Timber has long been the framing material of choice for buildings. A sturdy and familiar material, it has been used on structures all over the world for hundreds of years. However, steel framing is fast becoming a popular alternative which is increasingly being specified.
In this blog, we discuss just a few of the advantages of steel and how Cold Formed steel (CFS) framing can benefit your next project.
List of Why Choose Steel Framing For Your Next Project ?
- Time
- Labour
- Cost
- The Bottom Line
Time
Being too slow to design, engineer and construct buildings impacts profit margins. Time delays are a major factor that has turned many developers, architects, and contractors from timber to steel framing. The short lead times that customers demand means that speed of construction is essential – an area where CFS framing excels.
For engineers and architects, steel framing offers significant time savings during design. Structural steel framing software can enable frame detailing and engineering to be completed in parallel as well as quicker than timber frame design. For a 250m² house, the timber frame design process can take between 13–20 days, whereas using Cold Formed Steel framing software can reduce this to just 3-5 days – a saving of up to 15 days. Value engineering can also be done using steel design software, which will then create detailed framing plans in a fraction of the time compared to timber designs.
Labour
When using timber frame construction, highly skilled labour is required to construct the frames on-site – labour that is hard to find and expensive to retain. With steel framing studs, the highly skilled labour is required at the design stage, where changes can be made quickly and easily. While many manufacturers and contractors are concerned that it will be more difficult to train workers to erect steel framing systems, the reality is that it is very easy to train staff – often, easier than timber framing, especially when using an automated construction system.
Labourers just need to fellow a kit-set approach where all the components are already the exact size and just need to be pieced together without any cutting or measuring. Being around a third lighter than timber, lightweight steel framing is also easier to manoeuvre on the job site, which speeds up erection.
Cost
For developers and contractors, metal framing studs offer a way to avoid budget and schedule overruns. Not only is steel manufactured to the exact sizes required, holes for cables and fixings can also be pre-punched, virtually eliminating cutting operations on site. This precision also means less re-work from replacing warped or non-flush members, or mistakes made with timber components during construction. It is also easier to quantify, forecast and calculate construction time, reducing the risk of schedule overruns and material quantity errors.
Overall, steel framing is less expensive than timber. The accurate quantities mean that only the required amount of steel is ordered, reducing upfront material costs and waste on site. Steel also has fewer issues with quality or with a lack of available material, unlike timber which can have defects and material shortages.
The Bottom Line
Although a traditional method, timber has many costs and uncertainties and requires highly skilled labour at all stages of the construction process. Steel is the most cost-efficient, time-saving and accurate way to construct buildings. With steel framing, highly skilled labour is confined to the design stage, reducing the overall cost while speeding up the erection process on site.
Using steel combined with a complete end-to-end automated construction system makes steel framing even more superior. For example, with FRAMECAD Structure, frame detailing and real-time engineering can be completed alongside each other, and workshop drawings created rapidly after engineer sign-off. This design-led process enables 100% accurate steel framing to be manufactured for cost-efficient, high-quality construction with minimal erection times.
Learn more about how cold-formed steel can be applied in your upcoming projects, by contacting our team today.
Source
FRAMECAD
https://blog.framecad.com/blog/steel-framing-vs-timber-framing-which-is-better
