The Devil Is In The Details
Building with light gauge is different than other structural materials. While engineers of record may design and detail poured in place or post tension structures, very few take on the scope of fully designing and detailing a cold form structure - hence the “by others” provisions found in the note section and details of most plans. This note is not just some “throw away game in Rochester” (sorry for the Miracle On Ice reference, but I have to throw some hockey references in from time-to-time or they take away my goalie card). Instead, it is the most important note on the page. How much your structure will cost and how easy it will be to construct is predicated on this design. Developers and contractors feeling comfortable with their numbers before completing this process are, candidly, just fooling themselves. Further, the market is not riddled with competent cold form steel engineers with the skills to provide great structural shop drawings. In fact, the opposite is true. So, while there are tremendous advantages in constructing with cold form steel, the only way to fully take advantage of the methodology is to perform the analysis up-front, before the bid process is complete, and to perform that exercise with those who know how to Build Better -like WALLY!
Who are you building with?
Build Better. Build With Wally!
Better. Better. Better.