greeting customer

I've been looking on the internet...

As you know, at Shields Buildings, we do things a little differently to a lot of the other companies out there.

As a result, we don’t compete on price.  We compete on quality and value.

 The challenge is communicating that value, especially when – with no offence intended – people just don’t know as much about buildings as us!

So, when we get a chance to show how we’re different, we’ll take it, and such an opportunity presented itself just the other day.

John went to visit a prospect who wanted a shed, and after discussing what he wanted, the guy told him that he’d been looking on the internet and that a shed the size he wanted would cost around £1,500. And yep, you’ve guessed it – our price wasn’t even close, coming in at a shade under £4,000.

When you’re genuinely beaten on price by someone delivering the same product, there’s not much more you can do other than just dust yourself down and carry on, which is what John was preparing to do when the prospect told him a little bit more. The ‘internet’ shiplap cladding was 11mm, rather light weight and probably with very little overlap so shrinkage will be a problem. The proposed building is going to be in an exposed location, which actually means you need a thicker cladding as a minimum. Our standard cladding is pressure treated 15mm redwood shiplap with an increased overlap AND we use a water-proof membrane on the inside, not to mention 2 coats of water proofer on the exterior – I’m sure you’re getting the picture now…

He carried on and told John that the roof would be covered in felt.  Again, in an exposed location this will not last very long – it will need replacing, at further cost, sooner than you’d think. That’s why we use plastisol steel sheeting as standard – longer life, more durable and more weather resistant. We have some here at the farm which John put on the barn 35 years ago and it is still perfectly sound.

I guess my message here is simple: do your research.

Maybe an off-the-shelf building from the internet will deliver what you want, but it’s the specifics and nuances of the building like the ones I’ve highlighted that create the additional value – whatever you do, don’t buy without further investigation.

And if you want to talk to us about your requirements, just give us a call on 01837 82442 - we look forward to speaking to you soon.

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