Butler Manufacturing

Butler Manufacturing is a steel building manufacturer and a brand of BlueScope Buildings. It is owned by BlueScope Steel Limited, which acquired it in 2004, and its website carries the copyright of BlueScope Buildings North America, Inc. Butler was founded in Kansas City in 1901. Its builder network, the Butler Builder Network, is a national network of construction partners.

The company offers pre-engineered metal buildings, hybrid steel buildings and retrofit reroof and wall solutions. Its product lines are roofing, walls, structural framing and insulation systems.

The roofing line includes three named systems.

• MR-24, a mechanically seamed standing seam roof system introduced in 1969.
• Butlerib II, a through-fastened roof panel system.
• VSR II, an architectural roof system.

Butlerib II, the profile covered in the library, has a 1 1/2-inch trapezoidal rib. The panels are factory punched for installation on factory-punched purlins, and slotted holes allow for expansion and contraction. The fastener options are ScruBolt and Lock-Rivet. The finishes are Butler-Cote finishes. The roof system carries UL Class 90, FM approved and Miami-Dade certified listings. An optional 10-year weathertightness warranty is offered. The system is compatible with Butler structural, wall and insulation systems, and Butler project pages also show Butlerib II used as a wall panel.

The markets named on the website are agricultural, automotive and transportation, breweries and wineries, municipal and government, commercial and offices, civic and community, distribution and warehouse, education, energy and utilities, hangars and aviation, healthcare, manufacturing and industrial, places of worship, retail and dining, sports and recreation, storage and mission critical, which covers data centers.

Butler was founded in Kansas City in 1901 by Emanuel Norquist and Charles and Newton Butler, who had developed galvanized steel stock tanks. The first Butler building, a galvanized steel garage, was constructed in 1909, and the first official Butler building was sold in 1910.

In 1939 the USDA ordered 30,666 steel grain bins, of which Butler produced 14,500 in 59 days and another 6,000 in 15 days. In the 1940s Butler launched its rigid-frame pre-engineered building line. In the 1950s it shifted from agricultural products to pre-engineered metal buildings and established the Butler Builder Network. In 1959 it opened an in-house research and development center.

Butler introduced the MR-24 Roof System in 1969. BlueScope Steel Limited acquired Butler Manufacturing on April 27, 2004. The Truss PurlinXT bolted structural system was introduced in 2014. In 2024 Butler became an AIA Collaboration Partner, and in 2026 the company marked 125 years.