Noah Taylor has been working at SteelMaster for over 20 years and is currently the National Sales B2C – Division Director, overseeing our B2C sales division that covers all 50 states.
Noah has sold to customers in all 50 states and over 20 countries including homeowners, small businesses, farmers, Fortune 500 companies, and the US Military/Government.
He has a vast knowledge base including project design, engineering, AutoCAD, foundations, logistics, and construction. He has a very hands-on approach to sales where he follows the project through to construction completion which is why he has so many repeat and referral clients all over the world.
“[Working at SteelMaster] gives you the opportunity to create solutions for people that might not know exactly what they want. They might have an idea or a concept and you can help turn that idea or concept into a complete solution for the customer,” he says. “You really have to listen to the customer’s wants and needs to help them find the best solution.”
See the list below for some of his list of notable projects he’s worked on during his time at SteelMaster.
When customer Rod E. came to SteelMaster in search of a hunting cabin, he had some unique requirements.
“They have grizzly bears in the area all the time. We actually built and designed everything to be bear proof,” Noah said. “None of the doors swing inward and instead go outward so that the grizzly bears can’t push the doors in on the building.”
Additionally, Rod’s building site is in an extremely remote location.
“This was like planes, trains and automobiles to get to him,” Noah said. “If you look at this location on a map, there are no roads.”
In order to get Rod’s building to his location, the arches came from our factory to a barge in Alaska, and loaded on the truck from there.
Then, Rod and a group of friends hauled the metal arches to the location using his boat during the summer. Finally, he took the buildings on a sled to get it to his exact site.
Rod says he is pleased with his cabin and his overall experience with Noah and SteelMaster.
“Noah was really great to work with,” Rod said. “You can tell he really appreciates the business there and the product he puts out.”
For SteelMaster customer David B., pole vaulting is a family affair. David is a second-generation pole vaulter and started pole vaulting in 1984. It’s now a hobby he shares with his two sons and daughter.
However, living in Alaska, the window of opportunity for outdoor pole vaulting is short due to the harsh winters. That’s when David came up with the idea of building an indoor facility.
“This was probably one of the most challenging jobs I’ve ever done,” Noah said.
David wanted the vault running area to be only 10 feet wide and 22 feet tall, something our factory said couldn’t be done.
“The factory said they could make it but it would never be installed. There was no way he’d ever be able to put it up,” Noah said.
However, Noah was determined to make what seemed to be impossible, possible.
“We basically had to convince the factory that the customer was savvy enough, that myself and [Construction Consultant] Rich were able to help him out and troubleshoot and work on any problems in the field,” Noah said.
David ended up assembling the building with his son and had no problems putting it up.
“Once we got two or three of the arches bolted together, it became obvious that this thing’s going to be really strong,” David said. “The [building] is so solid, I think you could put a semi on top of it and it would probably stay up.”
Bobby Furst is a repeat customer of SteelMaster and uses our buildings for his immersive art museum, Furstworld.
“He’s got buildings everywhere from general storage buildings, to workshops to his crafting studio to movie theater and stages and everything on his whole compound,” Noah said.
Noah liked the fact that Bobby loved the style of the Quonset hut and knew exactly what he wanted for the concept of his buildings.
“None of [the buildings] are complete standard. Everything’s got customization to them,” Noah said. “He already has a vision, so we just had to work with him on the parameters to make it the most cost effective to try to meet his needs and try to get him a solution that wasn’t super expensive.”
Although Bobby’s buildings needed extra design work, Noah appreciated that he had a specific vision for his project.
“It’s nice when customers have an idea of what they want, so I always like to create that solution for the client and see if it’s economical and feasible and we can do it,” he said. “One of the things that I strive for is to try to make the most minor modifications so that you can keep their vision but make it more economical and make it more user friendly from a construction standpoint.”
As a member of SteelMaster’s referral program, Bobby has referred over 20 people to SteelMaster. He’s very pleased with the outcome of his projects.
“I have myself a little compound now, and I couldn’t be happier with the way things have turned out—these buildings are virtually maintenance-free and will outlive me, that’s for sure,” says Bobby. “I am all about creating things with form and function, and SteelMaster buildings definitely fit the bill.”
Customer David S. and his wife, Kazumi, use their Quonset hut as an art studio.
“My wife is a pretty experienced glassblower, she taught glass blowing in Japan before moving [to the U.S.],” David said. “I’m also a woodcarver, I worked in Alaska for many years and studied totemic art and worked with the community there producing totemic work like totem poles.”
Noah helped the couple design their dream art studio, which includes one office room and two workshops with plenty of space to make their masterpieces.
“I just researched online and your company seemed to be the one. I talked with Noah and it was great,” David said. “I had no issues there. Any questions I had were answered quickly. It was a good experience.”
Bob C. chose to purchase a SteelMaster Quonset hut to store his woodworking tools after his wooden building collapsed.
“The cost was an important factor. I worked with Noah and he is an excellent person. He was the one who came back and said this [building] was the best rated for Alaska for snow and wind loads,” Bob said.
“[Bob] was a super cool guy to work with, Noah said. “He wanted something that was rugged and cool,” Noah said.
Because of his high wind and snow load requirements, Bob ended up choosing an X-Model building for his workshop.
“The X-Models are typically the strongest design for high wind and snow loads,” Noah said. “Plus, they give a lot of clearance in the center of the structure and they’re super simple to put up.”
Over the decades that Noah has been here, he has become one of the go-to building specialists for steel buildings in Alaska. He’s very familiar with Alaska’s geography, climate and shipping processes.
“It’s about knowing how to navigate those waters and find the right solutions for each customer,” Noah said. “Working with the customer so they can pick and choose what’s best, whether we bring [the building] all the way to them and they pay a little extra or they want to save some money and pick it up at a dock or port.”
Steel Hut Concepts is a Design + Build company based in central Oregon that specializes in custom Quonset huts including residential buildings, Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) and agricultural buildings.
Company owner Marie Goebel 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.
“[Marie] was really easy to work with, there were no challenges with her at all,” Noah said.
Marie says she enjoyed working with Noah and wouldn’t want to work with any other steel building company.
“From initial contact to ordering, it couldn’t have been an easier process working with SteelMaster,” Marie said. “That in combination with the quality of materials, we are SteelMaster customers for life.”
Abundio’s Fit Society is a boutique personal training studio with an open floor plan, large glass retractable bay doors and an expansive back deck to blend an indoor and outdoor experience.
Noah worked with a general contractor on this project who he previously worked with before.
For this project, the GC gave Noah the approximate parameters for the building’s planned footprint.
“I just helped him create the most economical roof system to fit within the square footage of what he needed which is why it’s a funky size,” Noah said. “He wanted some overhang for some curb appeal and to be able to have enough square footage inside to fit the equipment that they already had and new equipment to expand the studio.”
Noah sold buildings to Norwegian Cruise Lines during his time working in SteelMaster’s commercial department.
When Noah went on a cruise for a company trip, he got to see the buildings during an excursion at Norwegian Cruise Line’s island.
“I don’t think we connected the dots that the buildings were actually there,” Noah said. “It was cool to be able to go inside the buildings and you’re kind of in awe of how big they are and how much space they have. They’re so much bigger in person than they are in the photos.”
Designing a large building in a remote location can be challenging, especially in an area with such high wind loads.
“With bigger buildings, there’s more surface area that the wind can touch, which creates more opportunity for it to cause damage. Especially when it’s a wider, taller building on the end of the face of the building,” Noah explained.
However, because these buildings were designed for the island’s super high wind ratings, they have been through storms with no problems.
Andy is a repeat SteelMaster customer and has also referred other customers.
His plane is on an airstrip and is for private use, but Andy also works for an airport.
Andy had an existing concrete slab, so being able to meet his foundation requirements was a little challenging.
However, Noah was able to design a building engineered to meet the requirements for his situation.
“He just loved the building because of the clear span and because of the hurricane wind ratings since they get super high winds down there,” Noah said.
Overall, Andy is pleased with his SteelMaster building and appreciated how easy it was to assemble.
Customer Wayne S. liked his first SteelMaster building so much, he purchased a second Quonset hut from Noah 20 years later.
Wayne’s first Quonset hut is used for carpenter work and welding to keep his new shop neat and tidy. The second hut sits right next to the first building and is used as an auto shop.
“I had support on the first one I built and the second time I called Noah a couple of times with a couple of questions and he talked us through it with doing the endwalls and how they went,” Wayne said. “He did an incredible job when I bought it. I’m very pleased with my buildings.”
This manufacturing building is unique due to the drying rack system that had to be hung on the inside.
The customer, Ed Owens, chose to purchase from SteelMaster because of our exceptional engineering capabilities. Plus, he liked the clear span design of our arch-style buildings.
“Other companies weren’t able to give him any engineering on how to mount or design the building, gauges and grades, things like that,” Noah said.
To carry all of the weight of the drying rack system, Noah had to design the building with 12 gauge panels, the thickest and strongest gauge SteelMaster offers.
Every SteelMaster building is engineered to meet the load requirements of a customer’s building site.
Occasionally, customers will ask for buildings rated over their required load requirements for peace of mind.
Alex Lapierre, a Florida resident, purchased a large warehouse from SteelMaster and paid to have the whole structure wind rated to 190 miles per hour.
“I think his actual wind load was 155 miles per hour or something like that, he was just concerned that over the last 20 years the increase in hurricanes and he wanted this thing to last for a long time,” Noah said.
Alex and his crew put up the building without any issues and says he’s very happy with his SteelMaster building.
