43+
Years building steel
Solar & Shade Structures
Steel over parking.
Solar and traditional carports that turn empty parking lots into covered, income-producing assets.
50+
Projects delivered
7+
States served
In‑house
Engineer · fabricate · install
The opportunity
Your parking lot is the most underused asset you own.
Acres of asphalt sit there depreciating. A steel canopy turns that same footprint into shade, weather protection, covered revenue and, if you want it, clean power.
No new land. Just a new way to monetize the lot you already have.
Oklahoma City Zoo · 56 spaces
Choose your structure
Two ways to cover. The same engineered steel.
Solar and metal-panel carports share the exact same American-made steel frame. The only question is whether you want the roof to generate power.
Covered parking
Metal-panel carport
A solid steel roof for full shade and weather protection. Lowest cost per space, and the fastest to install.
Rental income7.2 rib steel roofSolar-ready
Explore traditional carports →
Covered parking + energy
Solar carport
Everything the metal carport does, then turns sunlight into offset utility bills, EV-ready power, and a structure that pays for itself. You're paying the electric bill either way, let your parking lot pay it.
Energy offset30–60% federal ITCAccelerated depreciation
Explore solar carports →
Every carport covers parking. Only one gets paid, rented or empty. Same frame either way, so you can cover now and go solar on your timeline.
Engineered
Built to a standard you can trust.
Budget carports cut corners where it matters, gauge, welds, coatings, connections. We size every member, stamp every drawing, and bolt every joint to spec. The difference shows up after the first storm.
What a budget carport does in a storm
ENCO standard
Six things to look for in a carport you can trust.
01
Bolt-up assembly
No on-site welding. Modular kits erect quickly and cleanly.
02
Flexible columns
Site-adaptive design fits any lot layout or parking orientation.
03
Hot-dip galvanized
Our standard finish, pushing the first maintenance trip 50+ years out.
04
Metal or solar roof
The same frame takes solid panels or bifacial solar. Choose anytime.
05
Integrated wiring
Clean, concealed electrical routing built into the structure.
06
Underhung lighting
Optional LED lighting for security and function after dark.
Start the journey
Every lot has a different reason to cover it.
Most owners come to us one of three ways: protecting cars, earning rent, or buying energy. Whichever is yours, there's a path that runs your numbers honestly.
01 · You want cars covered
The Protector
Employees, customers, or inventory under a roof that ends hail damage, and can pay the power bill while it's at it.
Follow this path → 02 · Your parking earns rentThe Investor
Multifamily or paid parking, where every covered space earns rent and a solar space earns twice.
Follow this path → 03 · You want solar, no roof for itThe Energy Buyer
You're comparing ways to get solar, and your parking lot is the only roof you're not using.
Follow this path →
The math
Covered parking pays for itself. Then it keeps paying.
One structure stacks return on return, four that any carport delivers, and two more when going solar. On energy alone, a metal roof never pays you back, a solar roof does; add parking income and payback lands near three years.
01
Parking premium
Covered stalls rent for $30–75 more per space, every month.
02
Lower claims
Engineered steel means fewer hail and weather losses, and softer insurance.
03
Tenant retention
Covered parking wins longer leases and lower vacancy.
04
Property value
New net income lifts the asset's appraised value at your cap rate.
Additional solar benefits
05
Energy offset
Solar trims, or zeroes, the utility bill, and every space produces, rented or not.
06
Tax incentives
30 – 60% federal ITC plus accelerated depreciation.
Worked example
50 covered spaces
Added parking income
$30K/yr
50 stalls × $50 / month
Added asset value
+$500K
At a 6% cap rate · range $300–750K
Federal solar ITC
30 – 60%
Credit on solar, plus depreciation
Typical payback
3 – 10 yr
Metal on rent alone; faster with solar
Every lot is different, and so is the math. See the returns for your path, or get a quote and we'll run your numbers.
Selected projects
View all projects →
The work.
Commercial Property
Stryker Building
Oklahoma City, OK
An empty downtown lot turned into 35 covered, solar-ready spaces, engineered, fabricated, and installed on schedule.
Tribal Nation
Caddo Child Care
Hinton, OK
Shade and weather protection for the children, staff, and families who use the lot every day at a Caddo Nation facility.
Brewery / Hospitality
Stonecloud Brewery
Oklahoma City, OK
3,000 sf of parking lot covered in engineered steel, covered parking that doubles as shaded outdoor event space.
Carports & design
What we offer, down to the column.
The questions we get most: which structure, where the columns go, how it holds up. Open any topic below for the detail.
Three structural tiers
Post & beam · cantilever · custom, all fully engineered
5 open spans · 2+2+2+2+1 on a 9-bay run
Post & beam
Most economical
Cover parking only, or vehicle plus walkway. The straightforward workhorse where budget leads.
Spans 1–2 stalls between columns
Light-gauge frame, no cantilever
Lowest cost per space
3 open spans · 3+3+3 on the same run
Cantilever
Mid-range
Single cantilever, cantilever plus walkway, or two-way for back-to-back vehicles. Fewer columns, more open lot.
Spans 2–3 stalls per column line
Single cantilever column
Wider, cleaner bays
Open spans set by the design
Custom
Cost varies
Mounted on a building, spanning drive lanes, or architectural entrance porticos. Engineered to your site, not a fixed layout.
Spans to suit the design
On a building or at grade
Engineered to your drawings
All three are fully engineered ENCO structures, none is a budget kit. Open spans shown on a representative 9-bay run.
Column placement & clearances
Why you rarely need a full cantilever
The most common request we get is columns out front, fully cantilevered. What you almost always actually need is doors that clear the column.
Our columns are about the width of a parking stripe, so we set them 4–6 ft toward center, on the stripe, clear of every door. Less cantilever means smaller footings and lighter members, real cost out of the structure, none of the clearance.
Columns ≈ 6.5", the width of a stripe
Set on the line between two stalls
Doors swing clear on both sides
Hot-dip galvanized finish
Zinc-coated steel, inside and out · optional color over top
Structural steel is hot-dip galvanized: dipped in molten zinc so every surface, inside corners, bolt holes, welds, gets coated, not just the faces a spray gun can reach.
The zinc bonds metallurgically to the steel and protects sacrificially, so a scratch doesn't become a rust streak. It's the difference between a structure that weathers decades and one that stains in a few seasons.
Full immersion coats every surface, inside and out
Sacrificial protection, scratches don't spread rust
Paint over galvanizing for architectural color
What you get from us
Send us a lot. Here's what comes back.
A quote from ENCO isn't a number on a napkin, it's a plan you can build on.
01
A site-specific design
Your lot drawn to scale, with columns placed around your traffic and doors.
02
A clear proposal
Defined scope and competitive pricing, with no vague allowances or surprises.
03
PE-stamped engineering
Once you accept the proposal, we size it to your local wind, snow & seismic loads. Sealed, never generic.
04
One team, footings to finish
Engineer, fabricate, finish, and install. All in-house, one point of contact.
Questions before you send details? Email andrew@encosteel.com, you'll reach a person who builds these.
Let's build
Send us your parking layout. We'll send back a plan.
General questions or a quote request, you'll get a straight answer and a clear proposal with defined scope and competitive pricing.
Request a quote
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Contact
We'd love to hear from you.
Email
andrew@encosteel.comLocation
Oklahoma City, OK
Trust & compliance
Fully insured & bonded
PE-stamped, site-specific engineering
Permitted & inspected builds
Turnkey design-build, footings to finish