Cold-formed steel framing offers architects, builders and specifiers a range of features and benefits that all contribute to shorter construction times, lower material costs, safer structures, and faster revenue generation. Steel is strong, safe, durable, versatile and cost-effective.
Steel has the exceptional environmental advantage of being highly recycled and infinitely recyclable. Steel is tough and does not rot, spawl, split or absorb moisture and is resistant to pests unlike other building materials. And from an aesthetic or architectural viewpoint, steel structures can easily deliver creative design options and excellent value.
The predictability and accuracy of steel components speeds up the process and allows follow-on trades to get to work sooner. This delivers time savings compared to other systems. Shorter construction cycles leads to savings in site preliminaries, earlier return on investment and reduced interest charges. Time-related savings can easily amount to between 3% and 5% of the overall project value, reducing the building owner’s requirements for working capital and improving cash flow.
Builders risk and property insurance premiums are typically lower for steel than wood. “Frame” or “Wood” construction has a greater likelihood to burn or be damaged by a peril (such as fire) and that the event will be a total loss versus a partial one. Loss history for wood construction has been poor and carriers are very restrictive of the amount of risk they will take (known as capacity). Total costs increase when multiple carriers are needed to provide coverage.
Because steel is an inorganic material, it will not expand or contract with changes in moisture content and consequently remains dimensionally stable. Unintended structural movement with wood framing, such as warping, twisting and shrinking, can have expensive and potentially disastrous consequences on structural, mechanical, and finish systems. Additionally, with the increased emphasis on energy conservation, the long-term effects of shrinkage on the building envelope and building energy and maintenance costs must be considered.