Hansen Buildings Designer Rick shared this with me today:

“Had a client call this morning almost in tears. She has decided she wants to order a building from us, however has had a hard time getting the construction quoted. All of the builders in her area, who normally construct our buildings, are too busy. She watched our time lapse video, and wished she was watching her barn going up.”

See the video yourself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wL1GBxSjQIk&list=UUPc5tR1kk4GcUsLvHLdHIrQ&index=1&feature=plcp

When I had my first pole building kit package business in the 1980’s, we would have clients call us in October ready to order. Now these were the very same people we had been talking to six months earlier. We’d be so busy; we’d tell them it would be April before their pole buildings could be built. It still amazes me, but these people would actually wait one-half of a year to get their buildings from us!

What lots of people did not realize is – neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet….nor dark of night stop pole buildings from going up. We erected a pole building for a snow ski resort in North Central Washington, in January!

Fast forwarding to when I was a builder in the 1990’s…..

I could tell the first skiff of snow in each community, without having to look at the weather report. It was the day all of our prospective clients from each hamlet would call – wanting to know when they could get their new pole buildings constructed! Even with as many as 35 crews by Fall we would have all of them booked out until after the first of the year.

Now-a-days, with so many contractors having gone out of business the past four years, all of the good ones are swamped with work, especially as the season of poor weather and short daylight hours approaches.

For some reason, Americans (as a broad generality) tend to procrastinate. We wait until the last (or beyond the last) possible instant, before taking action.

When it comes to getting a new building built, it is always best to err on the side of safety. Give plenty of time for the unexpected – Planning and Building Departments often take longer than anticipated to issue permits. Will the excavator show up when expected, maybe….maybe not?

Don’t expect whoever you purchase your pole building from, to get plans and materials to you “yesterday”.  If you are so stressed in pushing to get it up “before snow flies”…perhaps you would be better off waiting until Spring, and then get a jump on everyone else by booking your contractor now. 

Again, many pole buildings do get constructed in the wintertime.  As long as you can dig holes, get the poles concreted in the ground – the rest easily follows.  Don’t worry about the concrete floor.  With a pole building, it can be added in the Spring, which many clients have told me it worked out great…spreading out the expenses.  Another option is to have a contractor set the poles for you (a one day job versus a week or more), and then build the rest yourself over the winter.  More savings, and unless you live where temperatures are in the minus zone, a few layers of clothes and by Spring you may have your new building, along with a few more dollars in your pocket when its done.