Large Commercial Buildings
"Our buildings are the most versatile out there. A Graber Pole Building can be used for anything. Anything."
-Dave, Senior Designer Graber Pole Buildings
For years, customers have come to us hoping that we could design a building for their pretty unusual needs. And for years, we've been surprising and sometimes astounding customers with our ability to deliver.
The larger your building, the more money you're going to save by going with a Graber Pole Building. Our post frame construction gives you a product that's just as sturdy and reliable but sometimes half as much the cost. Our buildings cost less because we don't have all those labor hours involved like stick buildings do.
| If you are thinking that Graber can't create a pole barn for you, you could be interested to learn that we've constructed commercial buildings for: | |
|---|---|
| Warehouses | Restaurants |
| Storage Facilities | Gymnasiums |
| Beer Distributors | Huge Equestrian Centers |
| Day Care Centers | Churches |
| Delis | Township Salt Sheds |
| Convenience Stores | Car Washes |
| Manufacturing Plants | Production Shops |
| Doctors' Offices | Golf Club Houses |
| Driving Range | Museums |
| Strip Malls | Cabinet maker shops |
| Fire Stations | Ambulance/EMT centers |
| Loading Docks | Municipal Storage/Salt Sheds |
| Shooting Ranges | |
Even Homes
And probably the most impressive was a 3 acre, 122,000 square foot mushroom plant!
A Closer Look at Your Building Options.
| Say you want to open a new business, and are looking for a new building. You'll quickly discover that the three primary choices you have are: | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Steel Frame Construction | Cement Block Construction | Post Frame Construction | |
 |  |  | |
| Cost | $$$-$$$$ | $$-$$$ | $-$$ |
| Duration of Construction | Goes up fast | Takes longer to build | Goes up in about 1/2 the time |
| Ability to Insulate | hard to insulate well | Difficult to Insulate Well | Simple to insulate |
| Ability to finish off inside | Difficult; need a welder | Very difficult (unless you like the prison look) | Easiest to finish off. A hammer and nails can be used. |
| Interior/Clear Span | Open interior/clear span of 100 feet | Limited interior/span no more than 100 feet | Open interior/clear span up to 100 feet |
| Labor Costs | Labor-intensive | Big labor costs | Lowest - crews in and out |
| Material Costs | Very inconsistent | Expensive | Raw Materials cheapest |
| When Can you Build | Year-round | Spring/Summer preferred | Year-Round |
| Other | Impossible to change the configuration once its completed. Usually involves more than one contractor - difficult to coordinate. Expensive to heat/steel conducts cold air right into building. | Easy/cheap to heat | |
"I just can't imagine why anyone building a new commercial space - whether it be for a factory, an office, or a large barn- wouldn't at least CALL the guys at Graber to get a quote..."
Pole Barns are Ugly:
"We've been fighting the reputation that pole barns are sterile, ugly-looking boxes for years. What most people don't realize are all the
choices available to make the exterior and interior look like the stick built version. And if you understand that you could save as much as 50%
on your construction, and get into your building faster...well, then folks become REALLY interested in the Graber buildings."
-Rosita from Graber
Can you guess which building is not the Pole Barn?
The Answer: They all are constructed with less expensive, faster to construct post frame construction. Check out our options page to learn all the choices you have to make your affordable pole building look like it's worth a million dollars.
Experts In Difficult Designs
Only experts like the designers at Graber can give you the cost savings of a pole barn, but with the functionality that stick built buildings are known for. Example Challenge: How in the world can we create a loading dock on a pole building?
Graber's Answer: No problem.
"When a Lancaster County farm equipment dealer came to us and told us what they wanted, we got to work figuring out how we could give them all those things under one roof, and keep the cost down. The result was a really sharp looking 8000 square feet building that had one complete side of loading docks. It was important for the customer to be able to have an open interior or clear span on the inside so the delivery trucks could easily back up and drop off their equipment."
Graber is one of the few experts in Pole barn construction that can deliver more complicated projects. "Anyone can build a rectangle shaped pole barn, but you really need to find someone with experience to take on the more complex projects" advises Rosita from Graber.
Want to find out more? Give Graber a call at 610-593-3500 for a non-obligatory ballpark quote.
Experience In Agicultural/Agri Business Buildings
The wiser farmers know that a pole building for their storage needs is the best way to keep the money on the farm.
| Graber has designed and built agricultural buildings for: |
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Hay and straw storage Equipment sheds Works Shops Barns Chicken Houses Dog Kennels Produce buildings |
Designer Dave:
"Our hay barns are popular because we design them so the farmer gets to use every square cubic inch he can while still being able to easily fit his larger equipment- like an 18 foot high tractor-right into the building without any problem.
On a recent job, we designed the building large enough so the farmer could bring in his specialized equipment to process and then stack his hay all in one step.
I'd like to think our design will save that farmers a lot of time over the years he'll have our building. I reckon he'd spend twice as much time trying to maneuver these big machines in the building
if he went with a traditional building with a bunch of support poles throughout.
You could go with steel, but it's going to be a lot more expensive, and you would loose that all important span. And with a steel building, you'd have to have these big 10 x 10 concrete pads
throughout to support the steel. But our pole barn design kept the space wide open.
Experience In Material Storage and Government/Municipal Work
Why is Graber so popular with Townships, Municipalities, State and Federal Government work? "We've really developed a reputation both locally and regionally for delivering quality buildings for government on budget and on time," explains Ira from Graber. We walk the managers through our standard consultation process, find out what they need, give them our very best advice based on our years of experience, then commit to a budget - guaranteed right down to the penny. And we've always paid prevailing wages and know from first-hand experience how the government process works."
These township Supervisors needed a storage building for the transportation works on budget and they needed it fast. Graber responded with this oversized opening-without any of the restriction that steel frame or concrete blocks would have caused-which allowed their larger vehicles to move in and out easily. Graber also recommended finishing off the interior but skipping on a floor, to keep the price of their project cheap.
Experience In Professional Office Buildings
When the owner of a day care center was referred to Graber by another customer for some pricing on his new day care center, he wasn't really sure if a pole building would portray the image he wanted. But once he learned all the choices he had in exterior siding, he really got serious. After comparing the prices of other methods for his 136' long project, he was sold on the idea of a Graber building. In this case, a concrete slab was poured, and combination stick built/post frame structure was erected. Because his building needed different offices and classrooms, Graber installed stud walls to give it a finished look on the inside. To give him some curb appeal, Graber recommended a stone facade, which was much cheaper than solid stone. "I think the best part of this project was the impressive entrance way we designed for him. It's decked out with pillar columns and looks pretty swank for the kids", says Graber owner Reuben.
Developers are one of the most loyal type of Graber customers. They are usually referred by another past customer, who recounts their own first hand experience with savings, a sound structure and something that is attractive that will be easy to lease. "Many people would be surprised to learn that the doctor's office they visit is actually a pole barn. But finishing the inside with drywall, and using an attractive wainscoting, it looks like it's a stick-built building. But only the developer knows he saved about half on the construction. And we won't tell anyone either, " says Rosita from Graber.
Experience In Restaurants
When an Eastern Pennsylvania restaurant and farmers market burned down - right in the middle of the busy season - the owners were panic-stricken over how they would rebuild in time to salvage their business. They needed something that looked appealing to their customers, was affordable, and most importantly - fast to build. When they contacted Graber, the team expedited them through the process and actually made an exception and bumped them ahead in their busy production schedule. The relieved and happy owners got their business back within a few weeks after the fire and are actually more pleased with their new look than the old building.
Experience in Combination Retail and Production Buildings
The owner of retail flower shop needed to expand and to launch his new venture: mass producing dried flower arrangements. He was astounded at how much he could save when he compared the Graber price to his local contractor. Graber paid special attention to the front part of his long building by adding drywall to give the retail section a finished look. And in the back of his new facility, Graber provided him with a wide open space to use for production. All in about 2 1/2 weeks. But this customer had one complaint about his pole building: The Graber team had to offer some help when the local real estate tax office wanted to assess him a value about 3x his cost! It took some real convincing to prove to these experts that his brand new building was a cost-effective pole barn.
Experience In Oversized Equipment Storage
Graber has even designed and built an airplane hanger.
"This was one of the most challenging... and rewarding projects I worked on," recalls Dave from Graber. "The trick here was to design an airport hanger so the customer could get as many planes under one roof as possible. He looked at other options but knew that he needed the clear span width that only a barrier free pole barn could give. In talking with other pole barn builders, it was pretty clear to him that none of them had the experience for a project like this."
"By the time he came to us, he was a little exasperated; we worked closely on a design that allowed him to get all the planes in "T" shape but the next hurdle was more exciting. All of us at Graber have great relationships with a huge number of suppliers, and we were able to incorporate overhead doors that folded up - entry way, windows and all - so even the widest of planes could easily get in and out. It's a great example of something you just can't do with any other kind of construction. There's no way an airplane hanger could have all those trusses holding the structure up, but our pole barn design did the trick. I'd like to think this project is a great testament to the design skill we have at Graber."
