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The worry of every new building owner is that some problem will occur—some defect will come to light—and he won't be able to get it fixed by the builder. The work is warrantied, but the owner is afraid he may get a lot of runaround before he gets satisfaction.

With some contractors, this is true. If a window leaks, the contractor will try to get the manufacturer to pay for it. Then, the manufacturer will try to say it's the installer's fault, etc. It seems the workers’ main concern is getting somebody else to pay for it, while the owner just wants to get the leak fixed.

This is when it really makes a difference who you choose as your builder. A company that genuinely takes responsibility for the project can build in a performance aspect that others cannot: peace of mind.

A Star Building Systems builder recently brought to our attention a project that illustrates the point perfectly. Jane Lindsey, owner of Allegiance Contracting, in Titusville, Florida, built two new showrooms for a car dealership. The new showrooms replaced and expanded their old single-building, dual-brand facility.

The car dealership included 20 roof-mounted HVAC units—nine on one building and eleven on the other. Like any other roof penetration, HVAC curbs on the roof are locations of concern because of the potential for leaks.

"One of the reasons I was awarded the project," explains Lindsey, "was that I was able to offer the owner a twenty-year, single source, no-dollar-limit weather tightness warranty. The roof system, the HVAC curbs, it was all single source. They all came through NCI."

Star Buildings' parent company, NCI, makes a broad range of building systems and components, enabling a level of single-source responsibility that is hard to match anywhere in the U.S. construction industry.

In a typical design-bid-build construction situation where the building is designed by independent engineers and architects, constructed by a general contractor using components sourced from a variety of manufacturers, and then installed by third-party sub-contractors, it's easy to see how an owner might have anxieties—even if no problem has occurred.

By contrast, with a metal building system designed and manufactured by Star Buildings, constructed by a Star builder, using NCI-made HVAC components, responsibility and customer support all came from a single, trusted source. The owner knows whom to call if anything goes wrong. There's no finger pointing and arguing between different parties. There's one party who makes things right, and that make business a lot easier. Everyone has peace of mind.

Metal building systems have great longevity… if properly maintained.

No matter what structural material you build with, be it steel, concrete, or wood, water is the enemy.  

The basic idea of a rainscreen is to have an exterior surface – a cladding layer - that breaks the force of sideways, wind-driven water movement, so that any water which gets through the small breaches in the surface has lost its momentum.

A report by the Metal Construction Association (MCA) found that 55% Al-Zn coated low-slope steel standing seam roofing systems suffer very little corrosion if properly maintained. 

Inspect, repair damages, and clean the building

Metal buildings are proving to be a smart solution for livestock housing.

Metal building systems are often selected for large-sized structures, and with good reason.

There is an efficient system for mounting solar panels to roofs and turning roof real estate into raw power.

Commercial transportation is getting more expensive, and it’s driving up the price of steel.  

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