What is your per pound cost for bending beams? Structural steel fabricators sometimes ask bender/rollers (those companies that specialize in providing curved steel), how they calculate their pricing. More specifically, fabricators ask for a per-pound cost for structural steel bending. They do this because that is a common method that fabricators themselves use to estimate the cost of the structural steel fabrication that does not require curving.
Because of the special nature of steel section bending, however, fabricators are themselves reluctant to put a price per pound on curved steel. Nevertheless, they would like the bender/rollers to provide that cost method.
The problem is that light-weight sections are often as time-consuming to curve as heavier ones. Bender/rollers typically calculate the time required to bend a given structural section and then ascribe a cost based on labor and overhead costs. The price they quote may also be affected by such factors as the difficulty of the job, the risks involved, and the equipment required.
At times the fabricator will provide the steel to the bender/roller; at times the bender/roller will provide the steel. Although a bender/roller would typically mark up the material, if it has strong buying power and/or close suppliers with minimum shipping costs, it may benefit the fabricator to have the bender/roller buy the material for a construction project.
