When selecting and constructing a steel building, its inhabitants' safety in a storm must be one of the key criteria considered.

With that in mind, a new manufacturer in Lafayette, La., will construct steel-framed walls and tresses fast enough to supply the backbone for small, affordable homes that are both green and storm resistant.

According to the Lafayette Daily Advertiser groundbreaking was held Wednesday as Safe Steel Homes Inc., opened up a 80,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Scott, La. The steel building should be ready by July, said President Duane Boudreaux.

Steel-framed homes were growing popular before hurricanes Katrina and Rita, but they really caught the eye of national home builders during Louisiana's subsequent rebuilding phase.

The new metal buildings will be wind-rated up to 130 mph and rated safe from termites, mold or fire. Steel-frame building is also deemed "green" because the structure is nearly 100 percent recyclable.

The steel framing looks the same as a wood-frame home, and after Sheetrock is put up, there's no visible difference.

"You're getting a strong home," said Boyd Raborn, contractor with R.A.H. Homes and Construction. "We'll be able to build it faster, from what I heard. It's like a cookie-cutter piece, everything is laid out like a puzzle. It means we can do more work, more sites and homes."

Costs for steel building versus a using wood in a small home below $150,000 are about even, area builders say.

Those homes often follow a template and have simple roofs so manufacturers can easily match them. Larger personalized steel homes would cost more than wood, but the savings can be realized in other ways.

The 12-by-8-foot wall panels can be made in a day, delivered to a home site and erected in a day, so savings on time and labor costs are considerable.

Steel homes reportedly have lower utility bills, and insurance companies may offer some discounts for steel buildings, according to Jimmy Landry of Louisiana Economic Development.

"We're trying to work with insurance companies right now to explain we're building homes that will mitigate their damages," he said. "Frankly, if we can't do that, we can't recover."

A group of 23 steel-frame houses was built in Lafayette in April 2006. They were three-bedroom, two-bath homes at 1,350 square feet, priced at less than $150,000 each.

Other steel frame homes have been built sporadically throughout the city and parish in the past year. On Wednesday, workers were in the latter stages of a two-story steel-frame home in River Ranch.

Karl Knott, of Karl's Construction, has used steel framing on commercial building projects for 20 years. This is the second home he has built steel buildings. They'll usually go up quickly if the architecture plans aren't too unusual, and steel is safer for the homeowner than wood, he says.