I have to admit, steel price increases have in the past, been huge drivers of business. My own personal opinion is I would rather see your hard earned money stay in YOUR pocket, instead of the pockets of some faceless corporation. I know I work hard for my money, I am sure you work hard for yours as well.
When I was primarily selling pole buildings, my all-time best sales day (as far as individuals who became happily involved in new post frame building kit packages) was Friday, February 27, 1981. A significant price increase in steel roofing and siding went into effect March 1 and I ended up selling 13 pole barns to 13 different clients on this one day alone!
Yes, I was busy.
Fast forwarding to today’s world – we (as in the Hansen Pole Buildings we) buy a fair amount of steel roofing and siding. For one of our vendors, we happen to be (at least at last report) their second largest client nationwide. While this does give us a certain amount of ‘clout’ it does not mean we are able to get around their increased cost of doing business.
We’ve already been forewarned of price hikes happening in March, and just received this notification in the past few days, from the regional manager of one of our steel vendors:
“I wanted to contact you to let you know that the steel prices are looking very volatile this summer. As you’re aware, we have an increase coming May 16th. I just received notice that we will be announcing a double-digit increase to come in June as well. This increase is due to lower domestic capacity, increased raw material costs and a reduction in the flow of import steel as a result of pending trade cases, and our costs are continuing to rise on almost a daily basis. These increases are real and are impacting everyone. As your partner, I wanted to give you as much of a heads-up as possible so we can plan accordingly.
Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. I truly appreciate your business.”
What does this mean to you as a consumer and future pole building owner and what can you do about it?
A double-digit increase in the cost of steel siding is going to result in approximately one-half of this being a direct increase in the materials costs of your new building.
If you are planning upon a new building in 2016 ORDER IT NOW!
In most cases you will need to take a prompt delivery of the roofing and siding, in order to lock in the pricing however it can be relatively easily stored and takes up very little room as the skids are typically 40-42 inches in width.
As a responsible business advisor to Hansen Pole Buildings, I want to do everything in my power to see you get the biggest bang for your buck. Call now.
