Commercial & Industrial Steel

Steel & Metal Fabrication
in Houston, TX

Structural and miscellaneous steel detailed, cut, welded and coated in the shop, then delivered to your Houston jobsite in erection sequence. AWS D1.1 certified welders, AISC 360 practice, our own crews.

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Welder fitting a clip to a steel beam on the fit-up table in a Houston fabrication shop

23Years Building in Houston

8,400Tons of Steel Fabricated

1.4MSq. Ft. Framed

98%Repeat & Referral

Service Overview

Steel Fabrication for Houston Jobsites

Steel that has to be fixed in the field wrecks a schedule. A beam cut long, a bolt hole a quarter inch off or a stair stringer that will not land costs you torch work, crane standby and lost float. Steel and metal fabrication done right moves that risk off the jobsite and onto a shop floor, where catching it is cheap. Jimenes Construction is a self-performing steel fabricator in Houston, TX with 23 years on Gulf Coast work. Our own detailers, fitters and AWS-certified welders cut, drill, cope, weld and coat the steel. We fabricate for general contractors, developers, plant and facility owners and engineers. We also erect what we fabricate, so no one gets to blame the shop.

We fabricate two families of steel. Structural steel is the frame: columns, beams, braces, base plates and moment connections that go into a structural steel building. Miscellaneous metals are everything hung off it or bolted beside it, including stairs and railings, ladders, embeds, lintels, pipe racks and equipment supports.

Houston adds two problems to every fab package. Gulf humidity and salt air off the Ship Channel eat unprotected steel, so the coating gets chosen at bid time. The frame also lands on anchor bolts cast into concrete foundations sitting on expansive clay. Column base plates and anchor rod settings have to match the foundation drawings to the sixteenth.

Fabrication at a Glance

In-house detailing and shop drawings
AWS D1.1 welders with current papers
AISC 360 and AISC 303 practice
Mill test reports by heat number
Hot-dip galvanizing and shop coatings
Inspected and piece marked before it ships

Coverage

Steel We Fabricate in Houston

Structural and miscellaneous, on the same shop floor, to the same approved drawings.

Structural Steel Packages

Columns, beams, girders, braces and moment frames cut to length, coped and drilled, with connections detailed to AISC 360 and shipped in erection sequence.

Miscellaneous Metals

Lintels, embeds, kickers, curb angle, bollards, trench frames and the one-off brackets that never make it onto the structural drawings.

Stairs, Rails & Ladders

Egress stairs, pan-filled treads, handrail and guardrail assemblies and caged ladders built to IBC dimensions and field-measured before we cut.

Platforms, Mezzanines & Catwalks

Beam and joist framing, grating, kick plate and stair towers for warehouse mezzanines, access platforms and plant catwalks.

Pipe Racks & Equipment Supports

Bolted and welded racks, sleepers, dunnage steel and skid frames for Ship Channel and Grand Parkway industrial jobs, galvanized where it lives outdoors.

Base Plates, Embeds & Anchor Assemblies

Base plates, leveling nuts, anchor rod templates and cast-in embeds fabricated to the foundation drawings so the frame lands the first time.

Our Process

Our Steel Fabrication Process

Five steps, the same on a twelve-piece stair package and on a 150-ton frame. Call (832) 576-3278 to start at step one.

01
Drawing Review & Takeoff
We read the structural drawings, the specs and the connection design. Then we check erection sequence and truck access. The package gets priced by ton and by piece.
02
Detailing & Shop Drawings
Our detailer models the steel and issues shop and erection drawings for engineer approval. Material is ordered on the advance bill with mill test reports.
03
Cut, Drill & Fit-Up
Saw and plasma cutting, drilling, punching and coping. Pieces are laid out on the fit-up table and dimensionally checked against the approved drawings before an arc is struck.
04
Welding & Shop Inspection
Certified welders run to a written procedure under AWS D1.1. Welds get visual inspection, and third-party ultrasonic testing on full-penetration joints where the spec calls for it.
05
Coating, Piece Marks & Delivery
Shop primer, finish paint or hot-dip galvanizing to ASTM A123. Then piece marking and a load list. We deliver to the site in the order the crane needs it.

Timeline

How Long Does Steel Fabrication Take?

Real ranges from our own job records, measured from approved shop drawings to delivery.

Package Type	Typical Size	Duration
Miscellaneous metals package	1 - 5 tons	1 - 2 Weeks
Stair & railing package	2 - 4 flights	3 - 5 Weeks
Mezzanine, platform or catwalk	1,000 - 5,000 sq ft	4 - 6 Weeks
Pipe rack or equipment support steel	20 - 80 tons	6 - 12 Weeks
Structural building frame	40 - 150 tons	8 - 14 Weeks

Engineering & Compliance

Materials, Methods & Code Compliance

Gulf humidity, salt air and hurricane wind loads decide half of what happens in the shop. We build for that on purpose.

Gulf Coast Conditions

Hot-dip galvanizing to ASTM A123 for outdoor and coastal steel
Salt air near the Ship Channel and Galveston Bay drives coating choice
SSPC surface prep spelled out in the bid documents
Base plates and anchor rods matched to foundations on expansive clay

Material & Traceability

A992 wide flange, A500 Grade C tube, A36 plate and angle
ASTM F3125 Grade A325 and A490 high-strength bolts
Mill test reports filed by heat number for every piece
Welding consumables matched to the base metal and the WPS

Codes & Standards

AISC 360 Specification for Structural Steel Buildings
AISC 303 Code of Standard Practice for tolerances and scope
AWS D1.1 structural welding with qualified procedures
2021 IBC as adopted by Houston and the surrounding counties

Inspection & Sign-Off

Fit-up and dimensional checks before welding
Visual weld inspection on every joint, in the shop
Third-party ultrasonic testing on full-penetration welds
Welder certifications, WPS and MTRs handed over at closeout

Why Jimenes

Why Choose
Jimenes Construction

Shop and Field Under One Contract

Most fabrication fights start at the hand-off between the shop and the erector. We detail it, weld it, coat it and set it, so there is one phone number when a piece does not fit.

23 Years of Houston Steel

We know which coatings survive near the Ship Channel, how long the galvanizer really takes, and what a Harris County plan reviewer wants to see on a windstorm job.

Caught on the Shop Floor

Every assembly is dimensionally checked at fit-up and inspected again before coating. Fixing a bad hole on the shop floor costs minutes. Fixing it 40 feet up costs a day.

Priced by Ton and by Piece

Detailing, material, shop labor, coating and freight each get their own line. You can see what a galvanized package costs against a primed one before you sign.

Credentials

Insurance, Warranty & Sign-Off

Texas does not license steel contractors, so we send the insurance certificate, the welder certifications and the mill test reports with the submittal package. Here is what a steel fabricator in Houston can actually show you.

Permitted & Inspected City of Houston and Harris County

General Liability $2M per occurrence

Workers’ Comp Full crew coverage

Warranty 10-yr structural, 1-yr workmanship

Where We Work

Our Service Area

Our shop is in Houston. We deliver fabricated steel across the Greater Houston area, from inside the 610 Loop out past the Grand Parkway and east to the Ship Channel. If you searched for a steel fabricator near me and landed here, this is the radius we haul to. We can be on site to field-measure the same week.

Do not see your town? Call us, we travel for the right project.Check Your Address

Good Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

Still not sure? Call and talk to the person who will detail and run your steel package.

Talk to a Builder

(832) 576-3278

How much does steel fabrication cost in Houston?

Fabricated structural steel is usually priced per ton, and miscellaneous metals are priced per piece or per assembly. Six things move the number. The first three are mill and service center pricing on the day we buy, tonnage and piece count, and connection type. The rest are the amount of shop welding, the coating you pick, and freight. Galvanizing can add real money against shop primer, so we quote both. Ask for the free written estimate and every one of those lines shows up separately.

What is the difference between structural steel and miscellaneous metals?

Structural steel is the load-carrying frame: columns, beams, girders, braces and base plates designed by the engineer of record. Miscellaneous metals are the secondary items bolted to it or built beside it. We fabricate both.

Structural frames, on the structural steel page
Stairs, rails and ladders
Platforms and catwalks, plus mezzanines
Embeds, lintels, bollards and one-off brackets

Do your welders hold current AWS certifications?

Yes. Our welders are qualified to AWS D1.1 for the positions and processes they run. They weld to written procedure specifications. Certification papers and the WPS go into the submittal package with the shop drawings. Welds get visual inspection in the shop, and we coordinate third-party ultrasonic testing on full-penetration joints when the specification or the building official requires it.

Should the steel be galvanized or shop primed for a Houston project?

It depends on where the steel lives. Interior framing inside a conditioned building is usually fine with a shop primer and a finish coat. Anything outdoors, near the Ship Channel, or on the bay side of Harris County sees humidity and salt air. That is where hot-dip galvanizing to ASTM A123 earns its cost. Racks, sleepers, platforms and exterior stairs are the usual galvanized items. Tell us the exposure and we will price primed and galvanized side by side.

Do you handle shop drawings, or do we have to hire a detailer?

We detail in house. Our detailer models the steel, produces shop and erection drawings and submits them to the engineer of record for approval before any material is ordered. That review turnaround is normally what sets the fabrication start date, so we submit early. If you already have an approved detailing package from another firm, we can fabricate straight from it.

Can you fabricate and install, or do you only supply steel?

Both. Plenty of general contractors buy the fabrication only and use their own iron crew. We would rather do it end to end, because that is where the schedule risk disappears. Our own crews handle steel erection, metal decking and field modifications and steel repair once the frame is up. Call (832) 576-3278 with your drawings and we will price it either way.