Cold formed building erector?

[Psychoholic]

I can't believe I've had an account on here since 2009 and this is my first ever post. Talk about power-lurker!

We recently bought some land in Statham GA and ordered a 50x100 cold form steel building. I know I probably picked the absolute worst time in human history to buy something giant made of steel but the land kind of fell in to my lap in the most opportune/inopportune time.

So far I've gotten quotes on just about everything except I can't seem to find someone who knows how to put up a cold form steel building!

Does anybody know anybody who does this in the south? I'm still several months out from actually needing it to be put up since we're still getting permits and site plans before we can start the grading work.

I've seen that @readhead seemed to know people in his area but not sure I've seen too much down this way.

Thanks in advance!

Chris (Psychoholic)

 

[readhead]

Cold formed buildings are fairly new in the US and knowledgeable erectors are few and far between. Try contacting the regional sales rep at Metal Sales for Impact buildings. They may have some names.
The process is different than red iron but the components are very similar. My guys picked it up pretty quickly.
Try contacting some erectors in your area and see if you can talk them into at least looking at the plans.

 

[BillK]

Can the company that you ordered the building from suggest somebody ? I cant personally imagine ordering something like that without a plan ahead of time as to how it was going to get put up.

 

[Psychoholic]

Can the company that you ordered the building from suggest somebody ? I cant personally imagine ordering something like that without a plan ahead of time as to how it was going to get put up.

They sent me a list of people that they have used in the past who have good reputations and I've been in contact with the closer ones. They said it's usually $6-7 sq/ft and so far the quotes I'm getting back are closer to $10 sq/ft (which on a total building that is 5750 with the mezzanine is freaking expensive).

The hard part is that a fair number of folks who could do the work wouldn't be able to give me much an estimate until I had the stamped engineering drawings (which I got after the deposit).

The price of grading has gone up about 15%, the concrete is up, the septic is up, hauling off stumps is up, the cost of the building is almost twice what it would have been a year ago (gotta love those 25% import tariffs without the required production capacity being in place), and now the cost of putting it up is up 43%.

 

[jmdirk]

I'm taking delivery of a 30 x 40 (man, 50 x 100 would be nice) in a couple days. Not sure what you've received from your building vendor, but I've received a general "assembly manual", which is pretty generic, and then goes on to basically say, you can put it up in any order you want. But they've also provided pretty specific drawing for virtually all connections for the rigid frame, siding, roofing etc.

I'm planning to do it myself - with some help of course. Doesn't seem like it's that difficult. Definitely going to be slower than hiring someone. And I can understand why a company may not want to spend time learning as they go. But my building supplier was quoting between ~$14CAD/sq ft for erection. That's about 50% additional on top of the cost of the building itself (not counting foundation work)

Can understand if you don't want to do it yourself, but those number relative to the cost of your building (i.e. take what you're paying for your building and add 505) might be useful.

 

[brianh]

I put up a 40x60 after the foundation was poured pretty much by myself, a good contractor should be able to figure it out easily even if they have never done one.

 

[readhead]

$10/ft isn’t out of line depending on complexity, insulation and travel distance. You claim that the numbers you are getting are expensive yet you didn’t have any idea what it would cost when you started.
Sounds like you didn’t have a good sense of what the project would cost and now you are surprised.
I would suggest that you sit down and work up a budget and work out how much this is going to cost before you get more surprises.

 

[Psychoholic]

$10/ft isn’t out of line depending on complexity, insulation and travel distance. You claim that the numbers you are getting are expensive yet you didn’t have any idea what it would cost when you started.
Sounds like you didn’t have a good sense of what the project would cost and now you are surprised.
I would suggest that you sit down and work up a budget and work out how much this is going to cost before you get more surprises.

With absolute due respect I had rough numbers for just about everything based off of the information provided by various contractors/vendors in each space.

Before I even went to the bank or committed to buying the property I had/have a very detailed spreadsheet with almost all of the big ticket items on it (I did miss a few things like how much silt fencing cost and the soil erosion plan but those are minor in the grand scheme of things). The only real surprise was just how much stuff has gone up in the last few months but it was expected to be off by some amount of variance and market conditions. I didn't just YOLO an almost $300k project.

For instance the foundation. After determining the thickness and composition of the foundation (4" 5k psi with 3x3x18 footers for the lifts) and the driveway easement we figured out that we needed 7956 sq/ft of total concrete which is 98.2 yards. Each truck is 9 yards, add in some waste and we'll need 11-12 trucks worth. Each yard is $155 plus $91.50 per truck. The variable on that one was CRAZY between different concrete contractors as I had 5 quotes ranging from 15k to 38k in labor. I'm sure the true number exists between the 2.

We are primarily a fabrication and powder coating shop so working with metal isn't that bad for us. I was *hoping* to be able to just write checks and have someone put it up but after discussing it with my shop mates, studying the stamped engineering drawings, and watching a really well put together set of videos the assembly of the building is one area where we can put some sweat equity in to save money.

 

[readhead]

I am glad you had some kind of plan. Asking for 5K concrete will provide a lot of variables. Some guys will not like to work with that and will shoot you a high price for the aggravation if you say yes.
Be prepared to be confused by the plans. Between the construction plans, the material plans and the manuals there will be some contradictions. Impact is working on the problems but they are there.
Don’t be tempted to assemble the columns and rafters and lift them in one piece.
I’m rambling but feel free to ask questions.

 

[Psychoholic]

@readhead Ramble away my friend. I'll take any knowledge you have to offer!


So I'm assuming you're saying to put the columns up first, ensure square/plumb before lifting the rafters into place? Would you say it's prudent to do an entire bay at a time and just work our way down or do the columns/rafters, then put up the girts? From the videos and instructions that does seem to be the case (and purlins) but if there is a better way I'd love to hear it.