11 Mistakes To Avoid When Buying a Steel Building

1. Pouring Foundation Before You Get The Plans
 Sometimes customers come to us saying “Good news! I already C Z Purlin Roll Forming Machine poured the foundation!” They think they’re saving us time or themselves money, but it turns out this is actually a mistake. Our team would like the opportunity to talk about the plans for the building before the foundation gets poured — sometimes the plans end up changing significantly. Not only that, but our company Champion Buildings — unlike many metal building companies — can handle pouring the concrete for you. And our team selects the best possible site, and makes sure the foundation is built to handle the forces that will be put on it. Additionally, it’s important to have approved plans to make sure the anchor bolts are placed in the correct locations.

2. Taking Delivery of a Steel Building Before You Have the Proper Permits
This is a must. Once the building is being fabricated, you’re going to end up paying for it regardless whether you’re legally able to construct it on your property.

3. Buying from a Company Without an Engineering Department
Metal buildings are engineered structures. This means that these structures are engineered to withstand the most extreme forces they will experience due to severe weather — such as wind and snow load.

4. Not Hiring the Same Company to Do the Whole Job
When you contact different companies to do different parts of the job, you are asking for trouble. Additionally, they could subcontract out parts of their job to people even less familiar with the overall goal/plan/vision.

This plays out often with the location of the anchor bolts. The “concrete guy” says they’re in the right position, but the plans say otherwise. Often a customer is stuck paying someone else to come to fix the location of the anchor bolts.

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5. Buying the Wrong Type of Building
“How do you plan to use your building?” It’s common sense, but you need to define your needs before designing the building.

Often customers have a purpose in mind, but fail to really work on a layout that can accommodate everything they plan to do. It’s also worth keeping in mind that no matter how good the planning is, the building it always not big enough.

6. Not Figuring out the Total Cost
Often people consider buying a building kit, but once they actually add up the costs they realize it’s worth it to hire a company to do it right. Keep in mind the other things you need to buy:

> Concrete foundation
> Doors
> Permits
> Delivery
> Erection
> Taxes
> Electricity
> Plumbling
> Insulation
> Interior finishing

7. Buying a Cheap Building
Remember to calculate the final cost rather than just comparing basic price quotes.

It’s best to ask yourself “If the price of each building was equal, which building would you choose and why?” This will reveal what features are truly important.

8. Buying Impulsively
High pressure sales tactics are used with steel buildings all the time. The most common you will hear is something about a building a customer ordered and then didn’t take delivery of it.

People looking to purchase a metal building should really do their homework, and then when the time is right, go see the buildings for themselves and get price quotes.

9. Not Checking Reputation of the Company
Testimonials on a website are nice, but we all know that companies are hand-picking those to paint themselves in a favorable light. One step better are the reviews you can find on Google, Facebook, and the like. Most of these reviews are written by real customers, but keep in mind that often companies are encouraging their happiest customers to write a review.

If you’re really doing your due diligence you should ask the metal building company you’re considering for references. That way you can have an in-depth conversation with a real customer to ask what the experience was really like. Even better, ask to see the building and get a walk-through — often people will be happy to show it off to you.

10. No Building Experience
Metal building kits are available for the DIY crowd, but if you’re building something wide &/or tall most people will struggle to get the building erected. Unless you have experience erecting metal buildings, it’s probably best to leave it for the professionals.

11. Not Getting the Proper Permits and Building Certification Paperwork
In order to build you need to check again the zoning regulations for the property. There could be restrictions on the size, shape, purpose, and placement of the building so it’s important to stay in compliance.

Once you clear away the zoning as a source for concern, you need to make sure that you prove to the inspectors and permitting officials that the building a foundation you’re going to build is structurally sound given the weather conditions. It’s easiest when the building company provides verified, stamped engineers blueprints that are plans and calculations for the building. If they can’t that would be a warning sign.

Building your Metal Building with Champion Buildings
Offering an all-in-one “turn-key” solution to your metal building needs, it is clear why so many people choose Champion Buildings. Serving the Mid-Atlantic area, to include but not limited to the following states: North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Maryland, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.  For more information, please contact Champion Buildings at (800) 942-6812. We can help you determine the right size and the right building for your aircraft’s needs.