Questions to Ask Before You Join a Steel Building Dealer Program
Twelve questions built from what actually goes wrong between dealers and suppliers in this industry. Ask every one of them to every supplier you talk to, including us. If a supplier will not answer one, that is the answer.
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Why This List Exists
In 2026 we read the public dealer pages of sixteen steel and metal building dealer and builder programs and recorded, term by term, what each one actually stated. Four published a compensation figure. None published what base that figure is calculated on. None published when it is paid. None published a lead volume. One in sixteen defined a territory you could measure.
That is not a scandal — it is just how this industry markets to dealers. But it means the burden of getting a straight answer falls entirely on you, and the questions below are the ones that do it. They are written to be used against any supplier in this category, and they are worth just as much to you if you end up signing with somebody else.
Northcraft is not exempt from them. Work through the twelve first — then, if you want to see what a filled-in set of answers looks like, ours are at the bottom of this page.
The Six Money Questions
Ask these first, and ask them before you talk about anything else. Every one of them has a specific, checkable answer, and a supplier who has thought about their dealer program will have all six ready.
01. What exactly is my compensation, as a number?
Of sixteen dealer and builder programs we reviewed in 2026, four published a compensation figure of any kind. A supplier that will not state one in a conversation, when directly asked, has told you something important.
- A good answer sounds like
- A specific percentage or a specific dollar structure, offered without being chased for it.
- A weak answer sounds like
- "Competitive." "Lucrative." "Industry-leading." "It depends on volume." Those are adjectives, not terms.
02. What base is that percentage applied to?
This is the single most important question on this page and the one almost nobody volunteers. Zero of the sixteen programs we reviewed published it. Ten percent of a structural shell and ten percent of a delivered contract with doors, insulation and freight in it are very different amounts of money, and both can honestly be described as ten percent.
- A good answer sounds like
- A named base you can point at on a quote — for example, the building's published base price before options, or the total invoiced contract.
- A weak answer sounds like
- A rate quoted with no base attached at all, or a base that changes depending on which options the customer picks.
03. Does the base change when options are added?
Doors, windows, insulation, upgraded panels and site adders can be a large fraction of a finished contract. If your compensation is calculated before those and the customer's price is calculated after them, the gap is real money and it is yours.
- A good answer sounds like
- A clear yes or no, with an example worked through on a real building size.
- A weak answer sounds like
- Vagueness, or a promise to "work it out on the first one".
04. When am I actually paid, and on what trigger?
Zero of the sixteen programs reviewed published payment timing. Order date, cleared deposit, delivery and final payment are four very different cash-flow positions, and the difference between them can be months on an engineered building.
- A good answer sounds like
- A named trigger and a named cycle. "Within X days of Y."
- A weak answer sounds like
- "After the job closes." Which event is "closes"?
05. Who holds the customer's deposit — you, or me?
In parts of this industry the customer's deposit IS the dealer's commission: the dealer keeps it and it never reaches the manufacturer. That arrangement also makes the dealer personally responsible for refunding a customer who cancels, which is a liability most people do not realize they are accepting.
- A good answer sounds like
- A direct answer either way, plus a plain statement of who refunds a cancelling customer and out of whose money.
- A weak answer sounds like
- Not knowing, or treating the question as unusual.
06. What happens to my commission if the customer cancels or the order changes?
Change orders and cancellations are normal on engineered buildings. If the treatment is not written down before the first sale, it gets decided during an argument about a specific sale.
- A good answer sounds like
- A written clawback and change-order policy.
- A weak answer sounds like
- "That never happens."
The Six Trust Questions
These come from the specific ways dealer relationships in this industry actually fail — commission credited to someone else, a self-sourced lead reassigned, a territory that turned out not to be written down anywhere.
01. Is my commission on this specific deal in writing before I bring you the customer?
The most concrete dealer complaint we could find in this industry is exactly this failure. In a complaint filed in 2014, a party was assured a named dealer would receive the commission because that dealer's business license was being used, and after the building was installed the company said someone else was receiving the money instead. The complaint calls it a bait and switch.
- A good answer sounds like
- A written confirmation tied to the specific customer or quote number, issued before the order goes in.
- A weak answer sounds like
- A verbal assurance from whoever answered the phone.
02. What happens to a lead I sourced myself?
If you generate a customer and that customer later contacts the manufacturer directly, whose sale is it? This is where dealer relationships most often break, and it is answerable in one sentence if the supplier has thought about it.
- A good answer sounds like
- A registration mechanism — you log the prospect, and it is yours for a stated period.
- A weak answer sounds like
- Silence, or an answer that depends on who the customer happens to speak to.
03. Is my territory in the dealer agreement, and how is it defined?
Of sixteen programs reviewed, seven mentioned territory and exactly one defined it as a measurable area. Some make protection conditional on producing a sale first — you sign expecting protection and earn it later, if you clear a bar whose height was not stated.
- A good answer sounds like
- A radius, a county list, or a region, written into the agreement, with the conditions for keeping it stated.
- A weak answer sounds like
- "You won't have competition in your market." Which market? Defined how? Written where?
04. Am I being offered exclusivity, or being asked for it?
Both arrangements get called exclusive and they are opposites. Some suppliers protect your area from other dealers. Others require you to resign competing dealerships and sign a non-compete covering other manufacturers. One is a benefit to you; the other is a restriction on you.
- A good answer sounds like
- A clear statement of which direction the exclusivity runs, and the exact clause.
- A weak answer sounds like
- The word "exclusive" used without a direction.
05. If you provide leads: how many, in what area, and on what condition?
Six of the sixteen programs reviewed made a lead claim. None stated a volume. Several attached conditions that were easy to miss — leads only after your first successful sale, or only in selected high-demand regions.
- A good answer sounds like
- A number, an area, and any condition, all stated without being pressed.
- A weak answer sounds like
- "Qualified leads." Qualified how, and how many?
06. What exactly does your published price include and exclude?
This is not really a dealer question, it is a survival question. The most common complaint in this whole category is a low headline quote that excludes doors, insulation, gutters and downspouts, with those items added back at a much higher price after a non-refundable deposit is already paid. If you do not know the exclusions cold, you will be the one having that conversation with the customer.
- A good answer sounds like
- A written inclusion and exclusion list you can hand to a customer as-is.
- A weak answer sounds like
- A price with no stated basis at all.
Get These Seven Things In Writing Before Your First Sale
If all seven exist in a document before you bring a supplier your first customer, almost every common dealer dispute in this industry is prevented rather than argued about later.
- 01The compensation rate, and the base it is applied to.
- 02The payment trigger and the payment cycle.
- 03How change orders and cancellations affect what you are paid.
- 04The territory definition, and the conditions for keeping it.
- 05The lead-registration rule for a prospect you sourced yourself.
- 06Which direction any exclusivity clause runs.
- 07The published price inclusion and exclusion list you will be quoting from.
Our Own Answers to All Twelve
You now have the list. Here is what it looks like filled in, so you have at least one completed set to hold the others against. Eight of the twelve are settled and published; four are not, and those say so rather than being padded with something that sounds like an answer.
| The question | Northcraft’s answer |
|---|---|
| Compensation, as a number | 50 to 80 percent of the profit on the deal. Where you sit in that range is agreed with you at application; there is no published tier ladder, and we will not invent one. |
| The base it is applied to | The profit you create over our cost. Once you are an authorized dealer, we show you our real cost before you sell, and you pick the selling price — so the base is a number you chose, not one we calculated out of your sight. |
| Whether the base changes when options are added | There is only one base — your price less our cost — so there is no second calculation for options to fall into. The figures on a specific build are confirmed with you as you quote it. |
| When you are paid, and on what trigger | The same week the profit arrives, at every milestone rather than on completion. A deposit reaching us by 12:00 p.m. Monday goes out in that week's run. |
| Who holds the customer's deposit | Northcraft. The customer's money comes to us and we pay you your share of the profit out of it — you are not keeping a deposit as your compensation, and you are not the one refunding it. |
| Cancellations and change ordersNot published — agreed at application | Not settled as a published rule. Raise it at application and get the treatment written down before your first sale — the same thing this page tells you to do with everybody. |
| Your compensation on a specific deal, in writing, up frontNot published — agreed at application | How each deal is confirmed to you in writing is agreed at application. Ask for it tied to the quote number rather than to a conversation. |
| A lead you sourced yourselfNot published — agreed at application | Every lead you have is one you sourced, because we do not supply any. How a prospect you register is recorded is agreed at application. |
| Territory, and how it is defined | There is none. No exclusive area, no protected radius, nothing to define. You may sell in any of the 50 states we deliver to, and so may every other dealer. |
| Which direction any exclusivity runsNot published — agreed at application | We do not offer you a territory, so nothing is being offered in that direction. What the dealer agreement asks of you is settled at application — ask to see the clause before signing, as you should with anyone. |
| Leads: how many, where, on what condition | None, so there is no volume, area or condition to state. Build your plan on customers you find yourself. |
| What the published price includes and excludes | Included: stamped engineered drawings for the delivery state, all primary building components, and freight to the site. Excluded: doors and windows, insulation, concrete and foundation work, and erection. |
Two of those answers are ones most suppliers would rather not give: there is no territory and there are no leads. They are on the list because you would find out anyway, and finding out after signing is worse for both of us. The full Northcraft dealer terms, with the arithmetic worked through →
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most important question to ask a steel building dealer program?
What base the commission is calculated on. It is the one question almost nobody volunteers and the one that most changes what a sale is worth to you. In a 2026 review of sixteen steel and metal building dealer and builder programs, four published a commission figure and none published the base it applies to. Ten percent of a structural shell and ten percent of a delivered contract including doors, insulation and freight are very different amounts of money, and both are honestly described as ten percent.
How do I know if a dealer program's commission is fair?
You cannot know from the rate alone, which is why the rate alone is a weak basis for choosing. Ask for the rate, the base it applies to, whether the base changes when options are added, the payment trigger and the payment cycle. Then run all five through one real building size you would actually sell. If a supplier cannot walk you through that calculation on a specific example, that is your answer.
Should I be worried if a supplier will not publish its dealer terms?
Not on its own — withholding terms is the norm rather than the exception in this industry, and a supplier that publishes nothing on its website may still be completely straight with you in a conversation. The point at which it becomes a real signal is when a supplier will not state the terms in a direct conversation either, or states them verbally and will not put them in the agreement.
Who holds the deposit when a customer buys a metal building through a dealer?
It varies, and it matters. In one common arrangement, particularly at the carport end of the market, the deposit the customer pays is the dealer's commission — the dealer keeps it and the manufacturer never receives it. That means a customer who cancels has to recover the money from the dealer rather than the manufacturer, and the dealer is the one out of pocket. In the other arrangement, the manufacturer takes the deposit and pays the dealer separately. Ask which one applies before your first sale, not during your first cancellation.
What happens to a lead I generated if the customer calls the manufacturer directly?
That depends entirely on whether the supplier has a lead-registration mechanism, and it is worth asking before you spend money on marketing. A good answer is that you log the prospect and it is credited to you for a stated period regardless of who they subsequently talk to. A bad answer is that it depends on who takes the call, because that is not a rule, it is a coin toss you paid to enter.
Is exclusive territory in steel building dealer programs real?
Sometimes. Of sixteen programs reviewed in 2026, seven mentioned territory in some form and exactly one defined it as a measurable area — a stated radius. Others described protection without defining the area, and at least one made both territory and leads conditional on completing a first sale. The test is simple: if the territory is not written into the dealer agreement with a definition you could point to on a map, it is a sentiment rather than a term.
What questions should I ask about the product itself?
What the frame actually is, and what the published price includes. Hollow-frame tube steel and solid-frame C-channel or I-beam are different products with different permit paths, different customer expectations and different order values, and both are sold under the phrase "steel building". Then get the inclusion and exclusion list in writing: most published prices in this industry cover structural components, engineering and freight, and exclude doors, windows, insulation, concrete and foundation work, and erection.
Do I need to worry about warranty exposure as a dealer?
Ask whose obligation the warranty is. A manufacturer-backed warranty that transfers with the building is something you can put in front of a customer without taking on the liability yourself. A vague warranty, or one that turns out to depend on the dealer, is a risk you are carrying without pricing it. Ask for the written warranty document before you sign, and read what it excludes.
How many suppliers should I talk to before signing?
Enough to compare like with like, which in practice means at least three, and ask all of them the same questions in the same order. The comparison that matters is not who quotes the highest rate — it is who gives you a specific answer to the base, the payment trigger and the territory definition without being chased. Consistency of answer between the website, the phone call and the agreement is itself a signal.
What should I get in writing before my first sale?
The compensation rate and its base, the payment trigger and cycle, the change-order and cancellation treatment, the territory definition and its conditions, any lead-registration rule, the direction of any exclusivity clause, and the published inclusion and exclusion list you will be quoting from. If all seven exist in a document before your first customer, almost every common dispute in this industry is already prevented.
Ask Us All Twelve
Northcraft supplies solid-frame C-channel and I-beam buildings to all 50 states. Eight of the twelve answers above are already settled and on this page — including the two that decide what a sale is worth, the base and the payment date. Bring the list and push on the rest.
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