What does this steel structure cost to fabricate and erect?
Drop the IFC model of a steel structure. I read every part, hole, weld and lift, time each shop and site operation with published process models, and price the hours at the region’s employer labour cost. You get the cost floor, the published market band next to it, and what drives the difference. The file is read in your browser and never uploaded.
Free tool · process-based steel cost from IFC
Region and rates
Shop and site details
Overhead and profit
Where the money is
Every part of the model, coloured by what it costs. Drag to turn, scroll or pinch to zoom, tap a part to see its cost.
Programme
From drawings to the last bolt, in working days. Fabrication and erection come from the hours above; the rest are yours to set.
Embodied carbon
Steel production, fabrication and delivery to site, using published industry-average product values. Erection plant, end of life and recycling credits are not included. For a declared figure, the steel supplier’s own product declaration replaces these averages.
What a design review could save
The same engine, run again on a lighter version of this model. Lighter sections cut material and handling; merging and standardising small plate fittings cuts the plate work, which is often the largest labour item.
material, handling, sawing, transport, erection
These percentages are example inputs, not a promise; the real figure comes out of a review of your design. I review the members and connections (lighter sections, standardised connections, fewer fittings) at a fixed price quoted within 24 hours, and the changes are checked and signed by a licensed partner engineer. Ask for a design review
Why it costs what it costs
Labour follows the parts, holes, weld metres and lifts, not the tonnage. These are the process groups behind the cost floor, largest first, with the cost per piece.
Cost breakdown
What I read from the model
How the estimate is made
- Features, not tonnes. I read every part, hole, weld and bolt from the model, and where each piece sits. Two buildings of the same weight can cost very differently, and this is where the difference shows.
- Every operation is timed. Each shop operation, from handling and cutting to drilling, welding and painting, and each lift on site gets its own time, from process models validated against real fabrication and erection records.
- Priced at what the hours really cost. Labour is the employer cost per hour worked in the region, not a sell rate. Machines, building, consumables, bolts and paint are priced alongside.
- Floor and market are kept apart. The floor is what the work costs a shop. The band is what published industry guides say the market charges. The gap between them is shop overhead and market margin, and it differs from one country to the next.
- It is an estimate, not a quote. Connections the model does not show, site conditions, coating systems and market timing all move the real price.
For steel fabricators
Price it at your shop’s rates. Become a partner fabricator.
Send me your shop and site labour rates, your typical price per tonne and two or three finished jobs (the IFC and what you charged). I calibrate the engine to your shop, so you get a private version of this tool that quotes at your own numbers. When a client in your region needs a fabricator for a package I have detailed, partner fabricators are the ones I introduce. Your figures stay private and are never published.
Need a number you can sign a contract on?
I can check the take-off against your drawings, price it to your shop’s rates, or produce the fabrication drawings, bills of material and NC files from the same model, at a fixed price quoted within 24 hours. The design work is reviewed and signed by a licensed partner engineer.
Email the model to info@structomat.com