Every stage between the drawing and the roll-former.
We cover the full LGS design pipeline — integrating architects' drawings and models, building a DFMA-led digital twin, engineering it, and outputting CNC data for every machine plus a complete bill of materials. Engage us for the whole thing, or for exactly the stages you need.
Drawing & model integration
Where the architecture becomes a framing intent.
Every job starts with someone else's file. We work directly from the architect's or building designer's documentation — 2D drawing sets, 3D models and BIM exports — and turn it into a coordinated light gauge steel framing intent before any detailing begins.
This front-end work is where most downstream problems are avoided: setting out to the architectural grid, reconciling roof geometry with ceiling lines, accommodating services and openings, and picking up the inconsistencies that every drawing set contains.
What we take in
- PDF and DWG/DXF architectural and structural drawing sets
- Revit, ArchiCAD and other BIM models, including IFC
- Engineer's slab, footing and structural steel details
- Cladding, roofing, lining and window/door schedules
- Site information — wind region, terrain, snow and seismic classification
What we do with it
- Framing layouts set out to the architectural intent
- Clash and coordination checks against structure, services and finishes
- Early, clearly documented RFIs to the architect, engineer or builder
- Agreed framing strategy before detailing starts
Built once, in software
Light gauge steel in Vertex BD or FRAMECAD. Structural steel in Tekla Structures.
With the framing intent agreed, we build the structure in software. Every wall, roof truss, floor joist and ceiling element is modelled and detailed in Vertex BD or FRAMECAD using your section library, connection rules, panel limits and naming conventions. The result is a full digital twin of the structure — one coordinated model that drives the machine files, the drawings, the schedules and the bill of materials. Nothing is drawn twice.
Design for Manufacture and Assembly runs through the whole model. We resolve part counts, standard details, assembly sequence, handling and site fit while designing — for every client, and to the extreme for factory-built ones.
Engineering runs alongside detailing rather than after it. Members are sized, bracing and tie-down resolved, and connections specified to AS/NZS 4600 and the applicable Australian and New Zealand loading standards, so the model that produces your machine files is the same one that has been engineered.
Detailing
- Wall frames, roof trusses, ceiling and bulkhead framing
- Floor systems — sub-floor stumps, bearers, joists and bracing as one detailed system; mid-floors and prefabricated floor cassettes in roll-formed deep C-section and other proprietary systems
- Complex roofs, raked and cathedral ceilings, curved and splayed walls
- Openings, lintels, posts and load paths through multi-storey structures
- Panelisation to your transport, lifting and line constraints
- Structural steel — portals, beams, posts, connections and base plates — designed and detailed in Tekla Structures, coordinated with the LGS framing
Engineering
- Load derivation for wind (including cyclonic), snow, seismic and floor loads
- Member design, truss analysis and deflection checks
- Bracing, hold-down and tie-down design
- Connection and fastener specification
- Calculations and documentation for certification, coordinated with registered engineers in the relevant AU state or NZ jurisdiction
CNC, BOM & documentation
Any machine. Every line. Every item in the model.
The output is where the value lands. Because Vertex BD and FRAMECAD drive any machine manufacturer's hardware, our output can target any machine: all we need is the machine type, and we create the CNC files and drawings required to run your shop floor. Alongside them come the documents the site crew, the structural steel fabricator and the certifier each need — in your export profile and your document templates.
Deliverables
- CNC production files for your roll-former — any manufacturer, any model
- For factory-built clients: CNC output to drive automated lines and machines for cladding, linings, sub-assemblies and other stations
- Shop floor drawings to run production alongside the machine files
- Tekla shop drawings, assembly and part drawings, and NC data for structural steel fabricators
- Panel, truss and assembly drawings for the factory
- Site installation layouts, bracing and tie-down plans
- Full bill of materials covering every item in the digital model — steel, fasteners, brackets, sheeting, linings, fixings — structured by panel, module or stage for use on site
- BOM and job data in formats compatible with ERP, MRP and accounting systems for purchasing, inventory, costing and invoicing
- Cutting lists, material take-offs and job summaries
- Engineering documentation and certification packages
Depth is yours to set — from layouts only, through production files, to a fully engineered and certified package.
One model, the whole plant
A complete digital twin, designed for manufacture and assembly, driving every line and every list.
Every client receives a full digital twin of their structure: a complete, coordinated model of every member, connection, fastener and opening that remains the single source of truth from engineering through production to installation, and is reused for variations, repeat builds and as-built records.
We design with DFMA thinking from the first line — fewer parts, standard details, assembly sequences that suit the line and the crew, handling and transport resolved in the model. Every client benefits; factory-built clients benefit most, because in a plant the model can do far more than drive a roll-former.
For factory-built clients
- CNC output for the automated lines beyond the framing machine — cladding, linings, sub-assemblies and other stations — so one model runs the whole plant
- Assembly-level modelling: sub-assemblies, panels, cassettes and modules as production units with their own drawings, files and BOM
- Sequencing, handling, lifting and transport constraints built into the model
Bill of materials, all the way through
- BOM extended to every item in the digital model — steel, fasteners, brackets, sheeting, linings, insulation, fixings and consumables
- Structured by assembly, panel, module or site stage, so crews receive pick lists that match how they install
- Exported in formats compatible with ERP, MRP and accounting systems for purchasing, inventory, costing and invoicing
- Job data feeds for quoting, scheduling and production tracking
Design & detailing in Tekla Structures
Where the LGS meets the heavy steel.
Most commercial and many modular projects combine light gauge steel with a structural steel frame — portals, transfer beams, columns, lift-and-stair cores, module chassis. We design and detail that steel in Tekla Structures, coordinated with the LGS model so the interfaces are resolved once and correctly.
- Portal frames, beams, columns, bracing and transfer structures
- Module chassis, lifting frames and off-site connection details
- Connection design and detailing, base plates and hold-downs
- Fabricator shop drawings — assemblies, parts, bolt lists and NC data
- Erection drawings and LGS-to-steel interface details
Design optimisation for lean manufacturing
Where the design is given to us, we make it cheaper to build — every time.
Our premium service is optimisation. When a client hands us the design authority, we engineer the framing to suit lean, factory-built manufacturing: rationalised sections and connections, minimal part counts, standardised panels and modules, assembly sequences that follow the line, and lifting and transport resolved in the model rather than on the floor.
This is where we excel for modular and off-site manufacturers — and the same principle applies to project home builders at scale. A volume builder running continuous, ongoing builds of standard designs gains from every hour and every kilogram removed, multiplied across every house. We optimise each standard design, measure the result, and keep refining it build after build.
What optimisation targets
- Labour input — factory assembly hours and site installation hours
- Material — steel mass, offcuts and waste per build
- Complexity — part types, connection types and special details
- Flow — panelisation and sequencing matched to the line, transport and craning
- Repeatability — standard details that install identically every time
- Continuous improvement — feedback from the floor and site folded into the next revision
Suits
- Modular, volumetric and panelised off-site manufacturers
- Project home builders with standard design ranges and ongoing volume
- Fabricators supplying either of the above who want a sharper product
End to end on any machine — or black ops on yours.
We drive any machine
The complete service, front and centre. We take on the client interface — architects, engineers, builders and their questions — then design, engineer, detail and output the job on our platforms, producing the production files that run your machines regardless of who manufactured them.
- Suits fabricators in start-up mode, and any business wanting one team responsible for the whole design side
- Built in Vertex BD or FRAMECAD (LGS) and Tekla Structures (structural steel); output to any machine — just tell us the type
- Includes drawing integration, a DFMA-led digital twin, engineering and certification coordination, CNC files for every machine, structural steel shop drawings, full BOM and documentation
- For start-ups: platform, section and connection libraries, design standards and job workflow set up from day one
- Hand over as much as you want to bring in-house as you grow
Guns for hire, on your platform
You already have the software, the process, the engineer and the standards — what you need from time to time is more hands. We work as subcontract detailers inside your business: your platform, your process, your engineer's design, your details, your output. Capacity muscle, invisible from the outside.
- Suits established frame and truss fabricators with their own design office
- We work on whatever platform you run, in your libraries, templates and title blocks
- Your process and conventions followed exactly; your engineer certifies
- Output in your export profiles, delivered straight into your systems
- Overflow, peak-season or project-based — engaged when you need it, stood down when you don't
- Confidential by default — we never disclose client relationships
Three platforms. Any machine.
We build in best-of-breed platforms — two for light gauge steel, one for structural steel — and let them drive whatever hardware sits on your factory floor. The software is ours to master; the machine choice is yours.
Vertex BD
Full-building BIM modelling, LGS and structural steel detailing, engineering integration and machine output to a wide range of roll-formers.
FRAMECAD
Integrated design, engineering and detailing software producing production data for FRAMECAD and other roll-forming lines.
Tekla Structures
Structural steel modelling, connection detailing and fabricator shop drawings — portals, beams, columns and the interfaces with the LGS framing.
Tell us the machine type. We'll produce the files.
The model is built once; the CNC files and shop floor drawings are generated for the machine you own — Howick, FRAMECAD, Scottsdale Construction Systems, Pinnacle or any other manufacturer. There is no machine we won't target.
Not sure which offer fits? Most people aren't at first.
A short conversation is usually enough to work out the right shape of engagement. No obligation.