After 27 years, Gerry Lempicki had had enough.

If it wasn't the cold, snow, and ice, it was the incessant heat, driving rain, and hungry mosquitoes. While Ashfield, MA was his home, it often didn't feel very hospitable when it came time for Lempicki to head outdoors to tinker with the mower, give his ATV a much-needed tune up, or completely rebuild a vehicle that he had stripped to its frame.

The work, he enjoyed. But having to contend with Mother Nature's moodiness was another thing altogether. "I guess 27 years of doing all the work outside and dragging a floor jack though the mud will do that," says Lempicki. "Now firmly in middle age, I wasn't having fun laying in the snow and mud anymore."

In 2008, he decided it was time to call in reinforcements, so he contacted SteelMaster Buildings in Virginia Beach, VA to help him create a solution.

SteelMaster Buildings, a company which for more than two decades has provided clients with economical, high quality, precision-engineered Arch Steel Buildings and metal roofing systems. Lempicki told his Building Specialist he needed a workshop where he could store his tools and vehicles and also have space to tend to any maintenance needs or to work on a project. "I've always performed my own vehicle and equipment maintenance and repairs, year round, and sometimes in the snow and mud," says Lempicki. "We also rebuilt several vehicles outside; a 60's vintage Manx style dune buggy, several early Broncos, and a Jeep CJ-5. All these were stripped right to the frame and assembled with fiberglass bodies, new/rebuilt drive trains and suspension."

Soon after Lempicki relayed what he was looking for in a workshop, a tractor trailer pulled into his driveway loaded down with all the necessary components to build a 30 foot by 50 foot Steel Building in his yard. "We cleared the site ourselves (previously wooded), and used a local contractor for the foundation," says Lempicki. "We laid out the radiant floor, and the contractor came back to pour the floor. The building was mostly assembled by just three of us. We used the Industrial Base Connector system which kept it straight, and I believe made the assembly easier. We also ended up using the insulation package offered by SteelMaster (installed by two of us; probably the most difficult part of the entire project). We use a small propane boiler to heat the floor. All in all, we could not be happier with our decision to go this route."

With 100 percent usable space, SteelMaster customers have the flexibility to truly customize the inside of their space. Each prefabricated Steel Building offers a unique clear span system which allows customers to easily hang lighting, run conduit, build shelving, add a loft, insulate and/or heat/cool the building.

"SteelMaster supplied us with an R19 insulation package which seems to work well. Along with underground electricity, we ran extra underground conduits for intercom, security alarm, surveillance system, and telephone. If I were to do it again I'd probably spend the extra money and run another electric wire set for my generator so it could power the house from the shop in the event of a power outage.  So it seems I wouldn't change much.  Every time we go out there, we have a deep sense of appreciation for a dry, heated, comfortable, organized, well lit, and low-maintenance workshop."

With more thousands of satisfied customers, including buildings located in every state in the United States, on six continents, and in more than 40 overseas countries, SteelMaster takes pride in knowing its Steel Buildings have earned the favor of people like Lempicki.

SteelMaster's steel and metal Pre-engineered Buildings are designed for a broad range of residential and commercial applications including Garages, Workshops, Carports, Quonsets, Airplane Hangars, RV Storage, Military Buildings, Commercial Warehousing, and Industrial Storage as well as a wide variety of Custom Building applications including Athletic Facilities, Retail Stores, Churches, Bus Stops, Smoke Shacks, Doggie Dorms, and Correctional Facilities.