Steel Detailing FAQ: Rates, SDS/2, Deliverables and Process

Vertex charges $15–20 USD per hour for steel detailing in SDS/2. Where a package falls in that range depends on connection complexity, miscellaneous steel density, revision volume and turnaround pressure. Hours are estimated from your contract drawings and specifications before work starts, so the total is known up front. See steel detailing rates for the full breakdown.

Skewed, sloped or moment connections, thermally broken connections, dense miscellaneous steel with many unique parts, design changes during detailing, and compressed schedules all move a package toward $20 per hour. Repetitive framing with standard shear connections, complete contract documents, established shop standards and normal review cycles move it toward $15.

An in-house US detailer is estimated at about $45–$90 per productive hour before software, based on illustrative assumptions for salary, benefits, equipment and productive hours. That cost also continues between jobs, while outsourced hours are billed only when there is work. The assumptions are set out on the pricing page.

So you can decide whether the economics work before spending time sending drawings. With hourly pricing, the uncertainty sits in the number of hours, and those are estimated from your documents. Publishing the range, and the factors that move a package within it, gives you the whole picture from the start.

The same $15–20 per hour range applies to structural and miscellaneous steel. Packages dense with unique stairs, rails, ladders and embeds tend toward the upper end, because each part needs its own detail, bill of material line and check. Repeated, standardized items move a package back toward the lower end.

SDS/2 only. The team works in one platform every day, so connection tools, drawing templates, report formats and NC export settings are set up once and refined. If your shop needs native model files from another platform, such as Tekla Structures, Vertex is not the right fit. See SDS/2 vs Tekla for steel detailing.

Shop drawings, erection drawings, SDS/2 3D models, NC/CNC files, bolt lists, material takeoffs and submittal packages, all generated from the same SDS/2 model so marks and revisions match across every file. The deliverables for each package are confirmed at intake. See all detailing services.

SDS/2 exports DSTV NC1 files for beam lines, saws and plate and angle processors, and KISS files for fabrication management software. Tell the team your machines, software and any machine-specific requirements at intake so the output settings match. See NC files and CNC integration.

Yes. Send your piece-mark conventions, connection preferences, sheet templates, bill of material format and NC file format, or a few approved drawing sets if you have no written standards. They are set up in SDS/2 before modeling and reused on later packages. Review the first submittal closely, because that is where differences show.

The SDS/2 steel model can be exported to IFC for the project team's coordination process with other trades. IFC is an exchange format for coordination; it is not an editable native model for another detailing platform. Ask for the export at intake and agree how often it should be refreshed.

Yes. Drawings are prepared in accordance with AISC 303, the Code of Standard Practice, and AISC 360, the Specification for Structural Steel Buildings, with bolted joints called out to the RCSC Specification and weld symbols to AWS A2.4. Dimensions are imperial and sheets use US sizes. See AISC standards for steel detailing.

No. AISC's certification programs audit fabricators, erectors and component manufacturers. Vertex is a detailing firm: it prepares drawings in accordance with AISC 303 and AISC 360, and publishes its checking process on the quality control page instead of relying on a certificate it does not have.

No. Vertex details connections to the design of the Engineer of Record or a delegated connection engineer engaged under the contract. It does not perform stamped connection design or take design responsibility, and missing connection information goes back as an RFI. See connection detailing.

Yes. On the published reference project, the team detailed HSS frames with 1" Armatherm 500 series thermal breaks at the frame-to-structure connections, bolted with (4) 3/4" dia. A325N bolts, washers and bushings. See structural thermal break detailing for what changes in the drawings.

Yes. Miscellaneous steel scope includes stairs, handrails, ladders, embeds, canopies, mezzanines, pipe racks, skids and industrial platforms, detailed in the same SDS/2 model as the structural steel when both are in the package. See miscellaneous steel detailing.

Yes. A common split is Vertex detailing the miscellaneous steel, or one building area, while your in-house detailers handle the rest. Agree the scope boundary and who owns each connection at the boundary during intake, so nothing is detailed twice or missed.

Yes, when they are in the package scope. They are usually released ahead of the rest of the steel because concrete work depends on them, with embed schedules and layout plans dimensioned to gridlines, slab edges and elevations.

Karnataka, India. Vertex Steel Detailing Services was founded in 2026 and has five detailers and checkers. The lead detailer has 8 years of SDS/2 experience. The team details for steel fabricators and construction businesses across the United States and bills in US dollars. See about Vertex.

India Standard Time is UTC+5:30, which is 9 hours 30 minutes ahead of US Eastern Daylight Time. A markup sent at 5:00 p.m. Eastern arrives at 2:30 a.m. in India, the team's working day falls during the US night, and work sized to a working day comes back for the next US morning's review.

It waits for the team's working day in India, which starts during the US night. That is the real downside of the time difference. Batch questions at the end of your day, mark urgent items clearly, and keep an in-house contact for field emergencies. See the risks of outsourcing steel detailing.

Vertex drafts RFIs with sheet, grid and detail references and sends them to you; you submit them through your contractual channel to the Engineer of Record or architect. Each RFI is logged, and pieces that depend on an open answer are held or flagged on the drawings rather than detailed on an assumption.

The SDS/2 model is reviewed against the design drawings and clash-reviewed before drawings are extracted. Every drawing is then checked by a second person who did not draw it, against the design drawings, specifications, RFI responses and your shop standards, and every correction is back-checked before release. See quality control.

Every change is clouded and recorded in the revision block, the revision is advanced, and the sheet is re-checked and logged. Approval issues use letters, such as Rev A, and fabrication issues use numbers, such as Rev 0. Bolt lists and NC files are reissued from the same model revision as the drawings.

Yes. Vertex's internal check reduces what reaches reviewers, but approval by the Engineer of Record and architect is still part of the process under AISC 303 and your contract. Comments from that review are incorporated, clouded, re-checked and reissued like any other revision.

Five since the company was founded in 2026. One is published as an anonymised case study; the others will be added once their details are confirmed for publication. See completed projects.

Send contract drawings and specifications with addenda, the scope split between structural and miscellaneous steel, the deliverables you need, your shop standards and NC format if you have them, and target dates for the approval submittal and fabrication release. Use the project inquiry form or email the package.

A first package of limited scope, such as one building area or a miscellaneous steel release, is a sensible way to judge checked drawings, the quality of the questions and how revisions are handled before committing a large job. Send the documents and describe the scope you want to start with.

The inquiry form accepts one attachment of up to 4 MB. For full drawing sets, paste a link to a shared folder or file-transfer service into the form, or email the link to sales@vertexsteeldetailing.com.

There is no honest single number. Duration depends on scope, document completeness, how quickly RFIs are answered and how long review cycles take. A schedule is proposed with the hour estimate after your documents are reviewed. See steel detailing turnaround times.