USA SHADE is a fabric shade structure manufacturer with more than 30 years of experience. We are a turnkey company that provides shade structures for a wide range of businesses, including schools, parks, recreational centers, churches and shopping centers. Our fabric shade structures beautify outdoor spaces and promote the benefits of shade, including protection from harmful UV rays and other adverse weather elements.
About USA SHADE
In the three decades we’ve been in operation, we’ve installed more than 300,000 shade structures. Our expertise is backed by extensive industry experience and hundreds of thousands of successful projects completed.
We’re also an industry leader, thanks to our innovative designs, technology and long-standing client relationships. We take pride in being the first fabric structure manufacturer in California to be approved by the Division of the State Architect (DSA) for the highest quality and largest fabric structure selection.
So, what is our secret to keeping our customers happy and staying ahead of the competition? We are a full-service and vertically integrated business that offers comprehensive services to ensure successful project completion and lasting partnerships. Our services typically include designing, engineering, building, installing and conducting maintenance.
Our Process
At USA SHADE, we have a team of experts, including designers, fabricators and project managers, who ensure each of these processes is completed to perfection. We partner with your architects and property developers to make your business’s shade structure dreams a reality. Below, we describe our services to provide a clear image of how we complete your custom shade projects.
1. Consultation
Before we design and manufacture your shade structures, we need to understand the nature of your business and why you need them. Therefore, the first step of our process is a consultation with one of our specially trained consultants to discuss your needs and the best shade structures for your purpose. You can book a consultation by contacting us online to schedule a one-on-one meeting.
The goal of the meeting is to understand your needs, wants and expectations so we can decide on the best implementation strategy. We help you pick the fabric shade structure that meets your requirements from our selection of more than 140 pre-engineered modular structures. We can also discuss the possibility of a custom shade structure.
We’ll also introduce you to our fabric options and help you choose one that aligns with your business goals. Here are the top four shade structure fabric options:
- High-density polyethylene (HDPE) mesh: This permeable fabric can block out up to 97% of UV-A and UV-B rays. Though not waterproof, HDPE mesh is a durable fabric option that provides adequate protection against rain and requires minimal maintenance.
- Polyvinyl chloride (PVC): PVC is waterproof and extremely durable. It is perfect for permanent shade structures.
- Novashield®: This woven waterproof material provides superior protection against rain and harmful UV rays.
- Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE): This strong and durable waterproof fabric can withstand extreme weather conditions, including strong winds, high temperatures and rain.
In addition to choosing the right fabric type, we help you find fabric colors that complement your brand and maintain their vibrancy over time. Shadesure® and Colourshade® FR (fire-rated) fabrics are DSA-approved and available in a wide variety of colors, including Sunflower Yellow, Laguna Blue, Rain Forest, Desert Sand, Silver and more. We also offer powder coating for the steel components and some custom options.
At this stage, we may partner with your landscape architects and other design professionals to efficiently integrate customized shade structures within your budget. After you consult with our experts, we calculate a quote for your project. You then agree on a payment plan that best suits your business’s financial budget. We then finalize your project timelines and give the go-ahead to the other teams to start implementation.
2. Design
The Design Development Department (DDD) uses innovative technology to provide a comprehensive visualization of the structure’s proposed design. The DDD team of industrial designers and architects uses 3D rendering and computer-aided design (CAD) software to help you understand the proposed shade structure’s design.
These tools produce comprehensive visualizations of a project to ensure it aligns with a client’s vision and meets their requirements. The DDD team understands the fundamentals of shape, form and function and harnesses this to gain unique insight into product simulations.
The USA SHADE design process can be split into three main parts, as elaborated below.
Initial Conceptual Design
Our project designers help visualize your ideas with CAD rendering and animation software that produces realistic 3D designs. We consider a variety of factors during the design stage to produce a result that meets your business’s needs.
The 3D design rendering and animation software determines material requirements, such as fabric, steel, cables and hardware. Additionally, with 3D animation, you can visualize aesthetic elements, such as the color and shape of the shade structures. The CAD rendering creates accurate and dependable project representations.
Designers use the 3D designs to create sketches, which they’ll present to you to give you an idea of how the shade structures will transform your space. Our designers strive to present you with simple, easy-to-understand designs that meet your functional needs and aesthetic preferences.
Assessing Client Feedback
When complete, the 3D design drawings and engineering calculations are submitted to the client for review and approval. We’ll give you time to analyze whether the design meets your needs and expectations. We gladly implement the feedback you share and make additional adjustments to ensure you’re happy before we dive into implementation.
After approval, patterning begins. Patterning involves combining a series of 2D templates to represent a 3D design. Engineers determine the size and shape of the fabric panels using specialized software.
The patterned designs are then passed on to the fabrication team for cutting and assembly. They also provide the estimating department with information on the size and weight of the designs so they can develop an accurate and cost-effective estimate to be used in our formal proposal.
Engineering to Turn Designs Into Reality
The sales engineering department analyzes your 3D/CAD fabric structure animations to ensure they’re stable and in a shape that evenly disperses weight. This design stage involves inspecting the structure’s functionality, durability and weather resistance. The project engineer and designer generate steel shop drawings for manufacturing steel parts, and for more complex projects, construction engineers determine sequencing plans and provide input.
3. Build
The building, construction or fabrication stage connects all the pieces of your shade structures. The building process takes place in our 120,000-square-foot fabrication plant in Dallas, Texas. Our state-of-the-art facility is accredited by the International Accreditation Service (IAS). It is certified to meet and exceed the highest standards in the steel fabrication industry.
Our highly skilled and talented fabrication team uses the highest-quality raw materials and innovative tools to deliver true-to-design fabric shade structures. Some of the tools and equipment we use to manufacture our shade structures include robot welders, abrasive blasters, computerized roll benders, custom swaggers and powder coat booths.
Our expert steel welders are inspected and certified to ensure they produce durable and long-lasting products. Our fabric shade structures meet and exceed many state, city and local building codes. As a DSA-approved shade structure manufacturer and a General Services Administration-approved vendor, we can provide federal government agencies with our products. For example, we’ve installed USA SHADE structures for all branches of the United States military.
Our construction process is superior to competitors for a wide range of reasons:
- All our welders are certified by the American Welding Society.
- We have a full-time Certified Welding Inspector to verify that we meet our internal and industry-wide quality standards.
- We use only the highest quality raw materials backed by mil certificates from all our suppliers.
- Our steel structures are powder-coated to provide maximum adhesion, fade resistance and UV protection.
- We offer a variety of fabric options, including PVC and HDPE mesh, that offer differing levels of translucency, light reflectivity, and weather and UV protection.
- We use techniques such as sewing, radio frequency sealing and heat sealing to produce strong and durable seams on fabric tops and panels.
When all the fabric shade structures are ready, we ship them to you quickly and conveniently. We also offer a range of quick-ship products with a four-week lead time from the release date.
