How to Cut and Install Base Trim at a Corner In yesterday’s column, I mentioned how the base trim was improperly installed. Back in the 1990’s when I was constructing buildings, one of my building crew chiefs shared this trick with me. When properly done, it eliminates the ability of critters to climb up inside […]

New in the Hammering World     Estwing AL-Pro When the latest and greatest comes around, I try to be on top of providing information to my valued readers, many of whom have become trusted friends. Here is a new one for your reading enjoyment! Best known for its single-piece steel hammers Estwing is about to […]

BUILD magazine Just announced – Hansen Pole Buildings, LLC has been selected by BUILD magazine in their Engineering Leadership awards. According to Dominic Lloyd, Feature Executive at BUILD (www.build-review.com/build-rewards/), “Hansen Pole Buildings LLC has stood out from the thousands of potential contenders due to your creative movements, dedicated team and brilliant quality of production and […]

Another great and well thought out question, which is best answered at length. Dear Pole Barn Guru: The construction manual states that concrete slab floors should be poured so there is 3-3/4” of skirt board left exposed above the slab. What do you do if you want or need to have a typical slab slope toward […]

Recently Eric Graff, managing partner of Hansen Pole Buildings, and I have been discussing the possibilities of a new post frame building at our home distribution center in South Dakota. Eric is a shrewd buyer and has negotiated some significant discounts from vendors for the purchase of materials in bulk quantities (think of a semi-truck […]

From the age of six, alpine (aka downhill) snow skiing has been a part of our family culture. As my three youngest children (Bailey, Allison and Brent) graduated from being toddlers – I took them to the slopes and taught them to ski as well. It was not my being the greatest skier on the […]

Power Lifting Pole Barns They might seem like typical teenagers, but Joshua and Kaitlynn Naert are worlds apart from most pair of siblings in Michigan. The brother-sister combo come from a good, blue-collar home, living with their mother and father, Tracy and Jeff, and their dogs. It’s not until Joshua, Kaitlynn and their father step […]

Trail Maintenance Buildings All across America old railroad beds are being converted into trails for uses such as walking, running and biking. According to www.railstotrails.org over 30,000 miles of trails now criss-cross our country. My personal favorite is the Hiawatha Trail (www.ridethehiawatha.com) which begins in Western Montana (near what was once the boomtown of Taft) […]

Event Centers A little over four years ago, I introduced you, my gentle readers, to my late Grandma Jerene and her boyfriend Bob, the “Weather Cat” (https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2012/07/weather/). They are going to play a part in this story. Earlier this summer my lovely bride and I had just gotten home when a couple pulled up in […]

I started snow skiing back in 1963, shortly after my sixth birthday. My dad and uncles were the framing contractors for the first condominium units at Schweitzer Basin, near Sandpoint, Idaho and somehow we ended up with a unit shared with the families of my uncles Lyle and Gil. Uncle Lyle’s wife, my Auntie Joyce […]

How to Avoid a Disastrous DIY Pole Barn Project This is part three in a three part series on how to better ensure a great pole barn project, by getting rid of the pitfalls. I’d like to thank Bret Buelo of Wick Buildings for the basis of this article, which appeared on the Wick Buildings […]

Part two of a three part series. See yesterday’s blog for part one. I’d like to thank Bret Buelo of Wick Buildings for the basis of this article, which appeared on the Wick Buildings website (www.wickbuildings.com) August 12, 2016. Information from Bret’s article appears here in italics along with my comments as well. Part of […]

Colorado Springs, Colorado Post Frame Buildings “It’s all about the building”, one of my favorite quotes from my favorite writer – me. In all seriousness, the quote is one of my favorite sayings, and I have lots of favorite writers with far better literary skills than I. Part of what, “It’s all about the building”, […]

Back in 2000, I had the pleasure of working with Dale Schiferl when we were both with Gruenwald Engineered Laminates, Inc.™ (https://gruen-wald.com/) , manufacturers of (among other things) glu-laminated columns for post frame (pole) buildings. Dale and I both moved on, Dale to open Timber Technologies, LLC, the manufacturer of Titan Timbers™. Dale and his […]

When I attended Bowdish Junior High School in the early 1970s it was located in a rapidly growing area of the Spokane Valley of Washington. When the classrooms were filled beyond capacity, the school district opted to throw their resources into the rental of temporary classrooms (also known as portables). As an adult, and knowing […]

You Want It When? A week from Tuesday is going to find a life milestone has been passed – it will be after Labor Day. Or as we know it in the pole barn industry, the Panic Point. When I was a post frame (pole) building contractor in the 1990’s based in Northeast Washington state, […]

Please keep in mind, I was a post frame (pole) building contractor in a past life. With as many as 35 crews erecting buildings in six states – if something could possibly go awry, one of my crews would find a way to achieve it! Seriously. Some of them were creative in methods which I […]

South Dakota Department of Transportation Fabric Covered Hoop Barn I’ve been in South Dakota all but a few days in 2016, I figure another 50-60 years or so and I might even be considered to be a “local”. Last Saturday I was a participant in a 5k “fun run” in conjunction with Sisseton’s Horse and […]

Self-Disclosure People are fascinating, we all have life stories to tell, and most of us are merely looking for others who have listening ears so we can share our stories. This dates back to the days of prehistory, when early man sat around campfires and swapped lies. The homes of a hundred years ago were […]

Hi! This is one of the founding owners of Hansen Pole Buildings, and for whom the company is named, J.A.Hansen. I thought we’d take a break from the usual Friday “rerun” blogs, for me to tell you a story. Bear with me here… It was September 26th of last year, 2015. I was on my […]

I swore I would never golf. My Dad was a scratch golfer. And when I was in architecture school, they told me to be a good architect I would need to learn to golf. I quit school. Seriously. Aww…but lust will do strange things to a man. I met a woman (she is now my […]

Convoy For those of you not old enough to remember, or those of us too old to remember, the late 1970’s were a time of 55 mph speed limits and C.W. McCall’s iconic: https://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=UTF-8&fr=crmas&p=cw+mccall+convoy Interesting things can happen to pole building kit packages once they get loaded on to one of those big rigs and […]

I’m Truly Trying to Stop As the everyday readers of this column know, I have been reviewing the pole building going up across the street from our home in South Dakota. If you have not been keeping up, run back a few episodes! I’ve been away from SD for a couple of weeks, so have […]

Pizza Hut® Back in the late 1970’s I was jack of all trades, master of a few at Coeur d’Alene Truss in northern Idaho. While we were the “only game in town” with our nearest competitors 30 miles away in Spokane, every once In a while there was a roof truss job I did not […]

Trivia Time at Hansen Pole Buildings My children have often accused their father of knowing more worthless trivia than anyone else on the planet. Having stumbled across an occasional television game show, I have to say the title certainly long belongs to others than me. However from time to time I do know some weird […]

Dear Readers: For those of you missing the past two days, or yesterday’s blog at most, please back up a day or two to bring you up to speed for my response to a seemingly heated rejoinder by Mike Burkholder of Ohio Timberland Products to a blog I wrote.  This is published in it’s entirety. […]

If you didn’t read my blog yesterday – I suggest you may want to flip back and read that one first – so you know where I am coming from …. And Now a Word from…..  The following is a word-for-word comment on my article of June 17, 2015, which was received June 23:  “Dear […]

A Day Which Will Live in Infamy Most United States citizens who have at least taken a high school U.S. History class will recognize this line from President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Dec. 8, 1941 speech given to a joint session of Congress. For those of you who need a quick refresher: https://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=UTF-8&fr=crmas&p=dec.+7+1941+roosevelt%27s+speech I know I […]

Once Upon a Time My nearly four year old grandson Colton overnighted with Grandma and Poppa last night. Colton is Jake’s son (you might remember Jake from various pole building adventures such as https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/blog/2012/07/construction-time-2/). Colton likes Papa Mike just a little, so we got into some serious pre-bedtime reading and like every good story, they […]

Hansen Buildings April 2015 Building Designer of the Month We’re proud to announce Wayde Staiger as April’s award winner! In Wayde’s own words: “My focus when working with a client is spending time finding out what is best for the them. Having a building which does not fill the need is of no value. Taking […]

As Seen on TV Reality TV has truly infiltrated, if not saturated, the lives of most cable television watchers. Amongst the favorites seem to be “home improvements” and “makeovers”. We’ve been asked to participate in several of these home improvement tv shows and this is our take from being the supplier of pole (post frame) […]

Arborvitae Green To my friends Jim Betonte, the Oglevie Brothers (Mike, Doug and Randy) and Kimron Leach – this blog’s for you! Somewhere about 35 million years ago the Willamette River of Oregon was created by plate tectonics. A few miles to the south of what was Willamette Falls, the river makes a sharp bend, […]

We recently received a request from a client who had a building burn to the ground. The client proposed to reuse their existing concrete – which to me has always resonated as a bad choice. But is it actually a bad choice? Concrete can be some amazing stuff. In June of 1987, I was privileged […]

My wife, not so much – because she says I manage to pick out things which are wrong in nearly every one of them. Weirdly enough, when I do find errors, it is nearly always on buildings which have been constructed by “professional” barn builders. More often than not, when our clients do the work […]

What if the Golden Gate Bridge Had Been Hot-Dip Galvanized? For those of you who are reading my articles for the first time, I will warn you – I am a little bit of a structures nut. I really want to know about how things work and are assembled, and why. Besides being a structures […]

A couple of years ago Hansen Pole Buildings Designer Rick and I had a discussion about interesting people I had done pole building projects for. (Read more about them at: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/blog/2013/03/pole-building-11/). One person I had left off my previous list was famous Pacific Northwest sculptor and artist Harold Balazs. While most folks outside of the […]

Welcome to Ask the Pole Barn Guru – where you can ask questions about building topics, with answers posted on Mondays.  With many questions to answer, please be patient to watch for yours to come up on a future Monday segment.  If you want a quick answer, please be sure to answer with a “reply-able” […]

Thin Hair and a Flat Forehead In my most recent past life (a.k.a the 1990’s) I was a post frame (pole) building contractor based in Spokane, Washington. At one time we had as many as 35 crews constructing buildings in six states. Even though I jokingly tell people this is why my hair is thin […]

Most of us have never heard of the Dunning Kruger effect. Although you may not recognize the title, there is a better than fair chance you know one or more people who are affected by it. Wikipedia defines the Dunning Kruger effect as “a cognitive bias wherein unskilled individuals suffer from illusory superiority, mistakenly rating […]

Here’s How I Did It The full title of the book is, “Here’s How I Did It! World’s Top Experts Share Their Stories, Insights and Perspectives” by Raam Anand. It is available at Amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/Heres-How-Did-Insights-Perspectives-ebook/dp/B00OUVDFL6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1415731572&sr=8-2&keywords=Here%27s+How+I+Did+It As Mike the Pole Barn Guru, I’m highly flattered to have been selected to author a chapter in Volume II […]

Innovation Requires Failure Recently I read a Harvard Business Review article written by Dorie Clark which contained this, which spoke to me: “Recognize that innovation requires failure. In a world where competitive advantage is increasingly short-lived, as Columbia Business School professor Rita Gunther McGrath has described, successful companies have to bake innovation into their standard […]

Last summer my friend Shelean and I were visiting my favorite biker watering hole Stateline Cruisers (read more about Cruisers at: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/blog/2013/05/pole-building-13/). I was enjoying a tall cold one, when a fellow patron of the establishment approached me and asked if I remembered him. Turns out, I did. Back in the early 1990’s, when I […]

Why are the stick-built and pole-barn businesses so different?  This question was posed to me recently, along with the following commentary:   “Forgive me if this strikes you as a dumb question, but I’m having trouble figuring out why the pole-barn and residential construction businesses are so divided. From what I can tell, companies that […]

In 1876, former California Governor Leland Stanford purchased 650 acres of Rancho San Francisquito for a country home and began the development of his famous Palo Alto Stock Farm. He later bought adjoining properties totaling over 8,000 acres. Leland and his wife had only one child, Leland Jr., who died in 1884 of typhoid when […]

Over the past three years I have had the opportunity to drive nearly every one of the contiguous United States – many of those miles over what might be considered to be back roads. This has afforded me the opportunity to view literally thousands of historic barns. These barns come in all shapes and sizes, […]

In yesterday’s article, I made reference to one of the most beloved tool at any lumber yard – the green handled board stretcher. And then – I gave no details about it! A cliffhanger indeed! Before we get into the green handled board stretcher, a few words about a North American rite of passage: In […]

A Baker’s Dozen – The Most Read Articles of 2013 Sometimes, in order to know where to go, it is helpful to see where we’ve been. These are the most read blogs from 2013. #13 Board and Batten Siding https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/blog/2013/03/board-and-batten-siding/ While popular, board and batten siding should be installed considering shear values. Advice on installing […]

Continued from yesterday’s blog….. The Typical House Besides introducing the Japanese to glulam lumber, we worked to promote 2×4 construction. For centuries homes have been built in Japan with 90mm x 90mm (approximately 3-1/2 inches) square posts and beams. The small-dimension materials are not very strong, so the posts are usually only about 6 feet […]

ON SITE IN JAPAN: OBSERVATIONS OF A U.S. FRAMER My cousin Amy was recently visiting Japan and happened to share on her Facebook page an article written by her Dad, my Uncle Neil Momb, written about his adventures in building in Japan. Although my Uncle Neil was the only one of my Father’s siblings who […]

We don’t have network television access out here in the sticks where I live, so we see little TV except for Netflix. Our 19 year-old son Brent was out to visit one afternoon and started watch a program originally aired as a reality TV series in 2010 on the A&E Network. I suppose I always […]

Scott Norwood and Fire Stations My loyal readers are going to be amazed at how I manage to tie these two subjects into relating to pole buildings. To find out, please read on…… For those who are old enough to remember, the 1991 Super Bowl featured the Buffalo Bills and New York Giants. The high […]

After working on Eric’s self-storage pole building – I looked like I had brought a child’s play Star Wars lightsaber to a sword fight…..blood dripping down my face from being attacked by the blunt end of a flying 2×4 smacking me in my right eyebrow! Yes, safety is important, and although my hat was not […]

Welcome to Ask the Pole Barn Guru – where you can ask questions about building topics, with answers posted on Mondays.  With many questions to answer, please be patient to watch for yours to come up on a future Monday or Saturday segment.  If you want a quick answer, please be sure to answer with […]

Walk into your local lumber dealer – whether a big box store (aka The Home Depot® or Lowe’s®), a national lumber dealer (think ProBuild®, Stock Building Supply®, or 84 Lumber®) or the local mom and pop lumber seller and pickup any piece of dimensional lumber. On it will be a grade stamp – which is […]

My readers will recognize my 19-year-old son Brent’s name from recent articles on the construction of a pole building storage building here in Browns Valley. After two weeks of working together, I have learned something important (yes, 56 year old Dads can learn new things). Growing up, my brother Mark and I worked for Dad […]

Over the years I’ve experienced many various clients who have constructed pole building kits as “bonding” experiences. These have included a couple in their early 80’s, five brothers who built a new shop for their Dad for Father’s Day, and a man and his 14 year old daughter. We’ve built two pole buildings with our […]

Self Storage & Twas the Week Before Brent Landed….. For regular readers – you read yesterday about my son joining our volunteer construction crew on the 5040 square foot self storage building. In the week before Brent’s arrival, we experienced some of the fun things which will endear anyone who has ever constructed their own […]

Children are interesting – especially as they arrive at adulthood and we start to truly recognize what “genes” they have inherited. My Dad was a builder and his father before him was a builder as well – not much question I had inherited the “builder gene” from them. Our nearly 21 year old daughter Allison […]

Mike the Pole Barn Guru is taking the day off from answering Pole Barn questions  – to enjoy the weekend with his 19 year old son. He will be back Monday with more Pole Barn Guru questions and answers.   Email all questions about pole building construction to: PoleBarnGuru@HansenPoleBuildings.com Have a great weekend everyone – […]

Being on the road roughly ½ of the year, I stay in hotels. A lot. Before booking my next room, I always try to get the latest skinny on reviews from TripAdvisor®. Once I get settled in, I also use the TripAdvisor information to help select eateries which are nearby. I do take reviews with […]

My family and I live on a lakeshore in the woods Northeast of Spokane, Washington – about six miles from the nearest state highway. When our youngest daughter Allison was probably four – we were driving almost to the state highway. A new business had put up its sign. Allison, wanting to show off her […]

For those of us in the post frame (pole building) industry, Rural Builder magazine is a must read. Published seven times a year – I always await receiving my Rural Builder in the mail with a degree of anticipation and excitement. I have probably not missed reading (and rereading) an issue in three decades. Until […]

From February 7-23 I was among millions of Americans who spent their evenings glued to their televisions to watch the 2014 Winter Olympics (officially known as the XXII Olympic Winter Games). Held in Sochi, Russia, a total of 98 events were held during the games. I inadvertently became a fan of men’s freestyle skiing, when […]

Off The Grid A fair number of our clients, who construct their own pole buildings, have the pioneering spirit which made the United States a great country. They want to be as independent as possible, and avoid having to deal with governmental agencies as much as possible. Freedom, in the “Land of the Free” is […]

At Half the Price… Every once in a while there is an exchange with a potential client which I cannot resist sharing. This one is about pole barn prices…at half the price of! In this particular case, as the request came in at 7:39 a.m., I was afterwards wondering if the inquiry came after a […]

The National Frame Building Association (NFBA) began 45 years ago when a group of Midwestern post-frame (pole) builders gathered in Chicago to mount a challenge to pending changes in the Indiana building code which would have threatened the post-frame industry. This group, along with interested engineers and architects, was able to prove the structural reliability […]

When my brother and I were but youngsters, we rode our bike’s a couple of miles from our family home in the Spokane Valley, to where our Aunt Donna lived. Aunt Donna was very artistic, and she taught art lessons in the summers, seemingly primarily to our extended family of cousins (my Dad’s five brothers […]

I recently read an article in Southwest Michigan’s Second Wave about “Historic barn enthusiasts preserve living agricultural heritage” written by Zinta Aistars. In the story Steve Steir, president of the Michigan Barn Preservation Network is quoted, “Barns are a symbol of peace and quiet, you can see the bones of the building when you walk […]

Author’s Note: This is part 10 of a series of blogs written from a 6500+ motorcycle trip from WA to Ohio and back.  See Blog from Oct. 15th for the beginning…and hang on for the ride! Nebraska on the Motorcycle: Classic Vehicle Storage Day ten, I was on the last leg of my motorcycle journey […]

Author’s Note: This is part 9 of a series of blogs written from a 6500+ motorcycle trip from WA to Ohio and back.  See Blog from Oct. 15th for the beginning…and hang on for the ride! It IS a Small World As my “Zen” motorcycle trip approached the home stretch, I was enjoying glorious beautiful […]

Further Down the Highway Author’s Note: This is part 4 of a series of blogs written from a 6500+ motorcycle trip from WA to Ohio and back.  See Blog from Oct. 15th for the beginning…and hang on for the ride! I am the curious sort. I enjoy finding out how other people do things, as […]

Author’s Note: This is part 3 of a series of blogs written from a 6500+ motorcycle trip from WA to Ohio and back.  See Blog from Oct. 15th for the beginning…and hang on for the ride! The Browns Valley to Browns Valley part of my “Zen” ride (yes I made a loop) involved 9 days […]

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance In my first year of architecture school at the University of Idaho, Robert M. Pirsig’s 1974 book “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” was required reading for one of my second year architecture classes. The book describes a 17-day motorcycle journey from Minnesota to California. Earlier this […]

I’ve spent nearly four decades actively involved in the construction industry. From “gopher” on jobsites, framer, drywaller, sawyer in a truss plant, truss designer, salesman, forklift and truck driver, crane operator, general contractor, business owner and a litany of other job titles, I’ve covered a lot of turf. From experience I generally know how to […]

Very few post frame building kit package providers service more than a very small geographic area. While this may give them an intimate knowledge of a local marketplace, how buildings are most often constructed in their area, and expectations from Building Officials – it does come with some risks. In the event their local economy […]

Building Designer Rick Carr and I were discussing a client’s proposed building in Idaho today. 80 feet wide by 204 feet long, the building would have a 16 foot high sidewall. The client really wanted to have scissor trusses (trusses with an interior roof slope, which has a peak in the center). Given the dimensions […]

From Friday – Nothing is worse than a roof gone wrong. Leaks frustrate everyone involved, and are usually avoidable. Poor design and poor installation are equal factors in the roofs which just are not happy. If you missed my blog Friday –you may want to review it as the first part of my Rule for […]

On the first of each year, I tend to get a bit nostalgic, especially for my family, my home, and how my pole building career really took off. Bear with me as I take a step or two back in time. At the ripe old age of 33, I sold my first business in Oregon […]

In the 1980’s one man stood alone when it came to whether City of Portland (basically the same thing as Multnomah County), Oregon homeowners could acquire a Building Permit for a residential accessory building or not. Charles “Chuck” Frazier Now Chuck was a registered Structural Engineer, who took his position very seriously. His expectation was, […]

As I write this, the end of the world as we know it (yes, I know it is a 1987 R.E.M. tune) did not happen yesterday, December 21, 2012. What did happen is… it is now officially winter. In Browns Valley, MN this means typical T shirt and shorts weather, highs in the teens and […]

Christmas Greetings! As much as possible, if I “reuse” a blog I’ve written previously (a re-run), I do it only a few times a year….like today, when I am spending time with family and friends, which my wish for all of you is as well. It is also a time when I tend to look […]

A Nice News Story and Why I Take Issue With It From the Associated Press: “CORINTH, Miss. – A design is in hand for a proposed vegetable shed at the Farmers Market on Fulton Drive. The Daily Corinthian reports Cook Coggin Engineers submitted the design to the Alcorn County Board of Supervisors. Construction bids are […]

I recently got this email, and as The Pole Barn Guru, I am happy to respond to building questions which are not from Hansen Building clients, either prior or future.   “Hello  I live in Indiana. I have a pole barn garage. I didn’t build it. It was built when I got the house. It […]

Those of you, who have gotten pole building quotes from Hansen Pole Buildings, have recognized while our prices are not always they lowest, they are very competitive. We like to believe we always offer the best possible building value, every time.  And my words of caution when folks say we are “not the lowest” are, […]

The post-frame construction market has the potential to grow to $8.9 billion by 2016, up from $6.4 billion in 2011, finds a new report by FMI Corporation, a management consulting firm in Raleigh, NC. The report predicts the residential/suburban and light-commercial markets will be the fastest growing segments of the post-frame market in the next […]

Two months ago, we delivered a pole building kit package to one of our clients in…let’s just say “one of the fifty” U.S. States.  Could have happened from any one of them. One of our requirements is for our clients to inventory all materials and report any shortage or damage within 48 hours of receipt. […]

Information provided by KTVU in Sacramento, CA has been incorporated in this post. Online retailer Amazon.com has tried to become all things to all consumers, but in California, it has taken on a role it has fought against for years as tax collector. The change, which took effect in mid-September 2012, comes after years of […]

Sometimes it amazes me as to the inquiries we get. Here is just an example: “Thought I’d ask here as you guys seem to have a fair bit of experience with pole barns. I’m looking to roof an area 20 yards by 10 yards with a roof high enough to take the CR250 (his boat) […]

I’ve been following stories by Emerald Morrow, reporter for WLNS-TV in Lansing, Michigan. Here is the latest: “Residents fed up with a lack of dialogue with Lansing-based Niowave over a 14,000 square foot pole barn in their neighborhood have taken matters into their own hands, staking signs in their yards to let the company know […]

Just like Olympic boxing, in one corner is “pole barn” and in the other “post frame building”. Nothing too amazing about this….until one delves in and finds out they are actually two terms commonly used for the same thing. The original pole barns, utilized round posts – basically trees, old power poles or similar. As […]

Once again, we hop in the “Way Back Machine” and visit what to some might be viewed as ancient history. Sometimes in life – to know where we are, it is important to know where we came from. After selling my first post frame building business, M & W Building Supply, to Jim Betonte in […]

I’ve decided I rather like the sound of the word “lobular”. Say it a few times and it rather rolls of one’s tongue! As a prolific pole building contractor in the 1990’s (yeah, way back in the pre-Y2K days), I ran as many as 35 pole building crews in six states. We built a LOT […]

No construction project goes without any hitches at all, Steve’s garage being absolutely typical. If you have just joined my daily construction blog – I have been sharing my daily chronicle this week of constructing a pole barn garage for my oldest step-son’s father-in-law in Happy Valley, Tennessee.  It was probably the hottest days I […]

In 2000, I worked for a company who manufactured glu-laminated columns (or “glu-lams”) for post frame buildings. My job was to call on pole builders and companies which provided post frame building kits, to introduce the features and benefits of the product. I also interacted with lumberyards and wholesale lumber companies, in order to get […]

My maternal grandfather passed away at age 82, back in December 1990. Now the grandparents had been married for nearly 60 years, but grams still had lots of life in her. In 1991 Grandma Jerene started dating a widower from her church, Bob. Bob was a retired meteorologist – he had run the National Weather […]

I will confess….I have never ridden a horse. My daughter Bailey has more than averaged out the hours for me, as she has probably logged at least an entire year of 24 hour days in the saddle over the past decade. I’ve been in countless riding arenas and have yet to see posted riding rules […]

If there is one thing I have learned in three decades plus of providing pole building kits, it is this – the hardest people to please, are builders. This pat on the back, from a builder, was so good we felt the need to share the bruises we have from it. Rachel, our most senior […]

Sometimes a client will put forth a statement which says more than anything I could ever write. Bob, one of the Hansen Pole Buildings Building Designers, was talking on the phone with one of his clients this morning. Bob shared this with me: “Competitor was trying to tell my client that more posts and trusses […]

Just over nine months ago, I embarked upon what has turned out to be a fascinating journey – writing this blog. Originally I thought 100 or maybe 150 posts down the pike, I’d be entirely out of subjects to write about. Seriously – how is it anyone can find so much to write about pole […]

“So you have pole building newsletters, why should I read an online ad to BUY BUY BUY from you?”  asked a client recently when I suggested he sign up. “You are exactly right, and I wouldn’t either”, I replied. “Really?” he dubiously answered. I went on to explain our newsletters are purposely designed to NOT […]