Comments on Steel Construction…Equipment Management…Conferences…

Abstract

Contractual relationships often impose barriers to good communication in the construction of steel structures. There are times when the erector works for the general contractor, the fabricator works for the general contractor under a separate contract, and the fabricator sublets the detailing to another firm that is under contract to the fabricator only. It is difficult to break through that contractual morass and have meaningful communication between the erector and the detailer. Difficult, but not impossible. There is at least one fabricator and one detailer that do not stand on ceremony and really push for cooperation and communication. My company was the erector in this particular chain, and we were very happy when this fabricator got their portion of the project. It was a bridge that had its deck transition from one width to another. Some girders stopped at a pier while others in the continuous spans continued. There were serious deflection differentials between adjacent girders. The sublet detailer caught this problem and broadcast it to all concerned. The fabricator gave us free reign to communicate directly, as long as we kept the fabricator informed. The major problem was that the cross-frames would not fit until the deck was poured. We needed some of the cross-frames for stability, and we did not want to erect any of them after the deck was poured. There were a series of faxes and phone calls as the detail evolved with a combination of slotted holes for bolts and round holes for pins. The final tightening of the bolts in these connections was performed after the deck was poured, but the cross-frames were erected as we went along and they rotated in the slots as the deck was poured. The sequence of pins, bolts, and tightening was put on the erector’s project specific erection plan so that everyone at the site knew what was happening and what to do. This was one of the best examples of good communication without letting contractual relationships get in the way. It was done in this case; it can be done on all projects.