Anyone have experience with metal building kits?

[Irving]

Kazoo, sounds like you need drip edge. I'll check next time I'm up there.

[EvilRhino]

This. On a slab / foundation, it's considered a Permanent Structure.

So I'm looking at caissons to start?

[Great-Kazoo]

So I'm looking at caissons to start?

The question is. Are you doing an actual steel building where the frame is steel, or steel as in pole barn using pressure treated lumber for the frame and trusses? Steel frame gets put on foundation or footers, so i gather from the one's i've seen.

If wood, the 6x's are sunk x feet in the ground with concrete, everything else ties in to them. I'd get with the contractor doing the job to see how they do it. My building is 12-15 yrs old. Things have changed construction wise since then. Looked at some impressive "pole barns" since then. Everything comes down to money for the building you end up with.

[EvilRhino]

Well, I pulled the trigger and put a deposit on a building last week. 40x60x16. I've come to terms with the fact that it is literally 2x the original planned size so I'm going to have to contribute more than the wife's budget.

I was a heartbeat away from ordering from a company called strat-o-span. They have ads on Craigslist and list their prices (though it was more for higher snow load, wind). My neighbor built a 30x50 built in the time I've been here, but from what I understand he had quite a money windfall and a totally different budget. I did talk to the erector he used and got some industry insight. From both him and the neighbor, Armstrong sucks. The neighbor literally tossed me the price book for them stating he will never use them again. The erector said Armstrong and General Steel are in a race for last place.

Pretty much anyone I talked to and mentioned StratoSpan went to their website while I was talking to them and basically said...it's not the best option. The biggest issue being how the beams come together. http://www.strat-o-span.com/images/Photo0158.jpg They say they ship out of Longmont, but that is actually Metal Sales who you can't order directly through. I talked to one of their customer and he mentioned that the vertical beams are 2 C channels bolted together which you can also see in that pic.

In my estimate from Strat, it said it could be built on a simple concrete pier design. Supposedly that would have been $150 for stamped concrete plans. Since then, I have learned there is no such thing as a "simple pier", and structural engineers pretty much take offense to the term. Between weight and gravity trying to pull the building down and wind trying to blow the building away, it's not simple. A local search was unanimous that they needed soil samples, $900 for 2 for the size of my building and then engineer stamped plans would be an additional $1400-1600. That wipes away the savings of concrete to do a stem wall per the county approved plans that don't require engineering. In addition, the building requires an 8" skirt wall to close it in, so going with a stem wall is making more sense but I still have to get an idea of how to do it or how much it will cost to have someone else do it.

I still need to get the ground leveled and I'm getting bids but everyone is busy. I can rent a backhoe for $400 a day and get it close.

The strat guy must have been out of the office on the day I tried to ask a question and that lead me to wander other companies. A few other's had been 2x the cost, but I called a company called Rigid Building. They have an office off Arapahoe and I25. I gave the guy my specs and when I added it up for the extras I would have to pay with strat, it was a wash. However, it looks like the quality and design of Rigid is world's above. Square posts and beams that meet and bolt together at flanges vs the pic above and are machine welded. I went with a 3:12 pitch as requested by the HOA vs the neighbors 1:12 and Rigid's standard pitch. They have their prices listed on their site too, but it can be more if you need more than 30 lb snow loads. The pitch cost more too. http://www.rigidbuilding.com/stack-buildings/

I'm still trying to do as much myself as possible, but some things are looking like it's easier for me to go out and make money and pay someone else to do it. I'll probably have a bunch of pics as the project proceeds.

On another note, Congress passed a major tariff on foreign steel back in about 2004. They only just started enforcing it this year since China and others were flooding the market, likely under cost and driving down U.S. made steel. Since the enforcement, steel prices have been increasing by sometimes 10%+ each month.