Drive-up storage
Single-level rows under one roof or standing alone on the pad. The volume format in self-storage, and the one our crews have built the most of across eight states.
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PEMB steel buildings and storage facilities
Stalcup Construction is a pre-engineered metal building contractor erecting PEMB shells and building the storage facilities inside them. Clear-span steel, bolted and torqued on site, across eight western states. We erect the building and frame the units, so one crew carries both ends of the job.
In short
Shell and units, one contractor.
Stalcup Construction is a pre-engineered metal building contractor erecting PEMB shells across eight western states. Self-storage facilities lead the work, from the steel shell through to the units framed inside it.
Clear-span steel carries the roof with no interior posts, so the use sets the floor plan rather than the frame. Stalcup built a seven-figure U-Haul warehouse and storage facility in Ferndale, Washington.
What a pre-engineered metal building is
Three layers, no field welding.
Every piece arrives cut, punched and numbered. That is the whole difference from conventional steel construction, and it is why a PEMB goes up on a shorter schedule.
A pre-engineered metal building is a steel structure designed and fabricated off site, then assembled on-site. It has three layers: a primary frame of hot-rolled steel columns and rafters, secondary framing of cold-formed purlins and girts, and a metal roof and wall envelope.
Every piece arrives cut, punched and numbered. There is no field welding and no field fabrication. That is the whole difference from conventional steel construction, and it is why a PEMB goes up on a shorter schedule.
The purlins and girts in a PEMB are cold-formed steel, the same family we use for cold-formed steel framing. On a storage job we are often doing both on one building.
EnvelopeMetal roof and wall
Secondary framingCold-formed purlins and girts
Primary frameHot-rolled columns and rafters
Slab and anchor bolts
Self-storage facilities
Three formats, one envelope decision each.
Climate-controlled
Conditioned space inside a sealed steel envelope, with the individual units framed inside it. The envelope decisions change when the air inside is being conditioned.
Multi-story facilities
The urban infill format, used where land cost will not let a facility spread out flat. More rentable square feet per acre, carried on a hybrid steel frame.
Storage facilities, end to end
We do both ends.
Most contractors do one. A steel erector puts up the shell and leaves, a framing sub comes in later, and the developer carries two subcontracts and the gap between them.
Stalcup erects the PEMB shell and frames the storage units inside it, which takes a subcontract and a handoff out of the schedule.
That is not a claim about capability. It is how the work has run. In Ferndale, Washington we built a seven-figure U-Haul warehouse and storage facility as general contractor, including water mitigation, a full pond and complete site work. In Eugene, Oregon we framed a five-story U-Haul storage facility. In Utah right now our crews are setting nineteen drive-up units.
That range is the point. The same company handles a nineteen-unit job and a seven-figure facility, and the developer talks to the same people either way.
Steel suits storage for reasons that matter to an operator. It is non-combustible, which counts on a building holding other people's property. Clear span means the unit layout is not working around columns. And a bolted kit goes up fast enough to start leasing sooner.
How clear span works
Concrete, anchor bolts, and the thickness of the steel.
Clear span comes from three things: the concrete, the anchor bolts, and the thickness of the steel bolted together to make the truss. Go wider and everything gets heavier. Heavier concrete, heavier steel, heavier equipment to lift the trusses into place.
Height is rarely the constraint. Asked how tall a PEMB can go, Josh Stalcup's answer is that it goes as high as the use needs it to.
This is also why new retail and industrial construction keeps moving toward steel. Concrete tilt-up and CMU have gotten expensive, and tilt-up now tends to show up only where shear strength demands it rather than as the default.
Boat and RV storage
Redmond, Oregon.
Boat and RV storage is not a drive-up row with taller doors.
Door height drives the frame, the spans run longer, and conditioned storage changes the envelope from a weather shell into a sealed building.
We built climate-controlled boat storage in a PEMB in Redmond, Oregon for a local watersports business that wanted its customers' boats kept in conditioned space through the winter. Taller bays, wider doors, and an envelope built to hold a temperature.
Other buildings we erect
The same shell, a different use.
Warehouse and distribution
Clear-span shells built for racking, dock doors and truck fleet. Ferndale was a warehouse and a storage facility on one site, run by us as a single job.
Aircraft hangars
A hangar is a door-width problem before it is anything else, and clear-span steel is what solves it. Our crews erect the frame and close in the envelope.
Manufacturing and shops
Industrial floor space, open or conditioned, for the owner who builds direct. Work at this scale starts around $50,000 once crews are traveling to it.
How a PEMB goes up
Four stages, in this order.
The erection itself is the fast part. What usually sets the schedule is the slab, the permit, and the delivery lead time on the steel.
01Slab and anchors
Foundation and anchor bolts set to the frame drawings, to the inch.
02Steel delivered
Members arrive cut, punched and numbered on the shipping schedule.
03Bolt and torque
Primary frame raised, connections torqued to spec, secondary set.
04Roof and wall
Envelope goes on, openings get framed, and the building closes in.
Who we work for
Three kinds of client, three different conversations.
General contractors
Who need a PEMB erector or a framing sub who will show up and stay. Most of our work is this. On those jobs the general contractor's systems are the systems: we get a login to Procore or Outbuild and work the way the job runs.
Developers and storage operators
Building a facility, who want the shell and the units from one contractor. This is the main reason developers call us, because it removes a subcontract and a handoff from the schedule.
Owners who hire direct
Who want a shop, a hangar or conditioned storage. We carry jobs as general contractor up to roughly $20 million. Above that we partner with a larger general contractor we already know rather than pretend to an overhead we do not have.
Frequently asked questions
Six about metal buildings.
What does PEMB stand for?
PEMB stands for pre-engineered metal building. It is a steel building engineered and fabricated off site, then delivered as numbered parts and assembled on-site. It has three layers: a primary frame of hot-rolled columns and rafters, secondary cold-formed purlins and girts, and a metal roof and wall envelope. Pre-engineered steel building and, in most conversations, metal building mean the same thing.
How much does a pre-engineered metal building cost?
Industry figures put a basic erected shell at roughly $25 to $35 per square foot, and $25 to $45 once the foundation is in. That divides into three parts: the building package from the manufacturer, the foundation, and erection labor, with erection commonly a quarter to 40 percent of the total. Those are industry ranges, not our quote. Your number moves on clear span and height, the envelope, door and opening count, the snow and wind load the frame is engineered for, foundation conditions and how much of the job is ours.
How long does it take to erect a steel building?
The erection itself is the fast part, because the steel arrives finished and the crew is bolting rather than fabricating. What usually sets the schedule is everything around it: the slab, the permit, and the delivery lead time on the steel. On a project where those are handled, a crew that mobilizes and stays will close a building in faster than most people expect.
Do you build the storage units as well as the building?
Yes, and it is the main reason developers call us. We erect the PEMB shell and frame the storage units inside it, which removes a subcontract and a handoff from the schedule. Sometimes the building is put up for a facility that then needs units built inside it, and we do both ends of that job with the same crews.
What is the widest clear span you can build?
Clear span is an engineering decision made per building rather than a fixed number we quote. It comes down to the concrete, the anchor bolts and the thickness of the steel bolted together to make the truss. Wider spans mean heavier concrete, heavier steel and heavier lifting equipment. Tell us the span the use requires and it gets engineered to it.
Do you erect buildings from any manufacturer?
Yes. We erect buildings from any major pre-engineered metal building manufacturer. We are an erector rather than a dealer for one brand, so the building that suits your project is the building we put up. We do not roll our own steel, which means we are not selling you a line of product and calling it a recommendation.
Keep going
Send a drawing set and we will price it
We erect the shell and frame the units inside it.
Fifteen years, eight states, and crews that mobilize and stay.