Cleary Buildings

Thinking about putting up a Building. Been wanting one to store the cars and tractors in and figure now is a good time to take advantage of the winter specials they are offering. The building we where thinking about is a Cleary and its the 42'-81'-13' size. There add says it would be right around $23,000 and that includes delivery and building it. We would have to level the site. What do you on here think about Cleary Buildings? Are they a good investment? Long lasting?
For those who own a Cleary what do you think??
To me they sound reasonable and we could really use the extra storage space now.
Thanks for your feedback from Nebraska, Andrew.

I think pole buildings will always be a good investment for you, you're going to wish you had done it years ago. I have heard of cleary blds but that is all. I am putting up a 48x104x12 this fall, purchased through the local lumber yard, $35000. I got my site level now, just waiting..
Brian(MN)

Cleary ranks right up there with Morton Buildings who most think is the industry standard for quality construction,material excellence,warranty and design build capabilities. I think a purchase of a Cleary Buildibng would be a good choice if you are in the market for a post frame building however,Have you considered an all steel building?

I have a Cleary Building, put up in 1996 and I have had zero problems with it. Still looks very good. It is only 30x50x10, but is built very well.

Clearys are a cheap building and not any where close to a morton as far as quality. Build a Wick building and order a few extra boards for more bracing.

I had my Cleary barn built in fall 2002. It is 42'X72'X10' walls. East end is open for airplane access. I store 12 tractors,3lawnmowers, 1 bulldozer and an airplane in it. I have not had any problems with it. It is a lightweight building but engineered for strength. Workmanship was good.

My only mistake was not getting the vapor barrier under the roof. The barn does sweat quite bad.

Gene

I put up a Morton about 12 years ago. If I had known then what I know now, I would have put up a Wick or a Cleary instead.

Beatles...I just built a 60 x 120 with 12 foot side walls and 18 inch eaves. Got quotes from Lester, Morton, Wickes, Northland, Walters, Cleary and a local Amish builder. Narrowed it down to Walters and Cleary's and finally went with Walters due to heavier gauge steel and rain gutters being included in the price. Cost was ~6.40/ft2. They also include bird netting to keep birds out of the soffits. I have two large cupolas on the building that was 2500 dollars of the total price. Impressed with the quality of the lumber (yellow pine). I'm in Wisconsin.

I think you've mentioned your dislike of Morton before? Never really heard why tho.

In general, most consider Morton about the top of the line.

Be curious to know what went wrong in your deal.

--->Paul

(quoted from post at 05:45:50 10/20/10) I think you've mentioned your dislike of Morton before? Never really heard why tho.

In general, most consider Morton about the top of the line.

Be curious to know what went wrong in your deal.

--->Paul

Click to expand...

It was the fault of the totally inexperienced construction crew. Morton buildings WOULD NOT make it right except to send someone out a couple of times and put some caulking in the holes in the roof that were put there by the crew. The roof still leaks, and Morton will do NOTHING about it.

I think most are the same. They use laminated wood beam construction with end buried in the ground or set on top of concrete with a steel bracket. They all manufacture wood frame rafters just like the lumber yard makes for houses. They use 3 2bys nailed together for the beams while alternating the seams of the boards. The rafter fits into the center of the lamination. The limiting factor is any wood going into the ground even though ground contact rated will someday rot or get termites.

We have a local cleary office in town and crews work out of there. A recent one they put up had a concrete floor and they used brackets to hold the beams down. The rafters were shipped in so I don't know who did them. I don't know if they did the concrete or subbed that out.

Standard pole barn construction nowadays.

I believe most give you a choice of 29 and 26 guage steel which is the standard stuff available.

A local lumber yard invested in the steel pressing equipment and has all kinds of colored steel on flat rolls. They cut to order for length at $2.29 a running foot (3 sq.ft.) for 26 guage. Home Depot sells the same in 2 colors for $2.50 a running foot with 12' lengths.

To me the steel siding/roofing is comparable for all buildings. It's the insulation, vapor barriers, and experience of the crew that makes a difference. Insulation and vapor barriers may be comparable as well.

Crew experience is hit or miss with all contractors that work over the road and Cleary and Morton and others all have the same problems. Help comes and goes as they work out of town a lot. They all have the usual collection of drunks and druggies that come and go. Hopefully they have a good foreman that has been around for a while.

We are thinking about a cleary this winter but I'd still like to find a steel framed building for piece of mind for termites and such. I'd like to know it is still standing when I'm dead and gone.

bc's reply jogged my memory a bit. In Highschool(early 1970's) I worked on a Wick crew in eastern Minnesota and Western Wisconsin. Foreman was a guy in his 40's, with 6 kids, going through a divorce, and not giving a dam*. The rest were in their early 20's with little work ethic, but could party with the best.
I sure learned a lot from them. Things like how to drink and smoke on the job without getting caught. How to get fake ID's. How to go to a bar, stay till it shut down or they threw you out, and still somehow get to work the next day. Damage equipment on purpose to get out of work, then blame it on someone else so you kept your job.
Growing up on a farm, it was quite an eye opener. I only lasted long enough to get enough money to buy an old car, because it drove me crazy see the waste of material and time. I wonder if any of those buildings are still standing? If they are, it wasn't from good workmanship.

I have 2 Lester buildings and am happy with them. (milking parlor/holding area and 50x80x14 machine shed.) They have an on-line building design program that you might like to take a look at. Think it even gives you prices.

That is too bad, I thought Morton was a good company too.

I have 2 Cleary buildings- a 40x63x12 put up 15 years ago, and a 42x45x11 built about 8 years ago. I looked at a lot of buildings, all about the same, but I liked the Cleary because the laminated posts had no seams. The 3 boards that make the posts are one piece top to bottom. Cleary also had a salesman at my door promptly to plan my buildings, and were willing to negotiate enough to keep me happy. My older building was spec'd with heavier trusses for supporting a ceiling and insulation, which would be a good idea weather you put in a ceiling or not. No problems or leaks so far on either building.

<< Disclaimer: I work for 64 Metals (www.64metals.com), a post-frame building company.>>

Just happened to stumble on this thread. It's always interesting to "eaves drop" on what others say about post-frame buildings in general and the companies that build them. All of the companies listed below are top of the line, and produce excellent buildings. For smaller post-frame companies like ours, they set the standard. And all of them (us included), at some point or another, will deliver a less-than-expected experience. It's unfortunate, but it happens. Keeping quality crews is a challenge for all of us. But, since the construction is fairly straightforward, there's always the option to do it yourself.

As some have already stated, most all post-frame buildings are pretty much alike. I suggest you consider Perma-column posts (www.permacolumn.com) on your buildings. We use them in almost all of our buildings and have been very pleased. Also for consideration (warning: self-promotion ahead!), we offer a steel truss that bolts directly to traditional post-frame construction. It allows up to 16' bays, 100' clearspans, and more additional interior space. Just saying!

Let's try.. damn

I'm looking at putting up a building myself I mean not by myself I've worked as a sub in my youth for Crane pole barns during the summer in the sixties so not my style I just can't sit in a loader bucket setting trusses and nailing roof tin in the searing hit in the glaring sun and probably why I'm getting cataracts. Anyway snow load is a major issue if your roof pitch is too slight and trusses too far apart to match. All of the buildings I helped install are still standing but the siding and roof tin is rusting badly. All in all you may want to consult local building codes before you do this because otherwise some wise arse kid working for college tuition is going to show up wanting see your building permit and make sure you submitted permits and money. MTCW