Jun. 30, 2025
When planning a major project that will require custom metal fabrication, selecting the best company for the job can be an overwhelming task. With numerous options available, it’s important to consider several factors to narrow down your choices and find a custom metal fabrication shop that can effectively meet your needs. Here are ten key areas to explore when choosing a custom metal fabrication company:
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While assessing a metal fabrication company, it’s important to not only consider their overall industry experience but also their specific expertise in projects similar to yours. Different fabricators may specialize in particular types of buildings or focus on projects of specific sizes. Evaluating their past projects and determining their relevance to your requirements will help ensure they have the necessary capabilities, skills, and knowledge to successfully handle your project.
The size and expertise of a metal fabricator’s workforce are vital considerations. A company with a small team may struggle to complete your project within the desired timeframe. Furthermore, it’s essential to ensure that the fabricator has a workforce composed of highly skilled craftsmen who are capable of delivering high-quality work. Verifying the qualifications and expertise of their team members is essential in assuring your project is in capable hands.
Efficiency and quality in the fabrication process are often determined by the technology and equipment utilized. Metal fabricators who have made significant investments in cutting-edge equipment are more likely to offer improved results. Inquire about a shop’s equipment and technology to gauge their commitment to staying up to date with the latest industry advancements.
The importance of building and maintaining strong vendor relationships cannot be understated. These partnerships play a crucial role in delivering the highest quality products and services to valued customers. By collaborating closely with trusted suppliers, fabrication shops can ensure a steady supply of top-grade raw materials, cutting-edge technologies, and specialized equipment. Strong vendor relationships not only enhance capabilities but also foster a seamless and efficient workflow, resulting in timely project completion and customer satisfaction.
Consider the geographical location of the fabricator and their service coverage. While proximity might save costs on shipping, it’s important to assess the value offered by fabricators with better facilities and experience in transporting projects across larger distances. Additionally, understanding the types of customers they have served in various areas can provide insights into their capabilities and compatibility with your project requirements.
Obtaining multiple quotes from different fabricators is a common practice for large projects. The pricing offered by each fabricator should align with industry standards and reflect the quality and expertise they bring to the table. It’s a good idea to request detailed estimates that encompass all aspects of the project, leaving no room for hidden costs that may arise later.
The completion of your project goes beyond initial construction. It’s essential to choose a metal fabricator that can handle additional processes such as blasting, painting, and finishing in-house. Avoid surprises by selecting a fabricator who does not need to subcontract the finishing work. Opting for a single company that can manage your project from start to finish saves time, money, and ensures consistent quality throughout the entire process.
Depending on the scale and complexity of your project, not all fabrication shops may be equipped to handle it effectively. Evaluate the fabricator’s facilities to ensure they have the necessary resources, space, and equipment to accommodate your project’s specific requirements. Adequate facilities will contribute to smoother operations and enhance the chances of successful project completion.
Seeking references from other clients who have worked with a metal fabricator is always a prudent step. Ask the company for references and conduct online research, checking platforms like the Better Business Bureau (BBB), to gauge the fabricator’s reputation and dependability. Learning from others’ experiences can provide valuable insights into the fabricator’s professionalism, reliability, and overall quality of work.
Ensure that the metal fabrication company holds relevant certifications and follows industry-standard quality measures. Inquire about their commitment to delivering high-quality work that meets or exceeds inspection requirements. A fabricator that values quality standards will be better equipped to deliver satisfactory results for your project. By thoroughly exploring these ten areas when comparing custom metal fabricators, you can make an informed decision and select a fabrication team that aligns with your project requirements.
Choosing the right company will help you avoid setbacks in your timeline and prevent budget overruns. Taking the time to ask the right questions and evaluate a fabricators’ capabilities will ultimately lead to a successful outcome for your project.
Stands for American Iron and Steel Institute. The institute serves as the voice of the North American steel industry. AISI numbers are used to categorize metals by alloy type and carbon content, and they do it with four digits. The first two digits of an AISI number refer to the alloy type, and the second two digits refer to carbon content.
A metal made by combining two or more metallic elements. An alloy typically possesses qualities different from those of the components used to create it.
Stands for American Society for Metals. ASM International is the world’s largest association of metal material engineers and scientists. The association engages and connects materials professionals and their organizations to the resources necessary to solve problems, improve outcomes, and advance society.
Stands for American Society for Testing and Materials. ASTM International is a not-for-profit organization that develops standards for materials, products, systems, and services. Metal with an ASTM designation meets the international standards for quality and regulations.
This process levels coil into a flat sheet or blank. The service provides better length and width tolerances than sheared product, and it can improve diagonal tolerances as well.
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Cutting metals can leave behind burrs, which are unwanted raised edges or protrusions. Deburring is the process of removing these burrs with a tool.
Drawing is a metalworking process that uses tensile forces to stretch metal. As the metal is drawn, it stretches thinner, into a desired shape and thickness.
Drawing is usually done at room temperature, classifying it as a cold working process. However, it may be performed at elevated temperatures during special applications like on large wires, rods, or hollow sections in order to reduce forces.
A metal fabricating term that refers to the degree to which a material can be bent, stretched, or compressed before rupturing. A metal’s elongation is a point between tensile strength and yield strength, and it is typically expressed as a percentage of the original length.
The thickness of sheet metal in the USA is commonly specified by a traditional, non-linear measure known as its gauge. The larger the gauge number, the thinner the metal.
A heat number is an identification number that is stamped on a material plate to prove it meets industry quality standards which require materials to be tested by the manufacturer. The heat lot or heat number is used to identify production runs for quality control purposes.
Edge rolling is the process of adding finishing edges to metal. It forms the edge of a strip to the desired shape beyond that of a standard slit edge.
Stands for Military Standard. This classification establishes uniform engineering and technical requirements for military-unique or substantially modified commercial processes, procedures, practices, and methods. In order to qualify, materials have undergone rugged, exact testing, equal to the exigencies of combat use.
Normalization is a heat treatment that relieves stress on steel to improve ductility and toughness in steel that may harden after the cold working process. During normalization, steel is warmed to a temperature just above its upper critical point. Normalized heat treatment facilitates a more uniform final product.
The Rockwell Scale indicates the hardness of materials. Rockwell hardness numbers are most often used to describe the hardness of metals, although they are also used for some plastics. The Rockwell scale is based on measuring the depth of the indentation made by pressing a diamond point into a material.
Stands for Society of Automotive Engineers. SAE International is a global association of engineers and related technical experts in the aerospace, automotive, and commercial-vehicle industries. Materials meeting SAE standards are internationally recognized for safety, quality, and effectiveness.
Slitting is a precise shearing process, but instead of making cuts at the end of a workpiece like shearing, slitting cuts a wide coil of metal into a number of narrower coils as the main coil is moved through the slitter. During the slitting process, the metal coil passes lengthwise through the slitter’s circular blades.
Temper refers to reheating hardened, normalized, or mechanically worked steel to a temperature below the critical range to soften it and improve impact strength. Tempering results in greater toughness by decreasing an alloy’s hardness.
The maximum stress a material will withstand before fracturing or breaking. The ultimate tensile strength is calculated from the maximum load applied during the test, divided by the original cross-sectional area.
Stands for the Unified Numbering System for Metals and Alloys. UNS designation provides a means of correlating internationally used metal and alloy numbering systems currently administered by societies, trade associations, and those individual users and producers of metals and alloys. This system is meant to avoid the confusion caused by using more than one identification number for the same metal or alloy, and the opposite situation of having the same number assigned to two or more different metals or alloys.
The amount of stress a material can withstand before causing permanent deformity.
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