In todays demand for housing as well as vast growth property owners are looking at all avenues of building weighing in cost, quality, turnover rates and longevity of building materials. There are now many options to compare when it comes to building such as Metal building, Metal homes, Custom built homes, Kit homes, Log Cabins, Modular homes and Mobile homes with thousands of finishes but in this blog we wanted to focus on the two major differences, Metal building VS Stick Building. Obviously there are many pros and cons to both as in any major decision you'll come across. We can talk about this all day so we will just try to hit the key points, here is our two cents on both:
Metal Building:
Pros
Speed, Metal building can be put up extremely quick once you have a concrete slab to build on.
Longevity of materials, If a metal building is put together with the correct hardware it will last extremely long, the material can stand the effects of mother nature much longer than traditional building materials.
Maintenance, As far as the actual structure goes on a metal building it is virtually maintenance free.
Cost, Because metal buildings can go up so quickly they typically have a fairly low square footage building cost.
Openness, if a large open area with no load bearing walls or posts are what you are going for, metal building are where its at.
Cons
Equipment, because metal buildings are typically built with large heavy steel sections the need for heavy equipment is high.
Limited choices on finish material. Because everything would need to be adhered to steel or metal this limits the options available for finish material.
Cost to finish. If you only need a large industrial feel out of your metal building this is not a concern but for the folks who want to turn their metal building into a finished area this could greatly impact the budget.
Concrete floors. Again if a shop/industrial area is what you want this may not affect you but for the folk who want a finished area it may. A lot of folks don't want a concrete floor for a finished floor and would accrue more cost to add hardwoods, ceramic or carpet to it.
Limited builders, Finding a contractor to erect your metal structure is often a little difficult as there are so many stick builders.
Stick Building
Pros
Unlimited options on how you want each and every aspect and location of the house to look
If any last minute changes need to be made it can quickly and easily be done by the contractor/inspector on site.
Multiple builders to choose form. In Western NC/ Asheville, Marion and Lake James there are a large pool of builders to choose from.
Stick built structures can be built almost anywhere. It typically doesn't take any special equipment or access to stick build a home or structure.
Higher level of craftsmanship. If you watch the entire process you can really appreciate the level of craftsmanship it takes to build a stick built home.
Cons
Time, A stick build structure is typically one of the longest processes out of the other above options.
Costs. Because of the time involved, it typically costs higher than a metal building to build.
Danger, Because every aspect of your home is put together by hand individually piece by piece it makes the risk of accidents increase.
Quality, Although you can have the highest level of quality out of a stick built home, if you don't find a trusted contractor you can get a poorly built home.
Longevity of materials. You can build a stick built home with materials that will last very very long and if everything is applied correctly your stick built home can last you your lifetime with minimal repairs and maintenance but if you skimp on materials and quality of the craftsmanship you can quickly experience rot and decay of building materials.
There is so much more we could say about the two of these options as well as the other options listed above. Leave us a comment and let us know what you prefer and why.