United Sheet Metal and Doody Mechanical have been involved in building the past six Cabela's stores, and are thrilled with the long-standing relationship. "It's pretty special to our company to be involved in projects where the general contractor and owner feel confident in our abilities and keep giving us repeat business," says Bob Van Ness, General Manager of United Sheet Metal.

United Sheet Metal and Doody Mechanical have worked with general contractor Kraus Anderson to build stores in Owatonna and East Grand Forks, Minnesota; Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin; Mitchell, South Dakota; and Dundee, Michigan.

For this latest project, United Sheet Metal was in charge of the ventilation, Doody was in charge of the piping and plumbing, and Western States Fire Protection was brought on board to install the sprinkler systems. Joe DePriest, Area Manager for Western States Fire Protection, says his company's work included installing five wet pipe sprinkler systems and one dry pipe sprinkler system for a total of 1,850 sprinkler heads.

With huge aquariums, mounted wildlife, indoor mountains and other impressive displays, Cabela's stores are as much tourist attractions as retail outlets. "The buildings are amazing and they're fun to build," says Van Ness. He adds the stores are also fun to shop in.

The Kansas City store is 189,000 square feet, or about four acres of floor space, and is expected to draw 3 million visitors annually.