AI for structural steel erectors, tested on plans and closeout files from jobs you finished.

An erector's job file starts with someone else's documents. OSHA's steel erection rule, 29 CFR 1926 Subpart R, calls the party with overall responsibility for a project's planning, quality and completion the controlling contractor, whether that party is a prime, a GC or a construction manager. It owes you written notice that footings and piers have reached the strength the rule sets and that any anchor rod repair, replacement or modification went through the structural engineer of record, and under 1926.752(b) no steel goes up until the concrete notice is in hand. A December 2002 OSHA letter notes that the erector often has no way of knowing an anchor bolt was changed, and that a controlling contractor who hires out the testing stays responsible anyway.

That is the argument for starting with the erection plan. A finished job holds the plan your qualified person signed and the file it was built from: sequence notes, crane and hoisting information, notices, column and anchor rod items. OSHA's inspection directive for this rule, CPL 02-01-034, says nothing requires a written notification to stay at the site once the erector has it, so a closed file can run thin in exactly that spot. Your reviewer sees what the draft found, what your plan carried, and what was never on file.

Owners add their own requirements. The University of Houston's master Section 05 12 00, revised January 29, 2018, wants an AISC Certified or Advanced Certified Steel Erector with at least five years of similar work. It has a professional engineer employed by the erector prepare erection-bracing drawings showing the sequence, temporary supports and what has to be raised, bolted or welded, submitted for record and kept apart from the erection drawings. Another owner's section can ask for something else, so each draft starts from what that job carried.

Bolting and welding paper comes due at closeout. Subpart R caps how far unfinished bolting or welding can run ahead: four floors or 48 feet, whichever is less, above the foundation or the uppermost permanently secured floor, unless the design keeps the structure stable. Connections get finished in stages, and the proof of each one piles up the same way, in lot certificates, verification sheets, inspection reports and welder records. Someone has to pull all of that into one file at the end, and every finished job already has that file to compare against.

Crew records are a later job. Section 1926.761 has a qualified person give the training and asks for separate programs on multiple lift rigging, connector procedures and controlled decking zones. Those records could become a crew qualification file for a GC's prequalification. They are not part of the first test, and certified payroll isn't part of any test.

One limit covers every job here. The proof of concept never touches your job cost, scheduling or project management system or a live record. It doesn't write a final safety plan, it can't accept a connection, and it signs nothing. Your qualified person writes and approves every erection plan, and qualified inspectors decide every inspection result. Rules named on this page are mentioned for recognition only, and none of it is legal or engineering advice.