Why weld-up takeoffs are harder than they look
A bolt-up building arrives as a package from a fabricator, so the part list mostly comes with it. A weld-up building doesn't. It is built from stock steel sections such as square tube, pipe columns and C-purlin, cut to length and welded. The shop has to work out every member, every run and every piece of sheeting itself. If you want the side-by-side on how the two orders differ, read bolt-up vs weld-up red iron.
The math is not hard on any one line. The trouble is that there are a lot of lines, and they all depend on each other. Change the eave height and the columns, the girt rows, the wall sheeting and the trim all change. Add a door and the girts, the framing around the opening and the sheeting change. By hand, every change is a new round of math.
What goes on a weld-up building material list
A complete weld-up building material list covers the whole building, not just the frame:
- Columns. Count and length for every frame, including endwall columns.
- Rafters. Count and length from the span and the roof pitch.
- Purlin. Roof runs across the bays, from the spacing and the building length.
- Girts. Wall runs from the eave height and the girt spacing, interrupted where openings cut through.
- Bracing. Where the design calls for it.
- Sheeting. Roof and wall panels, with wainscot if the building has it.
- Trim. Eave, rake, corner, base and the trim around each opening.
- Openings. The framing and trim for every overhead door, walk door and window.
- Lean-tos. Their own frame, secondary steel, sheeting and trim.
Miss any of those and the order is short. Most shops have a story about the job where the trim didn't make it onto the truck.
Getting the list from the 3D design
In Redline, you design the weld-up building in 3D: width, length, eave height, pitch, bay spacing, openings, lean-tos, panels and trim. The frame and the secondary steel are modeled as real members, placed where the crew will put them. The material list is counted from that model.
That is the whole idea. You are not filling in a takeoff form that sits next to a picture. The picture and the takeoff are the same thing. What the customer sees in 3D is what gets counted. We wrote more about why that matters in getting a real material list out of a 3D building model.
Design changes update the list instantly
Customers change their minds. They want the building two bays longer, the overhead door on the other side, a lean-to for the trailer. On a hand takeoff each of those is a redo. From the model, it is a click.
- Add a bay and the frame count, purlin runs, girt runs, sheeting and trim go up with it.
- Raise the eave and the columns, the wall sheeting and the girt rows follow.
- Move a door and the framing and trim around the opening move with it.
- Add a lean-to and its steel, sheeting and trim land on the list.
Because the list always matches the current design, there is no question about which version of the spreadsheet is the real one. That also makes it practical to walk the customer through options on the spot, including on your phone at the job site, since the configurator runs in a phone's browser.
Fewer ordering mistakes
Most ordering mistakes on weld-up jobs come from one of three places: a line that got missed, a number that didn't get updated after a change, or a takeoff built from the wrong version of the building. Counting from the model takes care of all three. Every member is on the list because every member is in the model. Every change is reflected because the list is rebuilt from the design. And there is only one version of the building.
Stock lengths still matter on weld-up. Members are cut from stock, so offcuts and how you nest your cuts affect how much steel you actually buy. A good list gives you the member lengths you need to work that out, rather than a square-foot guess.
None of this replaces engineering. The frame members still have to be sized for the site's loads. What the model gives you is an accurate count of what the design calls for, so the order matches the building you engineered and sold.
Pricing it with your own numbers
A material list is only half a quote. In Redline, pricing comes from your supplier price sheet once it's loaded, plus your own numbers. You control pricing and can update it any time without a support ticket. The list gets priced as you design, so the price on the screen is the price of the building on the screen.
From there, send the customer a branded quote with live 3D rendering, line-item pricing and the full quote details. Same design, same list, same price. If you are quoting from the field, that can happen before you leave the customer's property. See weld-up steel buildings in Texas and Oklahoma for why that speed matters so much in that market.
More than a list
The same design also produces dimensioned elevations and sheet layouts, so the list, the drawings and the quote all describe the same building. And if you want customers to start the design themselves, the Website 3D Designer puts a 3D designer on your own website. See how to sell weld-up buildings online and weld-up steel building design software.
What it costs
Redline is $250/mo flat with 2 seats included and $0 setup, covering red iron, both bolt-up and weld-up, plus post frame, stick frame, hybrid post frame and tube frame. The 10-day free trial needs no credit card.
The honest test of a weld-up building material list is a job you already built. Design it in Redline, pull the list, and compare it to what you ordered.