Building in Gentry
Gentry started as a fruit-shipping stop on the railroad, and chicken hatcheries have operated in and around it since the 1920s. That poultry history still shapes the buildings people ask for here: equipment sheds, farm shops and steel buildings that have to earn their keep. Gentry is also home to a steel building company that both makes and builds, which gives local owners an option many towns don't have.
Buildings that support a poultry operation
On a working poultry farm, the barn you hire a general builder for is often not the chicken house itself. It's the shop where the tractor and loader get serviced, the shed that keeps feed equipment and spare parts dry, the bay for a generator, or an office and break room near the houses. If you grow under contract, the company you grow for may have its own specifications for the poultry houses, so ask them first and give your builder those requirements in writing.
For the support buildings, think about traffic. Feed trucks, live-haul trucks and cleanout equipment all need room to move, so place a new shop or shed where it won't block the route between the road and the houses.
Steel frame or wood posts for farm use
Post-frame buildings set treated posts or laminated columns in the ground and hang a metal roof on wood trusses. They go up quickly and often cost less for simple storage and moderate spans. A red-iron building uses a welded steel frame bolted to a concrete foundation, and it shines when you need a wide clear span, a tall door for a loader or a sprayer, or a crane or hoist inside.
Around animals and manure, ask about corrosion. Ammonia and moisture can be hard on unprotected steel, fasteners and some metal panels, and on wood that isn't treated for ground contact. Ask each builder what coating, panel gauge and fastener type they would use, and whether the warranty changes if the building is near the poultry houses or holds litter equipment.
When the company that makes the steel also puts it up
Quality Metal Building Systems is based in Gentry, and its site describes building assembly, concrete work and site prep as well as the steel itself. Buying from a company that fabricates and erects can mean one contract and one point of contact from the drawings through the last panel.
It still pays to ask how the job is divided. Who designs the foundation and sets the anchor bolts? Are sealed engineering drawings included, and for what wind and snow loads? Is the price for the frame and sheeting only, or does it include the slab, doors, insulation and gutters? If you buy a kit and hire someone else to erect it, find out who you call when a part is wrong or a bolt pattern doesn't line up.
Lead times and the order of work
A steel building is usually fabricated before anyone arrives on site, so the schedule depends on the shop's queue as much as the weather. Ask when your steel would be produced, when the concrete must be poured and cured, and how long the frame sits on the ground before it goes up.
Post-frame work often needs less concrete up front, which can shorten the start. Either way, get the sequence in writing so the dirt work, concrete and erection crews aren't waiting on each other.
Land off Highway 59 and toward SWEPCO Lake
Arkansas Highway 59 runs through Gentry, and SWEPCO Lake, near the power plant, is known for fishing and bird-watching. Rural parcels around town vary a lot, so look at each one for road frontage, where a heavy truck can turn in and how water moves across it after a storm.
Ask whether the bid assumes a gravel pad already in place. On farm ground that has been used hard, the builder may recommend removing soft soil and bringing in fill before a slab goes down, and that cost belongs in the comparison.
Comparing a steel bid with a post-frame bid
The two systems are priced differently, so line up what each includes: foundation, frame, roof and wall panels, doors, insulation, gutters and labor. Ask each builder to state the clear span and eave height the price assumes, since a few feet either way changes both numbers.
For current requirements, check with the City of Gentry Building Permits and Inspections office inside town, or Benton County Building Safety for rural land.
Steel makers, post-frame crews and home builders
Quality Metal Building Systems is the Gentry company on this page. Jones Building Systems, which erects steel buildings from its base in Bella Vista, gives Gentry its own service-area page, and Premier Group NWA of Gravette serves Benton County. The rest are red-iron and post-frame builders from across Northwest Arkansas and beyond, custom home builders from Springdale, Fayetteville, Siloam Springs, Benton County, Fort Smith and Alma, and two statewide post-frame companies. Our Siloam Springs and Gravette pages share many of these names.
Narrow the list by the building you need, then ask the finalists for farm or shop buildings you can drive past, owners willing to talk about their experience, a written scope with its exclusions, and the warranty terms. A quick search of the Arkansas Contractors Licensing Board's records shows whether a license is current; do it before you sign.
Sources: Encyclopedia of Arkansas: Gentry (Benton County), City of Gentry Building Permits & Inspections, Benton County Building Safety, Quality Metal Building Systems, Jones Building Systems: Service Areas, Arkansas Contractors Licensing Board