Structural Steel Detailing · Louisiana
Drafting Buddies delivers shop drawings, erection drawings, connection detailing and BIM modeling for Louisiana steel fabricators, contractors and engineers - built to AISC 360 and AWS D1.1 standards, coordinated against the Louisiana State Uniform Construction Code (LSUCC), and detailed for the wind loads and corrosion exposure the Gulf Coast throws at structural steel.
Louisiana steel work carries its own demands: high design wind speeds in coastal parishes, humid, salt-exposed air that shapes coating and fastener specs, and a heavy industrial and petrochemical sector running its own detailing standards. Our detailers build shop, erection and connection drawings accurate enough to go straight to the fabrication floor, whether the project is a commercial building in Baton Rouge or a pipe rack in the Lake Charles industrial corridor.
DTL 06 / SHT S-214
LA-STL-0318
Moment connection · shop-ready detail
AISC 360 / AWS D1.1 · Louisiana wind zone
What We Detail
Nine detailing disciplines, each produced by detailers who work Louisiana fabrication and erection projects daily.
STL · 01
Structural
Full structural steel detailing across commercial, industrial and institutional projects, taking a design from structural engineering drawings through fabrication-ready documentation. We detail to AISC 360 and AWS D1.1 standards while building in the wind-load and connection requirements Louisiana's design-wind-speed zones call for, so drawings hold up through engineer review the first time.
SHP · 02
Shop
Piece-by-piece shop and fabrication drawings - beam, column, plate and assembly details - precise enough for a Louisiana fabricator to cut, drill and weld directly from. We include material grades, weld symbols and dimensional tolerances at the level your shop floor actually needs, cutting back-and-forth RFIs during fabrication.
ERC · 03
Erection
Erection plans and diagrams that sequence how steel goes up in the field, piece marks matched to the shop drawings and a layout your erection crew can follow without guesswork. We coordinate erection sequencing with site access and crane reach constraints common on tight Louisiana urban and industrial sites.
CON · 04
Connections
Bolted and welded connection details - moment connections, shear connections, base plates, gusset plates, splices and bracing - engineered and drawn to match your project's structural calculations. We detail connections sized for Louisiana's wind-load demands, so field-verified connections match what the engineer of record actually specified.
MSC · 05
Misc. Steel
Stairs, handrails, guardrails, ladders, platforms and other miscellaneous metal work detailed alongside primary structural steel. We produce fabrication-ready drawings for these secondary elements with the same accuracy as main structural members, since they're often where field-fit issues actually show up on a Louisiana job site.
IND · 06
Industrial
Pipe rack, platform, equipment support and process-structure detailing for Louisiana's refining and petrochemical corridor along the Mississippi River and Lake Charles. We detail structural steel to the coordination standards industrial and process-plant projects require, working alongside piping and equipment layouts rather than as an isolated structural package.
BIM · 07
BIM
3D steel models built in Tekla Structures, Revit or SDS2, coordinated against architectural, MEP and civil models to catch clashes before fabrication starts. Multidisciplinary coordination in Navisworks flags conflicts early, which matters most on fast-moving Louisiana projects where field rework isn't easily absorbed into the schedule.
CNC · 08
CNC / DSTV
CNC and DSTV/NC files generated directly from the detailed model for automated cutting and drilling, plus material takeoffs and bills of materials for procurement. We produce fabrication-machine-ready output so your shop can move from model to metal without a manual re-entry step.
QA · 09
QA / QC
Full-scope detailing outsourcing or drawing review and quality-control support for fabricators and detailing departments that need extra capacity. We check drawings against structural calculations and connection design before they leave our hands, so what reaches your engineer or fabricator has already been through a second set of eyes.
Industries We Serve
From New Orleans commercial builds to the Baton Rouge-Lake Charles industrial corridor, our detailing teams work the sectors that define Louisiana steel construction.
Office, retail and mixed-use structural steel detailing.
Pipe rack, platform and process-structure detailing.
Large-span structural steel for distribution and production facilities.
Apartment and mixed-use residential steel framing.
Hospital and clinic structural steel detailing.
School and campus building structural steel.
Municipal and public-facility structural steel detailing.
Hotel and entertainment-venue steel framing.
Why Drafting Buddies
We detail to AISC 360 and AWS D1.1 while factoring in LSUCC and Gulf Coast wind-load requirements.
A large enough bench to staff full-project detailing packages without bottlenecking on one person.
Track record across commercial, industrial, institutional and residential steel detailing nationwide.
Fast cycle times that keep fabrication and erection schedules moving.
Comfortable detailing pipe racks, platforms and process structures for Louisiana's energy corridor.
Corrosion protection, coating and fastener specs called out for Louisiana's humidity and coastal exposure.
Built Around Louisiana's Standards
Louisiana steel work sits on national AISC/AWS standards plus state code adoption and Gulf Coast-specific wind and corrosion realities. Our detailing accounts for all of it.
National structural steel design and welding standards that govern connection design, member sizing and weld detailing on every project.
Statewide code based on the 2021 IBC/IRC with Louisiana amendments, enforced by parish building officials for permit review.
Coastal and near-coastal parishes fall in high design-wind-speed zones, driving connection capacity and bracing requirements.
Galvanizing, primer systems and fastener grade selection called out to match Louisiana's humidity and salt-air exposure in coastal parishes.
Oil, gas and petrochemical facility projects follow client- and industry-specific structural standards beyond baseline building code.
Submittal and review requirements differ by parish; we tailor structural steel documentation to each jurisdiction's process.
Software We Work In
3D Modeling
3D Modeling
3D Modeling
Drafting
BIM
Coordination
Coordination
Markups
Where We Work
We serve fabricators, contractors and engineers statewide, with remote delivery available anywhere in Louisiana. See related drafting services in Louisiana.
New Orleans
Baton Rouge
Shreveport
Lafayette
Lake Charles
Metairie
Kenner
Bossier City
Monroe
Alexandria
Houma
Slidell
Yes. Our detailing follows AISC 360 and AWS D1.1 national standards alongside the Louisiana State Uniform Construction Code (LSUCC), and we account for the wind-load requirements ASCE 7 sets for Gulf Coast parishes when detailing connections and framing.
Start A Project
Send us your structural drawings or scope, and we'll come back with a detailing plan and turnaround estimate.