I have been sniffing around for a steel building as a possible near term (next year or two) project. I'm looking for the basics: what kind of slab should I consider, rough idea of the price of the kit, does it include installation, etc.
After searching teh int3rweb, I have come to one conclusion: if I am looking for a rough idea of a price on your Web site and one of those sites demands my Email addy and phone so someone can call me, they will NOT get my bidness. >:-( I made the mistake of filling out ONE of those things and I have been electronically hounded ever since.
Simply call a local steel building builder and they'll give you everything you want. Site built is much better than kit in so many ways, not the least being you get to build it like you want it.
I ended up spending much less than a kit and got so much more, like a loft, oversized doors, barrel doors rather than segmented, an office, supports to allow me to put hoists in a couple of areas and an area of thicker concrete so I can put a lift in there when I can afford it.
I spent $27,000 for a 34' x 50' with a 10' wide pole barn all the way down one side and that included all the clearing and everything except electrical.
I spent 12 large in 2000 for my shop, 30 x 46'. That was everything from the dozer to the lights and workbenchs, doing all the work myself except the dozer and pouring/finishing the slab. The building itself was about 7 or so then. It's the metal A arch type. I built another one for my MiL's house that cost about 6 total in about 2001 or so, and that one is about 15 x 20 or there abouts. Be real careful with slab construction. I don't know how they make them there, but they way they build slabs here should be illegal. I built my slab to Texas Highway Department specifications, as a friend of mine is a retired civil engineer with them and I asked him how you build a slab.
I used Future Steel for the building, who I called because they advertise in the NRA magazine and I like to support advertisers in the publications I read. When you call them and ask them where they are, they'll tell you "just south of Detroit." They leave out the "in Canada" part. I called around a lot and they had the best deal. And it seemed like every single metal building place had "one that was ordered by (insert big corp name here) and they cancelled the order, so I can cut you a good deal on it."
Yeah, I'm thinking 30 x 40 and $12-14k seems to be about the going rate (unassembled, no slab). What irks the CRAP out of me is when I go lookin' at sites they give you a 'click this link for pricing' which then takes you to a page where they want all your personal info. If you make the mistake of filling it out, you start getting spam Emails and phone calls. Aggravating as hell.
You're going to have to deal with sales guys. Not much way around it, and calling them is going to be your best bet. I don't give out my info either. If you have to, make an email account just for this purpose, then abandon it when you're done.
http://futuresteel.com/
is where I got mine. If you buy the building without the ends on it and make your own ends from 2x4 construction, you can save a lot of money.
