Project scope

One of our many regular customers needed structural steel for a loft conversion. They placed an order early in the week. The steel was booked to arrive within 2 working days on the Thursday, which demonstrates our fast turnaround from order to delivery and lift. 

The steel was a common size and we had it in our large stock facility. So, we were able to process the job very quickly indeed to a high level of specification.  

The appropriate steel was then selected from the stock facility and transported for cutting. At this point they steels were checked off against the cutting list and then sawn to the precise lengths, as is the case with all jobs and then double checked. 

Next up is fabrication! We moved the steels to the fabrication area, where it was checked again by the fabrication team to ensure the steels had been cut at the correct length, before we initiated the fabrication process. 

So, we cleaned up the cut ends. Then the butt splice plates were on the ends of the cut. We prepared the ends and tack welded into place. 

The fabrication was then checked by our in-house QA team, to ensure accuracy to the order. 

The next stage is for the steels to be fully welded to specification. After that, the drilling begins, and our in-house QA team checks the steels again. The goal is to ensure that holes, plates and fabrication specifications were adhered to the engineer specification and that they line up perfectly as required.

After that, we cut and prepared the bearing plates. They support the steels in our plates section, ready to be consolidated with the main job.  

Have a blast!

The next phase is blasting and painting! We paint the steels using the correct thickness of paint in microns and then hung in the yard to dry. In this case it was fireproof 30min.

We like checking a lot! It saves errors. Again, checked by the QA and loading teams, they ensure that all steel was fabricated correctly to the command. Once this is complete, then we add bolts, steel to steel fixings, nuts and washers and packing plates (if required) to finally complete the job, ready for loading and delivery. 

The steel was then loaded on to our 22 metre hiab lorry, ready to reach their destination in Bedfordshire. The driver checks the load ready for a 5am start and then it is delivered to site and placed where the customer needed it, on the roof for another successful loft conversion!