How structural steel work is measured and billed

Almost every structural steel package in Indian process plants is measured the same way: by weight of steel, in metric tonnes, taken from the approved drawings. The rate is per MT. Everything else follows from that.

Where the tonnage comes from

Tonnage is calculated from the fabrication drawings, not from a weighbridge. Each member has a section, a length and a standard unit weight, and those multiply out to a figure both sides can check independently. This is why approved drawings matter so much: change the drawing and you change the bill.

Gussets, cleats, stiffeners and base plates are counted. Weld metal, bolts and paint usually are not counted as steel weight — they sit inside the rate instead.

Fabrication and erection can be priced separately

On some contracts the two are quoted as one combined per-MT rate. On others they are split, with one rate for fabrication in the yard and another for erection at site. Splitting them is useful when the client wants to fabricate elsewhere and only needs erection, or when erection is spread across a long shutdown window.

Neither approach is better. What matters is that the split is written down before work starts, along with how part-completed work is measured if the job pauses.

What changes the tonnage after award

Three things move tonnage on a live job: drawing revisions, site-condition changes such as a foundation that has moved, and additions the plant asks for once the frame is standing — an extra platform, a stair, a handrail run. All three are normal. The problem is only ever that they were not recorded when they happened.

We measure jointly and record revisions as they arrive, so the final bill is a document both sides have already seen rather than a surprise at the end.

A note on rates

We do not publish our rates, and you should be cautious of anyone who does. A rate that fits a 1,500 MT ethanol plant frame in Chhattisgarh does not fit a 500 MT building in Gujarat: the section mix, the lift heights, the site access, the crane time and the deployment period are all different. Send us the drawing and the site, and you get a number that means something.