General FAQ
We offer a five-year materials and workmanship warranty. Our Smart Panel siding comes with a 30-year manufacturers warranty. We use 30-year Malarkey architectural shingles–but I want to be honest. I don’t promise you that they’ll last that long in Oklahoma, where the wind blows and the sun beats.
I agree that God made wood beautiful.Some of our competitors use T1-11 or treated wood for their portable buildings. We can do that, too, but we don’t think that you’ll be as happy with it. Any clear coat finish applied to a wood product has to be renewed every year or two. If you neglect it (and you will unless you are more motivated and disciplined than most of us), your beautiful natural wood finish will gray and weather and deteriorate.
Normally, we put concrete blocks under the treated skids. That gets the buildings up off the ground so they won’t rot and makes it easy for us to level them up.
First, be sure that your projected site is accessible. Typically, our delivery truck and trailer back into position, the trailer tilts and your portable building slides off the trailer right into the spot it needs to be. We can shift the building around some after it’s on the ground–if we need to. When you think about your site, look for overhead obstructions–low tree limbs or utility lines. Also make sure that your site is reasonably level. We block your building up level when we deliver it, but we do not do any dirt work.
That’s up to you. Purchasing a building through our 36-month rent-to-own program costs you more money, but you can start now and pay the building off whenever you can. And the rent you pay is likely cheaper than the rent you would pay in a self-storage unit–on a unit that you will never own. Besides, think how convenient it would be to have your storage space in you own back yard!
You may be able to get financing through your bank to purchase a portable building. We bank at Payne County Bank in Perkins, and the loan officers there have been willing to loan money on our buildings because they know we have a quality product that lasts and lasts.
None. You rent the building while you are making payments on it. We are regulated by the Oklahoma Department of Consumer Protection and use the same basic 36-month contract that other rent-to-own programs use. The state dictates the terms, specifying that 60% of your monthly payment shall pay the purchase price of your building. The other 40% pays rent for that month. To illustrate, if you buy a building worth $3000, your contract will show that you owe $5000. And of every $100 that you pay, $60 will be paying on the building and $40 will be paying rent. The good news is . . . you don’t have to pay rent for 36 months! You can pay your building off at any time and the rent payments stop. Your pay-off amount will be just 60% of your contract balance.
We use top quality satin finish paint and give your building two coats on top of the factory primer. We see buildings that we built 10 or even 15 years that look almost like new. Using good paint pays.
Your life time–if you take care of it. We block it up, keeping all the lumber off the ground, but you need to make sure it doesn’t settle. Of course, eventually it will need a fresh coat of paint and new shingles.
When you place your order, we ask that you pay the first month’s rent plus a deposit. (Your deposit refunded to you or applied to the contract at the end of the contract term). If we deliver your building in the first half of a month, your next payment will be due the 5th of the following month. If we deliver the building in the last half of a month, your payment will be due in the second calendar month following. For example, if we deliver a building to you on July 10, your next rent payment is due August 5. If we deliver on July 21, your next rent payment is due on September 5.
Most of our customers set up a direct deposit payment. To do this we ask you to sign an authorization form. Usually our customers attach a voided check to the authorization form to give us the necessary bank account information, or we can carefully copy the information onto the form. Then we process your payment automatically each month. It’s that simple–no hassle, no forgetting.
We also offer a second option: pay by credit card. Here again, we ask you to sign an authorization form for us to charge your credit (or debit) card each month.
As of 2014, you can also make a payment from our website by clicking on the “Web Pay Option” on our main page. You will need your account number. If you don’t know it, call us or request it by email.
No, not in normal circumstances. God’s gravity anchors them solidly to God’s earth. Our portable buildings are so heavy and so sturdy that they will not blow over–unless a tornado hits them. However, some city codes (Stillwater, for example) require anchoring portable buildings. (It’s your responsibility to check that out.) So we offer an anchoring package for our buildings, and we recommend that you consider anchors if you buy a portable cabin or office.
When we anchor a building, we use auger-style earth anchors (“mobile home anchors”)–two on a very small building, 4 on most buildings, but 6 or more on our largest buildings. We screw these anchors screw into the ground and “lag” them to the skids of the building. In addition, we use steel “strong ties” to secure the runners to the floor joists. No one wants to crawl out of his storm shelter after a tornado and see 4 skids securely anchored to the ground–and the building dumped in the neighbor’s field.
We use ground contact 4″ x 6″ timbers for the skids under our building. All the rest of our framing lumber is kiln dried Standard and Better Douglas Fir, the best framing lumber available anywhere. It’s much stronger than “white wood” lumber (spruce, white pine, etc.), and holds the nails much better. And it won’t twist and warp like southern yellow pine.
Yes, we accept Visa, Master Card, and Discover.
No, we don’t. We prefer wood, first because we think that a painted wood building looks more attractive than a metal building. Wood buildings are also tighter than metal buildings–mouse tight! And wood buildings are heavy and solid. In over 20 years in business, with 1000s of buildings all over Oklahoma, we’ve never heard of any of our buildings blowing over or being moved by a straight wind. Sure, all “bets are off” if a tornado hits, but we have seen our buildings rolled completely over by a tornado and end up “roof up” virtually undamaged!
Of course, any wood buildings has to be repainted eventually, but with the high quality paint we use, a Better Built Barn will not need a paint job for 15 or more years. And if you some day repaint your house or house trim, you can paint your building to match.
If you prefer a metal roof, you can special order it at Better Built Barns. If you still prefer a metal building, we’ll refer you to our friends at OK Portable Structures, LLC. Call 405-547-2940.
Yes, we do–when we cannot deliver the building for whatever reason. We normally add 20% to the price for on-site construction (a minimum of $250). Extra charges can apply if we have to travel a long distance or carry the building materials a distance.
Before you decide to request on-site construction, consider taking your fence down, or let us look at your site to see if we can see a way to get a building in. We have a mechanical “Mule” (see the video on our front page) that helps us get into tight quarters. If at all possible, we’d rather save you the money and us the work of building on site.
No, you don’t. We provide concrete blocks to set the buildings on, and that works great for a storage building. If you have an existing slab, of course we can set your building down on it. If you want us to build you a cabin to live in, consider the option of concrete piers, a gravel pad, or even a stem wall.
We can’t answer that question for you. Each city has its own codes. Please call your city hall. Some cities require portable buildings to be anchored. If your city does, or if you desire it, please tell us when you order your building. We add “strong ties” to make an anchored building even stronger.
Yes, we can build on a slab. However, it hardly ever works to build on an old slab. A slab needs to square, level and sized correctly. If you want us to build on a slab, please contact us before you pour it.
No. We tell you up front what your building will cost–and that’s it. Of course, we have to add sales tax, and the state requires us to figure the tax rate at the point of delivery. We can accept legal tax exemptions but we do ask for a copy of your exemption certificate for our files