Foundation Costs

Monday, February 4, 2019 3:59PMBy Steve Kneifl |

Government Specialist

From the outside, a Kelly Klosure panelized steel building system looks and performs just like a conventional metal building system. But the advantages of a panelized building for the end-user are many. In this series, we will highlight the differences between the Kelly Klosure panelized steel building vs conventional stick-built metal buildings.

This article will focus on the savings in foundations costs!

The foundation costs for a Kelly Klosure (Kelly) Panelized Steel Building are less expensive than those of conventional stick-built metal buildings. Why? Because the Kelly Buildings do not require large rigid frames with vertical steel columns that impose heavy point loads. Expensive pad and pier footings are required to resist these point loads. They are expensive because they must be formed up individually at each column location. Anchor bolts are pre-set for the columns.

Kelly Klosure foundation costs are less expensive because the structured pre-framed sidewall and roof panels form the structural backbone or spine of the Kelly larger “repetitive moment frame” 4:12 pitch gable buildings. The pinned base moment frames are spaced at the joint of every 3’ wide panel with the next adjacent panel. Their base reactions are therefore delivered at 3’ intervals which makes for uniform loads delivered to the foundation as opposed the point described for conventional stick-built structures. These uniform loads are also relatively light. This allows for a simple continuous footing instead of the large periodic column piers described above.

There are three standard conditions for Kelly Buildings installed on concrete.

(1) new thickened edge slab,

(2) new trench wall/ grade beam or

(3) even existing concrete slab or foundation!  (Imagine the savings in re-using an existing concrete slab or foundation!)

Kelly Klosure also provides a temporary steel baseplate for more temporary set-ups where the intent is to use the building for a shorter timeframe and then re-locate it.

Another advantage for the end-user of the panelized Kelly building is that the anchor bolts are provided by Kelly Klosure and do not require pre-setting! The screw type anchors are installed through pre-drilled holes in the base of the panel frame. These anchors are removable and re-usable. The same anchors can be re-used without reduction in load capacity.

Next-up: A Truly Relocatable Building System!