How much does your connection cost?

IDEA StatiCa Connection enables you to design your steel connections not only according to your code but it lets you optimize your model as well. Until now, it was just based on the designer's experience to decide what type of bolts, welds, plates, or anything else should be used, so the connection is still safe but also efficient cost-wise.  

We heard of a lot of calls from steel fabricators using IDEA StatiCa for the possibility to see the connection costs at the first glance. Obviously, what can be a couple of bucks on a single connection means a fortune for the whole construction. 

That is why the new IDEA StatiCa version 20.1 brings as one of its major novelties the possibility to calculate production costs. 

With this new feature, you can very quickly estimate the final price of the created design and optimize the connection concerning that. Of course, still keeping in mind the most important factor, the safety. 

Prices of individual connection components can be specified easily on a cost per unit weight basis in Settings. Costs can currently be defined for four basic entities:

• Steel parts (plates and added steel members, grade dependent)
• Welds (single and double fillet welds, ½ V and K butt welds, weld size dependent)
• Bolt assemblies (grade and diameter dependent)
• Hole drilling (as a percentage of bolt assembly cost)

The resulting value is presented in the 3D scene view. The costs are updated in real-time according to manufacturing operations used in the design.

The currency can be set according to your local preferences again in Settings. 

If you want your cost estimation to be a part of your final report, no problem with that. Just choose this possibility in the report project item settings. 

See how it works

Watch the webinar recording part where our colleague Ryan introduces the Cost estimation feature. 

Put the new version to the test

Cost estimation is definitely not the only improvement brought by the new IDEA StatiCa version 20.1 introduced at the beginning of October.  Find the complete overview of new features and improvements for steel connection design condensed in our Release notes.

The best way to get to know all of them is to try them on your own. Just download the new version and ask for your free 14-day trial.