Steel buildings offer strength, durability, eco- and econ-friendly options for your home, office, storage and workshops… only to name a few benefits on the matter!  You may as well finish the interior to your liking while you’re at it and simply enjoy living out the purpose for which you intended it for.

Structural Choices Before Building Purchase

When you know for sure that you will be finishing the interior, say with plywood or drywall sheets, you will want to order your rigid mainframes to be straight columns, rather than the less expensive tapered.  Tapered columns are wide at the eave height, and taper narrower to meet the foundation.  These offer more foot space plus cost less.  But that won’t work for interior wall sheeting.

Most metal building brokers with integrity will assume the most cost-efficient tapered columns as the default, unless you request, “Straight columns, please, for I intend to apply interior wall finishes!”  Be sure to thank your broker for being considerate of your budget.

“Of course, if you buy your steel building wholesale,” reminds John Barber, owner of Factory Steel Overstock, “the public will always get more for less.”  Be sure to come to the call educated, and communicate exactly what you want to your broker so that they know how to guide the purchase order.”

Applying ‘hat channel’ to the secondary supports, called girts, allows you to screw in the interior wall surfaces.  A tapered column, however, would result in walls slanted inward at the floor.  Now, unless you’re building a fun-house…

Insulation, Insulation, Insulation

Did I mention you will need to insulate your steel building structure?  Metal is highly conducive to heat.  It will release your heated interior space to the out of doors–poor energy efficiency on winter days–as well as bake your innards on hot summer days.  And we all know that when warm air touches a cool metal surface, such as humidity inside on a cool day outside, or humidity inside while the AC is running… condensation forms.  (By the way, if you’re breathing, there is humidity in the air.)  Water next to finished interior finishes not only invites rusting but decomposes your beautiful interior construction choices.  That said, INSULATE…

Protective Finishes and Primers

In addition to insulation, be sure to choose flame retardant primers and paints for your interior surfaces.  Check with your local building department regarding codes and requirements.  You definitely want peace of mind for the long living hours you will be dedicated to your new steel building.  I can’t say enough on this subject…

Interior Wall Sheeting Choices

Whether you are choosing to install drywall or plywood, be sure that your bottom edges are kept clear of the floor.  You won’t want any future spills to be wicked up into the walls and cause damage.  Apply the appropriate metal channels to affix your chosen material too.  ¾” tongue-in-groove plywood offers a sturdier option than drywall.  Be sure it’s flame-retardant primed to meet fire codes.  This option has greater tolerance to wear and tear, plus you are not searching high and low for a wall stud to hang your favorite picture, as you may be with drywall.  When you weigh out the price comparison, in addition to lower-maintenance over the years, it’s not far off from the less expensive drywall; remember you will need the necessary 2×4’s, taping, etc. required for drywall install.  You may want your interior design finishes to be as durable as the steel building housing it all.  Enjoy!

Are There Trustworthy Customer Reviews?

With so much being slurred across social media and search engine reviews, it’s important to focus attention on reputable sources. ALWAYS check with the Better Business Bureau when searching for a trustworthy metal building broker, as these are customers who actually did business with the company, as opposed to someone having a bad day and venting on, say, a Google review or the like. Be aware that there are many fictitious sites posting false reviews in order to make a few thousand bucks for companies to pay for the removal of fake negative reviews.

As well, sad to say, competitors may be making it difficult for one another in any particular industry by posting negative false reviews on various sites. All in all, while we would love to believe in the positive testimonials posted to the actual company website, it’s difficult to say what is truly legit. One may never know. Again, the BBB is often the best route for researching the track record of any company.

A great indicator of a trustworthy steel building broker is the percentage of customers who are return customers, as well as are referring friends and family to the firm. Again, it’s difficult to know for sure what information is legit and what has been fabricated for the sake of looking good. I can’t stress enough that the Better Business Bureau is the best indicator.

Transparency in Pricing

Note which companies actually post their steel building prices online with nothing to hide. When you have access to the data and are able to self-quote directly from the website, there isn’t much to second guess. Companies willing to reveal all costs, not to mention the profit, are open and willing to put the customer’s savings first. When you get to a website that only wants to capture a lead before offering steel building prices to the prospective customer, one is justified in becoming wary right off the bat as to what is there to hide…

Everyone purchasing I-Beam Steel Buildings is ultimately purchasing there steel building from 3 major corporations trickled down to a great number of subsidiaries and brokers. It’s all a matter of who is getting the most commissions and profiting through markups of building materials and accessories. With increased regulations and standards in the industry, you’ll get the same quality almost everywhere. “How much do you wish to overpay? That’s really the only question,” warns John Barber, key principal at Factory Steel Overstock. “It’s that simple.”

Legitimate Marketing

Speaking of overstock, and terms of the like, let’s not be misled by sales gimmicks. I-Beam steel buildings are fabricated upon order. It’s highly unlikely that there would be a warehouse full of pre-fabricated I-Beam steel buildings sitting around to go on clearance anywhere. These are simply terms made to get the public’s attention because we are conditioned to then meaning, at least for other products, that there is a great deal to be had on these surplus metal buildings for sale. This is not to say that we can’t just have some game in the industry, but simply be aware of what’s revealed and what remains hidden in pricing.