you may not know what a barndominium is. We do, thanks in part to a project we completed for Karla M. in 2012.

Karla isn’t your typical Armstrong Steel customer. She came to us knowing exactly what she wanted. Karla wanted a barn. Karla wanted a guest condo. Erecting two structures can be expensive. There are two sets of permits you need to get, there are two separate foundations to pour, two separate electrical and plumbing systems to install. You also pay additional taxes on two structures. There is maintenance to two buildings.

Leave it to the pragmatic sensibilities of a rural Texan to find the perfect solution. Combine the structures into one larger structure and guests and beloved animals can find a cozy common ground under one roof without the additional headaches of maintaining two structures. The barndominium can trace its roots to hunting, popular in Texas. A storage or livestock space with comfortable living quarters seems very logical. To Karla, the key word here is ‘comfortable.’

As beautiful as a horse may be, the truth is, they don’t smell particularly fresh and housing them in close proximity to a living quarter presented a problem. The solution? Separate the equestrian and human residence with a covered breezeway which would force the often stagnant and hot Plainview air to circulate between the two.

“Karla knew exactly what she wanted; she knew how big she wanted the structure to be; she knew the contractor she wanted to hire; she had the floor plan and even the windows and doors mapped out; she knew how much she wanted to spend,” said Eric Beavers, Armstrong COO who worked as the project manager on Karla’s project.

“When a customer comes to us this prepared, it drastically reduces our design and delivery time, it also reduces the cost.”

Eric worked closely with Karla’s contractor to gather specific information on construction requirements. Together with the client, the Armstrong Steel detailers engineered a 2400 square foot structure that boasted about 1200 square feet of living space on two levels.

The stable and the tack room all sat under the same roof and because the structure was to include human living quarters, Armstrong’s engineers modified the structural requirements to handle to increased loads and safety specs so residential finishes could be added.

“Armstrong is very capable of detailing and engineering structures for customers who have no clue what they want. We specialize in that, in fact,” mentions Beavers, “but when a customer comes to us with all the ducks in a row, we are able to maximize efficiencies, offer additional options, and really accelerate our service – while keeping costs low.”

And while barndominiums are certainly not Armstrong Steel’s usual structure, the convenience of offering complete in-house detailing and engineering services means that Armstrong Steel was able to, once again, meet our customer half way and deliver a unique, one-of-a-kind structure that satisfied everyone; including some very lucky horses in Plainview, Texas.

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Customer Profiles

Read Dean's story and how Armstrong Steel helped him with the building of his dreams

Armstrong Steel Buildings helps Dean see his dream become his legacy

Colorado - Dean D. is a true Colorado native. His proud family heritage exists on a forty acre property on Colorado’s western slope. The property has been a part of his family for over a century. “My family staked out this land back in the early days of Colorado,” says Dean.

Although Armstrong Steel may be best known for our large scale commercial or industrial projects, it is often the role we play when helping private customers see their life-long dreams become a reality, that we consider our greatest successes.

For generations, Dean’s family lived and worked the land, building memories and creating a legacy. Sometime in the 1980’s, Dean decided to add a signature structure to the property which shares the home his parents owned their entire lives. “I grew up on that acreage and it was the place I wanted to build my dream – a building which would house classic trucks.”

For reasons unimportant, the building sat unassembled for a quarter of a century. Western Colorado can be a harsh climate – winters may be brutally cold, summers are often a mixed bag of desert heat and a pronounced rainy season. The elements will take their toll on even finished and maintained buildings – but an incomplete structure has little hope for eventual occupancy.

Revisiting a Building Purchase

Twenty five years later, with children grown and some well-deserved time on his hands, Dean decided to finish his dream classic truck and tinkering shelter. “It was time, but I was not about to purchase a new building until I figured out what I was going to do with the incomplete building that was already on the land,” Dean maintains. “I saw a commercial for an Armstrong competitor and began to make some calls. No one was interested in helping find a solution to the problem of my existing building, every company I called wanted to sell me a new structure, dismissing the fact that I had something already on the land I needed to somehow deal with.”

At this point in the story, Armstrong Steel was still unknown to Dean D. “It was the competitor who brought up Armstrong Steel. I had never even heard of Armstrong but my curiosity was aroused because, in my mind, apparently Armstrong was a company which was making the competition uneasy, otherwise they would have never brought it up, I wanted to know why.”

Dean D. has the usual casual and friendly composure of any native of western Colorado. Coupled with a disarming politeness, his demeanor might come across as simple to anyone unfamiliar with the business style of people from this part of the country. Don’t let it fool you - Dean has a shrewd and experienced business mind and a firm belief that deals can be satisfied by a handshake; an outdated expectation that a man’s word is more important to a transaction than the money involved.

Dean began to research Armstrong Steel, one of many companies he looked in to. He diligently exhausted his resources, determined to find the right partner for his project. To Dean, this wasn’t just a building, he was adding to a legacy he would eventually leave to his children and grandchildren. “This building was a place where I could set up my children with a place to carry on a long family tradition and I needed to choose a company which believed that too,” Dean said.

'A World of Difference'

“The first time I met with [Armstrong Steel VP and COO] Eric Beavers, I was surprised at his approach. Eric didn’t want to puff up his chest, knock the competition, or try to sell me a solution, in fact, he didn’t try to sell me anything at all – he actually just told me the parts I would need replaced in order to complete the existing structure. Rather than press me to buy these parts from Armstrong, Eric actually told me to go back to the original building supplier and give them an opportunity to make it right.” This unheard of approach to business was almost a shock, even to the savvy business mind of Dean D., an experienced businessman who had seen just about everything.

The realization that Dean could complete the existing building opened up a whole new possibility he had not considered. “This got me to thinking that I could actually have not one, but TWO buildings on the property – the existing 25 year old building and a brand new one as well.”

“I felt that Armstrong really wanted to help me out, not just sell me something, and that meant a lot,” remarked Dean. “Armstrong does everything on the computer and the internet, I don’t do much on the internet, so they took time to meet with me in person.”

Ready to Buy

Dean’s research narrowed the final selection for his new building to three possible companies. Armstrong’s bid came in about $1200 higher than Dean’s second choice. “Eric didn’t realize but I was researching prices and structural solutions on my own. I would then ask him questions which I already knew the answer. Eric always gave me the honest answer – I knew then that the $1200 extra I was paying was an unspoken premium for the peace that comes with working with a company I could trust.”

Dean adds, “Eric doesn’t seem to care what comes out of his mouth because he is honest. If you’re honest, you don’t have to watch what you say.” Dean explains that in business, sometimes your best resource is your gut feeling. “From the moment I walked into Armstrong Steel, this place seemed like a big family and they were inviting me to be a part of it.”

Because of the rapidly changing weather conditions unique to Colorado’s western slope, Dean knew that the rainy season would descend on the property in no time. The project was ‘yellow filed’ – an internal Armstrong Steel designation meaning that time is of the essence. Dean’s project was expedited – plans were drawn, approved, revised, and reapproved in a quick but thorough Armstrong Steel procedure.

Going the Extra Mile

At this point, you might think the happy story ends without a hitch. But the conclusion of this process was not entirely seamless. “Problems happen in every construction project. Supplies are lost or damaged, timelines change, contractor mistakes happen, even shipping is far from an exact science,” says Beavers.

When the building arrived on Dean’s property, Dean’s customary attention to his investment determined that he was missing the base angles. Without these, completing the project would be impossible. Adding to the severity of the problem, Dean’s contractor was not local and he was paying lodging costs, per diems, and other expenses related to the construction crew.

“It helped me remain level headed because Armstrong Steel prepared me for the likelihood of problems, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t still seeing the dollars adding up!” Dean explains. “I also knew that the rainy season was about to hit so if the building wasn’t completed on time, it would be disastrous.”

Dean immediately got on the phone with Kitty Uhle, Armstrong Steel’s shipping specialist. Kitty tracked the missing parts and because of Armstrong Steel’s massive national shipping network, was able to orchestrate a pick-up of the base angles from a mis-delivered location, set-up a rendezvous with another driver who then actually slept in his truck overnight so that he could deliver the base angles to Dean’s contractor on time. The fast action by Kitty prevented added expense and additional completion time for Dean – his contractor completed the building ahead of schedule and they were able to beat the rainy season. “I know that if I had chosen any other company, that building would be sitting on the ground now,” says Dean.

Hitting Firm Deadlines

“We are able to make a firm deadline and stick to it,” Eric Beavers says modestly. “Unlike many pre-engineered steel building companies, we have an internal detailing and engineering department. We have a shipping department, we have sales people and project managers who become intimate with each building and each customer – as real people who have real experiences and real lives. We don’t encourage this approach, we require it.”

And today, if you find yourself traveling through Western Colorado, you might happen upon two modest steel buildings sitting on a tract of family land. You might not realize that those buildings house one man’s dreams, his hopes for his children, his legacy for his grandchildren; they stand on the land where his childhood memories exist and new memories will be created. And, similar to how we feel about every customer, Armstrong Steel is honored to be a part of the history.

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Customer Profiles

Most of the time, it’s the small buildings that mean the most to Armstrong’s customers

A 20 Year Dream in the Making: Armstrong Made it Simple

“I was going to go with a pole barn, then I saw your ad online and decided to ask for a quote,” says Eric O. of Wabash, Indiana. “I’d been wanting a building which could be both a workshop and storage and I’d been wanting it for about twenty years.”

Not every building that Armstrong Steel engineers and delivers is a factory or an industrial complex or some remarkable engineering feat. In fact, many of our buildings are simple structures with four walls and a roof – but that doesn’t make these less worthy of our attention.

Armstrong’s reputation of delivering quality buildings to people who’ve been dreaming about owning a simple backyard steel building comes from the fact that we consider every building, large or small, simple or complex, to be important. We understand how meaningful these buildings are to our customers and their budgets – even the small ones - especially the small ones.

“The price from Armstrong Steel was right for our budget,” says Eric. “I’ve never constructed a building like this before.” From the moment Eric placed his order for his steel building, Armstrong’s project management was on the job.

It's the Little Things that Make the Biggest Difference

“I realized that, based on the simplicity of the building, I could apply additional discounts,” says Eric's Armstrong Steel project manager. These savings amounted to hundreds of dollars. “A few hundred dollars doesn’t always seem like a lot of savings to a company with big budgets, but to a customer like Eric, who’s building something in his backyard, it helps a lot.”

Because Eric could be flexible with his delivery timeline, it was suggested he opt for Consolidated Freight – an option which Armstrong offers to customers that allows them to bundle a building with other buildings headed in the same direction so the freight charges are reduced (See: The Armstrong Process) We tried to save him money in as many ways as we could.

Eric had a few requirements. “One thing I was nervous about was whether the color would match my house, and since I was building it out of steel, I was worried about the paint matching [wood color vs. steel panel color],” he says. His concerns were assuaged with the spectrum of popular colors which Armstrong Steel offers. “The greens match almost perfectly, I was really happy about that.”

When Eric received his building in the fall, he noticed that a couple of the side panels had been scratched in shipping. “Eric called me immediately. Even though the paint scratches wouldn’t affect the structural integrity of the building, we know that people want the building they’ve been dreaming about for decades to look good… to look better than good,” says Kitty Uhle, Armstrong’s Shipping and Logistics Manager. “They shipped me new panels right away at no charge and I received them before I even got to that point in the erection, so it all worked out perfectly,” says Eric.

"Easier than I Thought"

Eric had never assembled and erected a steel building before, but found that it wasn’t nearly as difficult as he anticipated. “I had no big problems putting it together, all the pieces went together the way I saw in the [erection manual] and when I had questions, like on how to install the eaves, I called and she sent me an (easy to follow) sketch on how it was supposed to fit, no problem,” he says.

“I would work on the building in the evenings and on weekends,” says Eric, “it seemed like more of a hobby and less like work that way. It took me a few months, but I enjoyed doing all the work, myself.”

When Eric was asked if he would recommend Armstrong Steel he jumped at the chance to answer. “A lot of people I know around here think pole barns are the way to go. But I know my building is going to stay standing, and it was a cinch to put up, so, yea, definitely I’d recommend Armstrong Steel,” he continues, “and any company that wants to help me save money is good in my book!”

The reason Eric’s story is a customer success isn’t because Armstrong Steel did anything particularly out of the ordinary. We aren’t telling Eric’s story because we were successful; we’re telling it because Eric was successful. He bought a steel building and he finally realized a dream he’s had for decades – it’s big to him.

To us, a success like that is why we do what we do, every day.

To learn more about Eric's building and other Armstrong Steel Buildings, please visit maps.armstrongsteel.com

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Customer Profiles

"Pretty Much Everything I Wanted to Know I Found on Armstrong’s Website"

John Turns To Armstrong Steel Buildings For Guidance

When we learn a steel building is a family project, we take notice. Because we operate as a family here, too, we understand the honor of being included and invited into the family dynamic. One such customer who chose Armstrong’s participation in his family’s steel building project is John K., of Gardnerville, Nevada.

“I couldn’t get the proper permitting in my neighborhood, so I spoke to my daughter and we decided to build the building on her property instead,” he says. “My brother, who was an iron worker for decades until he retired a few years ago, jumped at the chance to help and to work with metal again. My son also helped. My family and I were able to erect the all the framing in about a weekend. It was nice.”

The building John ordered was a 28 x 44 with a 2:12 pitch. “We don’t get a lot of snow in Nevada, so I didn’t have to mess around with a steep roof pitch. The flatter pitch not only looked better, but I think it was probably easier to assemble and made everything go up a lot quicker.”

John had never erected a steel building before, but as a PhD, he was no stranger to research. “Absolutely, I researched this thing ahead of time. I went to Armstrong’s website and found a lot of resources,” he says matter-of-factly. “I checked out the photo gallery to get some ideas and I saw some specifications for another building. These things are what helped me to decide ahead of time what it was that I wanted. I also read some of Armstrong’s steel building blog posts on when to pour the foundation and choosing a foundation engineer. Pretty much everything I wanted to know I found through Armstrong Steel’s website. It answered a lot of my questions, even ones I didn’t know I had,” he chuckles.

Because we understand that many of customers can be busy throughout their day, Armstrong Steel communicates quite a bit through emails. “I didn’t have a whole lot of conversations with my project manager on the phone, but he had no problem emailing me the progress and some suggestions so I was able to stay in touch with him. He was always available to communicate during evenings or on the weekends, when I had more time. I definitely felt this was an efficient way to stay in touch.”

Armstrong’s Manufacturing Facility Steps Up

John’s metal building system was shipped out of Armstrong Steel’s manufacturing facility in Englewood, Colorado.

“John’s building was pretty simple. He had the land, the erection crew and the foundation engineer already in place. I was able to find him some really great discounts and he saved quite a bit of money,” says Bennett Hietbrink, John’s project manager, “because we were shipping his building from our Colorado manufacturing facility we were also able to get his building onsite exactly when he wanted it with no issues whatsoever.”

“Preparing for delivery was a breeze. My project manager was invaluable and the website was so thorough, we were ready with a forklift ahead of time. The steel building erectionblog post I read filled me in regarding scheduling the forklift and erecting the metal building, so I wound up saving money on the equipment rental, as well,” he says.

“My local permitting office was pretty specific about a steel building. It couldn’t be a reflective finish on the roof or the sidewalls, and, while the whole building didn’t need to match the color of my existing building, the trim, at least, did need to.”

Armstrong Steel has a wide variety of steel building color options so John had no problem pulling the permit he needed. “The main building is green and red so I chose to just match the trim – and the roof wasn’t reflective, so it was pretty easy,” he says.

The Kind of Company I Want to do Business With

When John and his family unloaded the truck and began assembling the building, they noticed a few attachment plates were a few inches shorter than they needed to be. “I got on the phone with Kitty and she overnighted me the correct plates at no charge, it didn’t even cost us a day, I was pretty impressed with how fast I got the right pieces, actually.”

John continues, “I’m a scientist, I know that there are a lot of parts that need to be shipped all at the same time, I know things like a couple wrong plates happens. People make errors, it’s what we do, but fixing those errors really quick like [Armstrong] did, without a question or making it a big deal, well that’s the kind of company I want to do business with.”

When we spoke to John last, he was in the process of wiring the building with his family. “We’re taking our time, there’s no rush, we’re just spending time with each other, putting up our metal building on the weekends, it’s nice,” he says. “My neighborhood has also lightened up on some of the zoning restrictions, so looks like I’ll be getting another steel workshop from Armstrong real soon – this time on my land, though,” he chuckles.

When he’s ready, John knows where to find us.

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Customer Profiles

“Honestly, this is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made”

A Workshop That Brings the Whole Family Together

At Armstrong Steel, we like to think we employ a bunch of problem solvers. When customers contact us looking for more space or a better storage solution, it’s our mandate to step in and lend a helping hand. Immediately, Randy P.’s conundrum became our challenge.

“I had a bunch of double wide commercial buildings on my property. Unfortunately, my property isn’t classified as commercial, so I wasn’t allowed to park those doublewides on the land,” said Randy P., Wade, North Carolina. “The neighbors weren’t too fond of those eyesores, and made me get rid of them. But I still needed the storage space. At that point, I started to look at a permanent steel building.”

Shopping for a pre-engineered metal building shouldn’t be difficult, and that’s why Armstrong set out to change the user experience. Randy had his pick of steel building providers, but wasn’t sure where to turn. Randy said his choice was made after a few minutes on Armstrong Steel’s website.

“Your site was the most informative and friendly. Plus, I could actually build the building with your website. I’d pick my colors, along with the height and length,” said Randy. “When I got done, it showed me a picture of what I could be buying. I thought that was very cool. It was so much better than pencil drawings other suppliers provided.”

A day later, an Armstrong Steel building consultant, Robert G, contacted Randy and learned about his project, and more importantly, his building goals.

“I like to learn every customer’s story, and really understand where they’re coming from,” said Robert G. “This building was going to shelter ten of Randy’s trucks, and I wanted to make sure he was getting enough space while staying within his budget.”

Producing a one-of-a-kind building

No two Armstrong Steel buildings are alike. That’s because every steel building designed by Armstrong is custom made specifically for each customer’s location, building codes and loads. Randy decided on a unique 39 x 57 building with a 3:12 roof pitch.

While working with an Armstrong project manager, Randy decided he wanted to make a few changes, adding a bigger awning, two big garage doors, a few windows, and insulation. “Working with my project manager, I was able to completely tailor the building to my liking,” said Randy.

Randy’s workshop was shipped out of Armstrong Steel’s manufacturing facility in Englewood, Colorado.

“The delivery was as easy as it could be. Armstrong made everything super simple. Everything showed up exactly when they said it would, and that simple fact made all the difference.”

A Not So Small Business

As the owner of a small trucking company, Randy’s initial reaction was to make his building a workshop for all his work vehicles, as well as an office and place for storage. The forethought to build bigger than he initially needed turned out to be the right decision.

“I really needed the big doors and high ceilings,” exclaimed Randy. “If you decide to buy a building and your only intention is to “get by,” you’re setting yourself up for failure. I’ve always said it’s better to have and not need, than to need and not have. Now if I want a lift in the future to expand my business, I can!”

“Everyone is a farmer around me. Everyone has a building to house their tractors, there is a lot of them around me, but I have the best looking building around, I can tell you that,” said Randy. “One of the hog farmers even asked me where I got this building, and I was happy to tell him about Armstrong.”

A Workshop Turned Family Building

An Armstrong Steel Building is more than four walls and a roof. As Randy started to spend more time in his new workshop, the rest of the family started slowly migrating away from the house. Randy’s wife even set up shop under the custom awning – designed by Armstrong Steel in-house engineers - to watch their kids and grandkids play in the surrounding area.

“It’s a warehouse. It’s a playhouse. It’s a working area, really a multi-use building. Even my wife loves it, that’s the big plus right there! She’s the one who wanted the awning, so she can watch the kids play outside. It’s become an extension of the home.”

That’s the reason Armstrong Steel continues to go the extra mile for our customers. We set high expectations for ourselves, not just to provide a simple building, but to give people a venue where they’ll make family memories for a lifetime.

“This is really the best move I’ve ever made. People don’t understand what a building will do for you. I didn’t realize how much I needed this building until I had it right here in my land.”