As an architecture student, I must say this:

[SmileyBoy]

And anyone on DU in the architecture or related construction/contractor fields will agree with me on this:

General Steel Construction is a DISGRACE to the architecture profession. All it consists of is pre-fabricated quonset huts, and does a COMPLETE disservice to everything the architectural community stands for.

Those type of cheap, farm-quonset-shed buildings are popping up all over North Dakota, because we're too damn CHEAP to design any nice from-scratch buildings. They're pre-fabricated before they get to the site, the architect "designs" the building by picking a design from a catalogue, and it's cladded in corrugated tin. EVERY SINGLE BUILDING there's corrugated tin covering a majority of the building. It's basically the 2000's version of WWII quonset huts.

I saw a commercial with these two supposed "architects", (tho I doubt any real architect would approve of it) and one of them was saying to the other "The boss wants to cut the construction budget in half!!!". "Well," the other guy says, "Why don't you call the General??? They'll build you a pre-fabricated building for half the cost!!!"

Then at the end, the guy says how hapy his boss is. *PTOOEY* If I was the boss there (The head architect), I'd shoot myself in the HEAD before recommending something like that pre-fab quonset crap, or in that case, even SUGGESTING that the project budget be sliced in half!!! I have no doubt these guys must be "architects" in rural Bowman, North Dakota. That type of thing, if left unabated, will be the DOOM of the architecture profession. Our profession is being overrun by contractors and construction interests anyway, and this is just making it worse.

I just had to get it off my chest. DON'T PATRONIZE GENERAL STEEL CONSTRUCTION OR ANY OTHER RELATED VENTURE FOR THEIR SERVICES!!! Consult an ACTUAL architect!!! Buildings designed by an architect and built from scratch are more aesthetically pleasing and will last longer, because they're built better.

Thank you.

[Don_G]

1. I Agree To A Point

They plug a "generic" building for all situations.

As someone in the Construction Field, I've erected these things all over the place and for a Contractor that sacrificed the lives of four men in substandard equipment to meet a schedule with a 50% profit.

Never mind the foundation or the quality of the work that went into what should have been an OSHA-approved structure in the Chemical Industry.

Reagan taught "them" well to value money above everything else.

I prefer to do quality work and to stay alive at my trade.