Putting a Warm Front on Cold Storage .

When Jeff Corcoran went to install his steel building, he discovered problems in an unexpected place.

The landscaping on the grounds of the new facility.

Corcoran, who owns Corcoran Glass & Paint in Greenville , Wisc., was happy with the Allied Steel building he ordered for his cold storage facility. But a local zoning board had a number of unexpected requests he had to meet before erecting the structure.

"I had a great experience working with Allied Steel on my new building. No problems at all," Corcoran said. "But I wasn't prepared for all the problems we had with the Village Authority."

Corcoran Glass & Paint is part of an industrial park in Greenville that features roughly 40 other buildings on its grounds. Corcoran says that the main issue he faced was in a set of requirements for added landscaping features to the building's exteriors.

"What's so ironic about that is we already have more landscaping for our building than all the others combined, I'd bet," Corcoran said with a laugh. "It seems like all the other building owners do is mow their weeds. I'm not sure why I was singled out, but it was a pain."

Corcoran started the glass and paint company out of a rented space in 1997. Today, the firm employs roughly 75 people to serve the entire central Wisconsin region. Through his company's steady growth, Corcoran realized in 2003 that he would need more room.

After researching his options and studying a number of other steel building manufacturers, Corcoran decided to go with Allied Steel in November of 2003. He ordered his building to be 50 feet by 110 feet, with three overhead doors. The facility serves as cold storage for glass and aluminum extrusions - and it was added to the existing 30,000 square foot facility.

"I had been looking for a building for more than three months," he said. "Price was the big driver for me, but I also wanted quality in the building. Allied Steel met all my needs."

Corcoran hired an architect to do the blueprints for him. The architect was later dispatched to deal with the zoning and planning eccentricities of the village authority. He says that all the materials arrived on time and from the same location.

"We ordered the building in November of 2003, and it arrived when we expected it in February," he says. "We got started that month, after we got the foundation slab poured."

Corcoran found an enthusiastic pool of construction workers from a convenient source: his own workforce. The workload slackens during the winter, Corcoran says, so it worked out well to have employees build the structure when they had down time.

"We weren't in all that big a hurry to get it done, so I'd have my guys go back there and work on it during their slow times," he says. "It ended up taking about three months, but we got it finished," he says. "We were erecting aluminum curtain walls and glass glazing areas. It was a good experience."

Corcoran's advice to anyone putting up an Allied building? Hire a good local architect who can help get things past committees and boards. His architect served him well on this project.

"I think they were even happy with the landscaping when everything was said and done," he laughed. "It actually looks really good."