What We Need to Quote

The customer experience at Braemar Building Systems is unmatched. We have been manufacturing buildings for almost four decades. That also means we have been designing buildings for almost four decades.

We quote and manufacture many simple and complicated plan and specification projects that have been designed by architects. But most people approach us without a finalized plan for how they would like their building designed. This allows us to gain an understanding of our customers’ priorities and design a building that fulfills those needs, is practical, and is affordable as possible.

Before we can give you the most accurate quote, here is some information we will ask you for:

1. What is the current building code used by your jurisdiction?

   
   

   We manufacture buildings for all 50 states and, even in neighboring areas, there are often significant differences in the codes used by different municipalities. Though some states have their own building codes, most jurisdictions use the International Building Code. However, we still see building departments using the 2012 or 2015 IBC, while others have adopted the 2018 or 2021 standards. Typically, we will default to the 2018 IBC or the state’s most recent building codes unless we know specifically what your jurisdiction requires.

    

   Within the current codes, the most significant loading factors are ground and roof snow load (both measured in PSF) and wind loading (measured in miles per hour). Also, if you plan to have large lights, sprinklers or heating/cooling units hanging inside the building, those could affect the collateral load. The dead load could be affected by roof solar panels or insulated metal panels on the walls or roof.

    
2. What types and sizes of openings do you need?

   
   

   This includes locations and sizing for walk doors, overhead doors, and windows. This will allow us to create framed openings for all of these units in our building design. Typically, we only include walk doors on our building quotes. We have found it is easier if customers obtain their own overhead doors and windows from their preferred local vendors to make installation, service, and warranty issues easier (it also helps to reduce cost). Please send us a simple diagram showing the locations of your door and window openings.

    
3. Do you want painted panels on your walls and roof?

   
   

   Our standard panel option is 26 gauge PBR panel (though we have many other options: https://www.braemarbuildings.com/building-panel-profiles.php). Typically, we quote wall panels in our Signature 200 (SMP paint) colors and our roofs in galvalume, which is a milky, silver finish. A galvalume finish is cheaper than a painted finish, helping save you money. Please let us know if you would like us to quote your roof in a painted finish or quote your project with a standing-seam roof, thicker gauge panels, or an upgraded paint finish like Signature 300 (PVDF paint).

    
4. Do you have a specific roof pitch in mind for your building?

   
   

   If not, we typically default to 1/12 as lower-pitch roofs are cheaper.

    
5. Can your building have interior columns?

   
   

   This would likely only apply to buildings with an endwall width of greater than 75’. Most of our buildings have clear-span rigid frames, but it often becomes more economical, especially in locations with high snow loads, to insert interior columns to reduce the size of the rigid frames. Even if not required, interior columns can often reduce the cost of many steel buildings because it reduces the loading and thus sizing on the rigid frame members.

    
6. Do you need any specific clearances under the rigid frames inside your building?

    
7. Do you want us to include insulation in your quote?

   
   

   Though some agricultural or storage buildings will not require any insulation, most jurisdictions will require some form of insulation for heated buildings. Even if insulation is not desired or required, we suggest installing a single-layer of faced insulation over the purlins and outside the girts to operate as a vapor barrier (steel buildings tend to sweat when the temperature inside the building is higher than the outside temperature).

    
8. Do you want gutters and downspouts on your building?

    
9. Does your building need to be designed for future expandability on one or both ends?

   
   

   If so, we can insert expandable rigid frames into the endwall design to make future expansion easier.

    
10. Do you have any other requirements for your building design?