Short answer
Raw structural steel material is commonly quoted somewhere around $900 to $1,600 per ton, depending on shape, mill versus service center, and delivery. Fabricated and erected, the all-in figure usually lands between about $2,100 and $4,000 or more per ton. These are typical ranges that move with mill pricing, region and job complexity, so use them as a starting point and get current quotes.
Three different numbers people call "cost per ton"
The reason answers disagree is that the phrase can mean three different things:
| What it covers | Typical range per ton | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Raw material delivered | $900 to $1,600 | Mill orders are at the low end; service center and small orders higher |
| Fabricated (material, shop labor, overhead, paint) | roughly $1,550 to $2,800 | Heavily depends on connection complexity |
| Fabricated and erected | $2,100 to $4,000+ | Adds detailing, freight and erection |
Treat these as typical, not as a quote. Regional markets, mill surcharges, tariffs, lead times and the specific shapes all shift the numbers. HSS and plate often price differently from wide flange.
How do you turn a per-ton price into a per-foot price?
Divide the ton price by 2,000 to get a price per pound, then multiply by the weight per foot. At $1,100 per ton, material is $0.55 per lb. A W12x26 is 26 lb/ft, so the material costs about $14.30 per foot ($0.55 x 26). A 30 ft piece is about $429 in raw steel before cutting, drilling, welding or paint.
The calculator and every page in the shape database do this for any section, using example prices that you can change to your own quotes.
Why a per-ton number can mislead
Tonnage is an average. Heavy, repetitive, bolted framing is cheap per ton because the shop touches each pound very little. Light, detailed work such as stairs, rails, trusses and built-up members costs far more per ton because labor, not steel, drives the price. A single per-ton rate applied to both will be wrong on at least one of them.
That is why experienced estimators build up the price from material, labor hours, coatings, freight and erection, and use cost per ton as a sanity check on the finished bid. See How do fabricators price miscellaneous metals? for the extreme case.
How often should you update these numbers?
More often than you want to. Steel pricing moves with mill capacity, scrap markets, tariffs and demand. A price held from last quarter can be off by 10 percent or more. Get current quotes from your supplier for the shapes on your job, put an expiry date on your bid, and use an escalation clause when the schedule is long. See Steel price escalation clauses.
What drives the price?
- Shape. Wide flange is the baseline. Tube, plate and small angles often carry a premium.
- Quantity and buying route. A mill order for a full heat is cheaper than service-center material cut to length.
- Grade. A992 is standard for W shapes. Special grades, higher strengths and Charpy testing add cost.
- Region and freight. Local availability and trucking distances matter.
- Market conditions. Mill capacity, scrap prices, tariffs and demand move the price.
- Lead time. Rush orders cost more.
If you want to see how a price per ton translates for a given size, use the calculator or any shape page. They let you enter your own price.
Price per ton and per pound side by side
| Price per ton | Price per lb |
|---|---|
| $900 | $0.45 |
| $1,100 | $0.55 |
| $1,400 | $0.70 |
| $1,600 | $0.80 |
The per-pound number is the ton price divided by 2,000. Remember that metric price lists are per tonne, which is 2,204.6 lb, so a price per tonne is not directly comparable with a price per short ton.
What does fabricated and erected cost depend on?
Complexity. Simple, repetitive bolted framing sits at the low end of the range. Moment frames, heavy plate work, AESS, trusses and tight tolerances sit at the high end. Erection costs vary with crane access, height, union versus open shop, and site conditions. Shop hours alone can range from about 12 to 45 per ton of structural steel depending on the work, and misc metals run much higher.
The practical use of a cost-per-ton figure is as a sense check. Build your price from the bottom up, then compare the result per ton to what similar jobs have cost you. If the two disagree by a lot, find out why before the bid goes out.
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