The drawings are not a starting suggestion. They are the contract. We read them. We answer the RFIs. We build them.
Same day for time-critical questions. Always with options, not just problems.
Photos, schedule status, open items, and the next week's plan. In writing. Every week.
Plan check, corrections, agency coordination. We know the inspectors and the process.
Opens design possibilities wood forecloses: long spans, complex geometries, non-combustible framing. Every member specified from current ICC-ES listings.
Project managers handle execution. The owner makes every decision that matters, design conflicts, scope changes, structural calls. Final answers, not "I'll get back to you."
Long unobstructed spans without intermediate bearing walls. Eliminate posts and columns from the open plan.
Engineered precision. Complex roof geometries, cantilevers, and tight finish reveals built to spec.
Chapter 7A compliant. Build the design in HFHSZ where wood frame is no longer practical.
Foundation to finish. Excavation, framing, MEP, finishes, punch list. One contractor, full accountability.
Complete structural shell, weather-tight. Bring your own MEP and finish trades from there.
Already have your team. Need our steel frame expertise. We engage as a specialty subcontractor.
If you're an architect designing an ADU in Los Angeles or Orange County, particularly in a fire zone, a coastal lot, or a project where the ADU sits inches from a property line, steel frame is the structural answer the building inspector, the insurance carrier, and long-term performance data all increasingly point to.
The hard part is finding a contractor who can actually execute it. Most LA/OC GCs say they "can do steel frame", without an established supply chain, without a trained crew, without in-house structural engineering. ESRL is the one-stop steel frame ADU contractor: structural engineering, steel supply, and installation under a single contract.
In-house structural engineering on your design. Stamped drawings. CBC + CRC. Title 24. Chapter 7A. Faster permits, fewer RFIs.
Galvanized 14–18ga light gauge steel, wall panels, joists, tracks. Prefabricated to 1/256" tolerance. ICC-ES certified suppliers, current ESR listings. No markup stacking, no procurement coordination.
Trained ESRL crew, not subcontracted. Frame raised in 1–2 days. Through to MEP, drywall, finishes, and certificate of occupancy.
Architects working with ESRL regularly join our preferred-architect program: priority scheduling, free constructability reviews on every project, and a co-marketing arrangement on completed projects (your firm credited prominently in all photography and case studies).
It means you stop coordinating three vendors. ESRL handles structural engineering, light gauge steel supply, and on-site installation under a single contract. You produce the architectural set. We produce, stamp, and submit the structural set, source the steel members (galvanized to ASTM A653, designed to AISI S100), and erect the frame with our trained crew. You stay in lane on design. We stay in lane on construction. No structural-engineer-versus-fabricator-versus-installer finger-pointing on RFIs or change orders.
ESRL handles structural engineering in-house, under our partnered California-licensed structural engineer. The structural drawings are produced, stamped, and submitted by ESRL's engineer. If you prefer to use your own structural engineer, we will work with theirs. Either path is fine. The advantage of using ours is that the engineer who stamps the drawings is the same team building the frame, fewer RFIs, faster permit cycles, no constructability surprises at bid.
24 hours, written, with options. Same day for time-critical questions. RFIs are answered by the principal or the project engineer who can actually answer them, not a project coordinator who has to relay the question to someone else. Time-critical questions (site-stopping RFIs) get a verbal answer same day with the written confirmation within 24 hours.
Yes. ESRL works under AIA A101 (Standard Form of Agreement Between Owner and Contractor) and AIA A201 (General Conditions), AIA B101-compatible team structures, design-bid-build, design-build, and CM at-risk delivery. The contract structure is your call. ESRL's role, light gauge steel frame engineering, supply, and install, fits cleanly into any of them.
Yes. ESRL provides free pre-construction services to architects we partner with: constructability review during Design Development and Construction Documents, light gauge steel feasibility analysis, pre-bid budget estimates from a builder who has actually built steel-frame projects in LA and OC (not industry-average numbers), and code/permit feasibility review (CBC, CRC, Chapter 7A, Title 24, LADBS / OC Public Works). For architects in our preferred-architect program, constructability review is included on every project at no charge.