General Info

For over 40 years Freeport Builders has been serving the building needs of Northwest Illinois and Southern Wisconsin. Freeport Builders has extensive experience in building projects ranging from agricultural to equestrian and suburban to commercial. As a local building partner of Wick Buildings, with Freeport Builders you’ll receive both great local service and a product made in the USA and backed by a national company with 60 years of building design and fabrication experience. Steel Hardness Matters A common measure of steel strength is hardness. It’s like the difference between a hard candy and licorice of the about the same size…both are made primarily of sugar but one is much harder than the other and more apt to break your tooth! In post-frame construction there are several different types of steel available for exterior roof and sidewall steel. Some builders use a softer (30,000 PSI tensile strength) but slightly thicker 26-gauge steel – more akin to the licorice mentioned above. And some builders use slightly thinner 29-gauge full-hard steel (80,000 PSI hardness) which is more like the hard candy mentioned above. What’s critical to understand is that the full-hard steel is twice as impact resistant as 30,000 PSI commercial-grade steel. You'll appreciate that when hail falls on the roof or the mower throws stones at the wall - fewer dents! Wick uses only full-hard steel, 82,000 PSI hardness or better for exterior wall and roof panels.