For structural steel fabricators
Structural steel estimating software that prices straight from the takeoff
Take off beams, columns, joists and plate from the PDFs, let your connections and shop standards work out the fabrication hours, and send a proposal built from the same numbers.
The problem
Structural bids are won and lost in the details
The tonnage is the easy part. The money is in the connections, the shop hours, the stock lengths and the revision that arrived on Tuesday.
The same numbers typed three times
Takeoff in one program, pricing in a spreadsheet, the proposal in Word. Every hand-off is a chance to drop a line or carry an old quantity.
Shop labor guessed per ton
A blended hours-per-ton figure hides the difference between a job of simple shear tabs and a job full of moment connections and copes.
Revisions found too late
An addendum reissues six sheets two days before the bid. Finding what changed, and what it does to your number, takes the time you don't have.
How Kredna handles it
Members, joists, connections and shop labor in one pass
Set up your shop once. After that, every takeoff carries its own weight, connections and fabrication hours into pricing.
Beams and columns
Press Space, type w16x26, press Enter, click both ends. The member is drawn at the right length and weight, and the tool stays on for the next piece. Type exact lengths on the numpad when you have a dimension.
Learn moreFind members on the plan
Find members reads the size tags printed on a framing plan (W12X35, HSS6X6X1/4, L4X4X3/8) and proposes the member each one labels. Accept a whole size at once, or one at a time. It uses the PDF's own text and lines, so it takes under a second.
Learn moreJoists by the bay
Press J, pick the joist, type the spacing, draw the bay and click the first joist. The bay fills in at that spacing, edge to edge. Bar joist assemblies are priced per foot from chords, webs and seats.
Connections set up once
Define your shear tabs, double clip angles, base plates and cap plates once: bolts, holes, plates, angles and welds. Apply one to a takeoff, to every same item in a folder, or to every same item in the estimate.
Shop labor from the work itself
Answer a few questions about your shop once: weld speed, drilling time, cope setup, handling per member. Holes, copes, welds, stiffeners and studs on each takeoff become shop hours by kind of work, priced at your fabrication rate.
Typical floors and folders
Repeat a takeoff ×N for typical floors. Organize takeoff in folders by level or area, and see pieces, length and weight by item, drawing, folder or alternate.
Shop fabrication
Fabrication hours worked out, not guessed
Select a takeoff and press F. Add connections, holes, copes, welds, stiffeners, studs or plates and watch the minutes add up as you type.
- Weld time scales with weld metal, so a 1/2" fillet takes four times the metal of a 1/4", then your position factors apply.
- Drilling time scales with hole diameter and thickness, with beam holes defaulting to the web thickness from the AISC tables.
- Copes and stiffeners are sized from the section, with plate weight, cutting and welding included.
- Weld wire and gas bottles are worked out from the weld sizes, and field bolts are counted by diameter.
- Shop hours by kind of work+ Add line
- Shear studs+ Add line
- Added plate and connection angles+ Add line
- Field bolts by diameter+ Add line
- Anchors+ Add line
- Weld wire and gas bottles+ Add line
Each one becomes a priced line at your rates: shop hours at your fabrication labor rate, studs at your stud cost.
Cut lists and stock lengths
Steel is bought in sticks, not feet. Each price tag carries the stock lengths you buy, such as 20, 40 and 50 ft beams, 24 and 48 ft tubes or 21 ft pipe, and material is priced on the sticks you will actually order.
- Sticks to buy per member, with the drops left over
- Purchased weight beside net weight, with stock waste carried into the price
- A material list CSV for your steel supplier
- An Excel workbook with summary, cost lines, takeoff by item and by drawing, and the material list
Revisions and addenda
Drawings that land in the job folder are flagged NEW or CHANGED, and your finished takeoff on the old sheets is never touched.
- Color overlay comparison with every changed area boxed, sheet matched by number
- Drawing sets for the bid set and each addendum, with superseded sheets flagged everywhere
- Takeoff on superseded or unscaled sheets caught before you submit
- Compare any two estimate revisions: price, cost by category, takeoff and drawings
From the last takeoff to a signed proposal
Pricing works from the takeoff: material from weights, labor from production rates or fabrication hours, plus services, equipment, vendor quotes, alternates and markup on cost or margin.
- Clause libraryInclusions, exclusions and clarifications your whole team reuses, with conflicts flagged.
- Your brandLogo and color on every page, exported to PDF or Word.
- Locked revisionsSubmit Rev 0 and it's an immutable snapshot you can compare later.
- Won jobsMark Won creates the project number, PM folder and budget. Change orders keep the bid intact.
Guides for structural estimators
Want an AI second set of eyes on the bid? Scans and estimate reviews run on prepaid credits. See what AI credits cost or compare plans.
Structural steel estimating, answered
Does it handle connections when the drawings don't detail them?
Yes. You set up your typical connections once (shear tabs, double clip angles, column base and cap plates, or your own) and apply them to takeoffs. Members without their own work use their category's typical shop work, such as holes and copes for W shapes.
Can it read member sizes off a framing plan?
Find members reads the size tags printed on the drawing and proposes the member each tag labels, for you to accept by size or one at a time. It needs drawings with a text layer; scans and sheets whose text was converted to lines have no tags to read, and you take those off by hand with Space, item, click.
Does it price field erection?
Shop hours are worked out from the fabrication on each takeoff. Field installation varies too much with site conditions to derive, so you price it yourself: production-rate labor lines can work from takeoff weight, length, count or pieces at your hours per unit, with overtime and burden. Past jobs' hours per ton are shown as a check.
Which steel shapes are included?
About 1,600 standard shapes: AISC W, WT, S, ST, M, MT, HP, C, MC, L, HSS, pipe, bars and plate, plus UK and EU sections. Metric designations search too, so W310x52 finds W12x35. Table weights are locked, so a standard shape can't be changed by accident; make a custom copy for anything different.
Can two estimators split a large job?
Yes. Share the job folder through Dropbox or OneDrive. Unrelated changes merge automatically, and if two people edit the same thing, both versions are kept for review.
What does it cost?
$1,500 a year for the company license plus $99 a month per estimator. Every feature is included; AI features use prepaid credits. See the pricing page for details.
Bid more structural jobs with the same team.
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