Commercial Steel Estimating. Kerri Olsen

of the designers. Thus we have steel detailers and RFIs—Requests for Information. The RFI is the tool used to fill in the gaps, necessary for us to achieve the goal of completed and accurate shop detail drawings as well as the provision of the subsequent fabricated steel.

Summary

      This chapter reviewed the drawing floor plan, together with the subsequent elevation view and section cuts. The discussion on detail layering should help steel estimators begin to understand how the drawings are designed. More information on reading drawings is given in Chapter 7 (Reading Structural Drawings), Chapter 8 (Structural Steel Material Listing), and Chapter 9 (Reading Architectural Drawings). The application of the basics indicated in this chapter remains the same.

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       Steel Materials

      Steel that is used for structural and miscellaneous steel is carbon-based material and comes in a variety of types, shapes, and grades. The composition of steel is mostly iron that is derived from recycled metal.

      Because steel is composed of recycled material, other elements or minerals are often within its content. The elements that make steel are heated to liquid form, then poured or pushed into shape, and cooled. This process is called mill rolling.

Measuring Steel

      Steel materials are created at steel mills all around the world. Steel mills operate to schedules that are generally based on the salability of the product—the same supply and demand requirements as anything else. The manufacture of steel by the mills is called mill rolling. The process is much the same as pushing clay through a die plate similar to a Play-dough toy, only in larger scale. Mills will roll requested items if ordered in large enough quantities, though the timing of special rolling may not fit certain construction schedules.

      Different types and sizes of steel materials are available. Steel materials are typically available in 20’ to 40’ lengths. Wide flange has some availability in 5’ increments after 20’ and up to 60’, and sometimes longer. Some tube steel sizes are available in 24’, 32’, and 48’ lengths in addition to the 20’, 40’, and 60’ lengths that may be stocked.