Meet the SteelMaster Team: Cameron Cotterell

National Sales Manager Cameron Cotterell has worked at SteelMaster for five years and is an expert on all things Quonset.

He says his favorite part of working at SteelMaster is working on custom projects.

“I always like something that piques my interest,” Cameron said. “I like something that’s going to be a challenge, where I can also learn something. Even after being here for five years, I still feel like I learn something new every day.”

See the list below for some of the projects he’s worked on during his time at SteelMaster.

Katherine & Jeff S. –  Coleman, Michigan

X-Model, 40’W X 16’H X 60’L

Katherine and Jeff S. purchased a custom steel garage after their barn was destroyed in a massive fire.

On the day of the fire, Jeff says he was working in the barn grinding materials for a project. He left the top off of a can of paint thinner and sparks from the grinder came into contact with the substance, starting a huge fire.

“They never wanted to experience anything like that again so they went through the process with us to find one that worked for them,” Cameron said. 

SteelMaster’s custom arches are built strong enough to withstand almost any disaster. Our buildings can endure the strongest hurricanes, tornadoes and fires.

Cameron says the project was very memorable for him since he was able to help the couple find a safe solution that fit their needs.

“It’s one of my favorite projects I’ve ever done,” Cam said.

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David B. – Peoa, Utah

A-Model, 17’W X 12’H X 24’L

When David B. called SteelMaster to purchase a workshop, he wasn’t quite ready to buy a building immediately.

“The first time I called the sales department I told [Cameron] I was not going to order this today or tomorrow but he kept working with me,” David said. 

“I told him whenever he’s in a spot where he can take advantage of something, whenever he’s ready to go, to give me a call back.” Cameron said. “Periodically, I’d send him our sales list or send him a photo of a cool project that was similar to something he wanted.”

About five months later, David decided that he was ready to purchase his dream workshop. 

“He called back and was still incredibly interested. We found a workshop to meet his budget,” Cameron said. “He was awesome and put it up himself. He did everything he could to save some money and get what he wanted.”

David was so happy with his experience that he wrote a five-star review for SteelMaster on Google.

“The after-sales support was great and any questions that I had were quickly answered. The building arrived as planned and was easy to unload,” David wrote. “Would I purchase a building from them again? Heck yes.”

Mark M. – Pollock Pines, California

S-Model, 20’W X 14’H 32’L

SteelMaster customer Mark M. didn’t know just how much investing in a steel building would pay off until a few years later.

In March 2020, Mother Nature threw Mark a massive curveball. It snowed four feet in just two days at his property in California–something that’s not typical for that area.

“A 110-foot-tall oak tree came down and took at least three or four other cedar and pine trees with it—everything hit the building,” Mark said. 

Although there was damage to his SteelMaster building, all of Mark’s belongings inside were completely fine, including his pickup truck.

He believes if he had a different type of building, that wouldn’t be the case.

“I think that [the SteelMaster building] probably is better than my other 40×40 building, even though it’s got a lot of heavy-duty red iron up on top. It wouldn’t have done as good as [a SteelMaster],” Mark said.

Because he was so impressed with how his SteelMaster held up during the snowstorm, he worked with Cameron and purchased another building. 

Ben D. – Williamsburg, Virginia

Q-Model, 48’W X 19’H X 120’L

When customer Ben D. called SteelMaster, he was initially looking for a 30’ X 56’ building but right before he signed the paperwork he asked Cameron if we had any buildings at the office to show him. 

Typically, we usually do not store buildings at our office. However, we had a larger building that was a canceled order by another customer recently delivered to our parking lot. 

Since Ben lives close to our office, he decided to drive over and take a look at the building. 

“We ended up setting up a meeting. He came out and looked at it and ended up buying the building,” Cameron said. “It was a massive project.”

Ben decided to put his building up on concrete blocks, also known as a “stem wall.” This can be a bit more challenging for our building specialists during the design process. 

“When the arches go on a custom foundation and not our standard design it changes the load capacity of the building, so we’ll need to make sure the building meets loads on a unique foundation design,” Cameron explained. “When using a stem wall or knee wall, we’ll need to make sure the building holds shape more than it would need to on a standard foundation.”

Timothy N. – Northlake, Texas

Carport, 20’W X 9’H X 28’L

Timothy N. had a specific vision in mind when he spoke with Cameron about his project.

“He was going to make his own modifications to it, so we just needed to ensure that the materials he was using weren’t going to corrode the post,” Cameron said.

Timothy was also able to customize his carport by using a water-based paint on the beams because of their Galvalume Plus protective coating.

Cameron says he enjoys the challenge of turning a customer’s vision into a reality. 

“When someone has a specific design in mind, I make sure that I get all of the details of what they need. If it’s within our bounds, I’ll look to see how we can do it effectively from a cost standpoint or if there’s an even better option that I can present to the client.”

Kyle D. – Woolwich, Maine

XS-Model, 25’W X 20’H X 55’L

Customer Kyle D. contacted SteelMaster when he wanted a unique, custom home that would handle southern Maine’s heavy snow loads. Cameron worked with Kyle and his contractor for almost two years to bring the project to fruition.

Quonset hut home projects can be complex because they fall under a different set of load requirements than the average garage.

“[Homes are] considered a category 2 design which has a higher snow and wind requirement,” Cameron said. “We also have to factor in collateral loads when designing homes. Simply put, it’s the weight that is going to hang from the arches like drywall, sheetrock, insulation, et cetera.”

Cameron said this project was even more challenging than the typical Quonset hut home because Kyle wanted a large opening to create a breezeway.

“When you cut a large opening in the side of one of our buildings, we need to thicken the arch panels where the opening is to maintain the shape since all the structural integrity of the building resides in the arches,” Cameron said. “That on top of a massive snow load, custom design (non-standard model), and unique foundation design made this one the most complicated project I’ve had to date.”

However, Cameron used his expertise to help bring Kyle’s dream home to life.

“He was incredibly happy with the project and couldn’t wait to send in some photos of the building, especially the kitchen, which I’m a huge fan of myself!”

Cameron suggests that customers interested in a Quonset hut home take the time to think about all aspects of their building’s design.

“I would advise customers to come up with a good idea of what the layout should be on the inside of their home so we can design a building that’s going to work for that floor plan. That helps us provide the most accurate information we can,” he said.

Sharon S. – Cloudcroft, New Mexico

XS-Model, 40’W X 19’H X 52’L

Customer Sharon S.’s workshop has been in the works for quite a while. 

“This is her dream workshop and she and her partner wanted to do it completely DIY so it took a long time. They took the trees down from their property to use for the endwalls and to make all of the doors,” Cameron said.

Sharon’s workshop is located in one of the few places in New Mexico that gets a good amount of snow, so Cameron had to make sure the building met the proper snow load requirements. 

Sharon is also adding another custom element to her workshop–skylights. SteelMaster’s skylights are specially designed with a flat bottom, v-shaped corrugation that matches the steel panels of our buildings and they allow plenty of natural light inside. 

She is still putting up the finishing touches on her building and plans to give Cameron updated pictures once she finishes. 

Carl DeLacey – Punta Gorda, Florida

XS-Model, 50’W X 18’H X 61’L

Living in Florida off and on throughout his life, SteelMaster customer Carl D. is used to hurricanes. Punta Gorda was hit by hurricane Charley in 2004 and Carl heard of the devastation left in its path.

He called SteelMaster Buildings, searching for a building to use for storage and a hurricane shelter. Carl had recently bought a small farm about 17 miles away from his home where he kept his RV, trailer, four-wheeler and other “toys,” which he wanted to make sure would be safe during hurricane season.

Cameron designed the building to meet Carl’s needs.

Cameron said, “This customer came to us with a very specific need of rating this building for wind speeds much higher than his local requirements. There were countless conversations between our sales department and engineers to design this for exactly what Carl needed. The hours of design work were well worth it and I’m incredibly happy that this building was able to perform as expected through a monster storm such as hurricane Ian.”

Carl’s building sustained no damage throughout the hurricane, which had reported 130 mph winds.

Carl is extremely happy with his experience with Cameron and working with SteelMaster.

The SteelMaster organization seemed like a company I wanted to work with,” Carl said.