Frequently asked questions

Zoning and the site plan come first, at the city or county. The plant's permit is issued under the Florida Building Code once reviewers accept the sealed frame drawings, and the fire marshal's plan review under the Florida Fire Prevention Code can matter a great deal for flammable materials, dust or high stacked storage. Depending on what the plant does, air emissions or wastewater may also need state environmental permits, so ask the Florida Department of Environmental Protection about your process.

It might. Structures near public-use airports can require notice to the FAA on Form 7460-1, and a crane used during construction can trigger it even when the finished building does not. The FAA's online notice tool can check a location and height before you file.

Both. The sealed drawings for a Florida site cover the design wind speed and exposure there, and the engineer combines those wind forces with the crane loads the frame will carry. Give the engineer the crane's capacity, span and duty from the start.

The frame is designed for the crane's weight, its lifted load and the sideways and lengthwise forces of it starting and stopping. That usually means crane brackets on the main columns or separate crane columns, runway beams and stiffer bracing. Adding a crane to a frame not designed for it can mean reinforcing or replacing columns, so decide early.

Work down from the tallest thing that has to fit: the crane hook height plus the crane and runway above it, the tallest machine, or the top of the highest rack. Add room for lights, sprinklers and ducts. Every extra foot of eave adds steel and wall area, so size it to the real need.

Steel frames can clear very wide floors, but cost rises with span because rafters get deeper and heavier. A building engineered with one or two interior column lines may cost noticeably less. If the process truly needs an open floor, say so up front so the frame is designed for it.

Heavy presses, CNC machines and anything that vibrates often sit on separate, thicker foundations isolated from the main slab, sometimes with pits or trenches. Their locations and loads have to be known before the slab is poured, so equipment data belongs in the design package.

Heat from processes and the sun builds up under a metal roof. Ridge vents, wall louvers, large exhaust fans and make-up air openings move it out, and roof insulation cuts the solar load. Processes that create fumes or dust may need dedicated exhaust designed by a mechanical engineer.