Building contractor Peter Crocker moved from Australia to settle in the United States 40 years ago, but his fondness for the classic profile of LYSAGHT CUSTOM ORB® corrugated steel roofing never left him.

Crocker Construction Company usually builds houses in Washington state and in California, but Peter's reputation among architects and former clients sometimes sees him travel further afield.

"I was asked to travel to Australia in 1999 by an American architect who had designed a home to be built at Bayview in Sydney," he explained.

"The architect had surveyed the market for local products and had decided to use the LYSAGHT CUSTOM ORB® profile made from COLORBOND® steel for the roof cladding and LYSAGHT MINI ORB® cladding for the walls.

"While I was doing the job it reminded me of the houses I had seen as I was growing up in Australia, particularly that LYSAGHT® corrugated roof profile which is just so typically Aussie.

"As I worked with the material I also realised how quickly you could clad even a large wall or roof. Those thoughts remained in the back of my mind when I went back to Seattle."

The chance to do something about what he had seen in Australia became a plan when Peter and his wife Marianne decided to build a new home for themselves in West Seattle.

"I just decided that I was going to make the new house an Australian style home, with a veranda and a corrugated steel roof clad in LYSAGHT CUSTOM ORB® profile sheeting made from COLORBOND® steel in the colour Woodland Grey®," Peter recalled.

"In the Pacific Northwest region of the United States you sometimes see corrugated steel on the roofs of old barns, but there's nothing like LYSAGHT CUSTOM ORB® profile sheeting in the residential field."

Peter Crocker contacted Tony Scali of No1 Roofing and Building Supplies, a LYSAGHT® gold distributor in Sydney and arranged to have the cladding shipped to Seattle.

The order also included LYSAGHT MINI ORB® cladding made from galvanised steel for the cathedral ceilings and other internal areas of the house.

"One of the advantages of steel cladding is that it takes up so little space for transportation," Peter Crocker said. I was bringing two shipping containers of other Australian products, so the cladding just nested in the bottom.

"The next challenge was that I wanted the full Australian flavour, right down to the tradesmen, even though there are commercial roofing companies in Seattle which are accustomed to working with steel cladding.

"Tony Scali arranged for skilled labour from AGF Roofing Australia Pty Ltd to fly over to handle the installation. The house has a hipped roof with two dormers, but the whole cladding job inside and out took less than two weeks."

The Crockers' house has now become a distinctive landmark in West Seattle, with passing motorists and pedestrians often stopping to take an admiring look.

Peter said the reaction is frequently along the lines of "Wow, where did you get that."

"It has worked out exceptionally well," he said. "It is just such a contrast to other roofs around here, which are generally made from cedar shingles and shakes, asphalt shingles, tiles and even recycled tyre rubber reconstituted to resemble slate.

"I've become an advocate for steel roofing with local architects in Seattle and there has been a lot of interest. I haven't broken the ice yet, but I sure will keep trying, because the profile just looks so good.

"If I build another house I would use the same LYSAGHT® profiles and import it again just as I did for my current home."