Whether it is for your home or business, insurance can be expensive, so finding ways to make it cost less is always beneficial. If you have a steel building, you will have a lower insurance cost, so when you are planning to construct a new building, one great money saver is steel. Steel will help you save money in many different ways, from your insurance costs to the construction costs to your energy costs. In this article, we will look at how steel buildings can reduce your insurance costs.
Factors for Insurance Premiums
Insurance companies have a few factors they always look at when determining the premium rates for a specific business. The factors are:
- Age: how old is the building?
- Area: the local real estate market, quality of land, and size of the lot.
- Business use: if the building is a business, what type of business? Any chemicals or machinery a business will use may affect the premium.
- Damage potential: the likelihood of the building being damaged by the natural conditions in the area. For example, if it is in an area with annual hurricanes or that is prone to wildfires, the damage potential will be higher.
- Materials: the strength of the building materials.
- Occupancy: how many people will live or work in this business?
- Safety features: smoke alarms, emergency exits, sprinklers, and more.
- Size: how big is the building?
Steel Buildings Are Damage Resistant
How easily a building can be damaged is one of the key factors in determining your insurance rates, and steel buildings are damage resistant. Steel is the strongest building material out there, so it is significantly more difficult to damage than a building made of wood or stone.
Heavy wind, hail, ice, snow, water, and fire are some of the most common damages to a building, all of which a steel building is resistant to. This, of course, does not mean steel is indestructible; it simply means that steel is harder to damage than a building made out of other materials.
Steel buildings have been known to survive hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, and other weather events. If you live in an area that is prone to those types of weather, your insurance costs may be lower simply because the building is steel.
Even lightning is less destructive in a steel building than in another building type. First, because it will not be able to catch on fire if it strikes, plus, it is not resistant to electrical currents, so if it is struck by lightning, the electrical current should pass through it safely.
Steel is Resistant to Pests
Since steel is an inorganic material, you will not have to worry about pests like termites and mice. Termites alone can cause thousands of dollars in damages to a wooden home, which might not even be covered by an insurance policy, depending on your insurance policy.
Steel is Not Flammable
Steel is not a flammable material, so it cannot start or contribute to a fire, and it only melts at temperatures that greatly exceed those of a house fire. This means that your family or employees are going to be much safer in your steel building than they would be in a building made of other materials.
If there is a fire in a neighboring building, it will not be able to jump to yours. If there is a fire in the interior of your building, it is going to be much more contained, and you will not lose your structure in the fire. Since your structure will not be lost in a fire, this means your insurance premium should be lower, especially if you are in an area that is prone to wildfires.
Steel is Inorganic
Since steel is not an organic material, mold and mildew are not able to grow on it, so you will not face expensive repairs if a pipe bursts since the mold that comes from that will be unable to take hold in your walls. Repairing water damage in a different building type can cost thousands of dollars, and do serious damage to the structure itself. Insurance companies love that they do not have to worry about things like mold damage in a building, which is part of why it can have such reduced insurance costs.
Steel vs. Age
One of the factors in an insurance premium is the age of the building. However, steel buildings typically have a 40 or 50-year warranty on them, ensuring that they will stay as strong and functional as they were on the day that they were built. Since your building is not going to age as other types will, this means that the age of your building may not make as big of an impact on your premium. Also, you will likely be building your steel building from scratch, it will start out new, which will also keep your rate lower.
Steel is a Safety Feature
Insurance companies will look at the safety features in buildings, and a steel building is itself a safety feature. While adding smoke alarms, a sprinkler system, and emergency exits are a great thing, having a building that is so hard to damage is a safety feature on its own.
Final Thoughts
Whether you are looking for a new building for your home or business, saving money is always a priority. By ordering a custom steel building, you can reduce your insurance costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and the costs of constructing the building itself. You will save money both now and later with steel. Plus, you get a completely customized building too, and that is always a great thing; who does not love the idea of having a completely customized home or business building? You can design your dream home or business with ease. Insurance companies love steel buildings because they are so much harder to damage in any way, so they are less likely to have to give you an expensive payout if something happens to the building.