Home / Steel stud framing
Cold-formed steel framing
Steel studs for storage units, retail interiors and buildings up to five stories, framed by our own crews in eight western states. Storage is what we frame most, and unit two hundred goes up faster than unit one.
One building, two systems
The Eugene facility shows where cold-formed steel starts and stops.
Heavy steel takes the load where it is greatest, near the ground. Light gauge takes over above it. The mix cost less than running red iron all the way up, and the same crews frame the units inside.
Tap a floor to see what holds it up.
What we frame
Drive-up rows
Single-level units repeated across a site. Fast, non-combustible, and what our crews know best.
RV and boat bays
Taller and wider, usually inside a steel shell. Door height drives the framing before anything else on the drawings.
Multi-story
Load-bearing steel carrying upper floors on infill lots, where land cost means the building goes up rather than out.
Retail fit-outs
Steel stud framing on remodels, worked around a live store and the trades behind us.
Backup and curtain wall
Non-load-bearing exterior walls on buildings whose main structure is concrete or red iron. We take it as its own scope.
Inside our own shells
When the units sit in a metal building, we usually erect that too. See metal buildings.
How a framing job runs
Framing is a short, concentrated burst of labor in the middle of the schedule. These are the steps, in order.
- Drawings and gauge. We settle what is load-bearing before the bid, because the two price nothing alike.
- Schedule in your system. We take a login to Procore or Outbuild and plan around the slab and the trades behind us.
- Crew arrives and stays. Veteran leads, sized to the scope, living near the job instead of commuting to it.
- Walls up, trades in. We close what can be closed and leave open what mechanical and electrical still need.
Framing questions
Is cold-formed steel the same as steel studs or light gauge?
Yes. Engineers write cold-formed steel, superintendents say steel studs, suppliers say light gauge. It is one product. What actually matters is the gauge and whether the wall carries load.
What does steel stud framing cost?
Published industry figures for commercial metal stud framing run about $9 to $20 a square foot installed, with labor a quarter to a half of that. Partitions sit at the low end and load-bearing walls at the top, and West Coast labor and freight add roughly 15 to 25 percent. That is an industry range, not our price. Try the range tool or send drawings.
Can cold-formed steel carry floors?
Yes, within limits an engineer sets. In Eugene it carries floors three to five of a storage building, with red iron below. That mix is common because heavy steel is the right answer low in a building and the expensive one higher up.
Why steel instead of wood?
Steel does not burn, rot, warp or draw pests, which matters most in a building full of other people’s belongings. Wood is still cheaper on small, low buildings, and when it is the better answer we will say so.
Do your own people frame the job?
Always. We do not broker framing to a labor supplier or hand it to another sub after award. The crew that bid the job is the crew that shows up.
How do you fit into the schedule?
Through your system, usually Procore or Outbuild. Framing waits on the slab and structure and everything after it waits on the walls, so we plan which walls to close and which to leave open for mechanical, electrical and drywall.
Framing scope out to bid?
Send the set and tell us whether you are the GC or the owner. Those are different quotes.