Tag Archives: M&W Building Supply

Winch Boxes- A Post Frame Miracle

Winch Boxes – a Post Frame Miracle

Back in my M & W Building Supply days we had provided a pole barn kit package to a client in Woodburn, Oregon. One of Jim Betonte’s Farmland Structures post frame building crews was doing erection in our client’s back yard. Our office received a hostile phone call from this client about lunch time. He had come home to get a bite to eat and found his new building’s roof all framed up. 

And on the ground.

And he was less than happy…..okay he was pissed off.

He was furious because he did not want heavy equipment, like a crane, run across his yard to lift his roof up. Luckily we were able to talk him down and assured him when he came home from work his roof would be up in place and there would be no tire tracks.

True to our word, when he came home, his roof was up, there were no tire tracks and he wanted to know how we did it.

Jim’s crew refused to tell him!

Our office wouldn’t either!

We were having way too much fun at our client’s expense. He was pretty sure we had used a helicopter, he even asked his neighbors if they had heard anything unusual.

Nope.

In much of our country, post frame buildings are constructed with a truss or trusses aligned directly with building’s sidewall columns. Purlins (generally and hopefully) on edge span distances between trusses. 

I will share with you this miracle (in pictures) eventually. But first, a few words about my friend who has provided these photos.

Stay tuned to this station for our next exciting installment (and those promised photos).

Avoiding Mechanic’s Liens

Avoiding Mechanic’s Liens From Post Frame Subcontractors and Suppliers

When I owned my first post frame building kit package supply company – M & W Building Supply, I made an error early on and extended credit to post frame building contractors. It didn’t take me long of getting burned to realize it was essential for me to send ‘Intent to Lien’ notices to property owners where these builders were making improvements. It was sad when I had to take one of these new building owners to court after they had paid their contractor in full – and he absconded with their money without paying folks like me. These poor folks ended up paying for their building twice, thanks to an unscrupulous builder.

From a Sioux Falls Argus Leader article August 16, 2019 by Danielle Ferguson:

“A Sioux Falls handyman has been criminally charged after multiple subcontractors say they weren’t paid for services they provided him. 

Daniel John Hagen was indicted by a Minnehaha County grand jury this week on three charges of misappropriation of funds by a contractor and grand theft. 

A Hartford couple contracted Hagen’s business, Dan the Handyman, over the summer months of 2018 to complete a pole barn at a price of about $25,300, according to an affidavit in support of an arrest warrant. The couple had given him three separate checks over three months, according to the affidavit. 

The couple found out that Hagen hadn’t been paying the subcontractors he hired to do the job, according to the affidavit. The subcontractors had put mechanical liens on the couple’s home. They reported it to law enforcement in November 2018. 

Law enforcement spoke with Hagen in January. When he took the job in Hartford, he owed money on other jobs, according to the affidavit, and had been using that money to pay for other jobs’ earlier fees. 

Hagen is involved in other civil suits and owes over $50,000 for other jobs done or jobs he was paid for and never completed in 2018, according to the affidavit.”

There are ways to prevent this from happening to you! 

Purchase a post frame building kit package direct from a supplier and pay them for it (only after you have thoroughly vetted the supplier: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2015/01/pole-building-suppliers/).

If a contractor is supplying any materials, make payments jointly to contractor and suppliers for amount of invoices.

Prior to making final payment require the contractor to provide lien releases from every supplier and laborer who either provided materials or labor for your building.

Require performance and payment bonds from the contractor, they are not expensive and they provide peace of mind https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2012/07/contractor-bonding/.