If you’ve read any of our previous blog posts on our AmeriStall Horse Barns Blog, hopefully by now you’ve realized you’re dealing with a distinguished company. We are not a company that is only interested in shoving product out the door no matter the cost, placing just any individual answering the phones at the office, or breaking trim in the shop. At Southwest Metal Systems, we make it our culture of doing the right thing whether anyone is watching or not. We truly seek to understand our customer’s wants, needs, and desires. We do our best to match those. It can all be traced back to one word: Integrity.

Integrity (n)

1. the quality of being honest and fair
2. the state of being complete or whole

Ex: The building has structural integrity. He is known for being a man of integrity.

Both of these definitions describe Southwest Metal Systems and the line of AmeriStall Horse Barns they manufacture and install.

I spoke with my husband, Adam Steck, about that very word. His answers challenged and encouraged me. I am sharing them with you in hopes they will do the same for you. Plus, I hope to give you the same confidence that I have in our products and services, which I’ve watched be implemented from the beginning. Adam sums up his definition of integrity this way: 

“Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching you.”

Practically speaking, this is what integrity means to the owner and his teammates throughout daily operations:

Engineering: 

The detail and design aspects of the building process are there to ensure we’re building with integrity. It’s those parts that will never be seen by anyone else but us. 

We use only Prime top-grade material. When installing a building or barn, we ask ourselves, “What quality would we want in a building? Does this fit my standards? Would I build this for my family member?” 

Structurally: 

1) We manufacture our own material - Locally - so we can ensure that you will get the quality we promised. You deal with the same company from start to all the way across the finish line.

 2) Our Project managers only work with professional sub-contractors that we would trust to build for our own, personal use. 

 3) The TightLap advantage of our panel ensures a tighter seal to avoid leakage. It also provides a cleaner look.

 4) Our panels are UL 2218 Class 4 Impact rated, which means they are strong, so strong that some insurance companies offer a discount as an incentive to build with this class of material.

Quality Standards: One way that we go above and beyond is with our raw material standards. Every coil we purchase is accompanied by mill quality certification documents so when we manufacture your order we know that your order meets the strength and integrity standards that we promised you. Our Energy Star and UL testing is carried out by an independent certification body. Not only do we have our own extremely high internal standards, but we also voluntarily comply with the most stringent external regulation for product quality. 

We care: Our team members believe in the high quality products we sell every day. Jackie Kerby, a member of our Marketing/Sales Team says, “We believe in the Steck family and fully stand behind the endeavors of the company. Because we believe in our company, selling sheet metal suddenly has a deeper, eternal meaning and we enjoy our work. That joy spreads to those we interact with and brings lifelong, quality customer relationships.”

Jackie enjoys working in the same company as her dad and says this about watching him communicate with customers on the building site, “I have watched Dad (Johnny Kerby) communicate with customers about their dream buildings my entire life. I have seen him excel and build great relationships over the years because he knows and understands the product. His success comes easy because he is so confident in selling it. He never lets up the slack in following through with his customers until they are fully satisfied.”

Adam also truly cares about his team members. “When we’ve fallen on hard times, I refused to view people as “employees” that can be cut like Starbucks coffee expenses; We treat them as Team Members…as FAMILY.”

Adam goes on and says, “Our Company is made up of individuals. The integrity of our company equals the sum of the integrity of those individuals. We speak to life issues here - individual character matters. I desire to see us be people of integrity first. A company of integrity will naturally follow. A company of integrity has no fraction in them. I don’t view our people as money makers. I view them as God sees them with their own wants, needs and desires. How can I help fulfill the team  members'  wants, needs, and dreams as they help fulfill them for our customers?”

Integer (n)

1. a whole number, a number that is not a fraction

2. a thing complete in itself

 The word “Integrity” is a derivative of the word integer, which, as you see, means “wholeness”. 

We hope you see how Southwest Metal Systems seeks to fulfill both of these definitions as we provide a stable and reliable product for YOU!