The Order & Submittal Process with the Metal Building Manufacturer

Welcome

Hello, and welcome. This is Super Structures General Contractors — a national general contractor headquartered in Powhatan, Virginia — here to help you and your clients build something that lasts. We're glad you're with us, and we look forward to connecting with you.

Alright, The Order & Submittal Process with the Metal Building Manufacturer. Don't let the plain title fool you. Here's the part that actually matters on the job: The manufacturer engineers exactly what the order says, so the GC's job is to get every dimension, load, opening, and interface onto the order and verified on the approval drawings before release to fabrication. Learn it well and you will stop paying for field fixes that were really paperwork mistakes made months earlier.

The intro course covered the big sequence: quote, approval drawings, foundation, fabrication, erection. This lesson is about the documents inside that sequence and what the general contractor has to check at each one. The cheapest place to fix anything on a metal building is on paper, before the job is released to the shop.

What the order actually is

The order is a package of documents, not a phone call: the manufacturer's order form, a design criteria sheet, a scope of supply with clarifications and exclusions, and the project's specifications (in MasterFormat the section is typically 13 34 19, Metal Building Systems). The design criteria sheet is where the loads live: code and edition, risk category, roof live load, ground snow, wind speed and exposure, seismic parameters, and the collateral load the intro warned you about.

Read the scope of supply line by line. A typical package includes primary and secondary framing, bracing, panels, trim, fasteners, sealants, closures, and the accessories you listed. It usually excludes the foundation, anchor bolts (the manufacturer gives the plan; someone else buys and sets the rods), erection, insulation unless ordered, and anything you did not write down. If the drawings show a canopy, a liner panel, or gutters and the order does not, you own the gap.

The submittal sequence and what to check

• Anchor bolt plan and reactions come first, often within a few weeks of order, because the foundation engineer needs them. Check that column locations, base plate sizes, bolt patterns, and projections make sense against the architectural plan, and that the reactions are labeled by load case so the engineer of record can use them.
• Approval drawings (sometimes called permit drawings) show the frame elevations, cross sections, bay spacing, roof slope, eave height, framed openings, bracing locations, and panel and trim selections. They come with the manufacturer's engineer's seal and a letter of certification that states the loads and the code the building is designed to. The building department wants that letter.
• Erection drawings are the for-construction set the erector builds from: part marks, bolt lists, purlin and girt layouts, panel layouts, trim details, and the installation manual. They are issued after approval, along with the shipping lists that are the only basis for a shortage or damage claim.

Dimensions that bite

Width and length are measured out-to-out of the steel line, the outside face of the girts, not the outside of the panel. Eave height runs from finished floor to the top of the eave strut at the steel line; it is not clear height. Clear height under the rafter is set by the knee depth and the haunch, and it is the number that matters for racking, cranes, door tracks, and mezzanines. If the owner needs a 24-foot clear hook height for a crane, do not approve a 24-foot eave.

Girts come bypass (running outside the column flanges) or flush (framed between columns). Bypass is cheaper and stronger but leaves girts standing inside the finished wall; flush is what you want where the wall will be finished or sits against a masonry wainscot. Decide it before approval.

Openings and bracing conflicts

The classic GC catch on approval drawings is rod or cable X-bracing drawn through a bay that has a door, window, or storefront in it. The manufacturer puts bracing where it is structurally convenient. If an overhead door needs that bay, ask for a portal frame or wind column substitution in writing before release. After fabrication, the only options are a redesign, a field-fabricated fix, or a door that moves.

Every framed opening must be on the order with its rough opening size, location, and the jamb and header loads from the door supplier. A hangar or bi-fold door puts real loads into the jambs, and the manufacturer cannot design for a door it never heard about.

Going Deeper (Intermediate)

Build an approval review checklist and use it every time: dimensions against the architectural plan; eave and clear heights against every door, crane, and mezzanine; slope and panel type against the roof warranty you promised; every opening with size, location, and loads; bracing against openings; collateral load against the sprinkler and mechanical design; snow drift against any adjacent higher roof; and the insulation system against the clip height. Route the drawings to the engineer of record, the architect, the door supplier, and the sprinkler contractor before you sign.

Release to fabrication is the moment the price of a change jumps. Most manufacturers put a change cutoff in the order confirmation; anything after that is priced by the shop, with a schedule hit. Track that date like a pour date.

Advanced / Pro-Level

Pros negotiate the order itself. They ask for the manufacturer's standard deflection and drift limits and tighten them where masonry, storefront, or cranes are involved. They request expandable endwalls where the owner may grow. They confirm the manufacturer is IAS AC472 accredited, because many specifications require it, and that the erector will meet the requirements for the roof weathertightness warranty, which usually means a manufacturer-approved erector and inspections at start and finish. They also manage the lead time: ask for the fabrication slot at order, learn which submittal milestones hold it, and run the anchor bolt plan and foundation design in parallel so the slab is ready when the first truck shows up.

Practice Challenge

The approval drawings arrive for a 100 by 200 foot warehouse: 18-foot eave, bypass girts, X-bracing in bays 2 and 6 on both sidewalls, no framed openings. The architectural plan shows a 16-foot overhead door in bay 2, a sprinkler system, and a block wainscot along the front. What do you send back before signing? (Answer: move the bracing out of bay 2 or substitute a portal frame; the door rough opening with the supplier's jamb and header loads; confirmation that the collateral load covers the sprinklers; a girt layout along the front that works with the block wainscot; and a check that an 18-foot eave leaves enough clear height under the haunch for the 16-foot door and its track.)

In Practice

A GC who treats approval drawings as a real review, walks them against the architectural set with the door and sprinkler subs, and signs with a written list of clarifications gets a building that fits. A GC who signs to keep the fabrication slot finds out in the field that the door does not fit, the bracing is in the way, and the sprinkler main is heavier than the purlins were designed for.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Filling in the design criteria sheet from a previous job instead of the project engineer's loads
• Approving drawings without checking bracing bays against doors and windows
• Confusing eave height with clear height when the owner has a crane, racks, or tall doors
• Assuming gutters, liner panels, insulation, or anchor bolts are in the package when they were never ordered

Takeaway: The manufacturer engineers exactly what the order says, so the GC's job is to get every dimension, load, opening, and interface onto the order and verified on the approval drawings before release to fabrication.

Educational content only — not design, engineering, or safety advice, and not a substitute for training or a licensed professional. Follow the codes as adopted in your jurisdiction, the manufacturer's drawings and instructions, and your company's safety procedures.