Steel Detailing | Precast Detailing | Estimation

Author: admin

  • Claiming Variations Made Easy

    Navigating the Maze of Contract Variations: Documentation is Your Compass

    Estimating contract variations can feel like navigating a minefield – time-consuming, fraught with disputes, and often leading to costly litigation. Securing payment for variations hinges on one crucial element: impeccable documentation that leaves no room for argument.

    It’s no secret that estimators command significant salaries, largely dedicated to the intricate task of unraveling and quantifying these changes.

    So, how does Tek1 empower you to confidently claim contract variations when design drawings shift?

    We understand firsthand the frustration of pursuing variation claims without bulletproof evidence. That’s why we developed a proprietary app – a game-changer for our clients. This isn’t a publicly available tool; it’s an exclusive advantage for those who partner with us on their projects.

    Unlocking the Power of Real-Time Documentation

    Our app revolutionizes the variation claim process by putting the power directly in the hands of those closest to the changes: the detailers.

    Imagine this: As soon as a drawing change occurs, the detailer meticulously documents it within the app. This includes:

    • Precise markups of the alterations on the drawings.
    • Detailed reports of added or removed materials with quantities.
    • Specific notes on additional work required, both in detailing and fabrication.
    • A clear breakdown of the detailer’s associated costs.
    • All this information compiled into a single line item, complete with supporting attachments.

    Instantly, our clients gain access to this comprehensive documentation, alongside readily available Excel spreadsheets and PDF reports (with and without pricing).

    Effortless Claiming for Our Clients

    Claiming for variations becomes a streamlined process:

    • Instant Access: All the necessary data is available at the click of a button. No more time wasted chasing information or sifting through emails.
    • Transparent Costing: Our detailed breakdown provides a clear foundation for your claim.
    • Simplified Upstream Process: Your team can easily integrate our costs, add your own material and labor expenses, and confidently present a well-supported variation claim. (While the final upstream process involves your specific procedures, our app provides the bedrock of information you need.)

    The Undeniable Value of This Level of Reporting

    Consider the tangible benefits our app delivers:

    • Eliminate Time-Consuming Collation: No more hours spent gathering and organizing change-related information.
    • Strengthen Justification: The detailed documentation speaks for itself, significantly reducing the potential for disputes.
    • Instant Excel Reports: Generate comprehensive reports with a single click, ready for upstreaming with your added costs.

    By providing this level of clarity and detail, Tek1 empowers our clients to claim variations accurately, efficiently, and with the confidence that comes from having indisputable documentation at their fingertips.

  • Our process of Precast Estimation

    Our process of Precast Estimation

    Are you finding precast estimation a demanding task?

    Imagine offloading the time-consuming aspects of this process, freeing you to focus on more critical activities. At Tek1 Pty Ltd, we excel in providing fast and accurate takeoffs for precast projects, often at a fraction of the cost you might expect. You can rely on our expertise and extensive experience to deliver exceptional results.

    Our process begins with your structural and architectural PDFs. Utilizing the panel spliting details from the structural precast elevations, we proceed with a detailed analysis.

    We meticulously number all panels, assigning crucial data such as thickness, material, and panel type. This intelligent data within our takeoff model allows for comprehensive report generation later in the process.

    The panel type information also captures reinforcement details, including rebar weights, perimeter bars, and any additional mesh. For panels requiring patterned or special moulds, including brick snap panels, we identify and mark them accordingly, even specifying the number of special moulds needed.

    Our summary report provides a comprehensive overview, including:

    • Number of panels
    • Thickness summary
    • Gross and net area calculations
    • Concrete volume
    • Panel weight (concrete + reo)
    • Number of meshes and reo weight (excluding ligatures)
    • Perimeter bar weight
    • Caulking and grout lengths
    • Panel types and strengths
    • Concrete mix and any colored concrete specifications
    • Quantities of Bricsnap, Reckli, and Feature panels
    • Number of moulds required
    • Maximum panel size and its corresponding number
    • IFC model compatibility with Trimble or Autodesk
    • A QR code linking directly to the model for easy viewing
    • Thickness summary

    Furthermore, we proactively identify any potential for optimization or issues related to buildability and transportation, providing comments along with the relevant panel mark numbers.

    If you believe our services can bring significant value and allow you to concentrate on higher-priority tasks, please don’t hesitate to call or email us.

    You will be surprised how economically we can do the take off for you

  • QR code for Trimble Connect

    QR Code for Trimble Connect to be on Every GA drawing.

    Produce Steel only IFC Model, upload to trimble connect.

    Use the following link to download QR Code Generator

    Download QR Code

  • Why aren’t the user defined attributes being defined – in Tekla’s “Open” API

    Why aren’t the user defined attributes being defined – in Tekla’s “Open” API

    If you want to waste time on a poorly documented API (which doesn’t make any sense) I would highly recommend getting on Tekla. I’m documenting this so some poor soul doesn’t waste a day trying to debug this:

    // what’s wrong with this?

  Beam b = new Beam();

  b.SetUserProperty("USER_FIELD_1", "your data");

  b.Insert();

    Do you see the problem? First insert the beam, and then apply the UDA and it should work:

    // it only works AFTER you insert

  Beam b = new Beam();

  b.Insert();

  b.SetUserProperty("USER_FIELD_1", "your data");

    What glorious waste of time trying to work out why it failed!

    But the problem is not with you – the problem is with the API. It fails silently, and the documentation is poor. Hopefully this note saves someone a lot of headaches.

  • How to check if you have a legitimate Tekla Profile using the Tekla Open API

    Our use case?

    1. Detailers copy / paste profiles from structural drawings into a CSV file.
    2. This CSV file is then used to create a model.
    3. It is essential that the profiles are recognisable by Tekla.

    How can we check?

    • Through a data validation directly in Excel. Or
    • By validating the data directly in your code.
    using Tekla.Structures.Catalogs;
// download this dll from Nuget

                public bool CSVProfilesAreCorrect(List<CSVFieldsImplemented> dataRows)
        {
            HashSet<string> csvProfiles = dataRows.Select(row => row.Profile).ToHashSet<string>();
            HashSet<string> teklaProfiles = getAllTeklaProfiles().ToHashSet<string>();

            if (_areCSVProfilesCorrect())
            {
                return true;
            }
            else
            {
                throw new SystemException($"The CSV files have these profiles which don't exist in Tekla: {String.Join(", ", string.Join(", ", csvProfiles.Except(teklaProfiles)))}");
            }

            bool _areCSVProfilesCorrect()
            {   
                // all the csv profiles
                // must be contained in tekla profiles

                return csvProfiles.All(profile => teklaProfiles.Contains(profile));
            }
        }

// and we call it like so:
CSVValidator validator = new CSVValidator(db);

if (validator.CSVProfilesAreCorrect(extractor.CSVRecords))
{
    // do the modelling
}

    Voila! Now it’s hard to make a mistake.

    If you want to get all materials – it’s very similar to the above. Use the CatalogHandler.GetMaterialItems() method along with the materialItem.MaterialName property. The code to actually do that – I will leave as an exercise to the reader.

  • Precast Material Take Off

    Estimate precast concrete panels for your quotes

    Tek1 provides material take off for precast panels.

    Deliverables for Precast MTO

    • Marked up elevation and Plans
    • Panel break ups considering
      • minimization of mould sizes.
      • Transportation constraints
      • Lifting constraints at factory and site.
      • Buildability
    • Concrete volume
    • Painting requirements
    • Reckli requirements
    • Mould requirements
    • Reo Weights
    • Lifters
    • Cast in Plates
    • Grout tubes.
    • Mesh (Not sq m of Mesh, but based of how many sqm of Mesh to cover N panels)
    • Rebar schedule
      • Not every panel is estimated for rebar. Typical panels are calculated and applied across similar.
    • Quick turn around.

    Note

    We do not include ferrules in the take off.

  • CSB Standards / Checklist

    Full Checklist

    Background:

    1. ABC’s entirely production line and jigs are optimised for a specific workflow. DO NOT deviate from their requirements. There is a need to be pedantic because otherwise things won’t work – beams and steel will be wasted, delays will result, and we will be cursed to the high heavens.

    Rules:

    1. Do not edit model.
    2. Do not renumber anything.
    3. Do not rotate ANYTHING.
    4. Do not change the names of drawings. Name of the drawing should be the name of the truss.

    If there are any issues, msg client.

    Rotation and Flipping – check if rotation / flipping has happened

    • Check if any rotations happened. How?
    • (1) Everything with our client works: Left-to-Right. If something is not Left to right – then it may have been rotated. We need to alert our client to this.
    • (2) We have the PDFs. We must check the drawings against the pdfs and note where they are any discrepancies. If there are discrepancies – alert our client. Because Tekla may be rotating the drawing.
    • (3) After we do the drawings – then we should send the PDFs back to the client.

    Blue Angle Issue

    • When dimension beams, dimension just beams. Do not dimension to the end plates. Probably because they are cutting the beams and adding the end plates later. (i.e. their production facility is optimised for this workflow).

    Information

    1. Pink Notes: pink notes in the model which mostly has information like weld types and other information that are not necessary for a detailer.

    Length of Purlins / Girt

    • CSB can handle purlin / girts up to 16m. So you don’t need to question anything under that length.

    Fly-Bracing

    Video Tutorials:

    1.Check diag color diff part marks to have diff colors color start at left

    2.Check degree on rhs end plate

    3.Check 2 diag dim

    4.Check truss depth on section CC

    5.Check section a on left section b on right

    6.Check outrigger on left

    7.Check outrigger plate dim

    8.Check plate edge dim on left and right

    9.Check angle on bottom chord plate when it is inclined

    10.Check all sections views are placed at the bottom

    11.Check no aligned views

    12.Check plate offset on sections from chord

    13.Check no dimension to holes

    14.Dim cleat to first touch point to main part from left

    15.check end plates marked in main view & end plates marked in top view as well

    16.FCB (FLY BRACING CLEAT TO BE CALLED UP ON FRONT VIEW)

    17.When fly bracing (FBCT) is both sides, instead of2 labels slect 2 and label

    18.When cloning check whether same color diags are same part mark

    19.FCBT to be dimensioned from top chord scxxx dim line

    20.Col section scale 12.5

    21.Col section looking towards left always

    22.Col section dim to both sides if plate is bigger than shaft

    23.Don’t change name from shafts

    24.Don’t need to label any plates, just leave as plate

    25.Standard parts do not require drawings

  • Grain Chutes

    Grain Chutes

    Input information was an Inventor model and pdf drawings

    We have extracted the information from inventor, cross checked with pdf drawings, Checked constructurability, Resolved design details so that items can be fabricated at lowest cost.

    These chutes were submitted for approval, and was approved without any issues.

    Eventhough these chutes are for grain transfer, mining projects have similar requirements.

    CHUTES

  • Memo 47: Check the work of your juniors, you’re responsible

    I spoke to a TL re: something that was missed on an MTO. The reason given was that it was a junior who did the work, and that this work is not usually checked.

    • That is not a great answer.
    • Any work done by a junior must be checked until you are confident that you don’t need to check it anymore. And even then, you still need to check occasionally.
    • You are responsible for your junior.

    The Consequences of Bad Work?

    • You will lose the client, and all the work / bonuses which come from that client – whom you threw away before they never came into the door.
    • Bad workmanship is not a joke.

    How to avoid “missing things”?

    • Document it via a checklist: It is much harder to “miss” if you work through a checklist. For example, here is the checklist for Material Take Offs (MTOs): https://www.tek1.com.au/staff-memos/memo-44-formatting-required-for-mtos/