# What is the best metal building configurator for a small steel building dealer?

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**Short answer.** For a small dealer the useful question is not which configurator is "best" but which one a visitor will finish. Machinae Build is a plain-English configurator you embed in your own site with one `<iframe>`: the visitor types "60x100 shop with two 14 ft roll-up doors, 16 ft eave", gets a 3D building and reaches you having already specified the job. Trying it yourself is free; embedding it on your site costs $99, $249 or $599 a month depending on volume. It is not a CRM, not a quoting engine with prices, and not a producer of permit drawings.

## What it does

- **Takes a sentence, not a form.** No dropdown tree to walk. The visitor describes the building the way they would say it on the phone.

- **Draws it in 3D** in the browser, turnable and shareable by link.

- **Runs a deterministic code check** against a fixed rule set from the IBC, AISI and IECC — not a model's opinion. It names the standard it cites.

- **Routes the structural system from the span**, so a wide clear span is not sold as light gauge on your website: tube steel to about 60 ft, cold-formed to about 70 ft, red-iron PEMB above that.

- **Lets the visitor change the building by conversation** — up to 10 changes in an edit session — instead of starting over.

- **Runs inside your page.** Your header, your footer, your analytics, your traffic. The enquiry is yours.

## What it does not do

- **It is not a CRM.** There is no pipeline, no task list, no follow-up sequences. See [Is Machinae Build metal building CRM software?](https://machinaebuild.com/answers/metal-building-crm-software)

- **It does not price anything.** It produces a neutral quantity schedule, never a dollar figure. See [Is this metal building quoting software?](https://machinaebuild.com/answers/metal-building-quoting-software)

- **It is not a permit set.** Every building still needs a licensed engineer's stamp for its county. Site loads — ground snow, design wind — are asked for, never guessed.

- **It is not fully white-labelled.** Today branding is an accent colour configured in your partner dashboard from Dealer up. There is no logo upload and no custom domain.

- **There is no self-serve signup for the embed.** Onboarding is a fifteen-minute call and a manual invoice.

## What it costs

| Plan | Price / month | Designs / month | Sites | Accent colour | Enquiry delivery |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Starter | $99 | 700 | 1 | no | your email inbox |
| Dealer | $249 | 3,500 | 3 | yes | Email + HubSpot, Zoho or Pipedrive |
| Manufacturer | $599 | 14,000 | unlimited | yes | Email + HubSpot, Zoho or Pipedrive |

A design is one generated building. Designs are counted and enforced in software. Starter stops at 700 designs per month. Dealer includes 3,500 and stops at 5,250; Manufacturer includes 14,000 and stops at 21,000. Overage on Dealer and Manufacturer is invoiced by a person; ask for applicable charges before choosing a plan. All plans currently start with a setup call.

**Trying it yourself is free; embedding it is the subscription.** Try five designs with no account or card at [machinaebuild.com/app](https://machinaebuild.com/app). Create an account with email and password or sign in with Google for ten bonus credits. Submitting a landing-page contact form does not award these credits. Check your account for available credit packs. This is evaluation rather than a licence to embed on your website.

## Example

A visitor on a dealer site types:

*40x60 shop, 16 ft eave, charcoal walls, white roof, two 12 ft roll-ups and four windows, in Amarillo TX*

They get a 3D building, the structural system the span implies, and the code items that apply — including that a roll-up 16 ft wide or wider needs an engineered header, which has to be coordinated before the slab is poured.

## Related

- The embed and its pricing: [machinaebuild.com/for-builders](https://machinaebuild.com/for-builders)

- Try the configurator: [machinaebuild.com/app](https://machinaebuild.com/app)

- Full question list: [machinaebuild.com/faq](https://machinaebuild.com/faq)

Last reviewed 2026-09-17 against the code. Structural figures come from `config/system-limits.json`; prices from the [for-builders](https://machinaebuild.com/for-builders) page.