Aluminum and steel · Fabricated and installed by us
Custom metal
and aluminum work
We cut, bend, weld, finish and install our own metal. Break metal and closures that make a storefront meet a real opening, tube framing and trellis, fence and gates, and welded steel where the job needs a frame rather than an extrusion.
Florida license
SCC131154568
Counties served
Martin, Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade
Welding
NCCER and AWS certified
Engineering
Signed and sealed when the job calls for it
What we work
The metal is not a subcontract, it is the same crew
Most glazing companies buy their metal bent by somebody else and hope it turns up square. We keep the brake, the saw and the welder, so the closure that has to hide a wall that is three quarters of an inch out of plumb gets made to that wall rather than to the drawing. The same shop that fabricates a storefront sub-sill also makes a nine tube trellis or a property line fence, and the same people install it.
- Aluminum extrusion, tube and flat sheet, cut and bent in house
- Steel and stainless welded in house by NCCER and AWS certified welders, ground flush where it shows
- Anodized, powder coat and AAMA 2605 finishes specified per job
- Shop drawings produced here, not outsourced
- Signed and sealed engineering pulled in when the structure needs it
- Field measured before anything is cut, so it fits what is built
The four things we get asked for
Four kinds of metal work, and who is responsible for what
Metal shows up on a job in four different ways, and they are not the same conversation. This is the one we have before anything is priced.
Break metal and closures
Tube framing and trellis
Fence, gates and rails
Welded steel
What it is
Break metal and closures
Flat aluminum sheet folded on a brake into closures, trim, column covers and sub-sills.
Tube framing and trellis
Hollow rectangular aluminum tube assembled into a frame or a shade structure.
Fence, gates and rails
Aluminum picket and post fence with gates, and the hardware that closes them.
Welded steel
Steel and stainless cut and welded into a frame, a bracket or a stringer.
Where it shows up
Break metal and closures
On nearly every storefront package we install. It is what closes the gap between the frame and a building that was not built to the drawing.
Tube framing and trellis
Freestanding over an entrance or a terrace, or as a substructure behind glass.
Fence, gates and rails
Property lines, pool decks, service yards and equipment screens.
Welded steel
Partition frames, canopy brackets, stair stringers and anything an extrusion cannot do.
Finish
Break metal and closures
Anodized or AAMA 2605 painted to match the storefront it dies into. Dark bronze anodized is the most common.
Tube framing and trellis
Powder coat, usually bronze or black. Anodized where the exposure is harsh.
Fence, gates and rails
Powder coat black or bronze.
Welded steel
Powder coat, or hot dip galvanized where it is buried or exposed.
Who engineers it
Break metal and closures
Nobody. It is trim, it carries nothing but itself.
Tube framing and trellis
An engineer, signed and sealed, because it is a structure in a wind zone.
Fence, gates and rails
Usually nobody. Signed and sealed drawings are available and get priced as their own line when the building department asks.
Welded steel
Depends entirely on what it carries. If it holds a load, it gets engineered.
How we price it
Break metal and closures
As its own line in the schedule of values, never buried in the glass number.
Tube framing and trellis
Lump sum with the engineering included and the exclusions written out.
Fence, gates and rails
By the linear foot, with the gates and the hardware called out separately.
Welded steel
By the piece, after a field measure.
Break metal
The line general contractors forget to carry
A storefront is drawn to a perfect opening. The opening is never perfect. Break metal is flat aluminum folded on a brake to close the difference: the head that hides a beam, the jamb that covers a stud, the sub-sill that carries water back out. It is a small number against the package, and it is the one that turns up as a change order when nobody carried it. On one of ours it came back as Change Order #3 for just under three thousand dollars, dark bronze anodized, on a job we were already glazing.
On the record
Metal we were hired to build on its own
Four jobs where the metal was the scope, not an accessory to the glass. Named general contractors, and the specification as it was written. No photographs here on purpose: we did not shoot these, and a picture of somebody else’s fence next to a client’s name is not evidence.
Aluminum trellis, Delray Beach
General contractor: Southeast GC
A shade structure over an entrance, engineered as a structure rather than a decoration, because in a Florida wind zone that is what it is.
Members
Nine aluminum tubes, 4 by 6 by a quarter inch wall
Span
Approximately 13 linear feet each
Finish
Bronze powder coat
Engineering
Shop drawings and signed and sealed engineering included
Value
$25K to $30K
Property line fence and gates
General contractor: Tester Construction
Fabricated and installed, then extended three months later along another run over concrete. The hardware is the part worth reading: latches and hinges that close the gate whether or not anybody remembers to.
Height
4 feet, and 48 inches on the later run
Run
About 105 linear feet, plus 50 more on the add on
Gates
Two at 36 inches wide
Hardware
Magna Latch and TruClose self closing hinges
Finish
Bronze
Value
$10K to $15K including the extension
Exterior picket fence
General contractor: Tester Construction
A long run with two double gates, priced by the linear foot. The signed and sealed drawings were quoted as their own line rather than assumed, so the general contractor could decide whether the building department was going to ask for them.
Height
5 feet overall
Run
Approximately 176 linear feet
Pickets
Aluminum, black finish
Gates
Two double gates, self closing
Drawings
Signed and sealed offered as a separate line
Value
$15K to $20K
Steel stair stringer
General contractor: Southeast GC
A single center spine carrying 34 treads and two landings. This is the case where the metal is not trim and not a screen, it is the structure somebody walks on, so it goes out with sealed drawings.
Type
Center spine stringer with exposed stringer plate
Finish
Powder coated standard black
Treads
34 treads and two landings
Engineering
Engineered, signed and sealed shop drawings
Value
$60K to $70K
What comes out of the shop
Three things metal does that an extrusion cannot
Not a project list. These are the three shapes we get asked for most often once a job needs metal that is not a catalogue part.
Before we cut
What we need from you to fabricate
Metal is unforgiving in a way glass is not: a panel can be re-cut, a welded frame has to be re-made. So we settle these six things before anything goes on the saw.
- A field measure, taken by us, of what is actually built
- The finish and the color, including whether it has to match existing metal
- Whether the building department wants signed and sealed drawings
- What the metal is fixed back to, and whether that substrate will take it
- Who is pulling the permit and under whose scope it falls
- Access and hours, because a welder on a live site is a different price
What governs it
Three rules that decide how metal gets built here
Metal work in South Florida is not judged the same way everywhere on the job. A closure is trim and nobody inspects it. A trellis is a structure in a wind zone and it gets a stamp. A gate on a pool barrier has a hardware rule of its own. Knowing which of the three you are in is most of the pricing.
Wind load and sealed engineering
Anything freestanding that catches wind is a structure. Florida Building Code puts it under the same wind pressure requirements as the rest of the envelope, which is why our trellis went out with signed and sealed engineering included rather than as an extra.
Pool barriers and gate hardware
Where a fence doubles as a pool barrier, the Florida Building Code barrier rules apply: at least four feet high, gates opening outward, self closing and self latching. That is why we specify Magna Latch and TruClose by name instead of writing hinges and a latch.
Finish and dissimilar metals
AAMA 2605 is the durable paint class for exposed aluminum and it is what we match to when the metal dies into a storefront. And aluminum against steel or concrete gets isolated, because a galvanic cell in salt air eats the softer metal first.
Systems and hardware
Eight manufacturers, one point of contact
Six aluminum system houses and two hardware houses. On the metal side we buy raw extrusion, tube and sheet as well as finished systems, so the closure that dies into a Trulite or an Aldora frame is the same alloy and the same finish class.
Where the metal went
The packages our metal work is part of
Break metal, closures and tube framing do not get their own project entry, they go into the storefront package. These are those packages, with the general contractor named on each one.
Before you carry us
What a prequal package gets from us
The metal scope raises questions the glass scope does not, so this is what we can put in front of your procurement team the same week you ask.
- State license SCC131154568, Certified Specialty Contractor in glass and glazing
- Certificate of insurance issued to your entity as certificate holder
- Bonding capacity and surety details, sent with the package
- W-9, references and a completed project list with the general contractors named
- Shop drawings in the format your architect wants them
- Welder credentials, AWS and NCCER, with the NCCER card number so you can verify them
- Signed and sealed engineering, priced as its own line so you can see the cost
- Schedule of values with metal, glass and labor separated
Questions general contractors ask
What general contractors ask about the metal scope
Do you fabricate in house or buy it bent?
In house. We keep the brake, the saw and the welding equipment, and the people who fabricate are the people who install. That matters most on closures, because the piece gets made to the wall we measured rather than to the wall on the drawing.
Which metals do you work?
Aluminum in extrusion, tube and flat sheet, steel and stainless. Aluminum is most of the volume because most of what we do lives outside in salt air. Steel comes in when the job needs a frame or a bracket that an extrusion cannot make, such as a partition frame, a canopy bracket or a stair stringer.
Do you do structural work?
We fabricate and install structural members with certified welders, and where the piece carries a load it goes out with engineering signed and sealed by the engineer of record. We are a glass and glazing specialty contractor, so on a job where structural steel is the primary scope we work under the general contractor’s structural package rather than instead of it.
Are your welders certified?
Yes, on both counts. Our welding is done in house, and our welders hold AWS certification as well as NCCER credentials earned through Palm Beach State College: Welding Level One and Level Two, with the Level One program AWS SENSE EG2.0 compliant, plus NCCER Construction Site Safety Orientation. We send the certificates and the NCCER card number with the prequal package so you can verify them yourself rather than take our word for it. And if your specification calls out a particular qualification, AWS D1.1 for steel or D1.2 for aluminum, tell us which one at bid time and we will confirm it against what our welders hold before you carry us.
Can you match an existing finish?
Usually yes. Tell us what the existing metal is and we will match to the same finish class rather than eyeball the color. On one property line fence the second run was specified as finish to match existing, and that is a normal request.
Do you provide signed and sealed drawings?
Yes, and we price them as their own line rather than assuming them. On a trellis it was included because a shade structure in a wind zone is going to need it. On a picket fence it was quoted separately, because whether the building department asks depends on the jurisdiction and the height.
Do you carry a bond?
Yes. If your project requires a payment and performance bond, tell us at bid time and we price it as its own line so you can see what it costs. Our bonding capacity and the surety details go in the prequal package.
Is there work you turn down?
Yes. We do not do skylights, we do not do glass floors, and we do not take metal work outside Martin, Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade. If your job needs a structural steel erector rather than a glazing contractor who fabricates, we will tell you that too.
Start here
Send the detail and we will price the metal
An elevation, a section, or a photograph of the condition with a rough dimension. Any of the three is enough. We price metal as its own line, with the finish and the engineering called out, so nothing about it turns up later as a change order.
- 7830 Byron Dr Ste 4, West Palm Beach, FL 33404
- (561) 584-8485 · Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm
- [email protected]
- Licensed and insured, FL SCC131154568
Request a bid
Commercial bids from 48 hours. Every request gets a reply from someone who has read the drawings.