What to Send Us for a Fast, Accurate Steel Quote

Getting a structural steel quote should not be a guessing game. The more complete the information you send, the faster and more accurate the number you get back. Here is exactly what helps us turn your project around quickly, often within 24 hours for a budget number.

Send these five things

• Drawings or plans. The structural drawings and architectural backgrounds let us take off quantities accurately. PDFs are fine, a model is better.

• Specifications. Your specs tell us steel grades, coatings, welding and bolting requirements, and inspection level. Missing specs are the number one reason a quote comes back padded with assumptions.

• Connection loads or a connection schedule. If connections are delegated to the fabricator, we need the reactions and forces so our detailer and engineer can design them. Without loads, we either wait or carry contingency.

• Schedule. Your need-by date drives mill ordering and shop sequencing. Steel that has to beat a tight schedule is priced differently than steel with float.

• A cut list, if you are buying cut-to-size. For processed material, a clean list of shapes, grades, lengths, and quantities is all we need to price and cut.

The grades we work with every day

Most building frames are wide-flange shapes in ASTM A992 (50 ksi yield, 65 ksi tensile), the standard for W-shapes. Plates, angles, and bars are usually ASTM A36, and hollow structural sections are typically ASTM A500. Tell us the grade or point us to the spec and we will match it, and every piece ships with mill test reports so you have full traceability for your QA file.

Cut-to-size and processing

Beyond full lengths, we saw and miter cut to your dimensions, punch and drill holes, and arrange hot-dip galvanizing to ASTM A123 (coating runs roughly 45 to 100 microns on structural shapes, depending on thickness). You send the list, we process to it, and you pick up or we ship.

What actually drives the price

Tonnage is the obvious number, but it is rarely the main cost driver. The industry rule of thumb splits a steel package into roughly thirds: material, shop labor, and erection. Connection complexity, the number of unique pieces, how much repetition there is, and site access usually move the price more than raw weight. A simple, repetitive frame fabricates and erects far cheaper per ton than a complex one of the same tonnage. That is also why complete drawings save you money: when we are not guessing, we are not pricing in contingency.

Lead times to plan around

As a planning guide, mill orders typically run about 4 to 10 weeks depending on the shapes and the market, plus roughly 3 to 8 weeks of shop fabrication. Stock and cut-to-size material moves much faster. We confirm real dates on every quote.

Ready to price your project? Send your drawings and we will get you a number.