Customer Profiles
"Pretty Much Everything I Wanted to Know I Found on Armstrong’s Website"
John Turns To Armstrong Steel Buildings For Guidance
When we learn a steel building is a family project, we take notice. Because we operate as a family here, too, we understand the honor of being included and invited into the family dynamic. One such customer who chose Armstrong’s participation in his family’s steel building project is John K., of Gardnerville, Nevada.
“I couldn’t get the proper permitting in my neighborhood, so I spoke to my daughter and we decided to build the building on her property instead,” he says. “My brother, who was an iron worker for decades until he retired a few years ago, jumped at the chance to help and to work with metal again. My son also helped. My family and I were able to erect the all the framing in about a weekend. It was nice.”
The building John ordered was a 28 x 44 with a 2:12 pitch. “We don’t get a lot of snow in Nevada, so I didn’t have to mess around with a steep roof pitch. The flatter pitch not only looked better, but I think it was probably easier to assemble and made everything go up a lot quicker.”
John had never erected a steel building before, but as a PhD, he was no stranger to research. “Absolutely, I researched this thing ahead of time. I went to Armstrong’s website and found a lot of resources,” he says matter-of-factly. “I checked out the photo gallery to get some ideas and I saw some specifications for another building. These things are what helped me to decide ahead of time what it was that I wanted. I also read some of Armstrong’s steel building blog posts on when to pour the foundation and choosing a foundation engineer. Pretty much everything I wanted to know I found through Armstrong Steel’s website. It answered a lot of my questions, even ones I didn’t know I had,” he chuckles.
Because we understand that many of customers can be busy throughout their day, Armstrong Steel communicates quite a bit through emails. “I didn’t have a whole lot of conversations with my project manager on the phone, but he had no problem emailing me the progress and some suggestions so I was able to stay in touch with him. He was always available to communicate during evenings or on the weekends, when I had more time. I definitely felt this was an efficient way to stay in touch.”
Armstrong’s Manufacturing Facility Steps Up
John’s metal building system was shipped out of Armstrong Steel’s manufacturing facility in Englewood, Colorado.
“John’s building was pretty simple. He had the land, the erection crew and the foundation engineer already in place. I was able to find him some really great discounts and he saved quite a bit of money,” says Bennett Hietbrink, John’s project manager, “because we were shipping his building from our Colorado manufacturing facility we were also able to get his building onsite exactly when he wanted it with no issues whatsoever.”
“Preparing for delivery was a breeze. My project manager was invaluable and the website was so thorough, we were ready with a forklift ahead of time. The steel building erectionblog post I read filled me in regarding scheduling the forklift and erecting the metal building, so I wound up saving money on the equipment rental, as well,” he says.
“My local permitting office was pretty specific about a steel building. It couldn’t be a reflective finish on the roof or the sidewalls, and, while the whole building didn’t need to match the color of my existing building, the trim, at least, did need to.”
Armstrong Steel has a wide variety of steel building color options so John had no problem pulling the permit he needed. “The main building is green and red so I chose to just match the trim – and the roof wasn’t reflective, so it was pretty easy,” he says.
The Kind of Company I Want to do Business With
When John and his family unloaded the truck and began assembling the building, they noticed a few attachment plates were a few inches shorter than they needed to be. “I got on the phone with Kitty and she overnighted me the correct plates at no charge, it didn’t even cost us a day, I was pretty impressed with how fast I got the right pieces, actually.”
John continues, “I’m a scientist, I know that there are a lot of parts that need to be shipped all at the same time, I know things like a couple wrong plates happens. People make errors, it’s what we do, but fixing those errors really quick like [Armstrong] did, without a question or making it a big deal, well that’s the kind of company I want to do business with.”
When we spoke to John last, he was in the process of wiring the building with his family. “We’re taking our time, there’s no rush, we’re just spending time with each other, putting up our metal building on the weekends, it’s nice,” he says. “My neighborhood has also lightened up on some of the zoning restrictions, so looks like I’ll be getting another steel workshop from Armstrong real soon – this time on my land, though,” he chuckles.
When he’s ready, John knows where to find us.