If you work construction, you’re probably not a stranger to custom metal parts. That’s what we’d like to discuss in this article. We’ll go over how custom metal parts are used in the construction industry. Some key points to look for when choosing where to outsource your metal fabricated parts. And finally, some details and examples. Enough introduction, let’s get right into it!
How is Fabrication Used in the Construction Industry?
We can look at fabrication in the construction industry from two directions. Fabricated parts can be used internally or externally. Internally, fabricated parts can be used as custom tools or fixtures to help with preparation or installation of specific construction materials. Building out railings with evenly spaced balusters can go much quicker with a custom tool that holds multiple balusters at the right spacing while they’re secured. Similarly, using a custom fabricated handhold for awkwardly shaped items can reduce the number of workers required to move and install it, saving time and money.
For internal use parts, you have the option of using lower cost materials like mild steel, plywood and MDF to make a quick disposable tool for use in a single job or more robust materials like steel, stainless steel and plastic for a tool that can last years to be used on multiple jobs.
By using fabricated parts externally, we mean that the fabricated parts make it into the final product delivered to your customers. This could be hidden, like a bracket to mount a fixture or it could be exposed like a simple cover panel or even a decorative accent piece.
For customer facing parts, you’ll likely want to focus more on the final appearance. That could be a brushed or polished finish in aluminum, stainless, copper or brass. Or it may be a coating to offer both protection and aesthetic appeal, like paint, powder coating or anodizing. Even hidden components may benefit from some level of protection against the elements to keep them functioning for decades. Paint, powder coating, zinc plating and anodizing can increase the time these parts can spend before corrosion becomes an issue.
Being able to incorporate custom fabricated parts into your workflow can help you offer more to your customers in the way of reduced schedule and cost due to increased efficiency, higher quality due to better materials or finishes, or it can help you stand out by offering custom touches other companies don’t offer.
Types of Custom Metal Fabrication for Construction
Machining
- Turn billets of metal into precisely dimensioned parts
- On the higher end of cost, but also high precision
Welding
- Permanently join metal parts together into a single piece
- A seamless alternative to fasteners
- Takes the right equipment and level of skill
Cutting
- Turn big pieces into smaller pieces
- Can be done with a wide range of tools from hand shears to lasers
- Used in most metal fabrication projects
Drilling
- The go-to for round holes
- Necessary for tapping threads, countersinking, counterboring and dimple dies
Coating
- Can be both attractive and increase protection from corrosion
- Some coatings offer increased wear protection and reduced friction
Bending
- Turn 2D sheet metal into 3D parts
- From a simple stiffening flange to a complex formed shape
What to Look for in Metal Fabrication for Construction
Not all manufacturers are created equally. That’s not to mean all manufacturers must have the same qualifications to be acceptable, but it is important to know what to look for to get the components you need. We’ve put together a short list to highlight some aspects of manufacturers to consider when outsourcing any of your work.
Quality Assurance and Quality Control
Quality products and services are critical. If a supplier doesn’t consistently produce quality work, they should be avoided. Keep in mind quality does not mean perfect. Quality in the manufacturing world refers to consistently producing results at or above a specified level. That could mean many different things depending on the manufacturer. A fabrication shop should be able to source the correct materials and cut them to size within a specified tolerance.
One way manufacturing companies are able to provide consistent levels of quality is with processes known as Quality Assurance and Quality Control. Even the smallest companies should have processes in place to monitor quality, identify deviations from standards and correct issues appropriately before they ship to customers. That’s known as Quality Control. Quality Assurance refers to the process of preventing losses in quality before they happen. That may include regular equipment maintenance, planning out and verifying proper manufacturing processes are being followed.
Don’t be afraid to ask new manufacturers about their quality processes.
Expertise and Reputation
When looking at manufacturers for your parts, their expertise is an important consideration. Each company will have a unique focus that should drive the type of employees they hire and the equipment they purchase. Some processes can be performed with less skill, which can reduce costs, but some processes and services need more experience and expertise.
Similarly, a company may have all the right equipment and personnel, but have the reputation of being difficult to work with or producing sub-par products. It’s worth a closer look at companies with poor reputations.
Certifications
Some manufacturers will go the extra mile and obtain certifications for their materials or processes. This generally involves a third party organization certifying that the manufacturer meets a specific standard. Not all parts require certification, but when dealing with critical components or anything safety related you may want that certification.
ISO 9001 is an international standard that specifies the requirements dealing with quality. By being ISO 9001 certified, a company shows that it has a set of quality processes in place and is following them.
There are also certifications that cover materials, hardware or processes performed on materials such as coatings. These could include material certifications to confirm materials meet physical property standards. Fasteners will have their own standards such as grade or class. Finishes like zinc plating (ASTM B633) and anodizing (MIL-A-8625) are another area with their own industry standards to be certified against.
It should be noted here, that there is a difference between conforming to a standard and being certified. Conforming to a standard means the supplier follows or meets the requirements of a given industry standard, but they don’t necessarily have a third party verification to prove it. Being certified means just that, a third party has certified the products or services actually meet the standard. You’ll often pay more for certification, but you’ll need to decide for yourself where that’s required.
Materials Available
Another aspect of manufacturing suppliers to consider is the range of materials they offer. This is especially useful when developing prototypes where you may need to test multiple materials before deciding which to use for production or to build prototypes from less expensive materials utilizing the same processes. It can also be useful when offering your customers different levels of a specific product. Maybe with a painted steel to stainless steel or anodized aluminum upgrade path.
SendCutSend offers a wide range of materials from metals, woods, plastics and composites in a similarly wide range of thicknesses. You can see all the materials we have available on our website.
Delivery Timing
There’s more to delivery timing than just how quickly a supplier can turn around a part order. How quickly can they do it week after week? How quickly can they do it during busy seasons or over holidays? What is their capacity for when you need quantities in the hundreds or thousands vs a single part? How much material do they keep in stock? How efficient are their processes? When evaluating suppliers for lead time, it’s important to ask these types of questions. Delays in your production schedule typically trickle down to your customers, which is not a good look.
SendCutSend has gone the extra mile by automating much of our production process to be as streamlined and efficient as possible. Regardless of the time of year, standard orders are produced within 1-3 days and take 1-3 days for shipping.
Cost of Materials and Services
The final aspect we’ll discuss here is cost. This is often the only, or at least most important aspect many customers consider when outsourcing parts. It’s important to know what you get for your money, which is why we’ve covered everything else first. When it comes to cost, all companies are in business to make money, so it’s unrealistic to not expect some markup on material costs or charges for additional services. A supplier with an efficient setup is able to reduce their markup and pass those savings along to their customers. Look for things like discounts on higher quantities for example. Also look at potential value add options such as included services.
At SendCutSend we’re constantly improving our processes, finding new and innovative ways to produce quality parts quickly. Evidenced by the fact that we’ve been able to reduce our costs while adding new materials and new services. Our website also includes a host of design tools (parts builder, templates, bend calculator, material selector, hardware catalog and more) freely available to help make your design process as smooth as possible. Finally, our website is full of guidelines, tutorials, blog articles like this one and many more resources, all free. You don’t have to take our word for it, browse our website resources and we offer instant pricing so you can check pricing on your own parts any time.
Popular Metals
Aluminum
Aluminum makes a great construction material. It can be nearly as strong as steel, but doesn’t suffer from rust. Its lighter weight can be a big advantage when lifting or hanging it, both during installation and being able to utilize smaller mounts. Aluminum excels on the aesthetic front also, it can be brushed, polished, powder coated or anodized.
One weakness with aluminum is its ability to resist wear. In high wear applications anodizing, especially Type III, also known as hardcoat, can give aluminum a much harder, better wearing surface.
Brass/Copper
We’ve lumped these two together because they tend to be used similarly. Most often they’re used as decorative or accent pieces rather than structurally. They are used quite a bit in plumbing and electrical applications. Pipes, fittings, wire, etc are commonly made from copper and brass.
Steel
Steel is a workhorse metal in construction. It’s inexpensive, strong, can be welded, formed, tapped, painted, powder coated, plated. For a higher strength option, there are alloys of steel like Chromoly that offer significantly more strength but still keep all the other properties that make steel appealing, albeit at a slightly higher cost.
Steel does suffer from corrosion/rust, but that can be mitigated with an appropriate finish.
Stainless Steel
Stainless Steel has similar benefits to mild steel, with the added benefit of being much more resistant to corrosion without needing a finish to protect it. This makes it ideal in areas near salt water, or any exterior application where weather is a concern.
Titanium
Titanium isn’t a common material in construction. Its higher cost is justified in aerospace and motorsports applications where strength-to-weight and high heat resistance are key factors. That said, it does offer excellent corrosion resistance so it may be worth considering for your application.
10 Common Uses for Custom Metal Fabrication in Construction
- Sheet Metal Fabrication – Sheet metal gets utilized at all levels of construction. From metal studs, electrical boxes, HVAC ducting all the way to final touches like decorative trim, sheet metal has a huge variety of uses.
- Structural Steel Beam Fabrication – Steel beams can support more load over wider spans than wood beams which allows more flexibility during construction.
- Steel Ladder Fabrication – Commercial construction often has roof access in the form of a steel ladder. Often these ladders and the safety protection that surrounds them are custom fabricated.
- Structure Steel Truss Fabrication – Similar to steel beams, steel trusses can carry more load that wooden trusses.
- Mezzanine Structures – Mezzanines built using custom steel fabrication offer unique spaces for your customers.
- Railings – Stairs, ramps and catwalks typically utilize metal railings. These are often custom fabricated from steel, stainless steel, aluminum or a combination.
- Custom door frames – There are a million doors and frames available “off-the-shelf”, but often what makes construction stand out is the custom touches. While the door may get most of the attention, a custom door should have a custom frame surrounding it.
- Custom tools – Like we mentioned above, having a custom set of tools can make construction and installation more efficient.
- Decorative Fabrication – Simple decorative panels or fixtures and more can take a final product to the next level.
- One-Off Fab and Mods – High-end construction is rarely described as “cookie cutter”. Small touches of custom fabrication and modifications can make you and your team stand out among other offerings.
Importance of Outsourcing Metal Fab for Construction
Why outsource the metal fabrication for your business? There are several advantages to having some or all of the fabrication done by a third party (like SendCutSend).
- Access to high end materials – Buying just the parts you need can often save you money over buying the raw material minimum quantities yourself. Plus you don’t have to store the unused material.
- Access to high end equipment – Laser cutters, water jet cutters, CNC routers, CNC bending brakes, powder coat ovens, zinc plating equipment and more. All of these can have a significant up front investment cost, recurring maintenance costs, take up shop space and require skilled technicians to operate effectively.
- Time Savings – If someone else is taking some or all of the fabrication off your plate, you’re able to focus on other aspects of the project. Multiply that by large quantities of parts or parts with higher complexity and it can eat up a significant amount of time. For those time-crunch situations, SendCutSend offers overnight shipping.
- Quality Results – Even if you had the materials, equipment and technicians, you still need to work through calibration and nailing down the procedures that give you the best quality. SendCutSend has already done that for you.
Challenges in Outsourcing Metal Fab Parts
- Intellectual Property Protection – Your designs are valuable. Once of the challenges with outsourcing is making sure you retain full rights to your intellectual property. When you send designs to SendCutSend you’re covered under our Terms of Service which include Privacy Protection and Intellectual Property Rights.
- Supply Chain Disruptions – When you build parts in-house, you control more of your supply chain. Transferring that manufacturing outside introduces steps in the process outside of your control. Even if everything goes well, there’s still the extra steps of sending the designs out and having the parts shipped in. SendCutSend deals with that in multiple ways. Our free instant quote tool makes ordering parts quick and easy. Drag and drop your designs, select your options and order. We also review designs early in the process and contact customers to discuss any potential concerns before they become a problem. Finally, we include free fast shipping with optional overnight shipping for rush parts.
- Communication Barriers – Explaining your designs to someone else can lead to issues. There’s always a risk of losing something in translation. This can slow down the process and even end up in unusable parts showing up at the last minute. SendCutSend uses an automated ordering process. You upload your digital files directly and you select your options from our list of services. To help reduce confusion even further you can upload supporting information such as 3D images.
Leveraging SendCutSend Sheet Metal Manufacturing for Your Construction Business
Custom metal parts can be beneficial at nearly any stage or type of construction. Choosing to have your parts fabricated by a third party, like SendCutSend, can save you time, money and help to elevate your business above your competition. If you’re still on the fence, that’s ok, we always offer instant pricing for you to review and we’re available to discuss your needs. Take a look at our website and everything we have to offer. We’re ready to help with your custom metal fabrication needs.
