Resources

When reviewing a steel project, it can be tempting to focus primarily on tonnage. After all, more steel typically means a larger project and a higher price. But as most fabricators know, tonnage is only part of the story. In fact, two projects with similar tonnage can...

Most estimating mistakes are not caused by major omissions. More often, they come from small scope gaps that seem insignificant during bidding but create questions, change orders, or unexpected costs later in the project. The challenge is that many steel projects move...

When reviewing a steel project, it can be tempting to focus primarily on tonnage. After all, more steel typically means a larger project and a higher price. But as most fabricators know, tonnage is only part of the story. In fact, two projects with similar tonnage can...

Most estimators have experienced it. You send out an RFQ, pricing starts coming in, and the questions begin. A drawing is missing. A detail is unclear. An addendum wasn't included. Scope assumptions start to vary from one bidder to the next. None of these issues are...

When steel bids come in, it can be tempting to focus on one number: the lowest price. But in construction, the lowest bid is not always the lowest cost. Differences in scope, assumptions, schedule, and execution can create expensive surprises later. A bid that looks...

Fabrication change orders create problems for everyone involved in a project. They disrupt budgets, create schedule pressure, and force teams to revisit decisions that were assumed to be settled. They also consume time that estimators, project managers, and...

Most steel problems don’t start in the shop. They start before the fabricator is involved. By the time a fabricator is formally looped in, the design is often set, the schedule is locked, and the budget has very little flexibility left. At that point, feedback tends...

The structural steel market is entering a period of heightened uncertainty, and GCs will feel the impacts first Over the past several weeks, steel fabricators across the country, including JT Steel, have received an increasing number of pricing increase letters from...

You can't estimate what you don't understand. In structural steel, that means knowing your W-beams from your channels, your angles from your tubes — and being able to read them confidently from drawings and specs. If you’re not fluent in steel shapes, you’re taking a...