After further review I have checked with many reliable sources and tradesman in the steel industry and it seems that the price of steel skyrocketed out of control somtime early spring and lasted through the summer caused only by the same type of greed that we see in the oil and gas industry. The unfortunate part is it not only hurt the end user but also many other stand up companies, employess, and families. These same sources informed me the facts that the actual fabrication plants got slammed by the high demand of overseas countries like China who were willing to pay top dollar for the steel coils because the US dollar was at an all time low. This caused them to get greedy and inflate the price to the loyal companies like United Steel Building. With projects in the pipeline ready to send over, the factories told them what was quoted 2-6 months ago would cost 30-60% more to fabricate now. With the only options of going out of business causing many projects to go undelivered and layoff employees hoping to put food on the table for their families they decided to fight through it absorbing much of the cost and asking the customer to help by covering the remainder. At that point it goes to the contract, which in every steel companies terms states it is the customers responsiblity to pay the increase if steel rises. If you don't believe me ask any company for their terms and conditions and you will find it somewhere. The thing is it is a clause they say they pray that they never have to use. It happend for a brief period in 2017, but nothing like this one that just passed. United Steel Building and the others are given a bad name for doing the right thing, sticking it out so that people can have jobs, and now are fighting back to regain their reputation as a solid company. It makes sense because any complaints I see on the BBB are from 2 months during the summer. Before that, nothing. The irony is with the foreign companies slowing their ordering because of the world's economy, the fabricating companies are now dropping their prices back to the levels of the beginning of the year in hope that with the help of getting companies like United Steel Building to honor the original contract prices of the customers that they have, the fabricating companies will not go belly up themselves. Good for you United Steel Building for being American!
