By James Pascual

After the sudden shock last month of Cover-All Building Systems seeking bankruptcy protection, other companies selling their own line of fabric-covered steel-framed structures were quick to announce that their products are different and reliable.

Montreal-based Harnois Industries, makers of the MegaDome, sent out a press release noting that their products are erected in compliance with all building codes and their prefabricated galvanized steel and membrane-covered structures are built to withstand snow and wind loads.

Harnois Industries even set up an emergency unit to deal with the flood of phone calls since the threat of Cover-All’s bankruptcy.

The Cover-All saga is a sad one. The Canadian company halted production of all projects in late March and announced it was seeking creditor protection, while revealing lawsuits in Canada, the United States and in Europe. At the same time, almost all of the 500 employees at the Saskatoon manufacturing plant were laid off. Farmers who own the Titan line of Cover-All structure are being told the structures may be "susceptible to damage from high winds and heavy snow."

The biggest lawsuit facing Cover-All involves the 88,000 sq. ft. training facility they built for the Dallas Cowboys football team. One year ago this month, the building crashed to the ground, pounded by winds up to 65 mph, or 104 km/h, (engineering standards call for a structure that can withstand 90 mph, or 145 km/h, winds). The accident injured 12 people. A coach broke his neck but is recovering. A scouting aide was paralyzed below the waist and investigators later concluded the Cover-All design was flawed. Making matters worse, in January a two-year-old Cover-All dairy barn in Pennsylvania collapsed under heavy snow and freezing rain. No people or animals were hurt.

Cover-All was the leader in the fabric-clad building industry but recently ran into a series of complaints. A number of farmers across the country, including in eastern Ontario, fear now they will lose their deposits on new Cover-All buildings. Fabric-covered structures are immensely popular for hay or equipment storage and even as cattle barns and can save a farmer about half the cost of a traditional wooden or steel barn.

Cover-All’s Ontario general manager Ben Hogervorst said the company is still in business and is restructuring. Cover-All agent Derrick Don, of Don Construction, at Inkerman, south of Winchester, said that despite laying off 12 workers, he still has two guys to help with service calls. He has had to negotiate settlements with farmers who paid up front for some of the Cover-All orders they’ll never see.

Don says he is fortunate that his solar installation business has taken off and he is a carpenter, both of which can fill in for the loss of his 14 years as an installer for Cover-All.

He said he has had a few calls from farmers concerned about the safety of their structures but Don said the Cover-All defects only occurred with the larger structures. "I’ve had a Cover-All for 10 years. I’m not worried. We get some tough winters and it’s stood up well."

Osgoode’s Dwayne Acres sells Winkler structures and noted he hasn’t had any calls of concern from clients. Winkler is a smaller Manitoba-based company owned by a Mennonite family.

"Our company clearly pointed out that we have more steel," said Acres, explaining why it is also higher priced. "There’s more steel bracing. All our rafters are cross-braced with steel from the front to the back. Winkler had three buildings in the area where the Cover-All went down and they had no problems. There’s no better advertising than that."

Chesterville’s Dennis Fife sells the Calhoun structure and noted that he has had only one call of concern about fabric-covered buildings. "People aren’t shying away from building," he said. "I sold nine in one week."