FAQ

Yes, you will receive our manual that covers everything from unloading the truck, stacking material, temporary bracing,rigid frame setup, and much more. Plus, you will have additional drawings in the back of our printed
plans package that gets very detailed down to final assemblies. Along with the manual and drawings, we have a very experienced staff of professional steel people that can answer all of your questions.

First, you will need an all terrain fork truck capable of lifting 5000 lbs at least 15 feet.
Depending on the height of your building, you may require a scissor lift for installing sheeting and making bolt connections at rafter splices and column to rafter splices.
This can be a great help when installing sheeting and insulation.
Second, you will require a chop saw or some way to cut steel. If you have field located openings there may be girts you will have to cut to get the framed opening in place. Some items will arrive in 20 foot sections and must be cut to size in the field such as base angle or channel.
You will need metal shears or snipes for sheeting and most trim.
Finally a torque controlled screw gun. The fasteners for the sheeting are mostly self drilling but it is extremely important that you fasten them to the torque required to bottom out the cone washer on the head of the
screw and not over tighten.
Lastly patients, do not cut or change something because you don’t think it’s correct.
Call first with questions, we are here to help and guide you through the erection process.  719-268-1325

In the U.S. you will always receive 2 sets of engineered stamped prints for your state with your building unless otherwise requested.
On every quote we send out it will included engineered plans for your state.
There may be cases where you are not required to have a building permit, however, I do believe this would be a low cost safety factor knowing another set of eyes has reviewed the loading and structure for you to be sure
the structure meets what environmental loads are needed or special loads you have requested.

This is an all steel building, all U.S. steel.
The primary steel or rigid frames are heavy I beam construction, which can be hot rolled or welded plate I beams.
The secondary steel, girts, purlins and angle are a minimum 14 gauge steel cold formed. All primary and second steel is primer coated, generally red.
Sheeting is 26 gauge (industry standard) steel, in 50,000 psi or 80,000 psi tensile strength coated steel.

Our buildings are a bolt together package.
The frames or primary steel is welded plate which allows us to taper the rafters and columns, this method uses less steel than the conventional straight hot rolled steel.
This welded plate method also allows control over each flange and web thickness, keeping weight down to a minimum, steel is still purchased by the pound. This allows us to add steel only where needed, depending on building size, environmental loads and applied loads depending on what type of building you require.
The secondary steel is cold rolled steel of various gauges, again depending on the strength required by loading.
Finally, the sheeting is industry standard 26 gauge, never smaller (except interior liner). User has option to go to 24 gauge if they wish.
Fasteners for sheeting are long life fasteners with a one piece cup for the EPDM seal. This prevents over tightening and fracturing the washer used to seal the hole.
All bolts used to connect frame members are HD 325 steel bolts and nuts, all bolts for secondary steel are 307 high strength steel bolts and nuts.
All buildings are supplied with foam closures for a air and bug tight seal.

There are two ways.
Depending on your building complexity and size you can use our online Design System.
You will find this at https://rapidsetbuildings.com.
This system will cover about 80% of typical buildings customers require.
For a quote on a large or specialty building, give us a call at 1-800-793-8555 or local and international 719-268-1325.
We will be glad to supply you with a no cost no obligation quote.
This will be a delivered price including Engineer stamped prints for you state.
Before getting or starting a quote, it is always a good idea to contact your local Building Department and find out what codes and loads they will require for your area.  We would have no way of knowing your local requirements because they get changed by the local authorities all the time.

Rapidset Buildings is staffed with professional people that have been in the industry for many years. This is not a company of high pressure fast talking sales people that have one goal only, to sell. We have all been in
the field, know and understand the building parts and locations, and are capable of solving problems that may come up. We know our buildings and can answer any questions you may have.
Back to the question, we can help with your entire building, from design to options and suggest money saving alternatives for your building requirements. We can answer any questions from original design to building
erection problems.

This is where a large percentage of our customers are at.
Keep in mind, you are wanting an asset, something that will enhance your property or your business and it’s value.
First you must decide the use of the building. This really means if you just want to store items and not be in and out on a daily bases, or if this will be a place where you will spend a significant amount of time. This helps determine thing such as insulation, windows, additional access doors and large framed openings.
One of the biggest suggestions I can make is to plan ahead if possible. Many will just see what they require now and end up with a building that is too small within a year. I have never received a complaint from someone having too much building.

Many people will call and just want a basic cost for the size building they require.
This question can not be answered with a spreadsheet.
The cost of a building evolves more than just width and length for the square foot cost.
Height is also a major concern, if you wish color and the amount of openings you will require.
However the largest affect on the cost are the Codes and Loads required for your area.
A typical 40 x 60 for Dallas, TX has a small snow load of 3.5 psf, while the same building in Truckee, CA for snow removal equipment requires 250 psf. This same building in Phoenix, AZ with a 90 mph wind, cannot be
compared to a building in Miami, FL at 175 mph. The seismic requirements and building category will also affect the overall price.
We design and manufacture buildings for all of North America as well as exports for other countries. There is no such thing as a standard price. The best way is to get a very accurate price including delivery, this is the only way you will know if your budget is going to work. This quote cost you nothing if you have us do it or you use the design and quote system at https://rapidsetbuildings.com.

All structural bolts and nuts are included. All sheeting fasteners are pop rivets for trim is included.
There is one item we do not include, that is anchor bolts or anything that fastens to the concrete.
The anchor bolt length is based on the foundation design, which we do not provide.  But on the plans we do provide the diameter of each bolt needed.
We supply all forces that are applied to the foundation from the building, and the foundation design determined from soil samples, how thick and what shape the concrete must be. This helps determine the length of the anchor bolts required.
Anchor bolts should also be provided by the company that pours the foundation, they should be installing these into the concrete during the pour.

Our typical sheathing is 26 gauge 80,000 or 50,000 psi tensile strength steel.
Our typical profile is PBR which has a 1-1/4 inch high rib every foot and two ¼ ribs between each high rib. This profile adds to the sheeting strength and gives an attractive finish look. The 26 gauge is industry standard and we will substitute with 24 gauge if requested.
Keep one thing in mind when reading quotes received from suppliers. If they only call out the tensile strength, this is not good enough. You can have 80,000 psi steel, but if this is for 28 or 29 gauge sheeting, this is way to thin.

This is up to you in your planning stages.
If you know in the future you would like a larger building but it’s not in the budget now.
There are two ways to enlarge.
For length you would want to request a fully loaded expandable end wall on the left or right endwall. This will allow you to add another bay or more to the length of your existing building easily. The endwall can be removed and additional length installed maintaining a clear span design. If this is not requested when designed, than you must leave the end wall columns and loose the clear span use.
Another way to expand is adding a lean to on one side of the building. If you want the lean to added to the width and attached to the main frames this must be determined in the original order if you may want this feature later. The force and weight of a lean to, along with the snow and wind loads must be accounted for in the original building so the support will be there for when you do enlarge.  If you add the lean to to any side of the building with it’s own supporting columns, equal with or lower then the eave line this can be done at a later date without modifying the original structure

There are many buildings you can walk into and not realize you are standing inside of a metal building. The purpose of the metal building is to give a large open area with no supports internally or simply a quick pre-engineered shell for you to do what you want inside. What you do to the inside or outside is up to your imagination.
Some of the most popular items for the exterior are stone or block work around the base for an attractive wainscot affect, shingled roof to match housing, or even stucco to completely change the appearance.  If you need stone, roof shingles or stucco we would need to discuss the options.  These options can not be done with a standard building design because of girt or purlin spacing and / or deflection allowed for brittle conditions.

On a standard quote or online quote you will receive a full metal building, all sheeting, trim, roof and wall sheets, tapes, closures, all secondary steel all primary steel full drawing packages along with all fasteners and hardware required to put your building together.  We do not supply any fasteners that attach to the concrete because they should be set before the building arrives.
We supply delivery to your site address, with on time service, along with 2 sets of engineer stamped prints for your state.
It would be easier to state what is not supplied.
The equipment to unload material off the truck.
The erection of your building to a finished product.
Anchor bolts that should have already been installed by the concrete people.

Your quoted price is locked until the expiration date on the quote.
If you order the building and we are allowed to detail and send directly to production without delays, then your price is locked in. Also meaning you must be ready to take delivery when the building is scheduled.
Many times due to site conditions or various other problems, we are requested to hold off on the manufacturing of your building. If we know this in advance, we can Detail the job, send the prints out for stamping, then just wait for you to tell us to release to production.
If or when this happens, your price can be altered by a factory increase.  In the event of a factory increase during this time, we will contact you to let you know how much of an increase is coming and by what date we have to release to the factory. You will have the option of releasing the building and taking delivery when the building is ready or paying the increase.
On occasions, people have wanted to delay the delivery of their building that is already in manufacturing. This is a much larger problem. Our facilities offer no storage for buildings. Your building would be taken off site from the factory and stored at a rental facility. This would cost you fees of up to $150.00 per day plus loading and unloading costs. This storage must be paid before the building can be loaded back on to a truck for delivery.

There are many factors that effect delivery times.
First is the complexity and work load in our Detailing department.
Buildings must be Detailed first to ensure a bolt together building with proper fits and sizes. Next the building will go to the Engineer for approval and stamping for your state. This again depends on their work load.
Finally the building gets turned into production where it is included to their work load. All of these work loads can change depending on the amount of orders. Once in production it will normally take about 6 to 7 weeks to be ready to ship.
At the norm we try for 7 to 9 weeks from order to delivery, but I hope you can see how hard this is to promise with work loads at each major point.
Other things that can affect this is people being off work, holiday shut downs and like always weather.  Often in the early spring the timing jumps to 10 – 12 weeks.  If ordering, ask us for the current estimated schedule.

Our standard colors are Silicone-Polyester (SP).  https://rapidsetbuildings.com/knowledge/standard-colors/
There are a limited amount of colors, normally these are the ones we send out as our color chart.
An upgrade option to these standard colors is the PVDF Cool Coatings. These utilize a two coat system featuring fade resistant and more durable coating. These are an up charge from our standard colors. We have access to even more additional colors, by utilizing many different suppliers. We normally avoid this because of double freight costs. However, there has been many times on large buildings this became a money saver, where the amount of sheeting was almost one truck full to deliver while an alternative sheeting source was closer and supports a greater color selection.

It’s up to you and your imagination.
Many times we have produced a building without knowing the final result was a home. The design is up to you, there is no reason a metal building will not work for a home.
We can start with the shell and attach options to get as close to the finished design as possible. Many of these home buildings requires a confident Contractor that is capable of starting with our metal shell and transforming this into a beautiful home.  https://rapidsetbuildings.com/metal-buildings/residential/

This is a steel building shell, with a clear span area allowing you to generate any type of internal layout you desire. We can design different shapes like a gamble, raised center isle barn, offset slopes, etc.
With a clear span external structure, you are free to utilize the space how you wish, and easily change the layout later as you wish.  Give us a call 719-268-1325 to start designing!

Wow, this is always a tough question to answer. Some people are gifted with the ability of reading prints and picture them in real life, these people can also recognize the step by step process required to complete the task. Yet others, well let’s just say not so much.
I have supplied a building, 80 x 240 x 18 with several large openings, one of which was for a Hangar door in upper Montana. This building was erected in 4 days with no problems. Not to worry, this was a very experienced team who have done many of our buildings in the past. At the same time we have had husbands and wife teams put up their first building together, much smaller of coarse, and have done fine.
Because we are one of the few suppliers that detail the buildings in-house, meaning we make sure everything will fit and lines up, this makes our building much easier to assemble. Along with the additional information from a complete assemble manual and specific prints and notes supplied with the drawing package, this will help you plan your work for a day to day accomplishment. Finally, our staff is all professionals, call and ask when you run into a problem, we are here to help.
If you are a erector or builder, and you find us, you will be ahead of your competition right away.  Quick anchor bolt plans, we can send component cut sheets of any piece of a building as the part is made to figure out if an issue arises.  Simple plans, marked parts, we call it bolt-by-number.

This will depend on each individuals ability making this hard to answer for each.
We have many customers that have accomplished this and felt it was an easy but long process.
If you are patient and have the time you need, give it a try. We will supply you with our assembly manual and additional drawings for more specific details. The best help is the Customer Service we supply, we are here to answer any questions you may have.
The most important suggestion I can make is to study the prints before you start and make a plan.  This plans should include a safety plan.  
https://www.osha.gov/  The next step, get familiar with the parts, location and what will be required for connections. If you have a clear mental picture before you dive into the next part of assembly, you will be more prepared and confiden

Basically this boils down to the original design of the building.
If you wish to increase the length of the building, it should have been designed from the start with an expandable end wall. This would place a fully loaded frame at the end of the building and allow future length expansion, and maintaining a clear span interior.
If you want to expand the length without having an expandable end wall on your existing building, the end wall must remain in place including all columns. You will loose the clear span capability at this wall location. If you wish to expand in width, again if this was designed for at the start this is simple.
If not previously designed for, the building cannot support the additional weight of a lean to off of the walls. These would have to be designed as stand alone buildings connecting to the existing building with sheeting and trim to make the finished product look like one building.

The most prominent method is anchor bolts. These are normally “J” or “L” shaped metal rods that are embedded into the concrete foundation leaving the threads exposed a few inches above the finished floor. Each column that rests on the foundation has a foot print or pattern with it’s own particular force it will apply. Our design software will determine the amount and diameter of the bolts needed. The length of these bolts is determined by your foundation Engineer when doing the foundation design.

Your building will be designed with U.S. steel (if delivered in the US) and by some of the most rigid standards in the world. The steel will all be 55,000 psi tensile strength, this is for all primary and secondary steel. All structural steel will be primer coated for rust protection.
Sheeting is standard 26 or 24 gauge, (industry standard) and 80,000 psi tensile strength. This material is galvalume to resist rust, then silicone-polyester painted (if standard paint (SP).

The basic limitations are too much height or width.
We have designed buildings up to 60 feet in height and 220 feet in width depending on your snow and wind for your area, this may not be possible.  For loads we have designed and supplier a building with 225 roof snow per square foot and another building rated for 200 mph wind in the Caribbean.  We have also design commodity building designed for interior pressure.  One time we did an ammo storage building designed for interior pressure.
We have to stay within a rectangular or square shape, no rounded or diagonal walls.  But in very custom cases – we have designed and supplied a building in Cyprus overlooking the Mediterranean with a curved roof.
Presently we cannot do hip roof systems with peak and valley roof connections.  But again in very custom cases we have done hips, valleys etc.  It is a matter of cost.

All exposed fasteners are zinc coated with baked on paint to match the sheeting colors.  Hardened long life fasteners on the roof with one piece EPDM seals.
Do not be fooled when you see some companies offering stainless steel fasteners. These are by nature softer and have a greater tendency to snap off during installation, they also are not rust free.

Yes, this is called our Standing Seam system. This has no exterior fasteners, the sheets seam together over a clip mounted on the purlins. This roof system is normally 24 gauge steel, but color selections are very limited.  And not included in a quote would be renting a seamer.  A seamer is a motorized tool that folds the connecting panels.  An example would be https://www.stortz.com/product-category/roofing-tools/sheet-metal-roofing-tools/standing-seam/power-seamer/

Before taking advise from you neighbor, call us 719-268-1325.  We can pull up your building prints in our office, our professional staff can walk you through any problem you might encounter.

The only time we suggest drilling is on the sheeting to start your location correctly. This is to make starting location of the wall sheets easier and faster. Many erectors will skip this step, this is up to you.
There may be some cutting involved. Some trim will come in 20ft lengths, and will require you to cut as you need to fit an opening or wall. Base angle come is 20ft lengths and will require cutting to exact wall length needed. If you have a field locate walk door and a wall girt below 7’ 6” then you will have to cut the girt to install the walk door where desired.
The only normal cutting comes on the end walls where cross bracing in located. You will need to cut through the girts so the diagonal bracing can pass through and support the end wall columns to stiffen the wall.

The best way is to call us. Help us understand exactly what you are doing and want and we can offer suggestions to achieve you goals with the least amount of expense.
There are many ways of reducing costs that other suppliers will use. The fact is, when comparing quotes from suppliers, your eye goes immediately to the bottom line cost, and assuming all steel buildings are alike, and the quality will be the same. Nothing can be further from the truth.
Here are just a few things you should look out for that can all lower the cost of your building.
Codes and Loads have been manipulated such as use of load reduction, ground snow load when roof snow load is required, wrong exposure for your area and finally just the wrong governing code for wind speed. If you signed
the contract, now this is yours and so is the permitting problem.
Using imported steel. Your building may be manufactured in the U.S. but your steel could be coming from China, Mexico or Argentina. The tensile strengths are not the same and you are getting an inferior product.
A very popular method of lowering cost is to substitute material, mainly sheeting gauge. I have seen some suppliers using 28 or 29 gauge external sheeting. This is too light for external use and not recommended by Industry standards.
Not supplying pre welded clips. Clips will arrive loose in a box and now it is up to you to drill and mount them in place. The last customer I heard that complained this happened to them by another supplier, saved $600.00 on the building cost but his erector charged him over $3,200.00 to install them.
Sharing your delivery with another building to reduce freight cost. This is a very bad idea that will come back to haunt you. The way a building is loaded onto a truck is first all flat sheeting on the bottom, next is the bundled material (girts, purlins, angle), pieces that stack well together then the columns and rafters the largest pieces of your building.
Finally the trim is place on the top, this material can be very susceptible to damage.
The first stop will need to unload the entire truck to access the sheeting at the bottom. They must separate their material from yours and then restack the truck. This is very time consuming and adds additional cost for your erector. Now your delivery arrives, you may be missing pieces that the first delivery took by mistake, you might have damage to material during the reloading. You will find out you are on your own, the supplier is not going to replace or supply anything damaged or missing, this will end up to be between you and the first delivery to settle.

There are a few things that can make the delivery process run much smoother.
Access for the truck and trailer. This will be delivered on a 48 foot long flat bed trailer. The driver needs access to the site drop off and room to turn around.
First, have a digital camera ready. You will want to take a picture of any damaged parts from the delivery. Please try to include a picture of the part number. Mark any damage on the Bill of Lading and have the driver initial. Do not attempt to remove cost from the COD, the driver will accept nothing less than the full amount due. Rapidset will take care of replacing material as fast as we can, the driver only delivers.  The panels come with cover sheets that look bent up on the sides.  These are meant to protect what you are using so it is normal.
Second, have your Certified Bank check for the COD balance in had, for the full amount.
Keep in mind, only the full amount will work. Do not plan to withhold a retention of any amount. Any missing or damaged parts, Rapidset will take care of for you, not the driver.
Third, have the equipment required to unload. We strongly suggest a 5 ton all terrain fork lift, capable of lifting 15 feet. Our drivers are not responsible for unloading your material. At this point take a full crate inventory and initial on the Bill of Lading.
A cleared, level spot on your site to stack material, along with tarps to cover if rain or snow maybe in the future. Follow instructions provided by our green manual.
You will have 2 weeks to perform a full inventory of parts. If this time goes by, we have to assume site theft rather than missing parts. Rapidset will ship you any missing parts as quickly as possible so not to disrupt erection of your new building.

Yes, but let us know up front during quoting that this will be the exterior finish.
There are several ways this can be done, but if the design is part of the plan we can help make this much easier.
The most common way is when the customer uses their own board siding. This could be plywood or CMP board. or the PBR panel can be installed backwards so it has more flat area.  Then this will then be covered with chicken wire and installed on the exterior walls instead of our typical sheeting. Stucco will be applied over this surface. There are a few things we can do for you to make this easy.
First, is to change the deflection factors of the building. The standard deflection allowed is L/180 on the frames and L/90 on wall girts. These will be changed to a stiffer value, normally L/240 on frames and L/120 on wall girts. This prevents excessive motion on the walls and will keep your stucco from cracking and popping off.  For some codes it requires L/600 for a brittle condition.  This could be very expensive.
Second, we can alter the spacing of the girts themselves. Most of these wood panels are 4 x 8 feet in size, we can adjust the girt spacing to every 4 feet or even 2 feet on center to accommodate your panel size.
Finally, we will remove our wall sheeting so your are not paying for something you will not require.
The final result is a building that resembles that of a residence and not a commercial steel building.
One of the best options we have found is for the building to designed with standard deflection and girts are spaced for plywood.  And then a synthetic stucco system is applies or an EFIS system is attached. 
With these systems it will flex with the building.
But either way please work with us to make sure your building is designed for what you want to do.

There should never be the requirement for welding.
However a cutting torch may come in very handy.
This may be needed for walk door location if you have a wall girt less than 7’ 6” high.
The most common is to install the cross bracing on end walls. You will have to burn holes into the wall girts to allow the cross bracing to pass through.

No, the steel framing would actually not have the creaking sounds of a conventional wood building. If sheeting and external accessories are installed properly, this will be a solid, sound free building.  If spray in insulation is used it is amazingly quite.

This is more of a question of who you are and what you are most comfortable with. A smaller supplier can spend much more time and attention with you to develop your particular needs.
Many times going to a smaller supplier you are receiving additional benefits and faster responses that the large manufacturer does not supply or can’t supply in a timely manner.
If your supplier is offering their Detailing, Engineering and support, you are much better of staying with them. Many of these smaller suppliers have access to several large manufactures and can utilize which would be the best to fill your needs.
These smaller suppliers purchase many buildings yearly from the manufactures and often receive a discount that the manufacture will not offer to a single or one time buyer.
The final resolve is the service you receive will be far better with the supplier you are most comfortable with and not necessarily the largest.
Also we have hear that some factories paperwork is difficult to deal with and it is difficult to really understand what you committed to buy.  We send out plans before a sale if requested.

You have the ability to make your steel building look however you want. With many different exterior finish options, opening sizes and locations, your building can be finished for a look that no one would know you have a steel building. The outside appearance is whatever you can imagine, while the interior stays a large clear span with no obstacles in the way of laying out the perfect floor plan for your needs.

You do as the buyer, builder or erector. The driver is not responsible for unloading your building.
We suggest you have an all terrain fork truck ready when the truck arrives. This fork truck should be capable of lifting 5 tons at least 15 feet high.
You should also have a digital camera available to take picture of any damage that may have occurred during delivery.
Take a crate inventory while unloading. At this time mark down all damage you see, along with a picture of the damage and crate or part number. Mark any damage or missing crates or parts on the Bill Of Lading

This is why we suggest you to have a digital camera ready. Damage can happen during delivery due to loads shifting or not being properly secured. Take a picture of damage and be sure to get the part of crate number included in the picture. Mark these items on the Bill of Lading and have the driver initial on each item.
After you have taken the crate and bundle inventory, sign the Bill of Lading and let the driver get on their way. The driver is not responsible for damage or missing parts, Rapidset Buildings will take care of you and ensure all is corrected for you.
You will have 2 weeks to ensure all material is delivered. This will require an in-depth inventory of all parts, trim, fasteners bolts, all accessories. If more parts are damaged or missing, Rapidset will supply and correct, please do this in a timely manner, keep in mind we do not have spare parts lying around your parts where all built to order with your building. Give us enough time to manufacture any parts you may need.

Depending on your location and size of the building, some people do not have to go through the process of getting a building permit.
For most, this is not an option. This is how your tax base and property value is judged and valued. Your local Building Department will be involved in all new construction of your site to ensure tax base is correct and updated.
This is not completely negative, they are also making sure that you are not being taken advantage of. They will review designs and ensure they will meet the most updated code requirements for your area. Without this checking system they provide, you could be taken advantage of by many fast talking salesman that just want to make a sale and much don’t care if it meets any requirements at all.  There job is to protect life.

This will always depend on the size building you order.
If your building is taller than it is wide, your longer sizes would be in columns and wall sheeting.
If your building is wider than it is tall, your longer sizes would be in rafters and roof sheeting.
Normally the size would be in rafters and roof sheeting as the longest pieces.
Keep in mind one thing, we use a 48 foot flat bed truck for delivery, so we keep all pieces 48 feet long or less. This will mean overlapping of sheeting or splices in columns and rafters.
Because we detail in-house you can request sizes to order if you request ahead of time.  For instance we can detail a buildings parts to all fit in a 20′ or 40′ container for shipping overseas.

This is normally a sheeting or girt/purlin bundle.
The length depends on the overall size of your building and our 48 foot maximum shipping lengths. These are normally stack as not to exceed 5,000 lbs per bundle, you may have several of these bundles.

There are many ways to insulate your steel building.
What we normally offer is a blanket system that was designed for steel building by major insulation suppliers. We call it VR for reinforced vinyl facing This system was meant to install over the secondary steel and underneath the sheeting. This material will expand to fill the voids between the secondary steel spacing and compress at the spots of the secondary steel and sheeting.
If larger insulation values are required, we us a blanket system to increase layers by installing a netting system to collect the insulation that will not fit into the width of the purlins and girts.
You may choose to spray foam your building which many prefer to do, this is all up to you.

I have never heard of this happening. Our buildings have been used for offices, firehouses, residence and emergency use. With all of the various needs our customers have required, we have never had a report of
interference.

The wind load is defined as the pressure (lbs/sq ft) applied to the outside of the building surface area. This is transferred from the wind speed in mph into pressure on the walls and roof surfaces. This pressure is taken by the Local Building Departments in the average of the last 5 to 7 years of data and normally called out as worst case condition in a 30 second gust.
The amount of this pressure strictly depends on where you live. Hurricane areas will range from 120 mph and could go up to above 200 mph, while the norm is 90 to 115 mph.

This is a load applied normally to the roof area that would represent people moving around on the roof.
The industry standard is 20 psf, this covers the fact that people will be on the roof to install sheeting and trim, or people just walking on the roof system.
Some areas with occasional heavy snow fall will have a large snow load but want to see the live load increased to cover the snow sliding off of the roof.

Your options could be a very wide range, however we try to control this in design to give you the support you need without an increased cost. This will depend on building width, snow load requirements or framed opening requirements in side walls. Wind speed will also have an effect on how wide the spacing must be.
A normal building in a no snow load area, the use of 30 foot spacing works well. For a 50 psf snow load area you may have less expense using a 20 foot spacing. In high wind areas of 150 mph and greater, you are best keeping the frame spacing around 20 feet.
Frame spacing depends on the use and environmental conditions, Some times they just don’t agree and compromises may have to be reached.
If you have a special need for frame spacing give us a call 719-268-1325

If your building comes with 29 gauge steel, I would refuse it. The industry standard is 26 gauge. Many suppliers have tried to supply 29 gauge, ( which is too thin) by not stating the gauge only mentioning a 50,000 or 80,000 tensile strength steel. If the gauge is not called out on the quote, call and ask them for the gauge used on their quote.

Let’s first think of setting up dominos in a pattern. You get them all set up and then topple the first one over. Watch as one falls into the other and soon they have all fallen down. Now think of those dominos as your rigid frames, the exact same thing will happen. The bracing is to combine two frames together in a manner that they cannot fall into or away from each other and the rest of the frames are tied to them.
The type of bracing used generally depends on the use of the building itself.  There are several different methods of bracing a steel building with the cheapest and most effective being cross bracing. This method ties the top of one frame column to the base of the next frame column and the top of that column to the base of the previous column. This stops any movement toward or away from each other. This method also removes the use of that bay for framed openings.
The next most utilized method is a portal frame. This is an upside down “U” shaped frame that goes in between two frames and bolts to each. This type of bracing requires a greater wall height and extra width in that bay.
The advantage is this will not affect your concrete requirements, much like cross bracing.
The worst bracing is a wind column, this involves a column bolted to the side of a rigid frame column and into the concrete foundation. This makes your concrete requirements much greater than need to be.
The very last bracing that we will not use and you should never accept is panel shear.
This started with pole barns where the wood wall studs are at 16 inch on center and one piece of sheeting over laps 3 studs. This does not work when you columns have 25 feet of space between them.
There are other options that can be used in special building designs.  Call to discuss your specific requirements 719-268-1325

This will depend on your City, Building Department and location of where the building is to be erected.  It also depends on if it for government, military or other public use.
Architects are used to maintain a particular look for an area. And architects work through the planning of exiting, best specific use, drainage, parking, etc.
Think of them as being the controller of a very large HOA for the city. There job is to maintain a look and appearance for an area.
For the largest amount of our customers this is not required. When you apply for your permit, you will be informed if an Architects design is required or not.