I always insure that my specs calls for AISC certified fabricator and erector. Sometimes, that may not be reasonable for reasons as stated by the GC. In that case, you would consider any erector who has X- number of years of experience in projects that are of similar size. Additionally, AWS welder certification is a must and should be submitted for review and approval.
But as Lutfi said, there could be reasons to consider other erectors. Personally, I generally have had better experiences with certified contractors, so I would avoid waiving the requirement without a compelling reason.
In my experience "none available" actually means "I found a cheaper non-certified". When this has happened I usually defer to the owner as they are paying but provide a letter stating that I recommend certified fabriactors and erectors and why. Therefore if there is an issue there is a trail to who made the final decision. There are some good non-certified out there but why take the chance if you can avoid.
The AISC Quality Management Systems (QMS) Certification sets the quality standard for the structural steel industry, and companies that are AISC Certified have been through a rigorous initial evaluation and are subject to annual reviews. Our program focuses on the entire process of fabrication and erection – which will help prevent and reduce errors from occurring instead of ONLY inspecting and correcting them after the fact. It confirms that companies have the personnel, knowledge, organization, equipment, experience, capability, procedures, and commitment to produce the required quality of work for a given Certification category.
If you are looking for an AISC certified participant, please visit
Sometimes, when times are good, you can't get an AISC Certified Erector interested in a small project. Although I doubt that's the issue nowadays.
Note to AISC: Not every project makes your magazines. We have lots of masonry buildings with W8 x 18 roofs, with about 10 tons (or less) of steel. Ther needs to be a AISC Certified Lite.
TAG, I would suggest to look up the last dozen or so steel erectors that have done anything on projects you've been involved with, and see if they're certified. Possibly call some up and see what they think about the program. Consider reviewing the application for certification and see what's really involved as well.
I've been involved with a couple of certification/listing type programs (not ASCE) and was not overly impressed. One problem is that such programs are primarily paper-oriented. If you have good paper-shufflers and poor field people, you'll do great. If you have poor paper-shufflers and great field people, you won't. If you do Corps of Engineer work and have more office workers than field workers, then you're probably all set up for all kinds of certifications, but you simply won't be competitive on commercial work. So don't just assume that a good-sounding certification is a good thing, do some checking, see if it matches up to local contractors and practices.
