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- Bill of materials
- Cut list
- Section
- Connection
- EN 1090
- Execution class
- Galvanising
- Load list
- Erection
- Trade interfaces
- Snags
- Handover file
The chain, from the tender list to handover.
The bill of materials is the document everything else depends on — but you have to be on the tender list to write one.
Getting on the list
Website, completed frames, tonnages, capacity and certifications on show. Nobody invites a fabricator whose work they cannot find.
Enquiry in
Tender, drawings, documents. Dated, attributed to its source, attached to a client rather than to an email thread.
Design
The general arrangement becomes a bill of materials: sections, plates, bolts, quantities, mark numbers.
Cutting & assembly
Every piece has a length, an offcut and a welding time. The workshop consumes the bill of materials instead of retyping it.
Finishing & erection
Galvanising or powder coating subcontracted, load lists, erection sequence, trade interfaces. The crane is booked by the day.
Handover
Snags, clearance, handover file, final account. What went up has to match what was priced.
What jams, and where.
You never make the tender list
A project manager looking for a fabricator in your county starts with Google. With no current site and no visible work, you are not among the three invited.
Your completed work is nowhere
Twenty years of frames erected and not one page telling the story. References sit in a PDF sent on request, when they should be bringing the request in.
The bill of materials is copied three times
Design, workshop, buying: three versions of the same table. The fourth drawing revision never reaches all three.
Piece traceability is manual
EN 1090 asks which cast a piece came from and who welded it. A paper folder holds until the first audit.
What we put in place.
First exist for the people who send out tenders, then lose nothing between design and erection. The piece is the unit: it carries its mark from the saw to the handover file.
A site of references and capacity
Frames erected, tonnages, execution class, plant list. One page per building type, one per county covered.
SEO built around tenders
Queries a project manager or client actually runs, pages by building type, Google listing, reviews. Ads cover the months before organic arrives.
A living bill of materials
One bill of materials, revised in place. The workshop and buying consume the current version, not a dated copy.
Traceability piece by piece
Mark, cast, welder, inspection: the record follows the piece from cutting to erection and comes out as-is in the handover file.
Frequently asked questions
How do we get onto more tender lists?
By making what you can do verifiable. A page for each building type you erect, with real tonnage, span and programme; your EN 1090 execution class and certifications on show; a page per county covered. A project manager invites three fabricators — they pick the ones whose work they could check in five minutes.
What software should a structural steelwork fabricator use?
You need a tool that starts at the design bill of materials and follows it to erection: cutting and offcuts in the workshop, piece traceability for EN 1090, load lists and subcontracted finishing, then erection progress and interim applications. MetalSales covers that chain; detailing software stays upstream of it.
Does MetalSales replace detailing software such as Tekla or Advance Steel?
No, and it is not meant to. Detailing produces the drawings and the bill of materials; MetalSales takes over from there — pricing, buying, workshop, load lists, site, invoicing. The bill of materials is imported rather than retyped.
How do you keep EN 1090 traceability without a paper folder?
Every piece carries its mark and its record: grade and cast, operator, welding procedure, inspections. The record is filled in as fabrication happens and comes out as-is in the handover file, with nothing reconstructed after the fact.
Can bundles sent out for galvanising be tracked?
Yes. A bundle is a tracked object with its despatch date, its subcontractor, its expected return and the gap actually observed. A late bundle shows up before erection day rather than on the morning itself.
See your tender pipeline and your live contracts.
Bring a bill of materials and an erection programme. We also look at what the three nearest fabricators rank for.