Member schedule
Group beams, columns and braces by section and length, then reconcile member marks with the framing plans. Separate weights and counts so an estimator can identify a scope gap even when the total tonnage looks close.
Structural steel and erection scope
Structural Steel Estimating Services
A structural steel takeoff lists members by mark, size, length and weight. Connect each member to the structural drawings and distinguish material quantities from connection, fabrication and erection assumptions.
We organize structural steel by member mark, section, length and weight. Connection materials, coatings, decking or erection scope can be tracked separately where the bid documents make responsibilities clear.
Resolve erection scope and field connections before leveling quotes.
What this service covers
Connections and fabrication
Review what the drawings identify for base plates, embeds, bolts and connection design. Record assumptions for unresolved connections or shop scope instead of burying a single allowance in the tonnage.
Erection and finishes
Distinguish fabrication, delivery and field erection. Confirm responsibility for cranes, decking, coatings and fireproofing, particularly when a vendor’s steel quote stops at delivery.
A steel estimate is three prices that are too often sold as one. The first is the material: the beams, columns, joists and bracing, priced by weight from the mill or the service centre. The second is the fabrication: cutting, drilling, welding and fitting those members in the shop. The third is the erection: the crane, the crew and the day the steel goes up on site. Fold them into a single price per ton and nobody can check it — a heavy member with simple connections and a light member with complex ones look the same, and they are not.
That is why this estimate keeps the three apart. The member list is the material. The connections are the fabrication. The erection is the site work. A reviewer can follow one member from the drawing to the shop to the crane, and see exactly where each cost sits.
What the scope can include
- Beams, columns, joists and bracing
- Member lengths and calculated weight
- Plates and connection allowances
- Deck and erection interfaces
- Connection design and detailing responsibility, noted per connection
- Shop primer, galvanizing or paint, by finish and by member
- Anchor bolts, base plates and grout, by column
- Miscellaneous metals — stairs, rails, ladders and embeds — where included
A tonnage total hides the expensive work
A weight total can hide expensive connections or site lifts. Keep connections, finish requirements and erection assumptions as visible components of the estimate.
Take two members of the same weight. One is a long beam with two simple shear connections, welded in the shop and bolted on site in an hour. The other is a short column with a moment connection: end plates, stiffeners, field welding and a crane pick that has to be sequenced around the rest of the frame. The tonnage is the same. The fabrication hours are not, and neither is the erection.
The member list is the bid; the connections are the argument
Every member is listed by its designation, its length and its drawing reference — W21x68 on gridline C, forty feet, third floor. That is the part of the estimate a supplier can quote against without asking a question. The connections are the part the bid team argues about, because the drawings rarely finish them.
Where the drawings show a connection in full, the estimate follows it: plates, bolts, welds, stiffeners. Where they show a typical detail and leave the rest to the connection designer, the estimate says so — and carries a connection allowance with its basis stated, so the allowance can be revised when the connection design arrives instead of being treated as a final price.
Shop work, field work and the crane in between
Steel is made twice: once in the shop and once on site. The shop work is cutting, drilling, welding and fitting, and it is priced by the member and the connection. The field work is bolting, plumbing, aligning and the welds that can only happen in place. Between them sits the crane — and the crane is priced by the pick, not by the ton.
A pick is decided by the heaviest member, the longest reach and the tightest site. A beam that can be set from the street is a different erection from one that has to be flown over an existing building, and the estimate writes down the access the drawings show. Where the site has not been seen, that is written down as an open point, not priced as if the crane could sit anywhere.
Deck, miscellaneous metals and the scope boundary
The edge of a steel package is where bids go wrong. The deck is the obvious question — is it in the steel price or the concrete price? — and the answer is whichever the drawings assign it to. The same goes for stairs, rails, ladders, embeds and the grating on a mezzanine: each belongs to one package, and the estimate writes down which one.
Anchor bolts and base plates sit on the same boundary, between the steel and the concrete. They are shown by column — the bolts, the plate, the grout — so a column whose bolts were priced by the concrete contractor is never confused with one priced by the steel contractor.
What to send with your plans
Send structural plans, steel schedules, sections, connection notes and available models. Note whether deck and miscellaneous metals are included.
- Structural plans and steel schedules, with member designations and grid references
- Sections and connection details, including any typical details and design notes
- The deck specification and the scope boundary for miscellaneous metals
- Finish notes — shop primer, galvanizing or paint — by member or by area
- Site and access information, so the crane and the erection sequence can be priced
- Available models or connection design information, where they exist
Frequently asked questions
Is the member list a fabrication release?
It is a bid and review deliverable. Confirm shop details, field dimensions and final connection design before releasing fabrication.
Can erection be separated from fabrication?
Yes. Keep material, fabrication and erection as distinct bid inputs when you have enough information to define each responsibility.
Who designs the connections?
Whoever the drawings assign the design to. Where the drawings show a connection in full, the estimate follows it; where they leave it to the connection designer, the allowance is shown with its basis, so it can be revised when the design arrives.
Is the deck in the steel price?
Only where the drawings assign it there. Deck, stairs, rails and embeds are each shown on the package they belong to, so a deck priced by the steel contractor is never also priced by the concrete contractor.
How is the crane priced?
By the pick, not by the ton. The heaviest member, the longest reach and the site access decide the crane, and the estimate records the access the drawings show — so a pick over an existing building is never priced as if it were set from the street.
Are galvanizing and paint priced separately?
Yes, by finish and by member. Shop primer, galvanizing and paint are different scopes with different suppliers, so each is shown on its own line rather than folded into the steel weight.
What if a member size changes after the estimate?
Send the revised schedule. The member, its connections, its finish and its erection are re-checked as one group, because a bigger beam changes all four — and only the members that changed are re-measured.
Request an Estimate View Estimating Samples
What the estimate can show
- Scope and quantity detail arranged by the trade, system, phase or bid item.
- Document references so scope questions can be traced to the applicable plans or specifications.
- Assumptions and exclusions kept visible, with separate pricing or allowances when requested.
Have a bid set ready?
Tell us what you need priced, which drawings govern the bid and when it is due.