Metal building kits are pre-cut, pre-drilled, pre-welded, and ready for assembly. Large and small buildings can come this way. Smaller building kits for metal garage buildings, or smaller metal sheds and carports,  are suitable for homeowners or small business owners to erect themselves. Before site preparations are made, the building supplier should be chosen. It is a great help to the whole process if a simple pencil sketch is laid out. Then it can be presented to several different companies. Foundation and site requirements should be detailed by the supplier.

Before the metal building kit arrives, it is best to have all of the job site work done. It is not good for a package to sit on pallets or skids waiting to be erected. When the delivery arrives, work should commence shortly>

FOOTER AND SITE WORK

Metal buildings can be erected on gravel, dirt, or cement pads. Footers must be dug and the appropriate amount of cement poured into the holes. Many times anchor bolts are set into the cement so that the building can be attached to them. If pouring a cement pad for the floor of the building, the pad is usually poured after the footers are complete. A 4″ thick pad  of gravel should be spread evenly across the floor area. Then the pad is poured on top.

When the semi arrives with a package most likely a machine of some sort will have to be on site to unload. Semis do not usually carry their own means to unload, so this is a homeowner or general contractor expense. Depending on how heavy the bundles are, it can be unloaded with a sky lift, extend a boom, or a crane. Some kits are light enough that a fork lift can do the job. But the supplier should be asked ahead of delivery how much the heaviest bundle or piece weighs.

METAL BUILDING CONTRUCTION

OK, now forthe metal building construction. Each piece of the building is inventoried, then the superstructure starts. The piers are lifted and bolted at the bottom to the footers. Then the metal trusses are bolted together and lifted. Once in place they are bolted to the top of the piers. For some smaller buildings the truss may be on piece and simply bolted to the top of the piers on each side. For large span buildings, the truss itself is bolted together at the peak, lifted into place with the crane, and then bolted to the top of the piers.

Then the other metal purlins and components to the superstructure are lifted into place and bolted to the framework. Like a huge erector set, the building begins to take shape.

Once the superstructure is completed, the metal sides are installed. Any cutting for door and window openings are cut in at this point. Some times metal is already cut and ready to be just screwed up. The building that I helped with, there was some cutting required on most of the pieces.

Next the roof sheeting is screwed into place. For both the siding and the roof all of the screws were supplied with the building kit. The screws were self tapping, and a rubber or vinyl ring at the base of them, and the heads were painted to match the outside color of the steel building.

After the metal siding and roofing is  installed the doors and windows are installed.

All in all the metal building kits are easy to assemble, reasonable on time requirements for erection, and required little cutting (only on the siding and metal roofing).