Frequently asked questions

We have gathered here the questions our prospective clients ask most often, so you can quickly find answers to your first questions.

Cost

Is steel cheaper or more expensive than concrete?

There is no simple way to compare the cost of construction methods. It always depends on the type of building, the location, the materials, the budget, the market at the time, the architectural and structural design, and the builder. Steel helps where concrete struggles, for example with long spans without intermediate columns, or when we want low self-weight and fast erection.

Are steel and concrete homes economical?

As a rule, in smaller homes, especially in areas of low seismicity, steel and concrete construction comes out somewhat to considerably more expensive. Over the whole project, though, the difference gets smaller, and the quality of construction remains. Our page on construction cost explains this in more detail.

Can you give us a full turnkey quote?

If there are drawings and a full specification, and the project is within our scope, we can give you a quote. We will need a meeting before we start, for the details.

Can you give us a turnkey quote without drawings and a specification?

No. Without drawings or a specification such a quote would not be serious, either for you or for us.

Roughly how much will the building cost? We want an order of magnitude, not a final price.

It is very hard to give a price without information. For a first estimate we need as detailed a description of your needs as possible.

Another builder gave us a lower price.

The market is free, as it should be. Our advice is to ask for more than one quote, and to be careful with very low prices. To say whether a quote is low or high, though, we first need to evaluate it technically, meaning see exactly what it includes.

The steel frame

Is steel an unhealthy material?

We have heard several times about radiation or electromagnetic fields from steel, even about problems with a building's electrical system. Structural steel is not radioactive and does not create fields. Steel is also in every conventional building, as the rebar in the concrete, and nobody discusses it.

Does steel attract lightning?

No more than a concrete building of the same height in the same place. Lightning usually strikes the highest point in an area, regardless of material. If it strikes a steel building, the frame, connected to the foundation grounding, works as a Faraday cage, meaning the current passes through the steel members into the ground and not through the interior. The body of a car protects its passengers the same way.

Do the bolts loosen over time?

If they were installed correctly, no. Bolts, nuts and washers are selected and tightened as the structural design and the codes specify, and under service loads the connections do not loosen. After a major earthquake the connections should be checked, as with any structure.

Does steel move too much?

This elasticity is what protects us in a large earthquake. It is better for a building to sway than to suffer damage to its structure because of the weight and brittleness of the material, with the sad results we have seen many times, in Greece too.

Does steel rust over time?

Steel corrodes if it is left unprotected in moisture, which is why it is protected with anticorrosive paint or galvanizing, depending on the environment and the requirements of the project. In steel and concrete buildings it is also fully enclosed by the insulation and the walls, so moisture does not reach it. The rebar in concrete can rust too, when the concrete cover is thin or when the concrete cracks and water gets in.

Walls in steel and concrete buildings

Do you use brick or other hollow masonry walls?

No. Steel is flexible, and in a large earthquake such walls can be damaged partly or completely, while limiting the movement of the frame enough to protect them makes the frame heavier and more expensive. For the exterior walls we build a drywall system with ETICS external thermal insulation (EIFS). The only exception is thick stone walls, which are traditional in some areas, always with the connections and gaps the design specifies.

Do you recommend drywall for interior walls?

Yes. It is economical, healthy, adaptable, easy to change and gives very good sound insulation. Being thin, it also does not take up the floor area that thicker wall systems do.

Can I hang things on drywall?

You can hang pictures and light objects on the drywall studs. For heavier items, such as kitchen cabinets or wall-hung toilets, the wall needs to be prepared in advance, which is easy, with steel studs, plywood, cement board or high-strength gypsum board.

Working with us

Have you built in our area?

You can see it on our projects map. Each pin is a building we have built.

Will the construction be accurate, since you are an engineering team and not a factory? What if the factory makes a mistake?

Accuracy is one of the first things we look after. We have chosen the fabricators we work with over years of collaboration. We check the shop drawings ourselves, and a fabricator's mistake would cost us first. That is why we are the first who do not want it to happen.

Why come to you and not to a steel fabricator?

Because you want to build a whole building and not only its frame. You need the know-how of engineers for the whole project, and not only people who will make a frame. We have that. Also, as a rule, fabricators are more expensive because of their overhead.

Are you as big as you look?

No, of course not. But we are exactly what we show, in combined know-how together with our partners, and above all in our methods and principles of collaboration.

Did not find what you were looking for?

Send us an email with your full details and we will answer your questions, or call you for a first conversation. If you are about to buy land, read our notes on buying land and building in Greece.

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