If you have never built a steel or metal building, it is highly recommended you visit another steel or metal building project in local your area. Ask your steel building sales representative if he or she knows of one nearby. There are a few things that can be done to save time and money.
Your steel building will be delivered with highly detailed assembly instructions. Follow them to the letter. For larger projects, we strongly advise the contracting of an experienced building crew familiar with steel buildings. Ask your steel buildings sales person for a recommendation if you do not have a contractor in mind. As with all construction projects, improper handling or building can lead to injury or death. Doing it right leads to lower costs and long-term enjoyment of your steel or metal building. Hiring a contractor offers another important advantage in transferring a great deal of liability from your shoulders to the contractors.
Here are a few general tips to help keep assembly costs low:
- Work Safe Plan. A safe work site is an inexpensive work site.
- Divide the job into smaller, individual jobs. Assign these smaller tasks to teams of three to five workers.
- Use trained workers. They work much faster, take safety very seriously and build much better buildings. They also require much less instruction, saving hours of time over the course of the project.
- Time and money are saved when components are laid out according to plan. On larger projects, the layout and inventory should be mapped.
- Bolt items together before raising. You can save time by attaching as many component pieces as can be safely lifted together before raising them.
- Build in sections. Assemble the steel framework of the building bay-by-bay from one end to the other.
- When the first bay is completed, the individual frames can be erected and tied together by lead purlins. Fill-in purlins are installed after the expensive lifting equipment has been returned.
- Make sure the proper tools and equipment are available for your workers.
- Make sure the site is kept safe at night and provides proper drainage to prevent build up of water during or after construction of your steel building.
If each of the above nine points are followed, construction costs will be dramatically minimized.
