How Long Do Rural Steel Buildings Last?

Rural industries thrive on ruggedness and dependability, with every purchase designed and built to last.

This includes not only the equipment required for the business and the people who keep everything surviving and thriving, but also the buildings themselves, and in that respect prefabricated affordable steel buildings can often be a lifeline.

Prefabrication has become increasingly popular across industry sectors, but for rural buildings where practicality far surpasses aesthetics in terms of priority, a steel-framed building is essential, but how long do they last in rural environments?

The answer, invariably, will depend on a lot of different factors, but properly maintained, with care, maintenance and an effective galvanised coating to avoid corrosion, an affordable steel building can easily last decades longer than any stated guarantees.

Typically, a steel building can be expected to last at least 20 years on average depending on a range of factors, but with care, regular inspections and maintenance, they can last a

considerably longer time than this.

As the continued endurance of early-era metal buildings such as “tin tabernacles” demonstrates, steel buildings can last more than 50 years, and there are some cases of early metal prefabricated buildings intended to be temporary that have lasted well over a century.

Steel is inherently a strong material that with the correct rustproof coatings can easily withstand most other forces. It takes an awful lot to damage a steel building and it is similarly very easy to repair.

Most of the time, a steel building will be taken down and recycled long before the end of its operating life, as in many cases a robust steel building was only intended to be temporary.

However, such “temporary” structures can easily become a permanent fixture of your business, with a considerably smaller lifetime cost than other materials and sometimes a longer lifespan than more “permanent” facilities.