Hey y'all I have had a few bids for a metal shop inside CS city limits.

Its a 30x45 steel weld-up frame building with dirt prep, engineered reinforced slab, and anchored beams.

its a shed style roof with 11ft on the low side and 15ft on the high side.

the building has onedoor, two 10x10 roll up doors and three windows.

I submitted this info and rough drawings and survey to five contractors.
First contractor did a blind bid for $50k and said he would need money to come out the site.
A second contractor bid $37k after taking a look at the site.
Three other contractors never responded.

I feel like 28 per square ft is still kinda high, but I like the guy a lot.

I'm building my shop in the Texas Panhandle now. Mine is 29.25/sq ft, but that includes spray foam insulation, a roughed in bathroom and a 20x50 concrete approach.

I don't think $28 is out of line given the construction climate in BCS.

Try Cruz construction

And Corgey and Sons Construction

I would talk to Mike Bishop 979-255-3876

We just completed a shop on our place. 30x40x12 metal building with a 20' lean to on one side for parking. Price was 32K. This was for building, slab (34x40 slab), 2-10x10 roll up doors, 2-4x8 walk through doors, 3 windows, 3" vinyl insulation, and gutters.

Whats your contact info and id be happy to give you a bid. Avg price is $21/sq. Ft with slab

Csruffneck said:

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Whats your contact info and id be happy to give you a bid. Avg price is $21/sq. Ft with slab

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donny@texags.com

Csruffneck said:

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Whats your contact info and id be happy to give you a bid. Avg price is $21/sq. Ft with slab

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Weld up or bolt up?

Confirm all engineering assumption are the same, including deflection, wind loading, uplift, etc. The metal building design is always nats assed for support. Include items that you may want to suspend from the ceiling, other than the typical 2-3 psf allowance for lights and typical building items.

Also, when considering an engineered foundation, that leaves a lot of wiggle room for the contractor. Is a geotechnical study being performed to determine soil criteria. A typical 2-3 boring geotechnical report with recommendations will run $2-3K. You can recoup this cost and then some in slab prep, concrete material, rebar, etc. by not having an overdesigned slab, and you can also recoup this cost multifold by ensuring you dont have an undersized slab and repairing it later. A noteworthy comment, in central texas, we are seeing a backlog of 6-8 weeks for geotechnical mobilizations, and a total turn around time of 2-3 months total for geotechnical reports.

edited to add: if inside city limits, a building permit will very likely be required. Clarify who ( either you or contractor) is submitting permit application, paying permit application fee, paying permit fee and all the other red tape BS that goes with building in the city.

Weld up

Csruffneck said:

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Weld up

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Do you have a contact email?

Chenderson1214@yahoo.com

I have been wanting to build a boat barn for a while, and this thread isn't helping.

Trying to find a place to build in Aggieland is a difficult task. Right now I am considering Somerville, but would like something closer. I am thinking about a 40 x 100 with spray foam.

Why is everyone going weld up instead of bolt up?

Faster and cheaper.

How is it faster

Weld-up buildings typically require fewer parts, and less retooling than other kinds of construction and a welded joint can be stronger than a bolted one. You can even get steel members with weld-plates built-in, speeding up placement and making it easier for non-welders to construct.

Typically there isn't a lot of difference in price between a weld up and a bolt up. A weld up usually is cheaper for material because you are just buying raw material with no engineering cost associated with it. You pay more for labor because of the skilled nature of a welder's time and it generally takes a little longer. A pre-engineered bolt up usually requires less labor so you save there but you make up for it with higher material costs. This is due to the engineering cost of the building being tacked onto the materials.

So the total cost is in the same general range typically. The main reason I prefer weld ups is the flexibility with design. With a bolt up, once the design phase is complete you are locked into that design. No moving a door over a foot or adding a window here or there, etc. with a weld up you are free to add and subtract cutouts for the life of the building. I am also of the opinion that weld ups are stronger than bolt ups but I admit that is debatable.

John Templeton, who has taught ag mech at Consol for many years, has a summer and weekend business doing metal fab jobs. Here's his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Rockin-T-Tire-Fabrication-LLC-173141370015026/

Or he said you can contact him on his cell phone (979) 575-094Two