Why most configurators stop at bolt-up
A bolt-up building is a package. The frames, purlins and girts are fabricated for that building and shipped together, so the software behind it was usually built around the package. It knows the parts in the kit and how they bolt together.
A weld-up building is different. It is built from stock steel sections such as square tube, pipe columns and C-purlin, cut to length and welded in the shop, in the field or both. There is no kit. The frame is whatever you cut and weld, and the material order is a list of stock steel, not a part list from a fabricator. For how the two methods differ in the frame, the connections and the order, read bolt-up vs weld-up red iron.
Software that only understands a package can draw a weld-up building, but it can't tell you what to order for it. That is the part a weld-up shop actually needs.
What weld-up steel building design software should do
Strip it down and a weld-up shop needs four things from its design software:
- A real frame in 3D. Columns, rafters, purlin and girts placed where the crew will put them, not a skin over an empty box.
- The rest of the building on the same model. Bays, bracing, framed openings for doors and windows, lean-tos, sheeting and trim.
- A material takeoff from the design. The steel list, the sheeting and the trim, counted from what was drawn.
- A price and a quote. Your numbers on that takeoff, turned into a quote the customer can read.
Redline does all four for weld-up, and it does the same for bolt-up in the same tool. You pick the method that fits the job.
Designing a weld-up building in 3D
You start with the building: width, length, eave height, roof pitch and bay spacing. Redline lays out the frame with rigid-frame logic, then adds the secondary steel. Change the bay spacing and the frames move. Change the eave height and the columns and girt rows follow.
From there you add what the customer actually wants. Framed openings for overhead doors, walk doors and windows go on the frame, so the takeoff and the drawings stay in sync with the model. Lean-tos attach to the main building. Panel systems, wainscot, gutters and trim go on the same build.
The point of doing this in 3D is not the picture, although the customer will like the picture. The point is that every change you make is a change to the same model the takeoff and the drawings come from. You don't redraw the elevation after you move a door. You move the door.
The takeoff is where weld-up software earns its keep
On a weld-up job, the material order is the job. If the steel list is short, the crew stops. If it is long, you are paying for steel that sits in the yard.
Redline builds the material list from the design: columns, rafters, purlin, girts, sheeting, trim and the openings that cut into them. Because it comes from the model, it changes when the model changes. Add a bay and the frame count, purlin runs and sheeting go up with it. Swap a walk door for an overhead door and the framing around the opening follows.
We wrote a full post on getting a weld-up building material list from a 3D model, including what the list covers and how it gets priced.
Quoting speed
Most weld-up shops are not losing jobs because the steel is wrong. They are losing them because the quote shows up after somebody else's. A customer who calls three builders will often sign with the first one that sends a clear price and a picture of the building.
When the takeoff comes from the design and the price comes from your own numbers, a quote that used to mean an evening at the kitchen table becomes something you can send the same day. You can do it at the desk, or on your phone in the customer's yard, because the dealer configurator runs in a phone's browser with nothing to install.
Pricing is yours. Load your supplier price sheet and your own numbers, and the takeoff gets priced the way you price jobs. Then send a branded quote with live 3D rendering, line-item pricing and the full quote details, with your logo and company info on it.
Plans and drawings
The same design produces dimensioned elevations and sheet layouts for quotes, permits and shop coordination. A weld-up frame still has to be engineered for the site's wind, snow and seismic loads, and some building departments want stamped drawings for structural steel. Software doesn't replace that engineering. What it does is give you clean, consistent drawings of the building you are actually quoting, so the conversation with the engineer and the building department starts from the right building.
Put the designer on your website
Redline also has a Website 3D Designer: the customer-facing designer that embeds on your own website. Visitors design their building in 3D on a phone, tablet or desktop and send it to you as a quote request, with the full design attached. You pick which framing systems they see, so a weld-up shop can lead with red iron.
That turns your website from a contact form into a design tool. We covered the full approach in how to sell weld-up buildings online.
Weld-up in Texas and Oklahoma
If you build in Texas or Oklahoma, you already know weld-up is everywhere. The market there tends to be won on turnaround, which makes the quote the bottleneck. We wrote about that in weld-up steel buildings in Texas and Oklahoma.
What it costs
Redline is $250/mo flat with 2 seats included and $0 setup. That covers red iron, both bolt-up and weld-up, plus post frame, stick frame, hybrid post frame and tube frame. Add the Website 3D Designer on your site for $290/mo total, or run the Website 3D Designer on its own for $145/mo. The 10-day free trial needs no credit card.
The fastest way to judge any weld-up steel building design software is to run a job you have already quoted through it. Design the building, pull the material list, and compare it to what you ordered.