Why are more people opting for metal buildings

Posted by admin on Mar 20, 2009

Metal buildings seem to be the new in thing in the construction industry. Business organizations are turning to metal structures for its benefits over other forms of construction materials. More people seem to be demanding metal structures from developers and the demand has been increasing steadily. Henry Bessemer was the first to use steel in building material in the year 1855 and in the since it has become almost a standard in building materials as people started to note the benefits.

Today, metal buildings seem to have become more prominent among high rise structures all across the world and not just in the US. This has made a metal like steel a much valued building material even in a period where most of the global economies are facing severe depression. One of the main reasons why business organizations are opting for metal buildings increasingly for office and factory buildings is that metal buildings are cost effective and speedier to build. Building materials are now a days available in different shapes and sizes as pre built components for metal buildings. The availability of pre manufactured units for metal buildings save manual labor and the sundry costs associated with manufacturing concrete blocks and structures on site as well.

There are a number of other benefits as well, the insurance premiums are lower in comparison with a building made of wood and the cost of maintenance and safeguarding is much lower too. A building made of wood would be vulnerable to several types of pests and not to forget fire all of which is hard to contain once spread. Due to the nature and building style metal buildings are also much more safer in an earthquake or hurricane situation. Wood can support only a certain amount of weight and high rise building needs to be metal buildings essentially as no other form of construction can support multiple floors with the same efficiency as metal.

A common man would generally associate metal buildings with huge structures such as shopping complexes and huge indoor stadiums. This is now history as more and more people are using metal buildings structure for their homes, offices, colleges, industrial units etc. The advent of computers in construction industry beyond design assistance has led engineers to construct fully structured metal buildings on computers and send the plan to a high tech facility to churn out metal components with precision cuts. This allows builders to come out with metal buildings structure that were practically impossible in the past using the more traditional methods, some of these structures are design masterpieces often compared to art.

Picking a builder who would provide one to one service rather than a huge corporate builder for metal buildings is therefore very important. This should be fairly simple as all you need to do is investigate how the builders past projects went. Find out if one of their previous client is someone you know and try and contact them and inquire how they fared with them. It is also a good idea to take your project requirements to a number of constructors and get as many quotes as possible in order for you to sit down and compare their offerings on the paper rather than advertisements and then decide who would best suit your requiements.


Steel Buildings for Commercial and Residential Purposes

Posted by admin on Jan 25, 2009

I have a friend who is currently deployed to Iraq. He will be there for over a year. He sends me frequent e mail updates and digital photos, which helps me understand a little about what his daily life is like. I assumed he would be living in a tent city like in MASH. To my surprise, they are living in these prefab steel buildings.

I was quite relieved to know he would be more protected in steel buildings than in a tent city, but I still did a little digging to find out more about these structures. I was distracted by the idea of those trucks on the highway carrying part of a house with a sign slapped to the back announcing “wide load.” I knew my friend would be living in something more substantial than that, but I needed to see for myself.

A quick search for steel buildings yielded a handful of companies that provide them for numerous purposes. The government uses a lot of these type of structures. You will see that many companies advertise their Government Services Administration approval. Commercial boat yards, farmers and auto mechanics use steel buildings for storage, service areas and retail. A structure can be chosen, shipped and erected within a very short time frame. Steel buildings require less structural beams and trusses, so they offer more usable space than traditional structures. They require little maintenance, as they have no siding or gutters.

Home owners can see the advantages of steel buildings over traditional structures too. Steel buildings are offered in various basic models. With just a few people, these steel buildings can be erected easily. The majority of the construction can be done on the ground without special tools. Decades and decades ago, my grandparents built a metal garage with the help of contractors. It felt like quite a process. Knowing my do it yourself grandparents, they would have preferred the ease of one of these new prefab steel buildings, had such things been available back then. Given that they were farmers, they would have been happy to support one of the many companies that offers buildings made from US steel and made in the US.

I am sure most people who choose steel buildings do so because they are extremely easy to maintain, fit their budget and are easy to order and build. Thinking of my deployed friend, I, however, am comforted by the fact that they are STEEL.