How Cold-Formed Steel Framing

Solves Challenges
for Multi-Family Construction

Cold-Formed Steel Framing Resource

BUILDSTEEL.ORG Center for Building Professionals
Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION 1
Integrating Cold-Formed
Steel Framing Into Your Next 2
Multi-Family Construction Project

5 Projects That Saved Thousands

of Dollars With Cold-Formed Steel 4

5 Effective Ways to Attach Balconies

to Cold-Formed Steel Structures 6

Cold-Formed Steel Multi-Family

Success Stories 8
 Budget, timeline, and material choice are important
considerations for every building project — but for
multi-family construction, these factors can be even
more significant.
Before construction begins, multi-family building owners
must consider how they plan to fill their units. While demand
for multi-family housing units is expected to continue to grow
by 7 percent in 2017, building owners must work carefully to
control their expenses to remain profitable. Furthermore, to
offer affordable units to residents of all income levels, building
professionals must make an effort to control material costs.

At the same time, they must push for an efficient construction

schedule. When constructing multi-family projects, a condensed
timeline can enable building owners to fill units and generate
revenue sooner — helping them realize a faster return on
their investment.

To meet these challenges, an increasing number of building

professionals are choosing to build with cold-formed steel
(CFS) framing.

In this eBook, you’ll learn how multi-family construction

can benefit from CFS and how to incorporate it into your
next project.

BUILDSTEEL.ORG 1
Integrating Cold-Formed Steel Framing
Into Your Next Multi-Family Construction Project
Multi-family construction — everything from affordable apartment complexes and military housing to luxury
condominiums — is a segment made for CFS framing. The repetitive nature of such projects — floor after floor of
more or less the same framing assemblies and layouts — makes CFS the perfect choice to build cost effectively.

While cold-formed steel framing has been around 2. DOWNLOAD THE LATEST CFS STEEL
for decades, many builders, architects, and developers TECHNICAL GUIDES COVERING FIRE AND
may not realize all of the opportunities and benefits ACOUSTICS, THERMAL, AND DURABILITY
it affords, especially where multi-family projects are
concerned.
 A Guide to Fire & Acoustic Data for
Providing safe and efficient structural solutions for Cold-Formed Steel Floor, Wall & Roof
Assemblies (June 2013)
the developer looking to have a superior return on
investment in a shorter time cycle than most other  Durability of Galvanized Steel Framing
construction options, cold-formed steel’s flexibility in Residential Buildings
in design and consistent material quality lends itself
 Steel and the Environment from the Steel
well to any project.
Framing Alliance
One example is Park Terrace and Grant Park at  Thermal Design and Code Compliance
Croton Heights, a mixed-income, multi-building Guide for Cold-Formed Steel Walls
housing development in Yonkers, NY. It’s a great (2015 Edition)
demonstration of CFS attributes. Find more of the
details in this Metal Home Digest article about
3. SPECIFY STEEL
Park Terrace and Grant Park at Croton Heights.

Explore these resources to learn more about how Steel has many advantages:
CFS can impact your next multi-family project:
 CFS studs and trusses won’t sustain damage
due to the elements while exposed on a job
1. DOWNLOAD THE LATEST CFS CODE
COMPLIANCE DOCUMENTS  Steel does not warp, shrink, or crack and
remains straight and true throughout the
life of the structure
Start with Standards for Design and
 Steel is 100% noncombustible
Construction, available for free through
the American Iron and Steel Institute.

BUILDSTEEL.ORG 2
 Providing safe and efficient structural solutions
and return on investment in a shorter time cycle,
cold-formed steel’s flexibility in design and consistent
material quality lends itself well to any project.

4. VALUE ENGINEER THE WALLS 7. ORDER STUDS CUT

TO LENGTH ... OR PANELIZE

CFS walls can be adjusted with each floor of

the structure. Walls on lower levels, for example,
can use CFS studs with greater thicknesses
than those on higher levels. Such value
engineering enables the steel thicknesses
to be reduced as each floor is added and
reduces the overall project cost. This was done
at the Croton Heights project in Yonkers, NY.
5. USE THE BEST FLOOR SYSTEM
FOR YOUR PARTICULAR PROJECT
CFS floors come in all different shapes and sizes.
There are standard CFS floor joists, proprietary
joist products that are manufactured with large
punchouts to accommodate standard-size
plumbing and HVAC ductwork. The Croton
Heights project incorporated the JoistRite Floor
joist system, which was manufactured to allow
for efficient installation of the plumbing runs.
Last, but certainly not least, encourage your
framing contractor to order CFS studs cut to
length. This is generally easy to do and works
for the wall studs and the floor joists.
The walls at the Croton Heights project, for
example, were all stick built on-site. Stick
building using pre-cut CFS studs gave the
framing contractor control of its workmanship
and helped to avoid unnecessary delays.
Another effective and efficient solution,
depending on project size, is to consider
panelizing (meaning the components of
the structure — walls, floors, and roofs — are
assembled in a controlled manufacturing
environment).
The lucky residents of multi-family structures
built with CFS will get to enjoy their energy-
efficient units for many years to come.

6. COORDINATE WITH THE TRADES

Upfront planning with all involved with a

project is always recommended, and the right
kind of planning can avoid clashes, speed up
workflow, and trim man-hours required to
complete projects. Mechanical, Electrical, and
Plumbing (MEP) contractors and the framing
contractor can discuss the location of toilet
traps, mechanical returns and main trunk
locations and, thus, verify and align the knock-
out diameters they need within floor joists.

If available on a project, Building Information

Modeling especially helps to resolve problems
before they occur.

BUILDSTEEL.ORG 3
5 Projects That Saved Thousands of Dollars
With Cold-Formed Steel
Controlling costs is essential to staying within
budget for a multi-family residential building
project — but there are factors to consider beyond
raw material prices, energy, and labor.
The choice of certain systems, such as framing
systems, can garner significant cost advantages.
While each project is different, cold-formed steel
(CFS) framing can often add thousands of dollars
to your building’s bottom line.
Here are five examples where CFS framing was
used in place of another building material to
realize significant cost savings.
$1.3 MILLION IN INSURANCE SAVINGS
While wood sometimes has a stud-for-stud
cost advantage over CFS, wood is combustible.
Insurance carriers generally assess high
builders risk premiums and property insurance
premiums for wood construction.
According to “Insurance Savings with
Cold-Formed Steel” from the Steel Framing
Industry Association (SFIA), builders risk
insurance adds $0.48 to $0.62 per $100 of
construction value on wood-framed projects.
CFS framing has the advantage.

The builders risk insurance on a four-story,

CFS-framed, 400-unit hotel built in 24 months
$40,000 IN SAVINGS
cost $360,000, SFIA noted. The same coverage
FOR USING CFS TRUSSES on a wood-framed hotel would have cost
$1.6 million. Thus, the developer saved about
$1.3 million. And, he pays $66,000 less each
Recently, a credit union’s new headquarters
year for property insurance.
decided to use CFS trusses instead of wood
trusses. The switch came after the design-
build contractor learned that building officials
would require fire sprinklers to protect wood,
but not CFS, trusses. The senior project
architect said avoiding fire sprinklers with
CFS trusses saved the project $40,000.

The speediness of the CFS truss installation

also saved “close to 40 percent on labor,” the
truss contractor said. Work ended five to six
weeks early, he added.

No framing system has a monopoly on cost

savings in all cases. But, CFS systems have
many unique cost advantages you can count
on for your building project.

BUILDSTEEL.ORG 4
 Additional savings came through lower financing
charges, pared site supervision, and less labor —
all by using CFS framing on the project.
UP TO $10,000 SAVINGS
IN SECURITY DETAIL
Many Canadian municipalities have mandated
new fire-related requirements for wood-framed
mid-rise buildings. These include detailed
fire safety plans, floor-by-floor sprinklers and
standpipes, fire watches during hot work,
and extra site security.
The Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and
Housing’s (MMAH) latest guideline, “Fire Safety
During Construction for Five and Six Stores
Wood Buildings in Ontario: A Best Practice
Guideline,” details over a hundred pages of
fire mitigation measures for wood projects.
These precautions include the use of charged
fire hydrants prior to bringing significant
amounts of combustibles on site, after-hours
on-site lighting and security cameras, and
after-hours security guards for fire prevention.
CFS-framed projects have a cost advantage
because CFS is non-combustible. One builder
had to post 24-hour security guards during
construction of his wood-frame project, SFIA
noted. The security detail added $6,000 to
$10,000 per month.
BUILDSTEEL.ORG
ADDITIONAL $100,000 EARNED FOR A
SHORTER CONSTRUCTION TIMEFRAME
On a five-story apartment building,
CFS framing shaved at least six weeks off
construction versus poured concrete or
masonry, according to an SFIA case study.
Because of the time savings, the developer
was able to earn an extra $100,000 by
collecting rent from tenants earlier
than expected.
Additional savings came through lower
financing charges, pared site supervision,
and less labor — all by using CFS framing
on the project.
CFS even augmented the schedule in
comparison to masonry and concrete
construction. “The other trades were able
to access the building much earlier,” the
general contractor said.
$2.50 SAVINGS PER SQUARE FOOT
Cold-formed steel framing was chosen for
the office renovation at the Chart Industries,
Inc., manufacturing plant in La Crosse,
Wisconsin, because of its durability and
flexibility to integrate with other systems. The
architect and structural engineer were able
to use CFS framing along with the building’s
existing foundation and structural steel
columns.
Beyond flexibility, the CFS framing added
significant savings to the renovation. The CFS
system saved about $2.50 per square foot on
the exterior walls as opposed to masonry wall
construction.
5
5 Effective Ways to Attach Balconies
to Cold-Formed Steel Structures
Architects designing multi-family projects with cold-formed steel (CFS) framing might wonder whether their
buildings can support balconies. The answer: Absolutely.

“Architects might not realize that cold-formed steel studs are this strong,” said Patrick W. Ford, P.E., Principal at
Matsen Ford Design in Waukesha, Wisconsin, whose firm has handled the engineering for CFS buildings with
balcony attachments many times.

Here are five ways to attach balconies to CFS structures.

1. BRACKETED SUPPORT 2. LEDGER-ATTACHED, POST-UP SUPPORT

Bracketed systems involve anchoring balconies
directly to load-bearing exterior walls, including
CFS walls. Balconies with an area of less than 100
square feet can usually be bracketed to structural
CFS members.
Many of the balconies at City Green, a nine-story
apartment complex in downtown Milwaukee, for
example, were bracketed balconies. The exterior walls
feature CFS studs integrated with hollow-tube steel
to support the balconies, some of which support hot
tubs. In contrast, Matsen Ford’s Jefferson Block in
Milwaukee is a five-story CFS building with smaller
balconies than City Green, which are bracketed to
the exterior CFS walls and don’t require the use of
any hollow-tube steel.
A second method to attach balconies to a CFS
building uses outside-corner posts.
“You can ledger-support the interior edge of the
balcony at the building face,” Ford said. “Then, half
of the weight of the balcony is on the outside posts.”
With this type of construction, architects can
generally design bigger balconies with the same
amount of structural CFS, although proper
foundations are needed to support the outboard
posts. And, according to Ford, post-up systems are
simple to frame and offer more support than other
balcony attachment types, making them the
balcony selection of choice for many buildings.
“There are some high-profile high-rises along
the lakefront in Milwaukee that use exactly this
schematic,” Ford said.

BUILDSTEEL.ORG 6
 “We’ve bracketed assemblies onto CFS walls and
floors. We’ve done sag rod balconies, wing wall
balconies, and post-and-beam balconies, and we’ve
done all of them in cold-formed steel structures.”
— PATRICK W. FORD, P.E.
Principal at Matsen Ford Design in Waukesha, Wisconsin

3. SAG ROD SUPPORT 5. WING WALL SUPPORT

A third type of balcony support for CFS walls uses
sag rods. The balcony is attached along the floor line
at the outer edge of the building. Diagonal support
rods, or sag rods, run from the corners of the balcony
and are anchored one story up. Running the sag
rods to the story above throws the load of the balcony
into the upper floor and then vertically into the
exterior wall.
“It’s an efficient balcony structure,” Ford said.
Similar to ledger-attached, post-up supported balconies,
wing wall-supported balconies, which span from side
wall to side wall, provide privacy for occupants.
“Imagine two walls sticking out from the building,
perpendicular to the exterior wall,” Ford explained.
“If you want a five-foot deep balcony, you have two
five-foot-deep wing walls and you span the balcony
between those walls. It’s an exceptionally simple
framing design.”

Ford says that some code authorities even allow a

wing wall-supported balcony to be designed as a
“deck.” While not technically a deck, the balcony
under certain provisions can have the identical live
loads as the adjacent occupancy, Ford says.

4. CANTILEVER DESIGN
Balconies and CFS go together
These five balcony attachment types work with
CFS cantilevered balconies use structural elements
buildings structurally framed with CFS studs —
that protrude out over the top of the CFS bearing
depending, of course, on the size of the balco-
wall (or over another bearing element). The cantilevers
nies and number of stories. As with any structural
provide the balcony floor. How far the balcony extends
element, proper attention must be paid to loads,
outward from the wall depends on the depth of the
detailing for waterproofing, and aesthetics.
cantilever members. The deeper the members, the
further out the balcony can extend. “We’ve designed with C-joists on an all-cold-
formed-steel, cantilevered balcony system,”
“From a look standpoint, bracketed is similar,” Ford
Ford said. “We’ve bracketed assemblies onto
said. “But cantilevering has the advantage of being
CFS walls and floors. We’ve done sag rod
architecturally as svelte as any.”
balconies, wing wall balconies, and post-and-
beam balconies, and we’ve done all of them
in cold-formed steel structures.”

BUILDSTEEL.ORG 7
Cold-Formed Steel Multi-Family Success Stories
Building professionals are increasingly realizing
the benefits of cold-formed steel framing — from its
cost effectiveness to its durability — and are selecting
it as a building material for their multi-family projects.
Here are just a few examples of recent projects that
succeeded, in part, because of CFS framing.
1. COLD-FORMED STEEL FRAMING
TO BE USED IN MULTI-FAMILY HOMES
TO REDUCE CARBON FOOTPRINT
A large Chinese construction firm is teaming
up with a UK housing association to deliver
25,000 pre-fabricated homes over the next
five years. The modular housing will use
precision-produced cold-formed steel
framing and modern composite materials,
ensuring that the units are low-carbon
and energy efficient.
 READ MORE
2. WITH COLD-FORMED STEEL, LARGEST
STUDENT HOUSING CONSTRUCTION
PROJECT IN U.S. HISTORY IS COMPLETED
Poly Canyon Village is the largest cold-formed
steel load-bearing project in California and the
most sizable student housing complex ever
undertaken by an American university in a single
construction project. Despite its size (820,000
square feet over the span of nine buildings),
the project was completed six months ahead
of the original 20-month schedule.
 READ MORE
BUILDSTEEL.ORG
3. COLD-FORMED STEEL SAVES
$400,000 IN APARTMENT PROJECT
Park 4200, a six-story apartment project,
was constructed using cold-formed steel,
which proved to be a cost-effective solution.
Compared to the cost of an all-concrete
structure, Park 4200 saved $4.20 per square
foot, amounting to over $400,000 for the
99,000 square feet of interior space.
 READ MORE
4. STEEL FRAMING ADDS VALUE, SAFETY
TO VIRGINIA SENIOR-LIVING STRUCTURE
By using steel framing instead of wood, a design
and construction team in coastal Virginia was
able to substantially increase the height/usable
area — and potential revenue — of a senior-living
condominium building.
 READ MORE
5. LIGHT GAUGE STEEL
ACCELERATES CONSTRUCTION TIME
FOR CAMERON APARTMENTS
Cameron Apartments, an eight-story
light-gauge and structural-steel building
in downtown Portland, Oregon, utilized
framing walls that were pre-fabricated
off-site. The construction team realized
that prefabricating the roughly 20-foot-long
sheathed wall panels could dramatically
compress the construction schedule.
 READ MORE
8
 While every project is different, CFS framing can offer many
benefits to multi-family projects — saving time and expenses
for building professionals, and helping building owners fill units
and generate revenue sooner.

Do you need help with an upcoming project? Whether you’d

like to learn how different building materials compare — for
example, how cold-formed steel framing compares to wood
framing — or need ideas for how to reduce costs or speed up
your construction timeline, we can help.

BuildSteel’s team of experts offers complimentary project

assistance for new or existing projects. Request assistance now.

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