The Truth About Steel Buildings

If you're here on my blog, you've probably seen the really cool barndominiums and maybe even some Quanset Hut Houses. It was actually Quanset Huts that I blame for this steel building cluster that I've found myself in. I say "I" because Andrew has 0 issues with how everything has turned out regarding our massive steel building that's over 4 times the size of our home. Why? Because i't his wood working shop, a big old eyesore of a monstrosity perched dead center of our build site.

I blame Quanset Huts because at some point very early into our journey Andrew wanted to live in a Quanset Hut. Truth-be-told, they are pretty sweet and I wouldn't have objected had that been the path we stayed on. But at some point, that idea was thrown into the scrap pile and we decided to build a traditional stick frame home.

However that base level of steel building knowledge I had obtained during the Q-Hut phase allowed me to be easily convinced that our first building should be a steel garage for Andrew's woodworking. Not just his woodworking though, there would also be a small apartment that we could live in as we built our forever home. That apartment would then become a place for my parents to stay while they visited. It was a multi tiered scheme that really did make perfect sense, on the surface.

So Andrew started researching building costs and got a rough estimate of what a foundation would be. Easy peasy, they even build the garage for us, what could go wrong?

First, the placement. In my last post I discussed the need to move dirt. Well this is where I learned that's kind of a big deal. So where the giant steel building was supposed to go wasn't where it ended up.

After purchasing the building we brought in Brandon "the ground guy" to make our build plan a reality. However, Brandon speaks the language of level and knows what it takes to make that happen. Where we wanted the 20'x50' building was on a steep slope. In our offence, you can't really see any slopes through dense pricker bushes, trees and all the other stuff that covers our ground. That said, once the rubbish was removed it was pretty obvious to Brandon that getting that slope level was going to take a lot of work, which to me translates to, a lot of money we don't have or want allocated to a hobby shop/ temporary housing.

So alas, the driveway had to be altered and the building needed to be relocated to what I dramatically refer to as "my back yard!" Okay, whatever, not the biggest of deals. Except that preliminary estimate for the foundation was WAY off. Like $10,000 off. Double the allocated money. However, we've already committed to the building and paid Brandon to level the dirt so what choice do we have but to work with what we've got? So the foundation was laid.

Next up, the building install.

Honestly, I've since read some pretty terrible stories from others who have steel building, so all-in-all, I consider us extremely lucky. It was by no means flawless however.

It's the say of the build and we left Pa around 4 am to get onsite in time for their ETA. So here we are, sitting in a field with no cell phone reception waiting for the crew. And we wait, and wait and WAIT. Do we leave the site to get service so we can call? What if they arrive and we aren't here? Two hours after their proposed arrival time we decide to make the call. Fortunately for us, the company answered, and even more fortunately (which we later discovered via their Google reviews) the builders did eventually show up, only about 4 hours late.

So if you didn't know this already, we are not Hispanic and don't speak a lick of Spanish, which I mean, shame on us for being so stereo typically American we can only speak English where-as most other countries citizens speak at least one other language. It really would make sense for us to speak Spanish, but we don't, so this is what we're working with.

We've got two Spanish speaking builders, one who speaks 0 English and one who can kinda power through with some additional back and forth, then a random mute man (who I later found out is most definitely a native English speaking white guy from North Carolina who's also fluent in Spanish) so let's take a minute to appreciate his complete lack of assistance through this world ordeal.

Anyway, we're just glad they're here and ready to work. They scope out the foundation, confirm it's square then start to talk among themselves. First red flag, the non-English speaker starts telling the partial English speaker that the foundation wall cells are filled in incorrectly. There's nothing better than watching my husband try to communicate via translator by the way.

Fast forward through that hilarity and get us to the point where the builders are telling us we will need custom fabrication in order to make this work and that's going to cost us $800. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! It's raining by now, I'm exhausted, my excitement has turned into panic and fury. We just spent how much money on this foundation to be told it's poured wrong? Fine, here's our credit card. Oh wait, you don't take credit cards? This is a cash only transaction.

We fellas, we're from Philly and with that comes a dose of sass and a strong side of distrust for humans asking us for money. I will offer up my respect for the con tho, at least you had the balls to try. I can only imagine how many people fall for those shenanigans. Not this girl tho. So they got to work.

End of day 1 and we have a frame and partial roof. I will give them credit, a crew of three busted out more work in undesirable weather in a half day then PENNDOT employees complete within a month.

Day 2 starts and I realize there is a door on a wall that should not have a door. Just a random door right there, on that wall that should have no features. ::face palm:: So my beloved husband goes around and marks exactly where the doors and windows should be installed, even though the builders have engineering plans. And because my husband is the sweetest guy, he gifts them a carton of cigarettes and $50 for lunch. We later found out that that is universal code for "go get a case of corona and invite your friends over for a mid afternoon party on these random people's property".

The corona made sense when at the end of it all we discovered that not one door nor window was installed in the correct location, nor was the building actually square! They must have been drunk.

Now, in their defense, they did get everything up and running within 3 days, which I find impressive to this day, even if it was a shotty job. But I still don't know if they waited to finish up after the sun was down so we couldn't see a majority of the issues. The owner is responsible for the inspection and once that paper is signed, their job is done and not call. That's pretty much how this worked. And of course, you can't do an actual inspection in the dark. But either way, as they're getting ready to leave, 0 English and Mute Southerner both say clear as day "Have a good night, it's been a pleasure. Best of luck."

I wish I knew which facial expression of mine shouts "we've just been duped" but I didn't have a mirror on me. I know my eyes were huge and my mouth was wide open.

On paper and on the internet, using a steel building for some sort of housing seems like a really great idea. I mean, a ton of people are doing it and their houses look absolutely awesome. But these are the moments that you ask yourself, if it's such a great idea, why aren't more people doing it? There's always a reason.

Coming out over budget is pretty common place in construction, and that's part of it. If you think it'll cost $25,000, it'll cost closer to $40,000. Then you get to the insides. It's a sweat factory. Humidity galore, which means moisture barriers. The framing is metal, which means special windows and doors or custom fabrication. Drywall anchors vs screws. Alternative plumbing schematics. If our world was more alternative housing friendly, and products for these types of builds were more affordable and readily available, this would be a great solution - but we don't live in that world. We have a local hardware store, a Home Depot and rural mail delivery.

So at the end of it all, be bagged the idea of building an apartment in the steel devil to stay in while we build our forever home. At some point we will put sleeping quarters in there, when we have time to play and research and acquire the necessary stuff, but it most certainly wasn't a "quick and affordable" solution.

But come hell or high water, I will be taking 1/3 of that space to service the barn because there is NO WAY my husband gets all that to enjoy on his own! Hmmm, maybe that's my future crafting room? Or perhaps a safe space for our future foster animals to quarantine and decompress? If I have to look at it, I am most certainly going to be using it for something fun. OH! a giant blanket fort.

TTFN,

P&S