10 Quick Tips to Help Save Money on Structural Steel

Last week, we discussed how to effectively reduce lead times and save costs from the customer's perspective by submitting complete and organized RFQs that incorporate technical specifications, load requirements, site addresses, and delivery timelines.

If you are looking for more details, kindly visit well.

This week, we’re shifting our focus towards cost-saving strategies from a design perspective, which can significantly affect lead times. Understanding the pricing structure and factors that influence costs across various stages—customer inquiries, sales, purchasing, estimating, engineering, detailing, fabrication, galvanizing, and shipping—can help eliminate unforeseen challenges and misunderstandings.

Below, we present ten practical tips aimed at helping you save money on structural steel. While these recommendations provide a helpful framework, they should be adapted to fit the specific contexts of different fabricators and design requirements.

1. Opt for Weathering Steel: Selecting weathering steel can lower costs since it does not require a galvanization process, making it a frequently chosen choice for transmission structures.

2. Bulk Orders Can Lead to Savings: Typically, ordering larger quantities of steel at once can yield better pricing. If your project involves multiple structures, such as those for a substation, consolidate your orders to save on shipping and associated expenses.

3. Avoid Over-Length and Over-Width Loads: Sections that exceed standard dimensions can incur additional freight costs due to permitting requirements along the delivery route. Generally, wider sections tend to have higher prices compared to longer ones.

4. Beware of Expedited Lead Times: Rushed delivery can inflate costs. With ongoing production backlogs, fabricators may need to allocate additional resources for engineering, detailing, or overtime work.

5. Special Inspection Requirements: Any welding inspection or tests that go beyond industry norms can add to costs. If a third party is engaged for inspections or testing, that could also escalate expenses.

6. Consider Direct Embedded Structures: These generally incur lower costs compared to base plate structures due to reduced material and labor demands, though this can vary based on environmental and design needs.

7. Standardize Designs for Multiple Arms: In transmission projects, using the same structural designs for multiple arms can streamline the design and fabrication processes, resulting in overall savings.

8. Streamline Pole Details: Reducing the number of details on poles, such as vangs or brackets, can minimize both detailing and fabrication time and weight, ultimately lowering costs.

9. Utilize Standard Structures for Substations: Employing standard designs can save both time and money, as these are reusable and enable quicker retrieval by engineers and detailers, improving lead times.

10. Ensure Accurate Drawings and Weld Symbols: Proper weld symbols in fabrication drawings are essential as they concisely communicate the type of weld joint necessary for specific service conditions. Incomplete or unclear symbols can lead to ambiguities, increasing the likelihood of costly revisions.

For more information on Crimped Steel Fiber, feel free to contact us.