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Pre-engineered metal buildings
Clear-span steel shells for storage, warehouses, shops and hangars, bolted up by our own crews in eight western states. On storage jobs we erect the building and frame the units inside it.
How a metal building goes up
Nothing is welded or cut in the field. Every member arrives cut, punched and numbered, which is why the erection is the quick part.
- Slab and anchor bolts
Set to the frame drawings to the inch. - Steel delivered
Numbered members on the shipping schedule. - Frame bolted and torqued
Columns and rafters up, then purlins and girts. - Roof and walls
Skin on, openings framed, building closed in.
Storage, both ends
Usually a steel erector puts up the shell and leaves, and a framing sub comes in later. The developer carries both contracts and the gap between them.
We do both. Ferndale was a warehouse and storage facility on one site, run by us as general contractor. Redmond is conditioned boat storage, where the envelope has to hold a temperature rather than just keep weather out.
Drive-up
Single-level rows under one roof or standing alone on the pad.
Climate-controlled
Units framed inside a sealed, conditioned envelope.
Multi-story
More rentable space per acre on infill land, on a hybrid steel frame.
Who hires us for a metal building
General contractors
Who need an erector or framing sub that shows up and stays, working in their Procore or Outbuild.
Developers and storage operators
Who want the building and the units from one contractor and one schedule.
Owners
Shops, hangars, farm buildings and conditioned storage. We carry jobs as GC up to about $20 million.
Metal building questions
What is a PEMB?
A pre-engineered metal building: a steel building designed and fabricated off site and bolted together on site. It has a primary frame of hot-rolled columns and rafters, cold-formed purlins and girts, and a metal roof and wall skin.
What does a metal building cost?
Published industry figures put an erected shell at about $25 to $35 a square foot, and $25 to $45 with the foundation. Erection labor is commonly a quarter to 40 percent of that. It is an industry range, not our price. Span, height, envelope, doors, snow and wind load and the site move the real number.
How long does erection take?
The bolting is the quick part, since the steel arrives finished. The slab, the permit and the steel delivery date usually set the schedule. With those handled, a crew that stays on site closes a building in faster than most people expect.
Will you build the storage units too?
Yes, and it is the main reason developers call. We erect the shell and frame the units inside it, which takes a subcontract and a handoff out of the schedule.
How wide a clear span can you build?
Span is engineered per building, not a number we quote. Wider spans mean heavier concrete, heavier steel and bigger cranes. Tell us the span the use needs and it gets engineered to that.
Which manufacturers do you erect?
Any major pre-engineered building manufacturer. We are an erector, not a dealer, so we are not selling you one brand.
Have a building to put up?
Tell us the use, the span and where it sits. A partial set or a sketch is enough to start.