Blain’s Farm and Fleet
A longtime relationship is leveraged to deliver a precision-engineered prototype design that strengthens performance, protects long-term value and meets community expectations.
Project
Overview
When Blain’s Farm & Fleet selected Verona, Wis., for its newest 114,500-square-foot retail location, community approval hinged on a design that balanced size, efficiency and environmental performance. Longtime Butler client Blain’s turned to Design Structures, a Butler Builder®, and Butler Manufacturing for the precision systems and engineering assurance required to deliver on that promise.
Built on a Butler structural system and protected by the proven MR-24® standing-seam roof, the prototype store integrates recycled and recyclable materials with long-term energy performance. The MR-24® roof supports 161 GPS-aligned skylights, delivering exceptional daylighting across the sales floor while maintaining watertight integrity — achieved through industry leading curb designs and on-site technical oversight.
Butler’s precision approach reduced waste, improved constructability and ensured lasting quality for a facility designed to perform efficiently for decades. The project preserved 120 mature trees, minimized environmental impact and exceeded community expectations for design excellence.
“The quality of Butler systems and the expertise behind them gave us complete confidence in the outcome,” said Neal VanLoo of Blain’s Farm & Fleet.
Early in the process, the design/build team met with Butler engineers in Kansas City. Blain’s has been a Butler corporate client for more than 15 years, and the company used Butler systems long before that.
I have also gotten to know people within Butler. We know what to expect from them, and they know what to expect from us. It’s a two-way street.
This prototype Blain’s store combines building systems with conventional construction methods and materials. The building wasn’t intended to undergo the formal LEED certification process, but it incorporates a number of features inspired by the certification standards.
Based on a Butler structural system and MR-24® standing seam roof system, the building has low-maintenance walls of insulated precast concrete panels, split-face block and horizontal and vertical architectural metal panels. And with 161 penetrations for the skylights, it was necessary to guard the roof against leaks.
“Butler actually worked with us all the way through the curb design work and with their authorized vendor — and they had somebody on site to make sure that the flashings were being sealed in properly,” VanLoo said.
Design Structures’ careful pre-planning and use of systems construction also resulted in less scrap at the site, and they separated around 20 percent of the dumpster waste at the site for recycling.
The preservation of 120 trees at the site — transplanted after construction to create an acoustical barrier between a park and the store — made the store even more attractive and popular with its new customers.
“Not only are Blain’s Farm & Fleet and Design Structures proud of this building, but the city of Verona is, also,” VanLoo said.
Blain’s Farm & Fleet is planning to renovate some existing stores to comply with the new prototype.
“It all comes back to the relationship that we have with Butler and with Design Structures,” VanLoo said. “When we put together a contractor and a supplier that have their act together, it makes my life and my department’s life a lot easier.”
