Structural steel estimating & takeoff services
Measured by member and connection type, so tonnage, shop hours and field erection can be priced and flexed independently.
What a structural steel package looks like.
Steel priced as a single rate per tonne cannot survive a change in shop rate or a connection redesign. Every member is taken off by mark, section and length, and connections are counted by type: shear tabs, moment connections, base plates, stiffeners and bolts each carry their own line.
That separation is what lets a fabricator move their shop rate without rebuilding the estimate, and lets a general contractor see exactly what is supply and what is erection. Joists, deck, stairs, handrail and embeds are measured alongside the frame rather than swept into a miscellaneous allowance.
Measured in
What we look for specifically
- Connection labour buried inside a per-tonne rate
- Miscellaneous metals swept into a lump allowance
- Deck and joists priced at frame rates
- Erection access and crane time missing on tight sites
Structural steel
- Beams, columns and bracing by mark, section and length
- Tonnage by member group, with connections separate
- Shear, moment and base-plate connections by type and count
- Bolts, welds and field connections
- Open-web joists and joist girders
- Metal deck by area, gauge and profile
- Stairs, landings, handrail and guardrail
- Ladders, grating, platforms and catwalks
- Embeds, anchor rods and leveling plates
- Shop paint, galvanising and fireproofing scope
Turnaround
24–72 hours depending on connection complexity
Who it is for
Steel fabricators, erectors, general contractors and miscellaneous metals subcontractors.
Every structural steel package ships the same four things.
Whatever the trade, the deliverable is consistent, so a package from us always drops into how you already work.
Excel workbook
Line-item detail with quantities, wastage, labour hours and material priced on separate columns.
Colour-marked sheets
Every measured item marked on the drawing with a count legend, so any figure can be checked against the plan.
Assumptions & exclusions
Written down, including anything the drawings did not answer, rather than absorbed into a rate.
Planswift source file
On request, so your team can re-measure a revision without coming back to us.
Common questions on structural steel takeoffs.
Tonnage is reported, but it is not how the estimate is built. Members are measured individually and connections counted by type, so the tonnage figure is an output rather than the basis. That is what makes a shop-rate change a one-cell edit.
Yes. Design-intent steel is measured with connection assumptions stated in writing. When shop drawings are issued we re-measure against them, and revisions inside the agreed scope carry no additional fee.
Yes: stairs, handrail, ladders, grating, platforms, embeds and lintels. They are measured as their own items because they carry very different labour to frame steel.
Yes. Shop scope and field scope are separated so a supply-only quote can be produced without erection, and the same file extends to a supply-and-erect number later.
Packages that usually travel with this one.
Most enquiries cover more than one division. Bundling them into a single engagement keeps the assumptions consistent across the whole bid.
Send us one structural steel package.
A fixed fee, a firm delivery date and a written scope statement, usually back the same working day. Judge us on the file that comes back.
CSI Division 05 · 24–72 hours depending on connection complexity · Unlimited revisions within scope