Well, gentle reader, if my occasional rants make good reading, or are otherwise entertaining, today should be a treat indeed.

A client (from Missouri) sent us the quote he received from a lumberyard in his area for a new 30’ x 40’ x 12’ pole building. Great price – if I was going to purchase a pole barn kit package and all I cared about was a screaming great price, I’d take two of these.

Now – time to have fun…..as I dissect their quote, which happens to list all of the pieces they propose to provide.

#1-Painted steel – sounds like a good start, until I read, “Figured in 10 year metal”. 10 year metal? Come on now….a good pole building should last a lifetime, and they propose steel with a 10 year warranty? This steel is what is known as “liner panel”. They are designed to be used on the inside of buildings, not exposed to the elements!

#2-Ridge vent. They are quoting a universal ridge vent – strips of square material which is to compress to conform to the ribs of the steel. All well and good, but these products rarely seem to fit 100% snug against the base of the high ribs of the roof steel panels. But, it is something.

#3-Truth in advertising time – “Single Bubble Reflective Insulation R-14.1”.  Hansen Buildings sells literally millions of square feet of reflective insulation. To promote any reflective insulation as being R-14.1, without qualifying how the R rating was calculated, is stepping way out on a limb. A limb the future building owner may not like to stand on.

#4-2×10 #2 Yellow Pine truss carriers. The proposed building has columns every eight feet, with trusses attached to them. What in the heck are the “truss carriers” carrying?

#5-2×6 Treated (no grade mentioned)….can only assume this to be a very undersized splash plank at the base of the building.

#6-2x4x10’ #2 SPF (Spruce-Pine-Fir) – these are wall girts placed barn style every two feet across the endwalls. Obviously meeting the building code criteria for deflection is not a concern.

And now it gets even more interesting. Some things seemed to be completely missing from the pole building quote…steel trims for around the base (rat guard) and at the top of the eave. No stitch screws to attach the ridge cap and rake trims. Inside closure strips for the edge of the roof.

I just have to question their providing “sinkers” to attach framing to pressure treated lumber. Maybe not the best possible choice.

The wonder of the internet allows me to check out what could only be thought of as a rudimentary website. Where I find their mission statement, “To bring our Customers quality products at a great price” great in theory, somehow I have missed it so far based upon their quote.

One click on the “Agricultural Pole Barns” link and I find, “Our contractors build anywhere from 300 to 500 pole barns per year, and we sell an additional 150 to 200 material packages to farmers and “Do-it-yourselfer’s” annually.”

If indeed they do provide this many buildings, surely some sort of even minimal quality standards must exist.  I clicked to view pictures of their pole barns…and was reminded quality comes in many levels – great quality, as well as poor.

Remember my questioning the “truss carriers”, sure enough, they are installed and carrying absolutely nothing!

Base trim/rat guard and the 2×6 pressure treated? The solution is to run the wall steel all the way down to the ground! Any sort of manufacturer’s warranty on the steel just evaporated. If you want to see what happens to steel siding which comes in contact with the ground, I most heartily invite you to visit the Hansen Productions building.  It was built approximately 30 years ago by some previous company (we purchased it about 6 years ago), and has everything you do not want to see happen with a pole building.  The bottom edges of the steel all the way around the building are rusted up from half to over an inch!  Folks, you do not want steel in contact with the ground.

What took the cake for me was….photos of trusses in completed pole buildings with absolutely no truss bracing what-so-ever!! No bottom chord bracing (with single trusses, the absolute maximum spacing for bracing would be every 10’)!!  Truth be told, I would be scared to stand in a building like this on a calm day.

My summation – ignorance is bliss. If these people can sleep at night, it is only because they must be entirely oblivious as to how buildings should be put together. In the event they happen to read this article, I am offering my services, for free, to educate them – before one (or more) of their buildings collapses and someone is injured, or worse yet, killed.