The image above is from an imported fabric building located in Alberta, Canada which was damaged by wind.  This is what can happen to a building that is not built from quality components engineered for the North American climate.

Fabric Building Quality is not Too Good to Be True

This headline may have originated back hundreds of years, but it was coined by an evil henchman who worked for an evil newspaper villain who was plotting to overthrow the free world who was ultimately foiled by you know who… Bond, James Bond.

In the Fabric Building industry there is a huge discrepancy in the quality of products being offered in the North American market. More recently, if you have been in the market for a fabric building, you will have noticed a number of distributors claiming to sell quality “Canadian” fabric buildings.  They claim to be designed specifically for North American climates, albeit imported from abroad. These structures are readily available online through kijiji, distributors and auction houses. The challenge we all face as consumers is how to make a good buying decision when we are purchasing something we have never purchased previously. If I know nothing about the automobile industry, why not buy a Ford Pinto vs. a Mercedes Benz 500. It’s less than 1/2 the price and they both get me from Point A to point B. Not that simple! If it’s too good to be true… it generally is too good to be true!

Quality Building Components

There are significant differences in a quality fabric building vs. many of the import products available today. As Benjamin Franklin said, ” The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.” At FastCover we pride ourselves in using quality materials that result in decades of great service from our structures. Using a minimum of 11 – 12 gauge black steel tubing ensures that our Structures are truly strong enough to give you decades of worry free & maintenance free service. We have seen too many poor quality fabric structures collapse after the first heavy snowfall in places like Prince George British Columbia, Sydney Montana or Snow Lake, Manitoba. Powder coating all steel components on every FastCover ensures greater longevity of fabric. Applying and baking several millimeters of paint onto all our steel ensures smoothness where fabric and steel meet.  High density polyethylene fabric is an integral part of FastCover engineered structures.  When properly adhered to one of our quality steel frames, the entire fabric & steel envelope create its ability to withstand North American snow, wind and rain loads as per National and International Building Code. Fabric on many import buildings cannot be tightened “like a drum” because it is not strong enough and can expand and contract in various weather conditions. This fabric is not an integral part of the structure and provides no additional strength.

Stay in touch with our blog section as we will be writing a series of posts on the various components that make a FastCover an excellent choice for your equipment storage, cattle handling, dairy farm, light industrial, machine or maintenance shop. We will look at fabric, hardware, steel, foundation & anchors and warranties.

Quick Tip

You would not buy a new car, truck or combine without a warranty, so make sure you have one on your new fabric building. FastCover’s 15 year warranty has you Covered!

#portablefabricbuildings #fastcover #dairybarn #cattleshed #machineshop #equipmentstorage