Prefab Steel Buildings in the US Virgin Islands

Yes. Universal Steel of America engineers pre-engineered metal buildings and ships them to the US Virgin Islands from the closest plant. We engineer the structural system, then send it complete to your site on the islands so it arrives ready to erect. Because the US Virgin Islands is a US territory, this is a domestic US manufacturer supplying a building engineered to the Virgin Islands Building Code, with the wind and seismic codes for your site already on the drawings.

Yes. A permanent metal building in the US Virgin Islands requires a permit through the Department of Planning and Natural Resources, the DPNR, and the structure must comply with the Virgin Islands Building Code. The submission needs stamped, code-compliant structural drawings. As a manufacturer we provide engineered drawings prepared to the territory's code, sealed locally where required, so your application has the structural detail it needs. For background, see our metal building permits guide.

Yes, when they are engineered to the right design wind speed. The Virgin Islands Building Code sets a 145 mph basic wind speed as the minimum for the whole territory, and because the islands' terrain causes wind speed-up, many exposed and elevated sites are designed well above that figure under ASCE 7-16. We engineer every frame, connection and panel to the mapped wind speed and exposure at your site rather than a generic rating, which is what lets a building stand up to storms on the scale of Irma and Maria, the two Category 5 hurricanes that hit the islands in 2017.

Yes. The US Virgin Islands sits on the active boundary of the North America and Caribbean plates near the Puerto Rico Trench, one of the more seismically active parts of the US, and the region also carries a tsunami hazard. The USGS maintains a dedicated seismic hazard model for Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands that informs the building code. Under ASCE 7-16 we engineer the steel frame and its connections for the seismic demand mapped at your site, so the building is designed for both the wind and the ground motion the islands face.

Because the terrain is steep. The territory adopts a 145 mph minimum, but DPNR publishes Special Wind Region maps for the US Virgin Islands precisely because wind speeds inland and on high ground can be 50 to 60 percent greater than at the shoreline. A site in the hills above Charlotte Amalie can carry a far higher design value than a sheltered coastal lot nearby. We use the site-specific value from those maps, so the building is engineered for the wind your particular location actually sees rather than an islandwide average.

It depends on the size, height, finishes and the hurricane wind and seismic requirements at your specific site, plus shipping to the islands, so there is no single figure. A building engineered for the territory's high design wind speed and island seismic demand costs more than an equivalent building on a sheltered mainland site. For a transparent breakdown of what drives the price of a pre-engineered metal building, see our metal building cost guide, then request a quote for a firm number on your project.