07 Feb Choosing a Structural Steel Fabricator

What Makes a Good Steel Fabricator?

Choosing a steel fabricator is not a decision to take lightly; selecting the right structural steel fabrication company will help ensure a seamless and hopefully hassle-free process for your project. Choosing the right ones could play a pivotal part in the quality of the finished structural steel project.

Structural steel fabricators don’t all work in the same way. The differences will be in the processes they follow, equipment they use and types of projects they work on. It’s important to consider various factors like this before approaching steel fabrication companies in your local area.

Not only that, but we’ve outlined some vital things to consider, which will help you determine the ideal steel fabricators to help meet your project’s needs, requirements, timescales and budget.

Variety of Products and Services

In the building industry, your initial idea of what types of structural steel you need isn’t always going to be entirely accurate. While it helps to know how many steel beams you need, and to know the difference between a universal steel column and a parallel flange channel, sometimes you need certain steel products which are more specific.

Therefore, it helps if steel fabricators near you offer many more versatile and specific steel, such as mild steel, hollow sections and flat bars.

Aside from having many structural steel products to choose from, it helps if a local steel fabricator offers various different services, which can help make your project easier. Here are just a few of them which are often sought after by contractors.

• Mobile welding – many fabricators offer on-site fabrication and mobile welding services. Having access to a fully-qualified coded welder to attend your site, who can complete anything from basic drilling and cutting to full steel welding jobs that are on a tight deadline, is beneficial to many of our customers.

• 3D fabrication drawings – for any job, it is exceptionally helpful to have steel fabrication drawings using state-of-the-art steel detailing software. 3D models of your project can be visualised based on the architects’ drawings and structural engineers’ drawings, meaning you are getting a great picture of how your project will look. Any amendments and updates can be worked out ahead of time, ensuring minimal (if any) delays. 3D steel drawings are particularly useful for steel frame buildings.
• HIAB and crane hire – having these crane-mounted lorries attend your site can give you peace of mind knowing the structural steel is going to be where it needs to be. Good-quality fabricators will ensure the steel is delivered on time but also help you shift it appropriately, not just leave you to deal with it after delivery.
• Delivery and installation – there is nothing quite as frustrating as a delay in materials being delivered. This slows down the project from being finished, therefore it can fail to meet deadlines. One thing steel fabricators and suppliers should do is ensure accurate delivery of materials, done with a view of making their clients’ lives easier. This is why good quality suppliers will complete a site visit to assess and determine specifics, the best method of delivery and how it will be installed.
• Custom steel fabrication – while structural steel may be a fabricators’ bread and butter, knowing that they can fabricate other types of steel (such as stainless steel) and also provide more than just beams and frames. Knowing ahead of time that your chosen fabricator can design, manufacture and install steel gates, railings, staircases and steel fencing gives you more of an idea of how versatile they are.

Industry Experience

As you well know, a structural steel fabricator will likely have a varied work history. Therefore, it is a good idea to check that your commercial or industrial project will be suitable for that fabricator. Choosing experienced businesses specialising in supplying structural steel, welding and fabricating various steels using a wide range of equipment, while also ensuring their services meet your requirements, should mean that the job is completed efficiently, quickly and to a high standard. For your reference, you can see our work.

Taking a gamble on a fabricator with less experience might be feasible for some, but choosing an experienced steel fabricator with years of experience working on large-scale projects can be a more preferable option.

Service and Quality

Look at the ways in which a structural steel company interacts with their clients. Trustworthy steel fabricators will always look beyond the bottom line, and actually put their customers first. They will want a full understanding of what you’re after, and how realistically they can help you achieve your goals. Good steel fabricators will want to ensure you don’t go over budget, are not going to fall behind schedule and are willing to be flexible and adapt to your requests.

Always look for CE-marked structural steel, which ensures that they are legally trading in Europe! Not only that, but look at the quality of steel that company is fabricating and supplying. For example, look at whether the steel is:

• Corrosion resistant – steel can rust without appropriate steel finishing measures in place.
• Fire resistant – structural steel products should all have fire-protective coatings according to industry regulations.

Fabricators Near You

Baker Steel Trading are, suffice to say, able to accommodate everything that you have read in this blog. Not only are we authorised and regulated steel fabricators in Surrey who are CE-approved, and who can provide steel fabrication in-house or on-site, but we firmly believe in delivering high-quality products with superb service.

We believe in putting you first, and will work with you from start to finish. Whatever that involves from our end, we want to give you a fully transparent service.

We also offer our customers a free estimate. So get in touch with us to find out more!