Posted by Jonas on Monday, September 08, 2003 at 1:20PM :
In Reply to: If you are thinking about building a shop.... posted by Jonas on Monday, September 08, 2003 at 0:41AM :
I dont like slinging mud, but I want you guys to be aware...
I got a quote on my shop, and told the salesman that my snowload requirement was 95 psf. O.K. fine. That was on the 8th of July. On August 11 (a monday) I was supposed to be delivered my building. (It takes 2-3 weeks to get permits from the county and I told them that, and they should get me plans in the mail as soon as they got my deposit. O.K. no problem they said.) The week prior to the building being delivered I still had not received my certified plans in the mail, to take to the county to get my permits, so I called miracle truss. They said they were on the way. I got them on Thursday, (4 days before the building was to arrive!) and the building was engineered to 65 psf, not the required 95psf. I called the engineer who certified the plans (local fellow in Everett, WA) to see if he could re-engineer the plans. He said he would have to call Miracle truss.
The next afternoon I got a call from a Miracle Steel rep who said THEY found a discrepancy in my snowload. I said, that's B.S., I found the discrepancy and brought it to thier attention!
They said, Regardless, that the only way to bring the building up to code was to add on 2 more trusses, at $1600 per truss, but that they would cut me a deal at $900 per truss($1800 total). I was not thinking at the time and agreed to the deal as I saw no other way out.
There I screwed up as I should have refused the building, and gone to a different company. They quoted me a price for the size of a building irregardless of the snowload, they should have stuck with it.
Anyway, the building arrived, and it was missing overhand bracketts, and the roof sheeting was to short so I cant add them on anyways. It would be another $1800 just to get the bracketts!
I was told that the overhang bracketts were never in the package. I remember telling them I needed them so the snow wont dent in the side of my shop when it slides off.
I talked to two other people in the area who have used Miracle truss, and they had the same problem with the snow load. They ordered a building and it came under engineered from the company. They also had to add more trusses which in turn cost them more money over the original quote. It seems to me that this is thier M.O. they quote you one price, screw up the PSF rating, then charge you a whole bunch more money to fix it (thier screw up!).
I called them on it, and talked to (supposedly) the VP of the company. I figured it was my screw up on paying them for the extra trusses, but it was thier screw up on the overhangs. My solution was for them to provide me with enough sheeting and trim to cover a shed roof on one side of the building. I would need 1000' Sqft of sheeting. The VP says o.k. he'll see what he can do.
Calls me back and says that 1000' sq ft of sheeting is $1500, and that they will cover $1000 of it, and I would have to take my trailer down and pick it up at the manufacturer in Seattle. Sounded pretty good at the time, but I told him I wanted to think about it.
My family is in the wholesale wood business and they also sell siding, (not steel). I asked what the going rate for the steel siding I have is, and they said retail is 60 cents per sqft on the top end, 50cents average. These Miracle truss people were telling me it was $1.50 a square foot thier cost, and they were going to eat $1.00 of it! Wholesale on the stuff is more like 30 cents a square foot. So they were still making money off me for thier mistake. I told the VP that he and his company could go pound sand.
I dont mind a company making money, but when the outright lie to me and try and deceive me, that's when enough is enough. Inflating prices 150% over retail value is B.S.!
In my opinion they use bad business practices, and prey on those who dont know any better.
As I said, I do like the trusses, and I'm happy with that aspect of the steel building as a whole.
But If I were to do it again I would just get the trusses and get my own siding locally. Heck, you could sheet the whole thing with OSB, insulate it, and use that concrete siding, or and a steel roof for 1/2 the price of what they charge for just the steel and no wood sheeting underneath it!
And like I said, I have can give two other references of people who have had exactly the same problems with them. It's like they are doing a modified version of the bait and switch with thier clients. I dont know of anyone else who has been completely happy with them.
This day, I am looking at the building still sitting on my front lawn, un assembled, and waiting for permits, as the costs of building this thing continue to go up over the original amount budgeted.
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