Metal Fabrication for Architects

Shop drawings, spec compliance and finish samples — the parts of a metal package that make your job easier.

Shop Drawings and Submittals

You should not have to draw our work for us. We produce shop drawings from your design intent and send them for review before anything is cut.

What you get: plans, elevations and sections at a workable scale, connection and fixing details, material and finish schedules, and the dimensions we actually intend to build to — including the ones we have adjusted after measuring the site. Where a site condition contradicts the design, it will be marked on the drawing rather than resolved quietly in the shop.

Submittals come back to you for approval, revise-and-resubmit, or rejection. Nothing goes into fabrication without a signed set. If a review cycle is holding up a delivery date, you will hear it from us early rather than as an excuse afterwards.

CAD and Revit Files

We work from what you already have rather than asking you to export something unusual.

DWG and DXF are the working formats for fabrication, and we can take PDF sets where that is what exists. For Revit projects, send us the model or an exported view and we will coordinate from it — we would rather read your model than re-measure your intent.

We can supply back-drawings of fabricated assemblies in DWG for your record set and for coordination with other trades. If your consultant team runs a specific file naming or issue protocol, send it and we will follow it.

Finish Samples

We provide physical samples on the actual substrate rather than a printed swatch — powder coat on the section you will receive, brushed stainless in the grain direction it will run. Samples are yours to keep and to put in front of your client.

On landscape and site packages the finish argument runs deeper — weathering steel at a realistic stage, coastal exposure, and coordination with specialist applicators. That is covered on metal fabrication for landscape architects.

Spec Compliance

We read the specification and build to it. Where we think there is a conflict, you will hear about it during review rather than after. What applies to a specific project should be confirmed for that project.

The most common conflicts we raise: guard and handrail requirements under the applicable code that the drawn design may not meet, dissimilar metals detailed in contact without isolation, coating systems specified without the pretreatment they require, and Corten detailed over surfaces that will stain.

Where a project requires sealed engineering — structural connections, guards resisting specified loads, anything supporting occupancy — that comes from a licensed engineer and we fabricate to the sealed set. We will identify it at the drawing stage rather than at inspection.

Budgeting at Design Stage

The cheapest change is the one made in schematic design. The most expensive is the one made after fabrication.

We are happy to give budget-stage input before there is a tender set — an order-of-magnitude view on what a detail will cost to build, which of two options is materially cheaper, and where a design is asking for hand labour without gaining anything visible.

That conversation costs nothing and it routinely saves a package. A change in section size, a different infill, or a joint detailed to be welded rather than fitted can move a number substantially without touching the look.

Send us a sketch at concept stage. We would rather help you draw something buildable than quote something that has to be value-engineered later.

MasterFormat Sections We Work In

Metalwork on a building project is usually specified across more than one section, and which section a package lands in changes who coordinates it and what documentation is expected. The sections our work most often falls under:

Division 05 — Metals. This is where building metalwork sits. 05 50 00 Metal Fabrications covers miscellaneous and fabricated metal items — the broad category most custom shop work is specified under. 05 52 00 Metal Railings covers railings and guards. 05 70 00 Decorative Metal covers architectural and finish-critical metalwork where appearance drives the specification.

Division 32 — Exterior Improvements. Site elements are specified here rather than in Division 05. Site work sits under 32 30 00 Site Improvements, and the fabricated site elements themselves under 32 33 00 Site Furnishings. A landscape package with benches, planters, bollards or bike parking generally sits in this division even where the items are made of the same steel as the Division 05 work fifty metres away.

Two practical points. First, a project routinely carries both — a guard at a grade change is a Division 05 item inside a Division 32 scope, and the coordination joint between them is where problems tend to appear on site. One fabricator covering both removes that joint. Second, not every project uses these sections the same way, and some do not use MasterFormat at all. Where your specification organises the work differently, we work to your structure rather than translating it into ours.

If the package is a landscape or site package rather than a building one, see metal fabrication for landscape architects — the workflow and the documentation expectations are different.

What a Submittal Package Contains

Shop drawings are the document that decides whether what gets built is what was specified. What we prepare for review:

• Plans, elevations and sections of each fabricated item at a scale that shows the detail being approved, keyed back to the drawing or specification reference it answers.
• Dimensions including overall sizes, member sizes, spacings and the locations of any items to be built in by others.
• Materials — specific grades and sections for each component, so what is approved is a material rather than a description.
• Finishes — the coating system, colour references, gloss level and where each finish applies.
• Connection information — how items connect to each other and to the structure, including fixing types and locations.
• Coordination notes — interfaces with structure, cladding, waterproofing, glazing and electrical, plus site dimensions we need confirmed before fabrication starts.
• Revisions — each issue clouded and dated so a reviewer can see what changed rather than re-checking a whole sheet.
• Review comments — responded to individually on re-submission, so nothing is quietly carried over.
• Record and back-drawing information where a project needs the as-built condition documented.

What shop drawings are not. Shop drawings show what will be fabricated and how it goes together. They are not engineered design documents and they are not sealed. Where engineered design, structural calculation or sealed documentation is required for an item or a connection, it should be provided or reviewed by the appropriate qualified professional, and we work to those details when they are issued.

Related Specified Metalwork

Items architects most often send us at drawing stage: mechanical and utility equipment screens, privacy and architectural screens, and roof access ladders and platforms.

Fencing, Canopies and Stairs

Specified items architects send us regularly: entrance canopies and glass canopy support frames, railings and guards, feature and egress stairs, and architectural fence runs.

Where a project calls for interior division rather than enclosure, see custom metal partitions and steel-framed glass dividers.

Free in-house consultation

We come to you, measure the site, and talk through options and budget before you commit to anything. No charge, no obligation.

Call (778) 805-5333 or email sales@trussmetal.com