Articles by Josh Ford
What a structural steel takeoff service costs, and when it is worth paying for
Steel fabrication software in 2026: a structural steel fabricator's guide to the four categories
Tekla PowerFab vs STRUMIS vs FabSuite: an honest comparison for steel fabricators (2026)
Outsource, hire, or buy software: how steel fabricators fix an estimating bottleneck
Fabrication estimating software: why sheet metal tools break on structural steel
Ferra 1.5, our biggest release yet: connections, columns, and open signup
SketchDeck alternatives in 2026: what steel fabricators should test before switching
Why structural steel fabricators lose margin on change orders
Why steel estimators are still losing days to addendums
The best AI structural steel estimating software in 2026 (an honest comparison)
The Honest Guide to Structural Steel Estimating
Ferra at NASCC 2026: A Huge Week for Steel Preconstruction
Knowledge Base by Josh Ford
What does a structural steel estimator do?
A structural steel estimator decides which invitations to bid are worth pursuing, reads the drawing set, performs the takeoff of every column, beam, and connection, prices material, shop labor, coatings, freight, and erection, and submits and defends the bid. After award, that estimate becomes the budget the shop is held to.
Is FabSuite the same company as Tekla PowerFab?
Yes. Trimble acquired FabSuite in April 2018 and relaunched it in March 2019 as the core of Tekla PowerFab, renaming the management system Tekla EPM. In 2023 Trimble retired the EPM name, so the product is now simply Tekla PowerFab. A shop still running FabSuite is on the legacy version of PowerFab, not a rival.
How long does a structural steel takeoff take?
By hand, columns and beams on a mid-size commercial job take one estimator four to five days, with joists, braces, connections, and misc steel adding more, and each mid-bid addendum costing about a day. With AI-assisted detection and the estimator reviewing every number, the same scope finishes in under an hour, and 10,000-ton jobs in two to six hours.
How is steel estimating software priced?
Steel estimating software is sold five ways: per seat, per trade license, per takeoff or per sheet, as a flat annual subscription, or as a module inside a fabrication management system. Almost no vendor publishes list prices. The total depends more on user and project caps, implementation, and the annual layer than on the headline figure.
How do you compare two drawing revisions?
Compare full sets, not clouded sheets: match every sheet between issues, compare pair by pair starting with the schedules, list each change against the takeoff, reconcile deletions across addenda so nothing is counted twice, then re-run tonnage and record the delta. Revision clouds are a starting checklist, never the change list.
Is there free steel takeoff software?
No. There is no uncapped free steel takeoff software, but three free routes exist: a spreadsheet built on the AISC shapes table, the measuring tools in a free PDF reader, and free or trial accounts on paid products, capped by sheets or days. On a four-hundred-sheet set the counting is the cost, and free removes none of it.
What is steel takeoff software?
Steel takeoff software reads a structural drawing set and produces the member list an estimator prices: every beam, column, brace, and plate with its size, length, and weight. It replaces counting by hand or marking up a PDF. General construction takeoff software measures areas and lengths but does not know what a W12x26 weighs.
Addendum vs change order: what's the difference?
An addendum changes the bid documents before the contract is awarded, and its cost is absorbed into the bid. A change order modifies the signed contract afterward, priced and negotiated on its own. Bulletins and ASIs deliver the drawing changes in between; the change order is where their cost and schedule impact gets agreed.
Miscellaneous metals
Miscellaneous metals is the fabricated metal work outside the main frame: stairs, railings, ladders, lintels, embeds, and support frames, specified under Division 05 metal fabrications. It is labor-dense and priced by the piece rather than the ton, much of it is drawn late or not at all, and scope gaps between trades live here.
What is a 30 percent or 60 percent drawing set?
A 30 or 60 percent set is a construction document issue the design team labels with its own estimate of completeness. At 30 percent expect missing column schedules and unsized members; at 60 the frame is mostly real but connections and misc steel are not. Steel bid off these sets gets re-estimated when the finished design lands.
What is an addendum in construction?
An addendum is a formal change to the bid documents issued while a project is still bidding, before the contract is awarded. It is numbered, becomes part of the contract documents, and must be acknowledged in the bid. For a steel estimator, each addendum reopens the takeoff, because the count has to carry every change.
What drives shop hours per ton in structural steel?
Shop hours per ton is fabrication labor divided by tonnage, and it moves with connection type, average piece weight, repetition, extra operations such as copes, cambers, and studs, finish requirements like AESS or galvanizing, and material form. Two jobs of equal tonnage can differ widely, which is why the number has to come from your own job history.
Can you use sheet metal estimating software for structural steel?
Not effectively. Sheet and plate tools price parts whose quantity is already known, using cut length, nest yield, and machine time. Structural steel needs the count derived from framing plans and a column schedule first, then shop hours that swing with connection type. A job shop tool has no concept of a W-shape or a moment connection.
Product Updates by Josh Ford
Faster review. Better models. More control.
Ferra now handles Québec French drawing sets end to end, adds column presets and plate libraries, makes review and editing safer, and gives estimators more control over materials, schedules, connections and IFC output.
Read the full updateFaster edits. Sharper numbers.
Column edits now apply instantly, beam and column edit forms are redesigned end to end, and a batch of stacking fixes clears out reversed and phantom columns for good.
Read the full update