Steel building process and benefits

The advantages of a metal building are in the material it’s made of and the way the structure has been assembled. Combining metal construction and pre-fab building components gives the following advantages:

• Cost. You save up to 30% on labor costs as there is less labor needed than with traditional construction methods.
• Speed. On the average a pre-fab steel building is ready for operation in 60 to 90 days, compared to 6 months with traditional buildings. Reason: steel building details are already prefabricated, so it’s mostly an assembly job.
• Durability. A normal lifetime of a steel building is 20 to 30 years depending on the manufacturer, at hat it does not require extra maintenance.

Here is an outline of how a typical steel building project goes:

1. Design. Before any work has been done you provide the specs that include date about size and shape of the building, the type of roof and interior, the number and placement of doors, windows, and any facade or other cosmetic enhancement.
2. Engineering. Once you are finished with the basic design and you’ve paid a deposit, an engineer creates the specifications and blueprints for the building. The blueprints will detail on the materials that should be used and what loads the building will need to be able to withstand to meet local building codes.
3. Fabrication and delivery. After the blueprints have been approved with the local consntruction officials, the actual production starts off. Most of the components including: posts, girders, side and roof panels, and even the fasteners to hold the building together are all produced at a factory, then shipped to your construction lot. The parts are ready to be bolted together . This is the longest phase which can take up to 3 to 6 weeks.
4. Work at the Site. While the components are being manufactured, the building site can be readied. Steel buildings require foundations, which are usually poured concrete.
5. Construction. Once you have the components at your building site and the foundation is complete, you can start the construction.
6. Finishing. At this phase you add items that turn your the metal box into a real building: adding insulation, walls, finishes, doors, windows, steps, plumbing.
7. Inspection. A common procedure that requires a building inspector to apporve the building you have constructed.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 14th, 2007 at 8:04 pm and is filed under Building Process. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.