30 X 60 Steel - Do It Yourself!

redheelerdog · Jan 21, 2019

It was just about this time last year (cold as hell and tons of snow) when I started design on my new 30' X 60' steel building.

I used "Google Sketchup" for the rough design, and that really worked well for the concept.

When I started talking to the building suppliers and emailed them the drawings they could give me an exact cost estimate, and I knew exactly what I was getting. Great program Sketchup, used to be free from Google when they first offered it.

My son actually convinced me to connect the new shop to my existing 22' X 30' "old shop" I built back in 2002. Glad I did too, what a great idea!

Here's the concept drawings I started with:

The shaded grey part is where my old shop meets the new building.

redheelerdog · Jan 21, 2019

I used a company in Montana called B & B Steel Building out of Sydney Montana.

They are a supplier of Chief Buildings from Grand Island Nebraska.

We got a ton of snow here last year, what a PITA.

Paid these guys ca$h and 18 packs of Bud Light.

I only break out the Bud Light when the work is done.

redheelerdog · Jan 21, 2019

We poured 3 - 10 x 60 slabs, 15 yards of 6 sack concrete each, 45 yards total.

Gixxer-Ryder · Jan 22, 2019

Looking to build close to same dimensions, will be following your build. Haven't decided on DIY yet. How much to you plan to do yourself?

redheelerdog · Jan 22, 2019

Gixxer-Ryder said:
Looking to build close to same dimensions, will be following your build. Haven't decided on DIY yet. How much to you plan to do yourself?

I have done it all myself with the help of others on stuff like the roof, concrete, and main power to the new panel.

I wired the whole shop myself and passed a state electrical inspection, one thing I am most proud of (I'm not an electrician). I have some awesome LED UFO lights with wireless control and motion detection I will post info on.

The scissor lift was a huge help, I rented it for 3 months and could not have done without it. It was a sad day when it left.

I have a ton more pics to post.

IowaMercMan · Jan 22, 2019

Cool.

Walt

redheelerdog · Jan 22, 2019

10 weeks after the order was placed a Chief semi truck showed up from Nebraska and delivered the building parts. The insulation was delivered from a separate company truck.

My 1944 Farmall M with bucket forklift attachment worked great for unloading the truck.

redheelerdog · Jan 22, 2019

Chief and B&B were great to deal with. The building shipped with every component labeled ID'd and really nice 24" x 24" engineered, stamped drawings.

redheelerdog · Jan 22, 2019

I cut control joints in the concrete every 15ft the long way, that made 10 x 15 squares throughout. This also worked good for column placement (joints did not get close to where I needed to drill anchor bolt holes)

One of the most nervous times I had was drilling the first few holes in the concrete. 3/4" Redhead anchors. I used a DEWALT-D25263K roto hammer with Hilti and Bosch drill bits and it worked great for this job. I've probably drilled well over 100 holes in this slab with no problems whatsoever.

TTMotorsports · Jan 22, 2019

Interesting that your building can be red headed to the slab. Mine required some monster anchors with 90 bends on the ends concreted into the slab.

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redheelerdog · Jan 22, 2019

TTMotorsports said:
Interesting that your building can be red headed to the slab. Mine required some monster anchors with 90 bends on the ends concreted into the slab.

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I followed the PE stamped drawings :thumbup:

redheelerdog · Jan 23, 2019

The wife and I stood all the columns easily in one day with the help of the Farmall.

When I stood that first column it really hit me... damn, this is going to be A LOT taller than the old shop! :bounce:

redheelerdog · Jan 23, 2019

After the columns and rafters are set, the girts and purlins are easy, all those are around 40 - 60 lbs. each.

The instructions and drawings are really good. I did call my building guy with questions several times just to verify correct steps were in the right order.

Bear doggie... best dog in the world. (Building production supervisor)

Surprisingly we got a ton of rain last year.

The angled girts next to the old shop roof were "field fit", and I welded bolting brackets to the columns for attachment.

redheelerdog · Jan 25, 2019

All the trim goes on easy. Just a lot of drilling, especially the inside base angle drilling the concrete. Under the base angle is a 1" bead of mastic putty to make the bottom wall air tight :thumbup:

The rivets, mastic, screws, etc. is all supplied by Chief. All the trim comes in a huge long box and everything is packed really well.

The large West wall insulation and sheeting was done in one day by myself and a buddy from work.

The insulation is initially held on by double sided sticky tape, this tape is the stickiest tape known to man and will hold a 16' piece, 6' wide of R19 insulation. The insulation also has a 2" wide non insulated peel and stick strip on one side to stick all the sheets together.

The sheeting is then screwed on top of the insulation with 2" self tapping screws. Each sheet has a mastic strip applied at the lap joint to make it air and water tight.

protegeV · Jan 25, 2019

Nice work. I did not have the patience or will to build my building, plus I had it welded not bolted together.

Had to do a double take at the last pic. Thought that dude was naked :lol_hitti

redheelerdog · Jan 25, 2019

You bet... Naked doing insulation! :wtf:

That's not how you do it? LOL

readhead · Jan 25, 2019

You are almost looking like a pro. Good job. One thing I would suggest and it is not to late is to add a girt at 4'. Snow coming off the roof will pile up against the wall and push the siding in. In years past. every spring, I would get calls to come out and inspect buildings and usually the fix is to remove all the siding, install a girt and install new siding. On all the buildings I sell I spec a girt at 4'.

protegeV · Jan 25, 2019

readhead said:
You are almost looking like a pro. Good job. One thing I would suggest and it is not to late is to add a girt at 4'. Snow coming off the roof will pile up against the wall and push the siding in. In years past. every spring, I would get calls to come out and inspect buildings and usually the fix is to remove all the siding, install a girt and install new siding. On all the buildings I sell I spec a girt at 4'.

Yeah, I thought that was curious, that missing horizontal support on the low end. My building is 16' and there are girts/purlins at 4, 8, 12, and 16'

redheelerdog · Jan 25, 2019

During the times when the top walls were open I kept my eye on the weather forecast for thunder storms, the last thing I wanted was a gully washer thunderstorm to dump down the top of my wall insulation.

These couple days the forecast was clear. The next day I zipped off the tin with a grinder thin disk, covered the top insulation with asphalt flashing and temporarily put the corner trim on.

The East wall was a little more tricky, but the pieces were a lot smaller, I cut everything on the ground and then hung it up. Did this all easy by myself.

redheelerdog · Jan 25, 2019

readhead said:
You are almost looking like a pro. Good job. One thing I would suggest and it is not to late is to add a girt at 4'. Snow coming off the roof will pile up against the wall and push the siding in. In years past. every spring, I would get calls to come out and inspect buildings and usually the fix is to remove all the siding, install a girt and install new siding. On all the buildings I sell I spec a girt at 4'.

Well dang it, too late to add a girt at 4', the design did not have that. I will keep an eye out for snow piles and move them with my Farmall.

Thanks for the info.

readhead · Jan 25, 2019

You can still put them in. It will cost a lot less now than later.

toomanyrocks · Jan 25, 2019

nice work...from another DIY'er

redheelerdog · Jan 25, 2019

readhead said:
You can still put them in. It will cost a lot less now than later.

The walls are already up, insulated, and sheeting installed. Inside is sheetrocked. I wonder if I add an angle of some sort to the outside?

I also see a lot of buildings have a snow dam on the roof to prevent gutter damage. That will slow the snow falling off the roof. Maybe and extra large dam.

readhead · Jan 25, 2019

I didn't realize that the building was already done. You could install snow bars on the roof but without knowing the collateral load that may not be a good idea. Did anyone address the drifting load on the existing building? Keep an eye on that. At this point I would say to stay on top of the snow removal. Good looking building.

redheelerdog · Jan 25, 2019

readhead said:
I didn't realize that the building was already done. You could install snow bars on the roof but without knowing the collateral load that may not be a good idea. Did anyone address the drifting load on the existing building? Keep an eye on that. At this point I would say to stay on top of the snow removal. Good looking building.

Well, you know... they are never REALLY done, LOL.

I am just getting around to posting the build pics, I built the outside last summer. I did not see this forum until recently and thought I would post up my build.

The intent is to pass on to others the possibility that a steel building can be built from a kit, and significant cost savings can be realized with some sweat and hard work. Most of it was really easy, just hard work and time consuming.

There is no way I could afford to pay labor costs for concrete and building erection without doing it myself. I believe the costs to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 50% more $$ with labor included.

I really appreciate your comments. The drawings are Montana PE stamped, I think I am going to touch base with Chief and get there feedback on the side snow drift load.

Thanks again!

redheelerdog · Jan 25, 2019

I need some feedback!

2 feet high with the wall base (pictures below)

OR, half the height: 1 foot high.

2 Foot

1 Foot

Thanks for your help

protegeV · Jan 25, 2019

At least 2', if not higher. 1' looks weird.

Dumber than lumber · Jan 25, 2019

Gixxer-Ryder said:
Looking to build close to same dimensions, will be following your build. Haven't decided on DIY yet. How much to you plan to do yourself?

Same here. Would you be willing to share: What was your original budget, and how close did you come at the end?

pennsylvaniaboy · Jan 25, 2019

protegeV said:
At least 2', if not higher. 1' looks weird.

I would think 3-4'

redheelerdog · Jan 25, 2019

Dumber than lumber said:
Same here. Would you be willing to share: What was your original budget, and how close did you come at the end?

I didn't really have budget, I knew the building was $28.5K (before steel went up last year). I think now the same kit would be around $35K. The concrete was around $7K. 3-12'Garage doors were $6.5K installed.

Aside from the steel building cost alone, the concrete I did first, and the doors came last, so it is spread out over time. Same with the electrical, about $1.5K in parts, but I wired it all myself and probably saved $3-4K in electricians labor.

It did take every bit of my turnip juice, some days I felt I had money running our my a$$, But a million times worth it!

When I drive into my place and see the building it really gives a feeling of accomplishment.

For years I said... next year I going to build a shop, next year, next year. Then it was, screw it, got serious and did it. Planning and talking to people in the know that had done it before helped a ton. I asked a lot of specific questions to carpenters, electricians, etc. That gave me the info I needed to make the plan right and execute. I did a lot of stuff I had never done before, but with the right questions and plan put together it was not too bad.

protegeV · Jan 25, 2019

Sounds like you saved a good bit by doing the concrete yourself, but DAMN that was an expensive steel building. My 40x60x16 was $18K

AZ Pete · Jan 25, 2019

Nice!

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rixtrix1 · Jan 25, 2019

Congrats on the DIY! Looks good.

redheelerdog · Jan 25, 2019

protegeV said:
Sounds like you saved a good bit by doing the concrete yourself, but DAMN that was an expensive steel building. My 40x60x16 was $18K

I could of saved around $5K by going with a Duro building out of Florida, or a Simpson. I wanted to go with a local company (in Montana) so I paid more.

A lot of big suppliers like Duro only let you talk to salesman, and not people who can really answer a question like an engineer or someone who really knows what they are talking about.

Also, there is not a large city or industry here in Montana so things are more expensive. I am sure a wood structure all said and done would be at least 75% of the cost of steel here.

protegeV · Jan 25, 2019

redheelerdog said:
I could of saved around $5K by going with a Duro building out of Florida, or a Simpson. I wanted to go with a local company (in Montana) so I paid more.

A lot of big suppliers like Duro only let you talk to salesman, and not people who can really answer a question like an engineer or someone who really knows what they are talking about.

Also, there is not a large city or industry here in Montana so things are more expensive. I am sure a wood structure all said and done would be at least 75% of the cost of steel here.

Interesting. I guess it depends on location. Wood would have been significantly more expensive down here than my steel building.

redheelerdog · Jan 25, 2019

What do you think now?

I Photoshopped it to be about 3' tall.

protegeV · Jan 25, 2019

That looks a lot better :thumbup:

Disney · Jan 25, 2019

redheelerdog said:
What do you think now?

I Photoshopped it to be about 3' tall.

That looks a lot better.

readhead · Jan 25, 2019

3' looks right. Part of the increased cost is snow load. The building has to be designed to withstand higher loads and that equates to more steel. I think I saw a portal frame in there also. When you are paying for weight the more you have the more you pay. I'm always astonished at the prices paid for weld up buildings down south. They would never be approved here. Plus a lot more concrete up north.

redheelerdog · Jan 25, 2019

readhead said:
3' looks right. Part of the increased cost is snow load. The building has to be designed to withstand higher loads and that equates to more steel. I think I saw a portal frame in there also. When you are paying for weight the more you have the more you pay. I'm always astonished at the prices paid for weld up buildings down south. They would never be approved here. Plus a lot more concrete up north.

One thing that is nice here is: NO Building Permit Required

, only electrical. I was damn happy when I learned that. Not that it's a cowboy deal, it's just the red tape **** and fees you have to deal with.

Yes sir, you are spot on. There is a portal frame in there, goes right around the middle bay door, and that SOB is stout.

$hits expensive everywhere!

I am going to go with the 3 feet interior wainscot, I was texting some guys at work too, and everyone thought 3 feet is right. Damn, glad I asked before I put a bunch of 1 foot in and my shop bros talkin **** behind my back... LOL :thumbup:

30 X 60 Steel - Do It Yourself!

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