Miscellaneous metals are all the steel on a building that isn’t part of the main structural frame. Stairs, railings, ladders, lintels, embeds, bollards and the frames that hold up rooftop equipment all fall under the heading. On most projects it’s a smaller dollar amount than the structural steel, and it causes a bigger share of the headaches.
We fabricate a lot of miscellaneous metals in our Woodway, Texas shop, and most of the trouble we see starts before anything gets built. Items get missed on bid day, assigned to the wrong trade or left off the shop drawings until someone in the field asks where the ladder is.
What counts as miscellaneous metals
The list changes from job to job, but these items show up on almost every commercial building:
- Steel stairs, landings and stair rails
- Guardrails, handrails and wall rails
- Roof access ladders, ships ladders and elevator pit ladders
- Loose lintels over masonry openings
- Embed plates and anchor bolts cast into concrete
- Pipe bollards
- Rooftop unit frames and equipment supports
- Bent plate pour stops and edge angles at slab edges
- Overhead door frames and jamb angles
- Hoist beams and trolley beams
On the specifications side, most of this lives in Division 05 under Metal Fabrications (05 50 00), with stairs and railings often split out into their own sections at 05 51 00 and 05 52 00.
Why miscellaneous metals get missed
They live on the architectural drawings
The structural set shows the frame. Most of the miscellaneous metals show up on architectural sheets: stair sections, wall sections, roof plans and door details. If only the structural drawings go out with the steel bid package, a lot of this scope never gets priced.
The items are small and scattered
A building might have three stairs and two hundred small items spread across forty sheets. A lintel shows up in a wall section, a pipe bollard in a site plan and a ladder in a roof detail. Every one has to be found, counted and taken off, and anything that doesn’t get counted doesn’t get priced.
Furnish and install aren’t always the same trade
Embed plates are the classic example. The steel fabricator usually furnishes them, but the concrete contractor sets them in the forms before the pour. If the bid documents don’t say who does what, both subs may assume the other one has it. The same thing happens with loose lintels, which a fabricator makes and a mason usually sets.
How to keep it from biting you
- Send the full architectural set with every steel bid package, not just the structural sheets
- Ask each steel bidder to list the miscellaneous metals items they included
- Spell out furnish and install responsibility for embeds, lintels and anchor bolts in your bid forms
- Check the roof plan and the elevator sections, since that’s where ladders and frames hide
That second point does more than people expect. A bid that lists its items is easy to compare. A bid that just says “misc metals per plans” tells you nothing about what’s actually in the number.
Quick answers
Are miscellaneous metals included in a structural steel bid?
Sometimes. Many steel contractors include them, but some exclude them or price them separately. Read the scope and exclusions on every bid so you know which one you’re looking at.
Can miscellaneous metals be bid separately from structural steel?
Yes. On some projects it makes sense to buy them from a separate fabricator, especially when the structural frame is pre engineered metal building steel or heavy timber. We bid miscellaneous metals as a standalone package regularly.
Who installs miscellaneous metals?
It depends on the item. Stairs and rails are usually installed by the steel contractor or erector. Embeds go to the concrete contractor and loose lintels to the mason. The bid documents should say which, and if they don’t, ask before bid day.
Get the misc metals priced right
We can price miscellaneous metals with your structural steel as part of a turnkey package or on their own. Send the architectural and structural drawings to estimating@heartlandsteeltx.com or use our bid request form, and we’ll list every item we included so you can check it against the plans. For the rest of the bid package, see what to send for an accurate structural steel bid.
