Structural Steel Shop Drawings

[S R P]

I have a client who wants me to prepare shop drawings for his building project. It is a steel structure with about 3500 sq.ft. floor area. I am a licensed P.E. in structures. But I have never prepared a shop drawing. Therefore, I have the following questions:

1. Should the shop drawings be stamped and signed by prepared P.E.?
2. Do we need to add any required generic notes on the drawings?
3. Other than preparing DWGs for individual group of members, do I still have to make a 3D view of each frame?
4. How much should I charge for the drawings/job?
5. I have my own firm in which I do building structural and civil designs. Should I use my logo or should I use my client's logo and template if he is going to submit the shop drawings to the city or county?

I appreciate your kind response.

Thank you.

 

[Ron]

Is your client fabricating the structural and miscellaneous steel items. Shop drawings are intended for the minutia and detail of shop fabrication.

Yes, they should be signed and sealed.
Yes, you will have some generic notes relevant to fabrication and installation/erection.
You don't have to do 3d of anything; however, if it clarifies dimensions or fabrication needs do it
Estimate the drafting and engineering required for each sheet and then add a percentage and do it lump sum
You can use their logo, your logo or both.....you and your firm are still responsible.

 

[jgailla]

Shop drawings are normally done by the company who is producing the steel.
Why is the fabricator not doing the shop drawings?

 

[dik]

Unless you are in the business of preparing shop drawings and have a bunch of standard details and notes, shop drawing preparation can be very time consuming and costly. Best a specialist outfit prepare them.

Dik

 

[MotorCity]

I would not do it, there are companies who specialize in this work. If something goes wrong or is fabricated incorrectly based on your shop drawings, you will probably be back charged to correct the error.

I have never received a sealed set of shop drawings (calculations from the delegated design of connections, yes....but not actual drawings). Check with your insurance carrier to see if you are covered for this type of work if you do seal them.

Finally, I am guessing that you are simply asked to provide paper drawings. Most fabricators will ask for a CNC file that can be input to their shop machines to automatically fabricate the pieces. Unless you have the software to generate the CNC files, your drawings may not be very useful. Ask up front to see if they are expecting CNC files.

 

[klaus.]

shop drawings are different from fabrication drawings !?!?


best regards
Klaus

 

[dik]

As klaus notes, shop drawings and erection drawings are two separate sets of documents... Fabrication drawings are often large, individual member drawings of the individual pieces. They are often prepared by the same supplier.

Dik

 

[canwesteng]

My firm has done shop drawings before... quite tedious, I would highly recommend against it unless you have software doing the bulk of the work (we did). Often it's acceptable to have a stamped list of shop drawings instead of individually stamped pieces, but the work needs to be sealed in some way.

 

[JedClampett]

I'd tell your client that they'll be money and aggravation ahead if they delegate this to a specialist. As everyone above mentioned, these are usually done (or subbed out) by the shop. The people who do them are experts. Some of it is off shored.
It's tedious, mind numbing work. Dimensioning steel to the 1/16 inch is tough. If you end up with an incorrect piece of steel there's real money involved to fix it. Personally, I admire someone who could do this for a living.

 

[Nor Cal SE]

I agree with what JedClampett and others have stated. The effort would be very time-consuming if you're not an outfit already set up for this type of work with the appropriate software, etc. To keep from taking a financial hit, you would want to charge a very large price, likely too large for your client's taste, leading them to look toward a traditional steel fabricator who can do this work more efficiently. I think it's best to head all that off at the onset and recommend they use a steel fabricator.

 

[S R P]

Well, Thank you all for your kind advises. Based on your responses, I think, it is better, safer and saving my time rather than taking this job and asking for future troubles.