How do we build a barn on-site?

As you can see by this video, we build some big barns. This one’s a 28’x36′ SmartPanel Two Story Double Garage with a Gambrel Roof. This video, along with the blog post below, will give you an idea how we assemble these structures. Enjoy!

I would like to give you a look into our build-on-site crew, and how they work. By the term “built-on-site”, we are talking about a situation where we bring the building in prefabricated sections to the customer’s location. The most common reasons for doing this are either because the building is too big to transport fully assembled, or the customer does not have open access to bring the building from the street to their desired location.

To prepare a built-on-site structure for delivery, we assemble the walls in panelized sections in our shop, as well as constructing the rafters. Everything else is custom fit on-site. A crew of our guys then brings everything out to the construction site and puts it together. Especially with some of the larger buildings it’s like putting a big jigsaw puzzle together, and in the past years the guys in the shop have really done a great job in designing everything in a way that it fits together perfectly.

Time and time again I hear customers saying “I can’t believe that it went up so fast!” On one job I remember, a customer’s neighbor left for work in the morning just as we were getting started. When he got home later in the day, we were finishing up our customer’s two-story barn, and he just could not get over the fact that it all happened in one day. The look on his face when he pulled in the driveway was great!

Here at Lapp’s, the guys always enjoy the opportunity to get out of the shop for a day or two and go on a built-on-site job. We rotate the guys on the crew so that whether they do framing, roofing, or hanging vinyl, everyone gets a chance to go. Looking back over the past 15 years I have many memories of being with these guys out on the job – everywhere from Maine to Illinois, seeing some interesting places and beautiful countryside. Though there have been a few close calls, God has blessed us with safe travels everywhere we’ve gone, which we are grateful for.

As you can see by the video, the guys work hard but also like to have some fun (note the smiley face on the roof at 2:28). Being on the crew, spending hours on the road, and working long days to get a project done has a way of bringing everyone close. We’ve gone from merely being coworkers to building lasting friendships. Many of us have grown up together, spending time together outside of work, attending each others’ weddings, etc.

We’ve also had the opportunity to work with some really great customers over the years, and we always seem to have so much fun with them. They really treat us well, and I believe the reason for this has a lot to do with how respectful and hard working our guys are. They take a lot of pride in their work, and strive to make our customers happy. I had one customer tell me that if he had sons, these are the kind of sons he would want to have. He then took the guys out to the best restaurant in town, and bought the whole crew a steak dinner.

Since I now spend more time behind the desk doing our scheduling, I don’t get out as often with the crew anymore. It isn’t unusual at all for me to receive a call from a customer after the crew leaves the job, that can’t stop raving about how hard they worked and how they did such a great job. I love getting calls like that – it really makes my job so much easier. Hopefully if you are reading this you will be a future customer that we get to work with – then you can see firsthand what I’m talking about!

– Allen