Metal Construction

SteelMaster® Buildings, Inc.

Virginia Beach conjures up visions of surf, sand and sun, not “arch steel buildings,” yet a group of distinguished, successful business people from the beach established what is today SteelMaster® Buildings, Inc., the world’s leading steel arch building manufacturer. The group included George and Marjorie Crump, founders of WCMS, the oldest country western radio station in the United States; John Walker, founder of the architectural firm of Walker, Todd & Sadler, in 1956; and Rhae Adams, Sr., recognized as Virginia Beach’s first citizen in 1952 and founder of Beach Ford, Inc.

Originating in the southeastern United States, Southeastern Steel Buildings, Inc., as it was known then, spent its early years developing designs and specifications that would satisfy the agricultural market, i.e., animal shelters, grain and hay storage as well as small shops and garages. Rhae Adams, Jr. sold the company’s first building to the Roanoke Island Steel and Boat Works, located in Wanchese, NC. The building, 25 feet by 30 feet, was sold for use as a portable welding cover for fabrication of steel trawlers. The building was unable to be lifted by cranes and located throughout the boatyard as needed. The company quickly recognized the need for wider range of buildings with more sophisticated applications, and its growth began.

Soon SteelMaster buildings could be seen throughout Hampton Roads. From ships to surfboards, they were used to provide protective shelters for nearly everything. The company learned early on to adapt to the requirements of its customers. This led to the development of buildings able to withstand hurricane force winds on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, crane-liftable shelters to satisfy the very demanding and unique requirements of most of Hampton Roads shipyards and the ever-stringent regulations and specifications of the U.S. Military.

In November 1985, the company received the trademark registration from the U.S. Trademark and Patene Office for the name “SteelMaster.” The company established its own manufacturing facility in 1989, in an effort to control the quality of their product and develop one-of-a-kind specifications and designs. The equipment was designed in-house, producing the precision-engineered arched that have become SteelMaster Buildings’ trademark.

In 1992, the factory invented the “A” model, which has redefined the public’s thinking of steel buildings. With a unique pitch-style roof and straight walls, the A model offers a more traditional look with the same legendary quality of a SteelMaster building, and has become a huge success as a backyard garage or shop for thousands of American homeowners across the country.

The first “A” model ever erected was in Dillwyn, Virginia, on the Adam’s family farm. Rhae Adams, Sr. erected the building in the paddock as a shelter for his horses and a llama named George, who had been a gift from his dear friend George Crump. The llama, unaccustomed to steel buildings, liked to kick the side of the building to hear the sound of his hooves against the steel. Soon the horses had picked up George’s bad habit of kicking the sides to make the steel ring. Although George the llama has passed on, the building still stands, and the horses continue kicking their hooves against the steel to this day.

The company has passed from father to son and is now owned and operated by Rhae Adams, Jr. It has become the industry leader for economical, high quality, arch style steel buildings throughout the world. Rhae Adams, along with a younger brother David Adams and a core SteelMaster management team, have led SteelMaster buildings for the past 20 years, and have been the driving force behind its growth and success. With headquarters located in Virginia Beach, SteelMaster Buildings has expanded from two employees today. There are now regional offices across the United States and representatives throughout the world including in Korea, Japan, Israel, Italy, England, New Zealand, and South America.

The main office in Virginia Beach houses a central phone center, three sales departments and the accounting and marketing departments, along with industrial/commercial and construction departments and various support teams.

SteelMaster Buildings’ space age design and technology not only provide 100 percent open, useable interior space, but also amazing versatility. So versatile in fact, the Rhae Adams was contacted by 20th Century Fox to create a 1,400 foot tunnel posing as a New York aqueduct in the Bruce Willis movie, “Die Hard III, With A Vengeance.” “Our engineers did a double take when we explained how we had to run two dump trucks through the SteelMaster tunnel while the bad guys fired automatic weapons at Bruce during the high speed chase scene which ended with flooding of the tunnel,” recalls Rhae Adams. “I think we added a few white hairs to our engineers, but we got the job done safely, in time, and on budget.”

This was not the first such strange request the company has received. SteelMaster provided a temporary shop for the America Team care in the salt flats of Nevada and was hired by the Department of Commerce to provide the entrance cover for the USA Pavilion at the 1990 Air Show in Paris, France. Its military and government customers around the world have come to depend on SteelMaster to meet their stringent requirements and specifications for everything from housing U.S. Marine Harrier jets at Cherrypoint, North Carolina to containing hazardous waste for the Department of Energy.

The requests aren’t always for the “strange” or “unique.” When First Colonial High School in Virginia Beach was looking for a batting cage, they turned to SteelMaster. “We needed to provide a building that could resist direct hits from baseballs and provided an indoor batting and pitching practice facility for year round training.” Together with coach Norbie Wilson and the local parents and players who held raffles to raise money, the high school and the school board, the SteelMaster team contributed their time and materials to provide a wonderful facility. “It was an old fashioned barn raising where the community all pitched in and worked together to provide a great facility for the kids,” said Steve Rankin, general sales manager of SteelMaster.

Whether it be inventing new designs or re-engineering the specifications and the manufacturing of the buildings, the SteelMaster team has provided leadership and innovation in the arch steel building industry. Rhae Adams still believes that maximum economy, superior quality and world-class service are what set companies apart. This is why SteelMaster continues to grow and prosper in an increasingly competitive world. It’s also why today the company still follows the mission statement of its founders: “SteelMaster provides the highest quality steel arch buildings in the world. Leading the industry in customer service and value, we are committed to satisfying the challenging demand of the global market. Customer satisfaction and excellence is the cornerstone of our continued market leadership.”