Frequently Asked Questions

VPS is a complete and turnkey design/build firm focusing on asset/automotive hail protection, hybrid solar/hail protection, commercial covered parking (both grade level and top decks of parking garages), curbside pickup canopies, and industrial shade solutions.

Commercial property owners & managers often add covered parking structures to their properties, and often realize increased lease revenue due to the addition of VPS products as a desired site amenity. Auto manufacturers and auto dealers install hail protection to protect their open lot vehicle inventories from hail. It is common for manufacturers and dealers to see decreased insurance premiums after installing VPS products.

Auto assembly plants & OEM facilities, auto dealerships, commercial covered parking (both grade level and top decks of parking garages), curbside pickup canopies, loading dock trailer canopies, and industrial shade solutions.

Every project is unique and the timeline is certainly dependent on the size of the project. Another factor is the time it takes to acquire a building permit from the Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ). For some municipalities, this can be a matter of weeks while others can take months. For small to midsize projects, the following durations are common.

• New client on-boarding and credit review = 1~2 weeks
• Order submittal to VPS Order Management = 1~2 business days
• Site survey = within 2~3 weeks following order recognition within our system
• Design/engineering = within 4~6 weeks following results of site survey
• Building permit application = almost 100 percent dependent on the AHJ
• Fabrication of materials = 5~7 weeks following our receipt of a building permit
• Construction = our construction department will contact the client to discuss this timeline; too many variables are involved for this process duration to be defined here

All VPS projects are required to go through the building permit process.

VPS is a turnkey design/build firm. For projects that are managed by a dedicated VPS Project Manager (the majority of our projects), we are responsible for the site survey and permit application/acquisition. We are directly involved from initial client contact through construction punch list.

VPS does not work off a standard price list. Every project we’ve ever done has been priced to your unique property, selected structural design, Scope of Work, etc. For small to mid-sized projects, pricing can come back from our Estimating Department within days following an agreed upon structure layout, which is normally supported by a conceptual drawing produced by the VPS D&E Department. Conceptual drawings are almost always produced gratis.

VPS does not offer financing. Almost all of our clients are well-versed in acquiring the funding necessary to purchase our products. Tax credits are dependent on the project type and location. This topic should be discussed with your VPS representative at the outset of discussions.

For commercial covered parking projects, adding VPS products to a property almost always increases the value of that property. Across the sun belt of the United States, property owners/managers add VPS products as a site amenity to either retain or attract new tenants. For hail protection projects, it is very common for insurance companies to offer premium discounts to their clients for adding VPS hail protection structures to their auto dealerships or auto assembly plants.

While most VPS projects have been installed across North America, we do have the capability to operate internationally should the opportunity match our capabilities and the client’s budget.

No. Our company attempted to sell into this market multiple times in the mid to late 90’s. Building permits were near-impossible to acquire and residential properties simply aren’t designed to withstand the physical demands of the heavy equipment required to erect our structures.

VPS representatives work directly with our clients to put forward the best structural designs and layout to meet the specific needs of the owner’s property, budget, and design aesthetic.

VPS regularly works with architects and design/build firms to develop custom hail protection, covered parking, covered walkway, and other structures to meet the needs of our clients. Our Design & Engineering team are highly skilled at working in-concert with clients and their partners to develop the best solution for each project.

This process is dependent on the individual project. Some projects require our designers and engineers to be involved at the earliest stages of development, while projects utilizing our standard products only require our engineers to produce the engineering and shop drawings necessary to acquire a building permit.

VPS has access to independent engineering firms that can research and build a current site plan for your property that can be used by our D&E team to produce the submittal package necessary to acquire a building permit.

Cantilevered structures, modular hip and long-span structures, gabled and monoslope canopies, and hybrid solar hail protection structures. Additionally, VPS often works directly with clients and architects on custom structural designs.

Our standard products feature a heavy steel structure supported by rebar reinforced concrete foundations. And while we offer a variety of roofing materials, the majority of the products we offer feature either an industrial HDPE mesh fabric or an industrial HDPE waterproof membrane.

Our standard finish features a raw powder coat material that is sprayed onto the steel, baked in our industrial ovens, and then allowed to cool within our fabrication facility. Pre-powder primer, Hot Dip Galvanization, and in-the-field wet painting are also steel finish options. Your VPS representative can answer questions on these finishes.

Throughout our history, VPS products have performed well in extreme weather regions. Our mainstream industrial HDPE mesh fabric has U/L-2218 Class 4 certification, the highest level for roofing materials installed in hail-prone regions. Additionally, our covered parking project at Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport survived a direct hit from Category-5 Hurricane Michael in 2018. And our covered parking and covered walkways installed at Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport survived a direct hit from Category-4 Hurricane Ian in 2022. Our company and products have been vetted by and installed for well-known corporations across North America, including Kia Motor Manufacturing, General Motors Global Facilities, Nissan North America, Volkswagen Group of America, BMW Manufacturing Company, Avis Budget Group, DFW International Airport, Park & Zoom at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport, Valley International Airport, Corpus Christi International Airport, Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport, Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport, Abilene Regional Airport, Lafayette Regional Airport, Lithia Motors, AutoNation, Group 1 Automotive, Billingsley Company, and more.

For those clients that might be interested in adding a solar component to our structures at some point in the future, we recommend discussing that possibility with your VPS representative. Unlike most of the solar covered parking products offered across the country, our solar offerings are unique within the hail protection and covered parking industries. VPS does not offer low-cost solar carports.

For projects that qualify for a dedicated VPS Project Manager, the PM can work with the selected non-VPS component providers to have them work behind us to install the client’s preferred accessories.

Your VPS representative is your primary contact for all of your questions. If other VPS team members need to get involved to answer highly technical questions, your VPS representative will can make arrangements to make that happen.

VPS products provide protection from the harmful effects of the sun’s UV rays. Additionally, vehicles staged beneath our products realize dramatic reductions in internal temperature during the hottest months or the year.

VPS products feature the largest structural steel and foundations in the industry. We do this for multiple reasons including building projects our clients can take pride in, our reputation and desire for our structures to last, engineering safety factor, the ability to easily acquire building permits, to name a few.

No, although we do describe them as very low maintenance. Once your project is complete, your dedicated VPS Project Manager (assuming your project qualifies for one) will provide you with an Operating & Maintenance manual that your facilities person(s) can refer to moving forward.

This is an area VPS takes great pride in, as many other vendors within our industry have very poor track records for warranty and post-sale service. Warranty details can be provided upfront by your VPS representative and varies on selected fabric, steel finish, etc.

Take multiple high-resolution pictures of the issue(s) from multiple angles. Then, send those pictures and a detailed description of the issue(s) to info@vpslp.com. Your request will then be logged into our Operations system and the applicable VPS representative will contact you to discuss next steps.

The core company was founded in August 1991. The VPS brand of that company was launched on April 1, 2003.

Over 1,000 hail protection, covered parking, and industrial shade projects.

VPS has performed projects as small as 3 parking spaces and as large as 3.2 million square feet.