Steel Huts’ Sustainable, Affordable Quonset Huts

Located in central Oregon, Steel Huts is a Design + Build company specializing in construction-ready Quonset hut blueprints. Browse through their website to discover pre-made blueprints, and upon finding a design of choice, customers can easily purchase the blueprints. Afterward, they can proceed to order the necessary materials and embark on building their dream Quonset.

Company owner Marie Saldivar first discovered the magic of Quonsets when she visited Furstworld, artist Bobby Furst’s SteelMaster Quonset hut art studio space and workshop in Joshua Tree, California.

“I had never seen Quonsets like that with such sophisticated design elements and my mind was just super blown as to the infinite possibilities that these buildings have,” Marie said.

Marie, who is a fine artist and received her Master of Fine Arts from Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) in Portland, went on to design a 1,500-square-foot hut for her property in Joshua Tree.

“I went to the county to start my initial permitting process and I told them ‘I want to put up a Quonset hut, it’s a premanufactured metal building,” she said. “They gave me a shortlist of preapproved manufacturers on their list and SteelMaster was on there. It was kind of like all signs pointing toward SteelMaster.”

After working with SteelMaster’s National Sales Division Director Noah Taylor on her design, Marie and her fiancé assembled the building.

“The two of us between my idealism and design and his ability to approach the practical is how we fell into this. We had an amazing time putting [the building] up and really got to know the SteelMaster design and the ins and outs of the construction.”

From there, Marie had the opportunity to help consult people on their Quonset builds and started Steel Huts to help clients navigate their Quonset hut journey.

So far, she says she’s seen a lot of interest from people looking for alternative building solutions.

“I think that the reason I’m getting a lot of interest is that people are trying to find alternative ways to create residential spaces that are both financially viable and environmentally sustainable. SteelMaster checks all of those boxes.”

Marie works with a local architect and digital renderer to create incredibly realistic renderings of her Quonset hut design concepts.

“I’ve come to him for more designs like ADU, garage, agricultural just to give customers a better visualization as to how much range these buildings have.”

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Because of SteelMaster’s experience in custom designs, we’re able to help her bring these renderings to life while still making them cost-efficient.

“The in-house engineering is so accessible that we’ve been able to dream up a building and you guys have been able to give it to us at the best price available.”

A major focus of Steel Huts is to create affordable buildings that are financially viable and environmentally sustainable. Because of this, Marie incorporates several sustainability elements within her designs.

“Our buildings are designed with radiant heat systems in the concrete slabs. We use spray foam insulation from a company called Demilec that is made out of recycled plastic bottles and soy protein,” she said. “We’re also using steel studs for the internal framing that also have high recycled content much like SteelMaster’s shells.”

Overall, Marie says she loved working with SteelMaster and wouldn’t want to work with any other steel building company.

“From the initial contact all the way through the ordering process, it couldn’t have been easier working with SteelMaster, I just love it. That in combination with the quality of materials, we are SteelMaster customers for life.”