Pole construction remains as popular as ever in the Midwest—and for good reason. As a comparatively quick and cost-effective building system, pole frame construction has carved out a lasting place for itself in the region’s building sector.
A trusted supplier and thought leader in residential, commercial, and agricultural pole frame building (including horse barns), FBi Buildings, Inc. also offers do-it-yourself pole barn kits alongside restoration and repair services. At home in Remington, Indiana, the company is an industry legend in operation across eight states in the region, including Ohio, Wisconsin, Missouri, and beyond. FBi Buildings has a reputation for efficiency, creative and safe work environments, and customer satisfaction, and the company is also known for its inventive and often unexpected solutions.
After 66 years in the pole frame construction trade and with more than 20,000 completed units under its belt, FBi Buildings, Inc. made a game-changing contribution to how pole construction is executed when it introduced its proprietary QLYFT system in 2019. Based on the use of mounted hydraulic cylinders capable of erecting 50 tons in weight connected to an I-beam frame system complete with scissor braces and laser levels, pole buildings are pre-constructed and laid out flat and are then hoisted into place while specialized netting keeps field staff safe.
Founded in the home office of Edwin A. Bahler in the late ’50s, FBi Buildings, Inc. was built on selflessness and integrity. With a true vision to serve rather than only profit from its enterprise, the company established a track record for solid quality, novelty, and trustworthiness. With Kurt Bahler—Vice President of Marketing for FBi Buildings and Summit Engineering & Construction—joining its ranks in 2010 as the third generation, these values are set to be passed down and carried into the future.
The FBi Buildings team values substance, lateral thinking, and work ethic. Employing creative thinkers with high emotional intelligence, its leadership steadfastly upholds a structure in which staff can discover and explore their unique skill sets, significantly developing and enriching their contributions to the team of 200 or so. In this way, people bring tremendous spirit and a sense of adventure to the organization.
And, while extended tenures are greatly valued, the company’s commitment to driving creativity through curiosity makes stagnation obsolete, rendering its offering fresh, wholesome, and vibrant. “What growth means to us is growing as individuals to be better tomorrow than we are today. Our growth mindset is driven through our people,” explains Chad Knapp, President and Corporate Human Resources Director in an interview on the company’s website.
Further enhancing its offering, the company’s learning center provides free guidance and advice via its website regarding all things related to pole frame construction. This comprehensive resource is a testament to the fact that the team also enjoys having fun. Complete with a free, downloadable tutorial on how to build a “barndominium,” FBi Buildings is as generous as it is innovative.
The company also uses this platform to provide ample material to inform and educate customers on its processes, such as how it handles foundations for its pole structures. These typically comprise four- to six-foot concrete pads into which any of a range of posts are inserted, with some posts being more engineered than others, depending on the size and weight-bearing requirements of the overall construction.
As part of the company’s commitment to continuous improvement, investing in its people and their personal development is part and parcel of being the outstanding employer it is. Inviting staff to refine their capabilities by exploring areas where they are perhaps less comfortable helps people shed negative self-beliefs to expand their reach in ways they may or may not have thought possible. All these efforts make for a richly layered company culture that appears tough to replicate exactly. “What we are looking for are people with big hearts and big minds who genuinely care about building better lives for themselves, for their fellow teammates, and for our customers,” said Knapp.
Here, culture leads the way. “You may have heard that culture eats strategy for lunch,” Ed Bahler, Chief Executive Officer and Owner, said in another interview published on the firm’s website. Graduating from Purdue University in 1979 and completing a degree in Agricultural Engineering, Bahler was raised to understand that being in business gives one the responsibility for more than just a fiscal bottom line. Joining his father in the business after his graduation, Bahler chooses to lead with the fundamental understanding that industry is about humans and their communities rather than money.
“I want to inspire the people who follow us here to pursue those… values and deep [purpose] and deep missions as well,” he stated. His father’s maxims struck a chord in the young leader who grew up to value and cultivate those same guidelines. “[Being in business] is about something bigger than you. It’s still a deep part of who we are and a deep passion of who we want to be as we move forward,” Bahler said.
His guidance took the company to great heights when he formed the Bahler Group. In 2003, it first introduced Aspen Group, a design-build firm specializing in constructing places of worship. This was followed by Summit Engineering & Construction, another design-build leader with a focus on commercial livestock farming outfits, in 2012. In 2016, the Group acquired Heartland Builders, a pig farm construction specialist, followed by the founding of Summit SmartFarms (SSF), a staff and technology provider for concentrated animal feeding operations, in 2019.
BG Supply, meanwhile, opened just last year, and handles various pole frame construction aspects including logistics, material procurement, 3D visualization, design, and engineering, as well as pre-construction planning.
Still doing business true to the Edison quote his father kept in his office and personally embodied, Ed Bahler continues to lead FBi Buildings into the future by remaining acutely aware of how things are done, how people are treated, and how operations are managed. By embracing challenges rather than shunning them and by continuously improving as a matter of course, this team remains committed to its founder’s legacy of making a significant impact on people’s lives while ensuring that business expansion is handled as strategically and mindfully as its operations.
