Strong. ★ Affordable. ★ Flexible. ★ Easy. ★ Resilient.
This is an older Model 4000 Perka Building we stumbled onto recently; it has bolt on frame unsupported overhangs with custom built tack room and office under parts of the overhang on both sides. The customer has also built a “loft” storage area that is supported by posts and takes advantage of the high clearspan with no bottom chord to obstruct the headroom.
How can that be? They are the same model… or they are the same size. Or it’s for the same service. They are both the same thing… or is it? How can there be such a price difference? That price is way too high? OR IS IT?
While it may not be so “obvious”, some suppliers may indeed have difference costs of doing business, more insurance, more levels of quality assurance, better service protocols, different values of their overhead – or even just different markup percentages as per their calculations for what they need to stay in business, let alone prosper some.
When all is said and done however — one really CAN NOT get SOMETHING for NOTHING. There is a natural law of business balance that will always be maintained. At least over time.
If you are into “WIN-LOSE” deals – then the game becomes one of trying to (consciously or not) “outwit”, if not even “fool” the other into LOSING and you winning? Though less and less these days – it is a “game” that still gets played.
All too often however, it is played at the detriment of BOTH parties. If you “take from another” to advance your agenda, you are definitely in a competitive mode — and, inevitably, a time will come when either the cards will be reversed, or sooner yet, even the one you contracted with – may just not be able to ((satisfactorily)) fulfill his/her obligation or promise. And then, NOBODY wins. This is not naive. It’s part of our natural laws. The Golden Rule. What we sow we reap. What goes around comes around.
If one is of a CREATIVE perspective – then it’s more about COLLABORATING TO FIND THE BEST SOLUTION for the product or service need, with a WIN-WIN agenda; while staying within the allowed resources (funds available), and also taking into account as much of a “longer” term perspective as one can. Cost over time must be part of the initial cost!
For example, cost/value changes like: after the sale/service maintenance costs, the appreciation or depreciation in value of the asset, the actual use value (which may not be quantifiable per se), the profit from use value if a business of any kind, any future “changes” costs, insurance costs, “recovery costs”, etc., etc. If you don’t do, even a bit, of that exercise analysis – you may very well be in for some fairly large “ADD ON” costs in the future — and those are inevitably and effectively PART OF YOUR (accrual) COST “TODAY”!
Over and above those considerations, one must be as sure as one can be that the comparison of quality, features, benefits, between your choices, are indeed “apples to apples”!!! It’s easy to say that yes – this 4 wheel drive pick up is $25,000$. And that 4 wheel drive pick up is $27,000, so I’ll buy this one. But are they really the same?
With regards to a building: Is a 40 x 60 building going to be the same price regardless of what it’s made of? How it’s made? For what it’s made for, or even by who it’s made? etc.?
There really are dozens, if not hundreds, of “options”, and “features”, and “benefits” that you can put in, or out, of a building package (initial) price offer. And in each of these they may, or may not, be a SERVING benefit for you. If you don’t need to have enduring strength to withstand the wrath of our sometimes harried climate conditions – then maybe you don’t have to have that pre-built in and therefore pay for it! If you don’t need to have things designed in to make life easier and quicker for you or your builder when you install, refine, modify, or even later upgrade, retrofit or remodel, then why have those features priced in now? More at paydayloanfence These can be the very reason why the prices differ.
Furthermore, do you know the value or even the potential VALUE that each special feature has? If no, is it therefore really MORE EXPENSIVE? What are you comparing? What if certain options can actually save you hours and hours of time in install? What if it saves you hundreds if not thousands of dollars in extra materials, or hired hours; – or what if they can save you hundreds if not thousands in energy costs? Making it less costly a bit later on!?? What if it saves you unnerving, debilitating stress, unfathomable worry and even heart ache! What price do you put on that?
This is not to say all suppliers or service people will not have YOUR overall best interests at heart. From experience one can say that at least half will, — maybe even 75% if you are optimistic! But the challenge then is which 50 or 75%? How will you know? How can you tell?
Just because the representative is happy, sincere, polite and kind (which is not always the case anyway) — does that make the product or support the ONE FOR YOU? There is POWER in education… and there is even MORE POWER in using the “education/information”…
One of the BEST ways to get VALUE for your hard earned money and time — as well as peace of mind — is education… information. It almost always is worth the investment of your time. Be an informed purchaser.
And, if you can find it, it’s even better if you visit this link TEAM you can trust, who has experience, is passionate about their vocation, loves to do what they do and is sincere about being of selfless service.
And as a bonus, if you do have that kind of support – that will surely make a huge difference in your overall stress level and well being —- now, how much is that worth?
Yes, BE informed!
Cheers,
ICS
There is an old story in our family about two young men who both wanted to buy a car to go to College with.
Both had roughly the same amount of money. Both looked at cars of the same type and year.
One walked in to a dealer ship – met with a real nice representative of the dealership who spoke real fast about all the benefits of the car and how this young man would just be so happy if he bought this one – right now – as it was actually on sale, as the last one on the lot.
The second young man on the other hand – went to a couple different car lots, spoke to various representatives, shared his need and want list, took time to listen to answers and replies, expanded on them and asked even many more questions. He appreciated the various rep’s enthusiasm – but took time to get to know the cars he was interested in, the rep, the dealership, the service department, noticing how they treated him and checked up on the reputation of all of the above. It took a few extra days to find his car of choice and he did spend a bit more money up front, despite buying the same kind of car with the same year. But he knew alot more about the car and the people behind it, from his own research.
The first young man drove the car for less than a month and started to have troubles. When he returned to the dealer – nothing he needed attention was covered under warranty. The nice rep he spoke to – was never available when he called or visited. It cost him several trips to and from the dealer, many days without a car and alot of money he had never planned on spending. He ended up selling the car at a loss a few months later. He had to finish school taking buses, taxis and getting lifts from friends. This all ended up costing him nearly as much as owning a better car – but with nothing to show for it. Worse of all he was not a HAPPY CLIENT. He was downright stressed out most of his time at school – counting on public transportation or on others!
The second young man kept his car maintained, and was able to own it till after he graduated from College. He was even able to actually save some money over the four years and traded up his car for a nicer newer car. He enjoyed his time at college – had no transportation worries and was a HAPPY CLIENT, which is why he returned to the same dealer for the trade.
Moral of the story is that it really can be a most serving and beneficial investment of one’s time to get answers and share as much info as one can with the supplier.
These two young men were old friends of our original founder from back in the late 70’s. He subconsciously decided right then and there, that education was going to be the key to not only good service and making sure his client’s would be happy, but to endure the test of time. Since the early 80’s we have been steadily working on ways to improve that, albeit much of time unconsciously or without specific intention or reverence.
A few years ago we had an epiphany of a Divine Nudge. The bit of Grace, led us to figuring out our “why”, which began to light bulbs in our mind and hearts, and which we chose to consciously and with intention to make our mission.
And the BEST way for us to do that is to find out all we can about our client’s needs and wants, FIRST… And then making sure we would do all we can to figure out the BEST, most serving choices, and be able to meet those desires as best we knew how… – if not, we would just not be their supplier.
And that is now, PERKA’s, conscious mission.
And… WE LOVE TO HELP… it just feels good!
Cheers,
I.C. Scoops!
Before I even start this blog post – I will admit that I AM BIASED! I was raised by parents who demanded I be truthful, honest.
They only wanted the BEST for me – but also taught me that I HAD to BE and DO my BEST to earn it. They showed me what it looked like to be a good steward, to NOT WASTE, to do things right and do the RIGHT thing. They encouraged me to THINK, to not just TAKE things as fact just because someone said so, but to do MY OWN homework and research. They showed me the importance of making sure the things meaningful (to me) in my life had value, integrity, durability, quality and purpose; from the people I could choose to be, work , live and play with to the “things” I choose to own, operate, use, share and/or have stewardship over. So quality, value, durability, integrity, flexibility, adaptability and sustainability, just to name a few, would become constants in the measuring of whenever we had freedom to make choices.
And so goes with the products as TEAM PERKA, that we offer, the teammates we attract, the service we aspire to give, the care with which we undertake life’s moments with.
So in this biased sense we feel the PERKA BUILDING’s ‘system’ – offers the highest value as an investment, the most strength for withstanding the elements, the best affordability over the long haul, the most flexibility to adapt to any building need now, as well as being easy and simple to deal with for any modifications, finishing, maintaining be it during the build process or even months, years or decades in the future. Those are the sort of things we hear that are important to builders and building owners alike.
Take the RIGID frame (plate beam) type of building design. It’s own name pretty much says that they are not going to be very “easy or flexible to deal with”. And boy oh boy has that been our experience.
Despite being totally committed and convicted about the many many great things in a hybrid building, we are not always able to convey the information, experiences and testimonials needed to help some folks fully understand. So we still have looked for the best, most affordable “rigid frame” type building sources so that we could still offer this alternative to clients who still want to deal with a company that has the integrity to stand behind their commitments and obligations.
In the couple dozen or so Rigid Frame buildings we supplied over the last few years we can say in total honesty that every one of them has offered up at least one challenge that either cost our client or ourselves MORE money than we originally counted on spending.
Whether it was not having a door positioned in the right place and then having to go through hoops and loops to resolve; or dealing with part after part that was NOT pre-assembled, NOT properly labelled, not fabbed accurately or just NOT there. The fact that we had these issues was not the worst of it — the worst part was what we needed to do to “fix or resolve”. It was not a matter of pulling out the saw to cut a few pieces and fasten them up with some wood grip fasteners. No. We had to first get clearance from engineering to make sure we were not altering the integrity of the building SYSTEM since the buildings TOTAL LOAD capacity is pretty much 100% dependent on EVERY part being the part it’s suppose to be and in the place it is suppose to be and installed the way it is suppose to be installed. ANY deviation of any of these can lead to reduced load capacity and potentially compromise the building’s ability to withstand snow, wind or seismic loads.
Are Rigid buildings strong? Sure they are — but only as strong as they are “built” to the exact specifications of the manufacturer. NO DEVIATIONS. No modifications. No after the fact changes. At least NOT without getting things cleared.
Are Rigid buildings flexible? Yes, but only to the extent you have torches and welders to modify AFTER you get approval and able to afford the typically HIGH COST of beefing up, from the extra labor and the need for more or newer (STEEL) parts to accommodate the change. Which typically can only be purchased from manufacturer. “No substitutes”!
Are Rigid frames EASY and SIMPLE? Only if you know EXACTLY what you want UP FRONT, and basically “never” want to change ANYTHING. If you don’t meet those two criteria… count on complexity, difficulties, delays and worst of all alot MORE MONEY. Not just a little. ALOT!
Are Rigid frames aesthetically pleasing? If you like the main option being JUST STEEL. Yes. Oh you can COVER these with decorative materials — but don’t think about “saving” the steel to put something else on to save money. It won’t happen. You will either have to leave the steel sheeting on, and PAY EXTRA to cover it – or pay alot more for special engineering and structural beef ups to be able to remove the sheeting to allow you to put something else more aesthetically appealing instead. Not exactly a “value added” option!
Are Rigid Frames less costly? Yes – again if you know EXACTLY what you want and DO NOT PLAN to change pretty much ANYTHING! (I guess that’s why they call them RIGID frames!!!). Otherwise — NO. Pure and simple they will cost MORE. And in some cases, as we experienced, ALOT more.
Do your homework. They can be the best solution – but you MUST know what you want and WHO you are getting it from. Otherwise — CAVEAT EMPTOR!!
Cheers.